Cutting long pieces of wood at angles

[morpheus83uk]

Hello,

I am looking at a way of cutting some edges of multiple boards on various angles such as 22.2 degrees and 45 degrees.

What tools would you guys recommend for such a job?

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

The issue is size, i.e. width and thickness. For relatively small boards, say 8 x 2in (200 x 50) or 12 x 1in (300 x 25) a sliding mitre saw would probably be best. For wider stuff, say 600 x 18mm or full sheets (2440 x 1220mm) of MDF board you'd need to think in terms of a portable circular saw, a reasonably fine blade and a (home made) saw guide:

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• Deleted member 174758
• 1 Apr 2015
• 1

Above: Home-made saw guide being used to make a straight cut. Could also be used to make cross cuts, angle cuts, etc
Below: Home made breaking-down table (only joking!)

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• Deleted member 174758
• 1 Apr 2015
• 1

What sizes were you thinking about?

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thanks for the reply.

The sizes would be varied in terms of length as they would be for things such as animal toys as its cheaper to make them myself than it is to purchase them and they will last longer as I will use thicker wood. So these could be anything from around 200mm through to about 500mm I would guess. So something which could cut that length at about maybe 28mm thick on most angles I would say is the maximum unless it would be easier to cut the full length of the boards (2440mm) and then just chop them into the sizes required.

The thickness of the wood would be between 18mm and 22mm I would think but maybe 28mm if I am building a cage which I wouldn't really want to cut many angles if any at all..

How would you go about making the saw guide?

So a portable circular saw can do pretty much most angles?

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

How would you go about making the saw guide?

Piece of 6mm hardwood plywood, approximately 150 to 200mm wide x the maximum length you intend to cut + 300mm. The width needs to be the width of your saw base + 44mm (width of the fence/batten) + 15mm. One edge must be sawn dead straight by a timber yard (or be the edge of a mill board - i.e. as it came from the plywood mill as they always have straight edges). You'll need a piece of 2 x 1in planed softwood (probably 44 x 22 finished size) same length as the ply. Combi square set to 10mm. Mark 10mm inset down the straight edge of the plywood with a pencil and the combi square. Screw through the plywood every 150mm or so into the softwood checking as you go that the edge of the softwood is on the line. Make your first saw cut with the edge of the saw running against the softwood batten - this trims any excess off the saw guide. The trimmed edge can then be set against your setting out marks on workpieces to make cuts. That extra 10mm at the back means that if/when the edge gets work the softwood batten can be moved 5mm, refixed and a new good edge trimmed. This can be done 2 or 3 times before you need to replace the plywood )so probably a few hundred cuts with care). You will also beed to have some form of sacrificial table for the cutting (e.g. old door on trestles, open table made up from 2 x2 CLS on trestles, etc)

So a portable circular saw can do pretty much most angles?

Yes, but the shortest cut with a guide like this will be about 250mm - below that (e.g. beadings, etc) a chop saw is far easier and safer. You may need to make-up 2 or 3 different guides for different cuts - for example an 8ft (2440mm) guide would be unweildy for a 400mm cut

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thanks I will give it a go.

I have had a look around and people seem to be saying Evolution are good circular saws and their saw blades are good to as you don't need to keep changing them for their material.

I have found this one which looks quite good and the reviews are good I only have one question..

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage-1b-185mm-multipurpose-circular-saw-230v/84664

It had 45 degree bevel cut capacity which is fine however when looking at the product video it shows the angles from 0, 15, 30 and 45. Which again is fine however as I am wanting to do a 22.5 degree cut how would I do this? Is there something I am missing or do I need to get something additional?

Many Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I have found this one which looks quite good and the reviews are good I only have one question..

It had 45 degree bevel cut capacity which is fine however when looking at the product video it shows the angles from 0, 15, 30 and 45. Which again is fine however as I am wanting to do a 22.5 degree cut how would I do this? Is there something I am missing or do I need to get something additional?

If you take a look at the bevel gauge:

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• Deleted member 174758
• 8 Apr 2015
• 1

As you say it has angle settings at 0 - 15 - 30 - 45°, but it also has intermediate marks every 5 degrees (so between 30° and 45° the two marks would represenr 35° and 40° respectively). So for 22.5° you'd need to set the pointer half way between the 20° and 25° marks and tyhen make a couple of test cuts before checking the angle (and possibly adjusting it). It might help to have a decent sized protractor and a sliding bevel to help do this. Onve you have the right angle you'll need to make all the bevel cuts in one session so that you don't lose the setting. For final assembly you might need to make adjustmentrs with a sharp plane to get the fit just so

I'd be wary of thinking that a "one size fits all" blade will do everything - those blades can be pretty awful when used on plywood after they've been sawing metal

BTW What are you building, octagonal boxes?

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thanks is there a more accurate way of doing this? I presume the protractor and sliding bevel opposed to guessing? Since its a common size I would expect it to have it on already.

Maybe something like this would help?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/digital-angle-finder/25814

I am indeed building octagonal boxes for the animals so they can run through them and chew them happily.

What do you think of the saw and do you have any recommendations for anything else?

Thanks

James

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Thanks is there a more accurate way of doing this? I presume the protractor and sliding bevel opposed to guessing?

Using the protractor and a sliding bevel will get you nearer than the scale, but you'll still have to adjust it manually to get anywhere near the fit you require. It's normal to make-up octagonal boxes in halves then to have to make slight adjustments with a hand plane to get the final fit. My own site portable saw is a £400 Festool which has a bevel gauge calibrated in 1 degree steps and has a front and rear quadrant (more accurate) with front and rear angle locking (see below):

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• Deleted member 174758
• 8 Apr 2015
• 1

and even there I have to adjust things after making a couple of test cuts, however it's a lot more accurate out of the box (a feature you always pay dearly for). The only machine I know which is going to be truly accurate is a medium to heavy-duty tilt arbor table saw - but one of those would cost you well over £1000 secondhand and will require careful setting-up to give you repeatable results straight off the scale. What you require all depends on the size of the items you are making, the level of accuracy you are after and what you are prepared to pay. That's why I asked about the scale of the items you are cutting at the beginning of this thread. If your items have a height of 200mm or less you'd get far better accuracy from a sliding compound mitre saw, although I do think you'd need to look into light trade saws (e.g. 216mm blade) to get repeatability - and that puts you into about £300 or more outlay. If your bevel cuts are 500mm the question has to be haow much are you prepared to pay?

BTW if you look at that digital calliper, by the time you've shelled out money for the saw and that you'd probably have been better off buying a better quality saw with a bevel lock front and rear IMHO. Bear in mind that at £300 you are into Makita rail saw country (a competitor of the Festool) and even at £140 you can get a DIY copy of the trade rail saw

Since its a common size I would expect it to have it on already.

Common? Not really. Or rather no more common than many other angles - remember you are doing with a portable rip saw what is normally done (albeit a lot more expensively) with a table saw. That said the Festool does have a mark for 22.5 degrees whereas my old Makita rip saw (which the Fes replaced) didn't

Having danced round this a bit, do you think you'd like to speciafy the accuracy, cut length and the budget you'd like - because I'm beginning to see scope creep here......

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thanks, I may give that a shot then with the protractor and sliding bevel.

I am looking at something which is fairly accurate which will do the designed cut again and again without much doing to it but by the same rule not cost a bomb so maybe up to about £100.

I also found this one which seems quite good too:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution...se-circular-saw-with-diamond-blade-230v/59618

Regarding cut length this will be around 500mm (maybe more cage dependant) with a thickness of up to around 28mm and width around 500mm maybe more or less again cage dependant.

Does this help?

Thanks

Jamese