Help, my miter saw won't cut straight!

[Amy Leigh Baker]

I'm trying to bevel the ends of my 1x3 aprons on a Ryobi miter saw. As you can see from the pictures, it will cut the top correctly, but as the blade goes lower it gets farther and farther away from the cutline. The board seems to be sitting flat on the base. I am trying to pay attention to pulling it straight down and not putting any sideways pressure on it. I've tried adjusting the angles of the blade several times.

I've checked the framing square three different ways, line and flip test, with a protractor, and from the 4" mark to the 6" mark is 8", and all are perfect. And I have checked this cut with a combination square and it shows the same thing.

Any suggestions?

-Amy :confused:

P.S. Obviously this was a test cut.

[Don L Johnson]

Amy,

I'll await your answers as well. My Hitachi started doing the same thing recently...it use to be flawless!

At any rate, I've just attributed it to wear and tear and just use it as a chop saw now, and finish up any finish cuts on my table or radial arm saw. Good luck.

Don

[Amy Leigh Baker]

I'm sure people have done this before... posting this thread helped me to figure it out. I was checking the angle of the tilting function, THEN moving the saw to 45 degrees and the rotating function. Obviously, on this saw at least, you get one angle set correctly, it doesn't necessarily stay that way if you move the other angle. So I tilted the top of the blade right, bringing the bottom of the blade closer to the cut.

:)

[Steve knight]

looks like it is either not snapping back to 90 or the fence is off.
put the square against the fence and then the blade.

[glenn bradley]

I'm sure people have done this before... posting this thread helped me to figure it out. I was checking the angle of the tilting function, THEN moving the saw to 45 degrees and the rotating function. Obviously, on this saw at least, you get one angle set correctly, it doesn't necessarily stay that way if you move the other angle. So I tilted the top of the blade right, bringing the bottom of the blade closer to the cut.

:)

Glad you got it. I got varying results depending on the hardness or grain direction of the wood so I went to this (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=81821&d=1203200056).

[John Thompson]

I'm trying to bevel the ends of my 1x3 aprons on a Ryobi miter saw. As you can see from the pictures, it will cut the top correctly, but as the blade goes lower it gets farther and farther away from the cutline. The board seems to be sitting flat on the base. I am trying to pay attention to pulling it straight down and not putting any sideways pressure on it. I've tried adjusting the angles of the blade several times.

I've checked the framing square three different ways, line and flip test, with a protractor, and from the 4" mark to the 6" mark is 8", and all are perfect. And I have checked this cut with a combination square and it shows the same thing.

Any suggestions?

-Amy :confused:

P.S. Obviously this was a test cut.

Something else you have to be cautious of on miters and bevels Amy, is what as known in the south by trim carpenters as "walking the fence". You can have the saw set up perfectly at a 45* degree or whatever angle and still get a gap in the cut or off-line.

In a 90* degree cut.. you pull straight down and the stock literally offers no resistance. But.. add and angle and the teeth are more agressive coming in from the side and have a tendency to make the stock "shift" or "walk" especially near the bottom of the cut.

Make sure especially on an angle cut that the stock is very secure to the fence. You can even clamp it to prevent it. You want see too many trim carpenters that don't have a piece of two sided sand-paper attached to the fence also. That gives the back of the stock touching the fence a little added traction and helps hold it in place.

Good luck ma'am...

Sarge..

[Amy Leigh Baker]

Yep, when I moved the saw back to do crosscuts I had to readjust BOTH angles, not just one.

I also noticed that there was some variance in the cut depending on my hand motion. Not enough to create the gap on the previous pictures, but surprisingly a lot.

[fRED mCnEILL]

I had a similar problem with my Makita on angle cuts. Just about drove me nuts and wore the saw out trying to adjust it.

In the end I found the problem was the wood moving.
Clamp it to the table and I think you will find it cuts just fine.

Fred Mc/.

[John-Paul Murphy]

Sarge hit the nail on the head. angle cuts usually require a clamp if unable to hold very tight against the fence. If that does not fix it. unplug the saw place it in the down position and wiggle it to see where the play may be. there should be very very little if any.

[Ron Bontz]

Just my penny worth. I had a drifting problem on my Dewalt 708 and found part of my problem was the thin kerf blade flexing on angled cuts. No stabilizer on the blade. I use full kerf blades now and that problem has subsided. I also make sure the blade is good and sharp and slow down on those cuts.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Clamp it to the table and I think you will find it cuts just fine.

Fred Mc/.[/quote]



I would second that. Another thing that sometimes helps is to attach some adhesive backed sandpaper to the fence to prevent creeping.

The other suggestion I would make is if you are having the problem only when beveling a flat workpiece, perhaps you should try mitering it vertically against the fence?

