Help me make this cut

[Jerry Bruette]

I have some pieces of 2x2x9 maple that I need to cut into long octagons.

I don't like the idea of putting my fingers between the fence and my blade at a 45* angle.

I'm picturing a sled that would support the wood with 2 corners vertical and 2 horizontal. I would run it past the blade (at a 90*) and cut one horizontal corner, then keep rotating the stock and cutting until I have a octagon.

Good Idea?

Any one ever make something like this.

I don't have a router table or a jointer so those two ideas are out.

Thanks
Jerry

[Dan Hahr]

Not sure why you are picturing the cut that way. Put the fence on whichever side leaves the blade facing away from it at 45 degrees. Use a push block, and keep the blade lower than the middle of the piece. Four cuts and you are good to go. Just make sure you are using strong diagonal pressure.

Dan

[John TenEyck]

Put your fence so the blade tilts into it. Make an L shaped sacrificial fence out of two pieces of 3/4" stock so that the horizontal piece is wider the off cut you will make. Clamp it to your fence so that the bottom of the fence is the exact height of the corner you need to cut off. This is easiest if you make a rectangular piece first that is exactly that height and use it as a spacer under the sacrificial fence. Clamp it to the fence and remove the spacer. Now tilt the blade to 45 deg and bury it into the fence so that the top of the blade enters the fence at that same corner. Now just run your prepared blanks against the fence. It will cut the corners off your blank at the correct height and the off cut will fall harmlessly under the sacrificial fence.

John

[Dan Hahr]

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Is this what you want to do? Sorry for the poor paint job.
Dan

[John TenEyck]

Much safer this way:

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John

[Jerry Miner]

332993

Is this what you want to do? Sorry for the poor paint job.
Dan

+1. Or, if you want the fence on the other side, use a sacrificial fence, clamped or taped or screwed onto the fence, like this:

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[Frederick Skelly]

John's idea is the best power tool approach, but that cut still makes me nervous. Is the length 9 inches or 9 feet? (You said "long octogons".) Im especially nervous if these really are 9 ft long cuts.

If you have a hand plane, you could do this far more safely than on your TS.

FWIW.
Fred

[Jerry Bruette]

Much safer this way
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John
John,
Thanks for the illustration, now I can wrap my head around your idea.

[Bill Orbine]

Still nervous about the sacrificial fence method others proposed above? It will help with the work piece sandwiched by another fence opposite to the original fence to keep the work piece from tipping over.

[Jerry Bruette]

John's idea is the best power tool approach, but that cut still makes me nervous. Is the length 9 inches or 9 feet? (You said "long octogons".) Im especially nervous if these really are 9 ft long cuts.

If you have a hand plane, you could do this far more safely than on your TS.

FWIW.
Fred
The cuts will be 9 inches. I'm making a kaleidoscope for my grandson, 9 feet would be a little unwieldy, and I don't know where I'd get mirrors that long.

[Edward Oleen]

I do it on the band saw...

Much, MUCH, safer than on the table saw.

You can run the work-piece FLAT on the table, which, of course, you tilt to 45 degrees.

That way the work-piece tends to rest against the fence.

[Lee Schierer]

When in doubt about safety on a table saw look for an alternate method. A shaper or table mounted router with a fence and a 45 degree champfering bit will do that cut in a few more passes, but with considerably less worry and exposed cutting surface. No chance of kick back either. On a 2 x 2 piece of material your height of cut is only 5/8" to make an octagon.

[glenn bradley]

John's idea is good and I have an "L" fence for just such things. A straight-line / taper sled is also a very comfortable way to hold such pieces for close work.

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[roger wiegand]

I needed to make about a mile of chamfered molding for my house, and after trying several setups on the table saw that were both difficult to manage and made me nervous I bought one of these for my shaper and ran all the molding in a couple hours. The cut was very smooth, needing minimal sanding and I was able to set up fences and supports along with a power feeder that made the whole process quite easy. I've subsequently used this cutter quite a bit.
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http://www.amanatool.com/products/shaper-cutters/insert-shaper-cutters/profiling-insert-shaper-cutters/insert-adjustable-chamfer-shaper-cutters/61311-insert-carbide-aluminum-adjustable-chamfer-90-0-to-90-0-x-170mm-dia-x-60mm-x-1-1-4-bore.html

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

+1. Or, if you want the fence on the other side, use a sacrificial fence, clamped or taped or screwed onto the fence, like this:

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This is the way I always do it. Very little blade exposed, and very safe with a push block.

This is also a great way to cut small chamfers. It's very fast, and gives a very clean cut if the blade is sharp.

[Prashun Patel]

Hmmm, what am I missing? I rip octagons for roughing spindle blanks all the time on the TS.

I tilt the blade AWAY from the fence, not into it.

On a left tilt saw (like mine), I rip the "south west corner" and keep rotating the piece clockwise. This means you'll have a good square surface for reference between your table and fence for 3 of the cuts. You need a wider push block so you don't adversely push into the bevels on the final two cuts.

