Best approach for large quantity of small parts

[ebarker9]

I've agreed to help out a friend with a craft project by supplying parts for sort of a 3D mosaic. I'm confronted with making 256 1" cubes with one face as a compound bevel cut. I did a few as a proof of principle, making the bevel cut with the miter gauge on the table saw, then changing the blade and miter angle back to 0 and using a block clamped to the fence to set the 1" offset from the longest point of the face. Clearly that's not going to work for 256 of them so I was planning to take 1" square stock and do all of the bevel cuts first, leaving the pieces ~1.5" long and then make a simple miter sled with a toggle clamp to do the square cuts. Even that is going to take a while and I'm concerned about having enough material to clamp when making the square cuts. Any alternate suggestions?

[ed kerns]

Well, making 256 of anything is going to take awhile! I don't fully understand your description of the compound angle cut required on one side, but would it be possible to make that profile with a router bit? Even if two runs and two bits are required it seems a better and safer alternative to a table saw. As you suggest, you could leave your stock long (and wide) and just rip the one inch width after the profiling is done. Cross cutting the 1" squares are going to take time, but I think making a stand-off off your rip fence to measure the inch and then cutting with a sled or miter gauge would be the quickest way to go. Obviously when pieces get too small to hold, its time to profile another long edge.

[Steve N]

ed kerns said:

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I don't fully understand your description of the compound angle cut required on one side

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Same here. Maybe if you just said what the final dimensions are going to be, and if you can show a pic of the one you made so we are all on the same page.

[Paul K. Murphy]

Plan for spoilage. Make 275 of them.
I'd have a lot more to say, but I don't think I could on the forum. I only understand your idea a little, I don't want to type it out, no quick "restaurant napkin sketches" and face to face possible here.
One thing I will tell you is that if you devise a technique, it may be a little like making yourself into a machine. Each cut becomes a stroke that your arms, your hands perform; pushing the wood past the blade. It can be hypnotic. In that state it isn't hard to push your fingers through the blade. Try to contrive a device/jig that renders this impossible. Take breaks during the production run.

[AgGEM]

Paul K. Murphy said:

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One thing I will tell you is that if you devise a technique, it may be a little like making yourself into a machine. Each cut becomes a stroke that your arms, your hands perform; pushing the wood past the blade. It can be hypnotic. In that state it isn't hard to push your fingers through the blade. Try to contrive a device/jig that renders this impossible. Take breaks during the production run.

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+ a zillion.

Best Woodnet reply of the day!
Ag

[Paul K. Murphy]

Thanks for the acknowledgement.
Allow me to say I'm absolutely 100% serious about this.
I can remember a job from a couple years back.
Tick
Tock
Tick
Tock
I would slide the carriage of the panel saw back...
Advance the slender board to the right, into the fence...
Push forward for the cut...
Repeat.
Each time the long slender board grew shorter. Easy, and I do mean easy, to push one's hands right through a blade that would have no difficulty amputating every finger. 7.5 Hp., 14" blade.
For stuff like that, contrive a special "rail" type guard. A rail, temporarily secured in place that you have to get through to present flesh to blade. Hands don't go through rails. Take breaks too.

[Steve N]

Well that............. or this

Now you just need to tell friend you need a special tool to zip through the work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ruwZdaPjbs

[jteneyck]

OK, I think I know what you want to make, a 1" cube with one face being a compound miter, just as you said. Seems straight forward to me. One way to do it would be to cut the compound angle on your miter saw, starting with long 1" square stock. Then go to the table saw and make the square cut, registering the bevel against a stop block on a fence on your miter gage. The other approach would be to cut them on your TS with both the miter gage and blade set an an angle. Or you could make an inclined sled with the back rest set at an angle. That would allow you cut the compound angle without tilting the blade. Then you could make the compound angle cut with one pass, followed by the square cut on the other end with another simple sled or miter gage, without having to change blade angle.

In any case, you will need to come up with a secure, hands free clamping mechanism to hold the part.

John

[Paul K. Murphy]

That thing is cool. A good idea. I have to learn more about this one.
It reminds me of a cooper's jointer in some ways.

[Steve N]

Didja see the tiny parts Jon was cutting with it, no loss of fangers either. I was in front of one for 20 minutes, and was able to make an octagon with 1" x 1/2" sides. I'd have been skittish doing that even on a BS, much less a TS. I never even gave thought to where my fingers were, just as long as they were wide of the blade, and holding the workpiece pulled up tight to the fence. Sweet tool, but oh my the price........ That is a when I win the lotto...

John I was thinking 1" square stock 8' long. Bevel front to back on TS while it is still large, and manageable. Then switching to a real miter box (NO ELECTRO) cut the bevel across the face, and then make a width cut, but that is seeing a compound miter in my mind, and I'm not sure it's the same one OP is wanting. It actually can go a few directions. It's why I asked him to post a pic with absolute final dimensions. The problem is we want it to be the compound miter you see on flat stock, but projecting that into a cube is somehow hard for me to be clear if what I described, is what he is thinking.