Doc

[Gene Michael]

i run into this problem occasionally when sawing red oak. 2 things have helped: new blade and slower cuts. good luck!

[J. Z. Guest]

Glad you solved the problem, and I have squirreled it away in the back of my brain in case I ever run into it. ;)

This may be a dumb question, but do you have a table saw? I don't think you'd have this problem with bevel cuts on a table saw.

[Glenn Corbly]

Maybe I have the same problem with my Sears compound miter. I've tested and adjusted the saw the best I can, yet the edge closest to me cuts in further. It's not square and I"m getting ready to work with some 3/4 Oak for trim. I've check the fence numerous times, but last night I moved the miter 1 degree to the right getting a closer square 45 degree cut. Any help?

[Kyle Kaldor]

One of my friends recently had this problem on his miter saw.

It turned out that his blade was very dull. He put in a new blade and the problem went away.

[Thomas Knapp]

One of my friends recently had this problem on his miter saw.

It turned out that his blade was very dull. He put in a new blade and the problem went away.
As the blade gets dull it pushes on the wood harder when you make a cut. If you have hard wood and dull blades It makes the fence creep more likely.
One possibility no one mentioned is the problem could be the wood itself. If the piece of wood tapers top to bottom only the back side will be square. The front side will be the miter angle of whatever the profile is.
I would bet on wood creeping along the fence though.

[Louie Ballis]

Had this problem with my cheap 12 inch sliding saw from HF. Thought it might be a function of a crummy saw.

Bought a Freud blade (nearly the same cost as the saw); cutting straight and true ever since.

[Keith Weber]

It could be that your fence is not perpendicular to the table (or if it is perpendicular, then your piece might not be flat to the fence.)

Consider a saw tuned up so that everything is cutting perfectly. If you crosscut a vertical board at 90 degrees (normal position) it cuts square. Rotate the table to cut 45 degree miters (as you were doing) and it should cut it correctly.

Now consider you could tilt the fence back by an exaggerated 10 degrees. If you do a 90 degree crosscut, the board will still cut square. You can tilt the fence back as far as you want and it will still cut square. Now, the problem comes when you rotate the table to cut a miter. With the fence tilted back 10 degrees and you rotate so that the blade moves to the right, you will find that the cut will not follow your vertical pencil line, but will drift to the right of the line near the bottom of the cut. The opposite happens with the blade cutting to the left (the cut will drift to the left of the line at the bottom of the cut.

Theoretically tilt the fence forward and repeat the experiment and you will find that with the blade cutting to the right, the cut will now drift to the left of the line near the bottom of the cut (and vice versa for left cut miters.)

The effect of not keeping your wood flat against a true fence has the same effect.

If I'm looking for perpendicular accuracy in a miter cut on a wide board, I tend to tilt the blade instead of rotating the table, since it's easier to hold the piece flat to the table than flat to the fence. Just don't forget to flip that little fence thingy out of the way, and mind your fingers if they're under the tilted blade.

Keith

[bryan cobb]

i have the same problem with my mitter saw it cut a ( in the boards when i cut a 45

[Joe Bradshaw]

Amy, sometimes it will help if you start with longer pieces so that the blade has some wood on the right side of it. Good luck. As a last resort, It is a good excuse to get a new saw.

[Myk Rian]

Amy, sometimes it will help if you start with longer pieces so that the blade has some wood on the right side of it. Good luck. As a last resort, It is a good excuse to get a new saw.
Check the date of the OP. Maybe she fixed it by now.

[Dave Lehnert]

I hope after 5 years she got the problem figured out.

Anyway, As other have said, Try clamping the wood to the saw before doing anything.
Also make the cut slowly. Some woodworkers try to make a miter saw cut like cutting a slab of meat with a cleaver.

[Rich Engelhardt]

i have the same problem with my mitter saw it cut a ( in the boards when i cut a 45
Bryan,
I'm just guessing here that you found this via a search and are asking for help getting rid of the problem.

All the suggestions offered so far will usually do the trick.
Check the saw for true in all directions, use a new blade (my preference is for a 10" Freud 40T ).
Clamp the work being cut.

Most important of all - makes sure what you're cutting has ample support on both sides of the cut.

[Howard Acheson]

When was the last time you replaced or sharpened the blade? A dull blade will not track squarely. Your saw may be due for an alignment also. When not cutting is the blade travel line perfectly perpendicular to the back fence? Finally, are you sure that the board is not moving during your cut?

[Mel Fulks]

When a mitre cut is not right ,with the material well secured, I test the saw with a square cut.If the square cuts are accurate, I change to a more aggressive blade (fewer teeth) for angle cuts. My guess is that works because ,with a mitre,one side of the saw is cutting with the grain and one side is cutting against the grain. Anyway,it works.