Trouble with mitered corners on the table saw

[sailor55330]

Hi-

I'm working on a jewelry armoir that has to mitered corners on the front base I guess they are technically called mitered panels. The plans claim you can do it with just a circular saw, which I guess you can, but not very well I'd think.. The base is about 7 inches high, so just a little too big for my compound miter saw. I've cut the miters in the ends of the base pieces which are 3/4" maple. I'm having a hard time getting the miters to cut smoothly and to match up. One side came out perfect, the other side, no so much, with a gap in front. Additionally, the wood seems to want to burn, something that I've not had an issue with before on this project.

I don't really know how to explain this any better. I guess the bottom line is any tricks for cutting miters in wide panels to make them match up for assembly?

Thanks in advance

[trungdok]

Sounds to me that your miter is not 45 deg. I would check to see if it's 45 deg, miter the front piece, then fudge angle on the side pieces to complement the front piece.

[Stytooner]

Perfect time to build a miter sled. Do a search here or on Google. They are relatively easy to build and pretty darn accurate when done right. That will virtually eliminate any future issues with 45 degree miters.

[BadeMillsap]

Perfect time to build a miter sled. Do a search here or on Google. They are relatively easy to build and pretty darn accurate when done right. That will virtually eliminate any future issues with 45 degree miters.

+1 A miter sled is the way to go ... unless I don't understand what you are trying to do. IF what you are doing is cutting the miter along LONG edges (that will then "stand up" as a "wall" ... a well tuned table is called for in my opinion. Perhaps a picture or a drawing to see what you are trying to do?

[sailor55330]

I figured the advice might be to build a miter sled and I know it's what needs to be done, but I HATE building jigs and sleds. They never come out right!

What do most of you build sleds out of? I've tried MDF, Plywood, Particle board, nothing seems to work well and I have yet to get one to come out square!! I've built at least a half dozen

[LCHIEN]

The advantage of building a sled is that, if you get the corner a perfect 90 which is easier to do than to get a perfect 45, then the cut divides the 90 into two pieces. Not necessarily perfect 45s either but if one is over the other will be under by the same amount so that they add up to 90.
Caveats: DOn't forget you must make the complementary cuts from opposite side of the sled and make sure your 90 degree reference is really 90 spot on.

[capncarl]

I have a miter sled that saddles my rip fence that I use to cut the top and bottom bevel on my tiny table tops. I've tried to make the bevels for boxes on it before and never got them perfect. I use the rip fence sled vrs the miter slot sled because of various adjustments I make to each table. The attached photo is an earlier version that was later modified considerable to saddle the fence better. There is absolutely no movement in my fence or this sled.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Are we talking about "bomber" sleds? I found this picture of one I made - and another posted by JR - some years ago. Mine:



JRs:

[LCHIEN]

Yes, those are classic BT3 miter sleds.

[sailor55330]

Are we talking about "bomber" sleds? I found this picture of one I made - and another posted by JR - some years ago. Mine:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n827308[/ATTACH]


JRs:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n827309[/ATTACH]

Not quite. More like the picture above. the blade is set on a 45 degree angle.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Got it - bevel cut to create mitered corners. I'd probably try this on the router table, with a 45 degree chamfer bit, or Cap's sled (if the piece isn't too tall). Or make a dedicated cross-cut sled for 45 degree bevels with toggle clamps to hold down the piece securely - backer fence has to be dead-on though.

If you were cross-cutting with a miter gauge, uneven holding pressure may have caused the variation in angle cut. Also, maple builds heat and burns easily, so any misadjustment between blade and miter gauge angle, or workpiece pressure variation, that prolongs contact with the blade would likely cause the burning.

[capncarl]

My rip fence jig handles a 24" high board.mThe photo in my previous post shows a 10" X 20" board in the jig and the next cut it is going to do is the 20" board standing up. I would recommend a regular miter slot type sled over my jig because of the other variables that sneak in on you when using the rip fence jig.
capncarl