zero clearance for mitre box

Assuming you are talking about power miter saws, a ZCI is easy. You just clamp or screw in from the back) a strip of plywood or 1x stock to the fence.

Don’t make it too high or it will interfere with the saw motor being able to drop all the way down to full depth.

The problem with a ZCI is that every time you change the angle, you need a new ZCI. If you swing the cutting angle to both sides of zero, you end up cutting a wedge out of the wood and you’re not much better off than with the stock fence. Now if you are only going to cut a single angle, it’s probably worth the effort.

Another way around the issue is to add an additional piece of wood to the base of the saw. Attach the auxiliary fence (ZCI) to the base plate wood with glue and fasteners, being careful that none of the fasteners are in the blade’s cutting path. You will need to limit the depth of the cut so that you do not cut all the way through the base plate. This will work somewhat better unless you are making adjustments to the cutting angle in small increments.

For example, if you are only cutting 90 degrees and 45 degrees both sides of center, this type of fence will last a while. I use this type of auxiliary fence when cutting and coping crown or base molding that isn’t more than about 3”. Of course if you have a sliding compound saw, you can tilt the blade rather than swinging the blade, and the sliding function will allow you to cut wider boards.

Hope you can understand what I’ve written. Good luck.

Cheers!

-- Dave; Lansing, Kansas

Dave,

So it will work for me since I rarely cut anything other than 90s with the box. Angles get cut on the tablesaw.

Thank you