# How do you accurately and consistently set your table saw blade to 45 for mitered corners?



## KadeK (Jan 31, 2013)

I'd like to hear everyone's ways of consistently setting their table saw blade to 45 for mitering corners of boxes, frames, etc. It seems that no matter what I do, I always have to cut practice pieces, readjust, cut, readjust, cut, readjust…...I just want to set it once or readjust once for perfect miters! HELP!


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

get a good set of set-up blocks, or a protractor or once you know you've made a 45 deg. cut cut yourself a block at exactly 45 deg and keep it for reference.


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

for a long time I used an artist plastic 45 degree triangle. This Christmas I received Wexley, so now I use that.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

http://www.incra.com/product_miter1000hd.htm









When you take the side movement out of the miter gauge and
have it running at a right angle to the blade your joinery will improve a lot.
It did for me anway.

Building a sled is helpful as well. You can search LJ's in the top right part of the site and
you may get something like this:
http://lumberjocks.com/search_results?cx=016283335483199634424%3A4na88symhay&cof=FORID%3A9&safe=high&q=Miter+sled+for+table+saws&sa.x=14&sa.y=12

And welcome to LJ's Kade!


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Make a jig. Leave the blade at 90. A jig allows you to reference
the cut from the outside face of the miter.

There are electronic devices for setting perfect 45
degree blade tilts, and other mechanical ways to
do it. In making cuts however operator error, 
miter gauge slop and weirdness of the table top
can be factors.


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## mbs (May 8, 2010)

Do you have some kind of friction, like sandpaper, to hold the piece firmly against the fence?

Some other thoughts
1) See if your miter saw is more repeatable. 
2) Get close and clean it up with a shooting board.
3) Use a trimmer to clean up miter


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

I use a Wixey digital angle gague and it is dead on accurate. I have used it to set miters on over 120 boxes and have excellent results. A clean and sharp blade is also important.
My Incra HD1000 miter gague is also a key factor when adjusted properly.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I use the Wixey digital gauge to set the blade. For miter cuts, I use the miter gauge with the blade set at 90°.


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

I have the Incra 1000HD and its great. But anytime I need critical miters, I remove the sacrificial fence I keep on it. Over time, the wood of the sacrificial fence does warp and prevent wood from sitting accurately against the fence.

To align, I use a square to get the blade perpendicular to the miter fence. Then, I test it by making a regular hexagon out of same length wood segments. Inaccuracies are compounded and multiplied by the larger number of miters…so it's easy to fine-tune the setup when creating a multi-sided polygon. Interior angles of a hexagon are 120 degrees, so set the detents of the miter gauge to 30 or 60 degrees for the miters.


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## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Use a home made sled, you do not have to adjust the angle every time, only once.


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## ToddJB (Jul 26, 2012)

I was under the impression the Wixey gauges only worked on vertical planes… they can also work on horizontal?


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## History (Dec 22, 2012)

Use a miter saw, it's the more appropriate machine for the job.


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## Maggiepic (Aug 26, 2010)

I assume you mean the bevel of the blade. For this I'm with Greg and Mr. Ron. *Wixey gauge*
For miters, IncraHD1000


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## SamuraiSaw (Jan 8, 2013)

*"Use a miter saw, it's the more appropriate machine for the job."*

The *appropriate* tool for these type of miters is a table saw with a crosscut sled designed to accomodate a 45 degree bevel. I use a Wixey to confirm the 45 degree bevel and a well tuned crosscut sled to make the cuts.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

For my boxes , I tilt the blade to 45 using my Wixey digital angle gauge. For miters like for a picture frame I have a cheap old miter gauge that I tweaked to EXACTLY 45 and then locked it down and never change it. I use another miter gauge for angles other than 45.


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

My $400 miter saw is worthless for that application. It's for crown molding when I use caulk to cover the gaps and to chop down long boards so my more accurate table saw can give better and cleaner cuts.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I use the Wixey digital gauge also. It is very accurate for blade tilt.


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## KadeK (Jan 31, 2013)

Sounds like the Wixey angle gauge is a good investment! Thank you all for your advice. Too bad I just had my birthday. Guess I know what I will ask for at Father's Day!


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

It is a little confusing, but yeah, for bevels on the table saw I too use the Wixey gauge.


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## DouginVa (Mar 5, 2012)

I use a couple different techniques. The Incra Miter gauge…works great and there other features that make your stock miter gauge scrap metal….the flip stop, a fence you can attach jigs to, etc.






Then there's the Wixey digital protractor:






And finally, with the help of the digital protractor I made my miter sled:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/78354

I've used this on many projects since I made it and all of my miters are dead on picture (frame) perfect.


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

Check out the Beale TiltBox too; same idea and you can compare price. I use it for a lot more than just setting the blade bevel, it is a good investment.


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