when 45 degrees isnt

[shaun gardner]

Recently I have ran into a problem with my Table saw. I have a delta right tilt, with cast iron wings. When setting the saw blade to 45 I have been getting cuts that are not even close. I end up setting it at 45.50 or a little more to get them at an actual 45. I have used various gauges to set the tilt. Used a wixey and a fixed angle gauge and still no good. Needless to say it makes building a square box diffucult. Any ideas??:confused:

[Myk Rian]

2 choices. A miter sled, or a good ole RAS.
I have a good miter gauge on my TS and still have problems with angles. The DeWalt RAS I just restored is a right on tool.

[Lee Schierer]

Is your saw aligned properly? If the blade is tilted 45 Degrees but isn't aligned true to the cut line you won't get a 45 degree angle. Also your miter gauge must be 90 degrees exactly to the line of cut.

[Bill Huber]

Is your saw aligned properly? If the blade is tilted 45 Degrees but isn't aligned true to the cut line you won't get a 45 degree angle. Also your miter gauge must be 90 degrees exactly to the line of cut.

I have a question, why does the miter gauge have to be a 90 degrees to cut a 45. When you cut a 45 degree angle that 45 degrees is to the top surface of the saw.
Now if we are talking about a box corner I can see it, but just an 45 could be cut at any angle, right?

[Bill Huber]

Recently I have ran into a problem with my Table saw. I have a delta right tilt, with cast iron wings. When setting the saw blade to 45 I have been getting cuts that are not even close. I end up setting it at 45.50 or a little more to get them at an actual 45. I have used various gauges to set the tilt. Used a wixey and a fixed angle gauge and still no good. Needless to say it makes building a square box diffucult. Any ideas??:confused:


I had somewhat the same problem at one time and what I found was my wing was not flat with the table.

So when I set up the saw everything was spot on at 45. If I cut a 45 on a short board it was good, then I noticed that if I have a longer board that hit the wing that raised it up and now my 45 was not a 45 any more.

I got a good steel straight edge (Lee Valley) and redid my wings and things are fine now.

Just something to check.

[Lee Schierer]

I have a question, why does the miter gauge have to be a 90 degrees to cut a 45. When you cut a 45 degree angle that 45 degrees is to the top surface of the saw.
Now if we are talking about a box corner I can see it, but just an 45 could be cut at any angle, right?

I should have said miter slot....If the wood being cut isn't moving parallel to the center line of the blade you will not get a flat surface on your miter surface and it will appear to measure something other than 45 degrees. To exaggerate if you push a board through the cutting edge of the blade at a 30 degree angle you will get a nice cove cut. The same cove, although considerably smaller occurs when your blade isn't properly aligned with your fence and mite slots.

[Bill Huber]

I should have said miter slot....If the wood being cut isn't moving parallel to the center line of the blade you will not get a flat surface on your miter surface and it will appear to measure something other than 45 degrees. To exaggerate if you push a board through the cutting edge of the blade at a 30 degree angle you will get a nice cove cut. The same cove, although considerably smaller occurs when your blade isn't properly aligned with your fence and mite slots.


Ok, I will buy that...

[Bob Vallaster]

Shaun,
Second what Bill Huber said: get the table flat.

You mention Delta as the brand, but no model...and having to go to 45.5* indicated to get 45* actual bevel on your cuts.
I'll assume yours is a Unisaw.
My Uni has positive stops for 0* and 45*. I presume other models have the same, but YMMV.
Check pages 10 & 11 of the Unisaw manual at this link: http://owwm.com/mfgIndex/pubdetail.aspx?id=539 for procedure to adjust the mechanism.
A good drafting triangle is a cheap and reliable reference for 45*, but I will confess to using the Wixey.
When you have established a positive stop for the 45* bevel, loosen and adjust the pointer which rides above the bevel angle scale to read 45.

BobV

[Greg Peterson]

There are two axis required to get a true miter cut. Blade parallel at 90 degrees to the miter slots. Getting the blade 'level' to the table top at 45 degrees on a contractor saw is often times a compromise. If you have cabinet mounted trunnions the top can be set 'level' in relation to the 45 degree blade.