Mitre gauge technique

[ironhat]

How many of you folks are using an abrasive adhered to your TS mitre gauge? Prior to owning a 'real' TS I used a Shopsmith for 30 yrs and never had a problem with the stock being cut taking a walk. I now notice that there is an ever so slight loss of square, more to one end of the cut. I'm absolutely certain of the saw setup so I'm thinking that it's the operator. What grit do you folks use on your setups? Thanks for enduring yet another goofey question. I've been working on a flag display box and I've gotta admit to a long learning curve on such a simpe project.
Later,
Chiz

[LCHIEN]

see this current thread - same basic topic

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=23067

[ironhat]

Thanks, Loring.

[RodKirby]

Absolutely!

Miter fence, DP fence - anywhere you don't want a workpiece to slide.

I use 220 grit. Titebond II glued to wood, Weldbond glued to aluminum.

Tip 1: Apply the glue to the wood/aluminum - never to the sandpaper; it will wrinkle before you attach it.

Tip 2: Cut the sand paper oversize, lay it flat (sandpaper down) weighted while it cures. Trim with a knife after it's dry.

[JR]

I've had lots of bad luck with my miter saw. In a recent project I took the time give it a good tune up, which helped.

I also dug out the little clamp thingy that came with it, but that I'd never used. I started using it, which take a moment for setup on each cut, but found it helped a lot with the walking problem. I decided the small inconvenience was well worth the more predictable result.

JR

[ironhat]

My only possible issue with using the sandpaper - especially on the mitre saw vs the mtre gauge is when you're trying to slide that 1/64" to the perfect cut. Yea, I know these cuts are not usually without their wiskers on the edge. Maybe that just calls for a better pre-cut set up but it's all eye-ballin' isn't it.

[Tom Hintz]

One of the first things I do to a new miter gauge is install a wooden fence face with 150-grit paper glued to it. That extra "bite" makes it much easier to keep the piece being cut stationary through the cut, particularly when making angled cuts.

[ironhat]

Hey Tom, can I ask the dimensions on your fence? I did this on my Ridgid but had difficulty with securing it. They use an odd fastener system in that it's neither SAE nor metric. It was a bear trying to get a good hold on them during assembly. Anyway, they made the slots to secure a wooden fence to the miter gauge this odd size. Now that I have a Dremel I'm ready to auger them out to accept a standard bolt.
TIA,
Chiz

[Tom Hintz]

Chis,
My add-on fences are about 3-4"-tall and about 24"-long. Anything in that range seems to work well for me.
I say "about" because I use whatever hunk of straight hardwood I have laying around in that size range. The main thing is being able to reach over it to hold the stock comfortably.