Aha! Now I see that I said " when it should have been degrees. As an aside, if I were buying a miter saw, I wouldn't look at any that aren't at least a 'sliding' one and it should also be 'compound'. Mine is. Quite a tool for the cheap price.
Harry K
on 3/29/2008 6:49 PM Frank said the following:
The RAS is a more versatile tool than the Miter saw. It can cross cut, rip, groove, and even rout. When I lived in an apartment complex 25 years ago, I built an entire 12' wall unit consisting of shelves, cabinets, and a fake fireplace in the Williamsburg style, using only a RAS in my superintendant's basement, and that included routing grooves in the pilasters. It was built in 4 sections and made to be taken apart by unscrewing a handful of screws for transportation. When I bought my house back in 1984, I brought that wall unit to my house and installed it in my dining room.
That statement applies to the use of *so* many power tools as well as
*so* many other situations in our daily lives.BTW...after I posted my method, I was watching one of the multitudes of "home" shows on TV and so one the supposed experts apply the same technique.
re: The RAS is a more versatile tool than the Miter saw. It can cross cut, rip, groove, and even rout.
With the proper blade a RAS can be used to cut steel plates. By lowering the depth a little at a time and making numerous of passes, I've cut 1/2" steel plates with great accuracy and perfectly smooth edges.
I've used my miter saw to cut 3/4" steel rod. I even turned off the lights and took a picture of my son cutting some rod. Really cool picture with the sparks lighting up the shop!
That statement applies to the use of *so* many power tools as well as
*so* many other situations in our daily lives.BTW...after I posted my method, I was watching one of the multitudes of "home" shows on TV and so one the supposed experts apply the same technique.
*****************************That may be true, but I'm still not going to advise someone that may have never used a power saw to turn the board while the blade is spinning at high rpm.
re: turn the board
Are you sure we're talking about the same thing? Are you equating my use of the word "lift" with "turn"?
I would never tell someone to *turn* a board while cutting it, unless it was a scroll or band saw...
=2E..or if they were cutting a circle on a table saw.
I just did that for my daughter last weekend. Cut her a perfectly round 17" circle out of 3/4 MDF. I love that technique.
Lifting the front edge of the board while the rear edge stays against the fence amounts to turning it about its long axis. I think it is safe enough to do after the saw arm has bottomed out as long as you hold the saw arm still.
Cheers, Wayne
re: I think it is safe enough to do after the saw arm has bottomed out as long as you hold the saw arm still.
Which is exactly procedure that is used.
What I do is after completing the cut normally, if there is a still a little bit of the board that isn't cut, before stopping the blade I lift the front edge of the board slightly while continuing to hold it tight against the fence.
Cheers, Wayne
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