Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>Okay, can anyone help? WE cut a lot of 1/4 stock into tiny little triangles. The mitered side is now being cut with a miter saw but someone suggested using a miter trimmer. We have never worked with one before and was wondering if this tool would cut through the stock. One week I cut about 24,000 of these little squares and triangles and so speed is as important as smooth, exact cuts. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Re: miter cuts
mikew
>Hi Brian and Lori,
The miter trimmer will only really do just that--take wafer thin shavings off in order to perfect an already cut piece.
I personally, if faced with this type of production, would build a simple table saw sled for the miter cut.
Are you doing this with only hand tools? If so, let us know so we can be better answer.
Thank you, Mike
Re: 24,000 per week!!
Luke Herzberg
>I don't have a production solution...just curious what the little triangles are for??
- Luke
Re: miter cuts *LINK*
Brian and Lori
>Thanks, we are currently using a power miter, 24,000 a week is too much on my wrist with a hand saw.
What we are doing is wood quilts. We use recycled wood and a lot of techniques similar to those used in traditional quilt making. This allows us to preserve the look and feel of the traditional quilt and we can incorperate customers wood into the piece thus preserving that personal touch traditional quilts have always had. We are on a website, under Butterfly Mountain at www.appilachianmarket.com or here are a couple of pictures. We make anything from tables with over 1.000 pieces to small boxes with only 9 pieces.
http://www.appalachianmarket.com/butterfly.html
Re: miter cuts
mikew
>Very nice.
As mentioned, I would use a table saw and build the sleds for mitering. With stops it is as easy as cut, flip, cut. Very accurate and quick.
With a quick release hold down, one could also stack several layers and cut more than one piece at a time. You would need a fine-toothed saw blade.
Take care, Mike
Look to a picture framing shop - see what they us
Andrew F in Australia
>Brian,
I've picked a link at random from a google search to show you what's available - I use a Morso mitre trimmer but this wouldn't be the option in your case as you have to cut the mitre roughtly then trim it - too many steps. You'd be looking for a mitre saw that's accurate.
http://www.unitedmfrs.com/cgi-bin/retail.cgi?action=46
The complete google search I used to dig this link up was:
http://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hs=bxb&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=morso+mitre+OR+miter+saw+&btnG=Search&meta=
C
heers,
Andrew
Re: miter cuts
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>For some reason, the post on which you put the picture is freezing partway through with only part of the picture visible, but from what I saw, you might consider production techniques that don't depend on cutting each little triangle, but rather make sticks the shape of your triangles, glue them up as needed, then slice them off like bread loaves.
Not a very clear explanation, but look around for books or magazines that discuss the making of inlay strips - the same technique is used there. Granted, most of the illustrations I've seen assume the use of a table saw, but there must be ways to adapt the system to handwork.
Re: miter cuts
Dan Clermont in Burnaby
>I am with Bill on this one. Resaw them on the bandsaw
Dan Clermont
Re: miter cuts
ThomD
>This is starting to sound like the kind of thing you should be farming out to the third world. There are some western guitar makers who make their own rossettes, which is pretty involved. I remember reading how in the Mexican guitar building centers, not even the Mexican wage workers/workshops make their own rosettes sticks, street kids do the sticks and sell them to the factories. A point comes where the work is so repetitive one isn't adding any value.
Let me get this straight, these are 1/4"x 1/4" triangle? The thickness of veneer? Endgrain, sidegrain?
If I was doing this myself, I would use a saw to manufacture offcuts that had the triangular crossection to them. If they are sidegrain in final form. You could cut them off with a chisel. If they are engrain maybe the guillotene would cut them. Anyway, try to get it in loaf form first.
Another option would be a punch press. A die with a sharp end in the corect shape could punch these out of thicker material.
Re: miter cuts
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Yeah, Doug Stowe shows how to do this in one of his box books.
Pam
Re: miter cuts
david marcus brown
>I agree. A bandsaw (if they have access to one) would certainly minimize their waste due to the narrow kerf. It's a lot quieter and (I think) safer than a table saw if you're working with it for extended periods.
bandsaw jigs *LINK*
david marcus brown
>
bandsaw jigs
bandsaw table setup *LINK*
david marcus brown
>neat setups for the bandsaw
bandsaw setups
Re: miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>Thanks, right now we have found that the very best blade is a hollow ground planer, expensive but worth every penny for what we are doing. We still get a lot of splintering especially in the oak. The pieces are so tiny that this is a big problem. On some pieces I can put a piece under, kind of like the stacking you suggested and get along fine. Other times this doesn't work well at all. The pieces are so small that I check my fingers every cut. (smile and wink) Anyway we were just looking for ideas to make it easier and smoother thanks for your help.
Re: miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>We are working on using this technique for other items but I think it would be too much for the pieces we are doing right now. Any good links of the technique you are talking about. All the info I can get is good.
Re: miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>We are working on using this technique for other items but I think it would be too much for the pieces we are doing right now. Any good links of the technique you are talking about. All the info I can get is good.
Re: miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>Hummm....
The pieces are 1/4 thick, about 3/4 "square". Veneer doesn't work in what we are doing for two reasons. 1. we use scrap wood to make the pieces. 2. they don't hold up. We have 5 kids and understand the value of having a pretty table that if it gets scratched, can be sanded and refinished can't do that with veneer.
We have thought about die cut, but not sure where or how to get a cutter we can afford. In fact, we have interest in starting a "new line" of items using die cut pieces.
Hummm, interesting thoughts.
Re: miter cuts
Brian and Lori
>I've been thinking a lot about what you have said, can't seem to get past one thing though. I am currently using a compound miter saw, works ralatively well, looking for better ways though. Anyway, I get so close to the blade that I won't allow my children to cut them for the danger factor involved. Why then would I ask children in a third world country to do it? Isn't there a balance between being economically responsible and being responsible for other human beings?
WEll, I am still interesting in an economic punch idea if anyone has any info on how to set it up. Thanks for your help.