Compound angle cuts with a mitre saw

[Richard Koop]

I'm making a 5-sided shed. The roof trusses I'm building are fairly complicated. I have 4 2"x6"s and 4 2"x4"s coming together at the roof peak in the middle. Essentially it forms a star. I've cut the 2x6's (using a 4 in 12 slope) and connected them at right angles at the roof peak. This is easy. Next I have to cut the 2x4s to fit into the 90 degree angles between the 2x6s.

How do I cut a roof angle (eg. 4 in 12) and the 45 degree for the 2x4 that fits between the 2x6s at the peak? I tried cutting the 4 in 12 slope 1st and then cut the 45 degree angle afterwards but this didn't work out. I've just acquired a compound mitre saw from a neighbour. Will this help for the cut required?

Here's an attempt at a picture of the roof. It only shows the 4 2x6s and the 4 2x4s which come together at the peak. The 2x6s are the up/down and left/right pieces. The 2x4s are the diagonal pieces.

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[RayV]

You should be able to *turn* the saw to the correct angle for your pitch and angle the blade to 45deg to make your cut. Unless the saw angles both ways you will have to flip your board and *turn* the saw the other way to cut the opposing 45 cut.

Who is the first one on the list of your star-chamber?

[Goedjn]

Why?

Well, the easiest way to do it would have been to grab a short length of log, and use it as a hub, with sockets cut into it to take the ends of the rafters.

Well, the compound mitre saw will do the job, but it's not necessary. If you set a circular saw to 45 degrees, and just cut along the 4:12 slope line on both sides, that should do it. Or, since this is after all, a shed, not a piano, you could cut the 4:12 line flat, and use a chisel, axe, or router to bevel the ends. Trying to do fiddly end-cuts like that with a handsaw is a good way (IMNSHO) to scrape up your knuckles.

Personally, if you've already got the right-angle parts up, I'd be tempted to fill in the corners with angle-blocks, glued and screwed into place. That would give you a flat spot instead of a point to butt the rafter in.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Perhaps he is an ex-military guy from Washington and worked in that octagonal building shaped like a triangle.