On and RT saw, everything's the opposite.

I can't think of a single op that I've needed to do that requires tilting INTO the fence.

If you just HAD to tilt into the fence, then another way to do this without an elevated fence is to nibble the corners about 1/8" at a time. This will leave almost no trapped piece to kick back. I've done it that way too (except I've tilted away from the fence, still). It's dustier, but if your bevels aren't massive, it's not a bad option. This method also reduces the burning that I can get on ripped bevel cuts.

[Jim Riseborough]

Hmmm, what am I missing? I rip octagons for roughing spindle blanks all the time on the TS.

I tilt the blade AWAY from the fence, not into it.

On a left tilt saw (like mine), I rip the "south west corner" and keep rotating the piece clockwise. This means you'll have a good square surface for reference between your table and fence for 3 of the cuts. You need a wider push block so you don't adversely push into the bevels on the final two cuts.

On and RT saw, everything's the opposite.

I can't think of a single op that I've needed to do that requires tilting INTO the fence.

If you just HAD to tilt into the fence, then another way to do this without an elevated fence is to nibble the corners about 1/8" at a time. This will leave almost no trapped piece to kick back. I've done it that way too. It's dustier, but if your bevels aren't massive, it's not a bad option. This method also reduces the burning that I can get on ripped bevel cuts.

I agree, this way you are getting a nice parallel cut too with your fence. Unless the flat surface is real small, i would not hesitate doing it this way.

[Art Mann]

I think we are waaaaay over thinking this job. The way I would do it is on my router table like Lee proposed or on the table saw just like Prashun said. This just isn't that difficult a job.

[John TenEyck]

Tilting into the fence allows you to do things you can't do the other way. When you use the sacrificial fence I showed earlier there is less blade exposed. Tipping towards the fence also allows you to make tapered parts, which is impossible with the blade tipped away from it. How? By making a tapered sled to hold the work piece. Check out these photos.

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The sides of these columns tapered from 12 to 14" over their 4' length. The sled allowed them to be safely made in one pass over the TS and ever part was exactly the same size.

John

[Tom Ewell]

Nice John, I'll have to throw that one in the memory bank for future reference.

What was the final 'joining' method used to assemble the columns together?

[Art Mann]

That just looks to me like a $20 solution to a $0.50 problem. Who says you can't use a normal tapering jig with the blade tilted? I already know the answer to that because I have done it before. The guy is cutting 2 X 2 material. This isn't shoe mold we are making here.

[John TenEyck]

Tom, biscuit joined and glued the columns together in halves first in the shop. Then I joined the two halves together around the 4 x 4 columns at the job site, using biscuits, glue, and a few SS brads to hold the corners together while the glue dried.

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John

[John TenEyck]

I didn't see it that way. It was a direct solution and allowed me to precisely cut the parts to the exact final dimensions w/o having to remove and reposition the parts in the jig. It's fine if you choose a different approach.

John

[Ben Rivel]

I still dont see why doing these cuts on a router table with a 45 degree chamfer bit isnt the best option...

[Chris Padilla]

He doesn't have a router table. :)

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Tilting the blade into the fence is almost exactly the same as doing it on the router table, only with the saw, you get a cleaner cut, faster, with zero chance of tearout.

[Ben Rivel]

He doesn't have a router table. :)
Oops, missed that point. Sorry.

[Art Mann]

Tilting the blade into the fence is almost exactly the same as doing it on the router table, only with the saw, you get a cleaner cut, faster, with zero chance of tearout.

Tilting the blade into the fence means you are capturing the workpiece between the blade and the fence in a way it can easily bind. That is almost always unsafe. You don't need a jig at all. All you need is a table saw with the blade tilted away from the fence at 45 degrees and the correct spacing between the fence and the blade. Anything more complicated is a waste of time. If this were a tiny piece of wood, I might be worried about safety but we are talking about 2 inch square pieces. I can't understand why this is difficult. People do it all the time.

[Prashun Patel]

Art, while i'm on your side about how we might best do this, The elevated fence creates space for the offcut so it won't bind between the blade and fence.

[Tom Ewell]

Tom, biscuit joined and glued the columns together in halves first in the shop. Then I joined the two halves together around the 4 x 4 columns at the job site, using biscuits, glue, and a few SS brads to hold the corners together while the glue dried.

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John

Thanks..........

[Frederick Skelly]

The cuts will be 9 inches. I'm making a kaleidoscope for my grandson, 9 feet would be a little unwieldy, and I don't know where I'd get mirrors that long.

LOL! Sorry Jerry.

Personally, that cut still makes me uncomfortable. It seems like there will be cuts that will be supported by only 1 inch of width on the table, but maybe I'm just missing something (been a lonnng week). If other guys do it successfully on the TS, I yield to their greater experience with that type of cut.

Stay safe and enjoy every minute you can get with that grandson!

Fred