Does anyone have experience using a jig for the miter saw which allows you to hold the crown at it’s intended angle, upside down, thereby eliminating the need for a compound cut? Specifically, I am wondering if such a jig will eliminate the need to cope one of the ends of an insided corner? Bench dog makes a jig which looks interesting. I am wondering if it is gimmiky or if it realy works.
Thanks
Rick
Replies
Yes, it makes life very nice to be able to "bed" crown moulding while cutting. First, your mitersaw body needs to be ABLE to make a complete cut thru the moulding without obstruction in the bedded position. Then you need the fences on (preferably both left and right sides) the saw high enough to bed the crown against. Last you need to keep the crown in the correct and consistant position.
You can make a jig easily with the needed high fence and the "bedded position" keeping edge. Can't draw it here, but, one piece tall enough for a fence, another for the bottom (table) 1/4" thk is best, the last small piece (on the table piece, but toward you away from the fence) to let the moulding slide down to and sit against it keeping itin bedded angled position. Hope that gives you some kind of useful picture. Screw this jig to your fence and you are ready to measure your angles of the walls and cut miters accordingly and simply. Good Luck.
Edited 1/29/2006 12:52 pm ET by zorrosdens
Edited 1/29/2006 12:53 pm ET by zorrosdens
The only way to eliminate a cope is too mitre the inside corner. If you can stand the crown up , upside down with the back at the correct spring angle, then you do not need to cut a compound angle. When cutting flat on the saw base, then you have to cut a compound angle. I do not use any jigs, just a homemade pair of crown stops. The stops hold the crown at the correct distance from the fence for vertical cutting.
I am not familiar with the Jig you mention.
mike
Thankyou for your reply.
Rick
The best jig for compound miters, hands down in my opinion, is the one sold by Rockler.
Simple to understand, simple to use, and can be used with most any chop saw.
You can learn more about it on their website.
Thanks this is a good tip.
Rick
Although it is pretty easy to cut inside miters with a jig (or even without), you probably wouldn't want to. The nice thing about coped joints is that they won't open up as visibly as mitered corners will. They are a bit (but just a bit) more trouble to make, but the extre effort pays off in the long run.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Probably very true, on the opening up deal...but if you use a good glue and get good joints seems you'd be OK, depending on the width of it. Just my thoughts, you may be right though.
A quick tip here for anyone doing crown of size that, down from the ceiling, is about 3 5/8".....we just did a buch at the house we're doing, three piece and sigle, we just cut a piece of 3 5/8" high secondary fence to srew onto our saws and then just lined up the bottom of the crown with the top of the new fence and set the angle and went to town setting the angles and cutting and nailing it up.....no matter what degree the walls were.
All we did was measure the lengths and check the angles with a Starrett scissored angle finder. AND A VERY COOL TIP REGARDING THIS TYPE OF FINDER FROM THEM: They have out another one just like the 12" or so one...only it has a bit smaller legs, It works so well I wish I had to replace my larger one. The angle scale is exactly the same one on the larger unit and just as easy to read. Check them out if you'all can. You want one even though they are only about $5 less than the larger ones; they will fit in your bag! Nice!!
check out this message:
25347.6
DeWalt also makes crown moulding stops for their CM saws
clickey this:
http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/attachment_detail.asp?productID=1788
And glue for an inside miter....mmnnn..that might work
I do glue the outside miters for trim and crown.
For inside corners I butt or square cut one piece and then cope the other. A coping saw will get you so close. Then I use a Dremel w/ a sanding drum chucked in it to nibble away the rest.
Another tip for inside corners is not to nail the last 3 ft before going into the corner.
The other thing you can do since the piece mating into it is sprung is to cut it up at an angle so you can get your fingers in behind it to tweak up the fit of the next piece's cope.
Once you got the joint looking nice, nail the pieces off all the way into the corner.
Later,
Chills
I have the one made by "Bench Dog Tools", got it at Woodcraft. It's just a jig with adjustable stops to hold the crown at the proper angle (I've had problems with a long piece 'slipping' and getting the cut all bugger up). There's also cutting instructions printed on it. Just finished a remodel job on my in-laws house and it came in real handy. Not a production unit, but good for homeowners.
Thankyou. You are exactly correct. I am looking for something that will make life easier for a homeowner who seems to believe that he has the ability to remodel his own house. I appreciate your input.
Rick
I forgot to mention one "gotcha", that cute little crown-cutting jig, because of its size, does reduce the cutting ability of your miter saw by a bit (maybe 3/4 "). I had to cut the 'really big' (5-1.2") stuff by hand (a pain), I'm using an old 10" Makita, but it worked like a dream on the smaller crown. I did dig it out, it's called "Crown-Cut", made by Bench Dog Tools, http://www.benchdogs.com.
Yes, buy an extra stick unless you're supremely confident, I have cut a couple in the wrong direction.
I watched a show on TV that advertised a corner measuring tool by Starrett, bend the thing around a corner, inside or outside, and the dial shows the angle to set your saw - - with a 100-year old house, I wish I'd had that little gizmo, my wife wouldn't have learned so much bad language.Ray
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