mitering edges on small pieces

[Gil Liu]

Last night, I was making a small box and intend to join the sides on a 45-degree miter with a few splines as accents.

I have on my to-do list to make a cross-cut sled, but so far have been doing fine with an EB-3 miter gauge.

When I was making the miter cuts on pieces that were 4-6" in length, I felt a little nervous with my hand that close to the blade. I tried using a short Bessey clamp to hold the piece to the miter gauge, but the shape of the gauge was such that it would lift the piece.

I've seen small cross cut sleds that have toggle clamps that ride in t-track and this would probably have been ideal, but was wondering if anyone had suggestions for using an after-market miter gauge in this situation

Thanks for help,
Gil

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Gil,

I use either a hand miter box or now that I have it, the bandsaw for small pieces.


When I was making the miter cuts on pieces that were 4-6" in length, I felt a little nervous with my hand that close to the blade.
I used to use the compound miter saw but had a bad experience one day.
I was cutting off the end of a small piece - about 4" long if I recall.
The piece "got away" from me and got picked up by the blade.
It literally snapped the (cast Aluminum) fence of the SCMS in half.:eek:

Thanfully that's all that happened - other than needing a change of underwear.
It taught me a valuable lesson though. If it doesn't "feel right" and/or gives you a nervous feeling - you probably shouldn't be doing it.

[Bob Reda]

I've always used my CMS, the secret is to always use long pieces. When you get down to a length that you fill uncomfortable with, throw it away and get another long piece. I've done down to 2 1/2" long pieces 3/4" wide on the cms without any problem what so ever.

Bob

[glenn bradley]

I make a sacraficial bed and fence by attaching two short pieces of 3/4" scrap together. The sacraficial setup clamps to the CMS bed / fence. When you cut, stop after going through your material and before cutting the jig in half. The jig supports the small pieces so they don't get away and it backs up the cut to reduce tearout. This is mostly a solution for trim pieces and may not apply.

[Neil Bosdet]

I'm surprised no one has suggested using a 45 degree bit or a lock miter bit using a router table. Is this an option for you? I would probably consider this first if I was making a small box.