Tips on large 45• cut?


Lofty

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Need to make a 45 cut on this bench top and my first try failed. I used my track saw with angle guide but it isn't even close. Not sure if there is a way to calibrate the guide but there has to be some trick to make a long 45 cut on pieces too large to fit on table saw/miter gauge.

Thanks!

 

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3 minutes ago, Lester Burnham said:

Massive shooting board?

if it was close I was going to put the two boards together and hit them with the plane just make sure they were dead flat.

Pretty sure I can strike a line and just measure from that and then line the track up in the line but was curious if there were other ideas. I left the boards long so not too worried that they're right length as I'll trim the straight edge.

 

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I screwed up the last time I suggested something like this, so shoot me if I'm wrong again. Stack the two boards on top of each other with the two faces we see in the pic together. Clamp them together, then cut both at the same time with your track saw. 

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12 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

I screwed up the last time I suggested something like this, so shoot me if I'm wrong again. Stack the two boards on top of each other with the two faces we see in the pic together. Clamp them together, then cut both at the same time with your track saw. 

That will give a complimentary angle but nothing says it's going to be 90 degrees. Instead of 45, you may be cutting 43 degrees and when you butt them together you'll have a lovely acute angle.

13 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

I screwed up the last time I suggested something like this, so shoot me if I'm wrong again. Stack the two boards on top of each other with the two faces we see in the pic together. Clamp them together, then cut both at the same time with your track saw. 

That will give the and angle but nothing says it's going to be 90 degrees. Instead of 45, you may be cutting 43 degrees and when you butt them together you'll have a lovely 86 degree angle.

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Is this gong in a kitchen, other cabinet area?   If so make a hardboard/mdf template the same width of your wood,  using the wall and cabinets.  Get the template to fit and the use the template to cut the angle.  In a house nothing is 90 or 45 or any other standard angle. 

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7 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

Is this gong in a kitchen, other cabinet area?   If so make a hardboard/mdf template the same width of your wood,  using the wall and cabinets.  Get the template to fit and the use the template to cut the angle.  In a house nothing is 90 or 45 or any other standard angle. 

It's a shoe bench going in an entry way. There will be a piece of moulding on the top against the wall so it doesn't need to match the wall exactly.  Thanks for the advice though! That's a good piece of knowledge that I'm sure came with experience. 

This is one of few times I've been disappointed with Festool. Set the 45 on the angle guide using a combination square so hopefully will get better results with this cut.

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If your gap is wider than the kerf,  you can overlap the 2 pieces in the same position as shown in your pic.  You will have to put blocks equal in thickness to the countertop under the top one so that it is level. clamp everything in place really well. Then set the saw to cut through both pieces at once. 

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The front edge should be shorter than the back edge by the value of the depth. (in order for it to be 45 degrees) You can just measure along the back edge to your length and mark it, then measure along the front edge and mark that length, strike a line between the 2 points and set up your track along the line.

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Since my miter gauge is dead on at 45 I ended up putting the Festool angle guide on the table saw and used the fence and miter gauge to set the Festool angle guide right at 45. It worked and cut came out right at 45. I have tons of Woodpecker, Incra and Lee Valley squares but found out I don't have a large combination square that is dead on which I probably could have used to set the Festool angle guide. Got it done and will order a 12" Starrett so I don't run into this again.

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