Question from a novice

[Ron Robinson]

I'm making a set of stands for my surround sound speakers using plans I found in American Woodworker a few months back. The stands are made from red oak and will be about three feet tall when done. My question concerns the base that the cabinet sits on. It is essentially a frame made from 2" wide stock mitered on the corners so the frame is 2" tall when sitting. How would you make the cut with a table saw? Angle the blade to 45 degrees and cut with the stock laying on the 2" face, or keep the blade square and raise it to cut 2" and use your miter gauge to get the 45 while resting the stock on the 3/4" edge? I did it the using the latter method, but was wondering how some of the "pros" would do it.

Thanks,

Ron Robinson

[scott spencer]

No pro here, but usually when given the option I'll use the miter gauge at 45 instead of bevelling the blade.

[Chris Padilla]

My compound miter saw could handle that pretty easily but as you note, there are several ways to skin that cat.

[Corey Hallagan]

I am far from a pro but the easiest thing to do is cut it at the miter saw if you have a fairly accurate miter saw that will give you a good quality cut with the blade you have. Can be done on either but at the table saw if the piece has any length to it can get harder to cut accurately unless you have a sled, sliding table or good miter guage.

Corey

[Bob Johnson2]

Use which ever way you want, make a couple 45's and put them together, check it with a decent square. Use scraps of anything roughly 2" thick if you have some. You may have to readjust either the blade or the miter guage till they are a good fit at 45. If I were to use my TS I'd use the miter for corners.
I use the same cut, check, adjust, steps for 45's on any saw. None of mine are dead on all the time.

[Tim Morton]

I'm making a set of stands for my surround sound speakers using plans I found in American Woodworker a few months back. The stands are made from red oak and will be about three feet tall when done. My question concerns the base that the cabinet sits on. It is essentially a frame made from 2" wide stock mitered on the corners so the frame is 2" tall when sitting. How would you make the cut with a table saw? Angle the blade to 45 degrees and cut with the stock laying on the 2" face, or keep the blade square and raise it to cut 2" and use your miter gauge to get the 45 while resting the stock on the 3/4" edge? I did it the using the latter method, but was wondering how some of the "pros" would do it.

Thanks,

Ron Robinson

I read AW every month and I must have missed that project..do you have a link?

[Lee Schierer]

I owuld most likely use the miter gage on my TS t omake the cut. It is easier to get set up and the cuts are faster and generally speaking more accurate.

If you try the blade tilted to 45 degree method be careful cutting near the end of the pieces. The little triangle that gets cut off can easily drop down into your throat plate slot and wedge between the blade and the throat plate. The results can be alarming and can cause damage to the blade. I would highly recommend a zero clearance insert when making this type of cut.

[Ron Robinson]

For Tim Morton,


Here is the link:

http://www.rd.com/americanwoodworker/article.do?siteId=2222&categoryId=7002&contentId=484

Thanks to all for the advice,

Ron

[Steven Wilson]

I would probably run it through my shaper as I'm sure that the 45 degree cutter I have is right on 45 degrees. On a normal tablesaw I would use my miter corner jig making sure that each cut is complementary. A miter corner jig is really nothing more that two reasonably tall boards that are perpendicular to each other and joined at the top (the corner is cut). You can then attach the jig to a miter gage, set it to 45 degree and then cut the jig at the apex. The result is that the jig will make square corners if you use complimentary cuts. Even if the miter gage is off a bit from 45 it won't matter. Let's say the miter gage is actually at 46 degree. Using the miter jig one side will be 46 degree the other 44, the result is a perfect 90. If you alternate edges you'll end up having compilentary sets that will always result in square corners.