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is close enough? When you are cutting angles, be it 90, 45, 22 1/2, or whatever, how close is close enough? Of course we all strive for perfect everything, but it seems that isn't always possible. So is a tolerance of + or - 2 degrees acceptable? 1 degree? 1/2 Degree? What do you consider close enough for good quality work?
Thanks
Greg
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Close enough is no visible gaps.
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(04-21-2022, 07:12 AM)Gregor1 Wrote: is close enough? When you are cutting angles, be it 90, 45, 22 1/2, or whatever, how close is close enough? Of course we all strive for perfect everything, but it seems that isn't always possible. So is a tolerance of + or - 2 degrees acceptable? 1 degree? 1/2 Degree? What do you consider close enough for good quality work?
Thanks
Greg
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I'm often surprised by how big of a gap even 1 degree can leave. Seems like it should be inconsequential.
It really depends on the application, of course, but I often find myself tweaking at 1/10th degree to get tight joints, such as on picture frames. But I can also be a bit OCD on things like that.
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04-21-2022, 02:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-21-2022, 02:54 PM by alexh1.)
I think it depends on what you are building,I built many exterior shutters with butted frame joints having previously calibrated my chop saw 90 deg cut.
Slightly out of square won't really matter much because louvers are floating and the shutters are made out of softwood.
Then I started a 40"x40" hard maple cabinet frame with inset doors (much more critical) and I tested the 90 deg cut on the frame stock using my largest high accuracy framing square and immediately realized I was way off, as in 0.5" over 30" or so. So I recalibrated the 90 deg and I think by mostly luck I got it very close to dead on. When I closed the last joint on the frame, it was about 1/4" off at the most.
I think my crosscut sled would actually have been a better choice, even if a miter saw is perfect 90 deg, hand pressure on the head can swing it a fraction of a degree. I tried to be consistent on the hand pressure.
For me, I have found that when you are making something that has another piece that fits inside and does not "float" I need the best accuracy possible. Of course its possible to adjust the inside piece to fit but usually I end up like the guy that cuts the chair leg to prevent it from rocking and ends up with a legless chair!
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(04-21-2022, 07:21 AM)Gary G™ Wrote: Close enough is no visible gaps.
For visible parts of pieces I care about, this is my criterion too.
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I built a deck years ago. It wasn't my first choice (concrete was, as it was ground level) but I couldn't get a contractor to call me back. So I decided to build a deck. We had a second-story deck that we didn't use very much. Without thinking much, I used the corners of that deck as a reference to the lower deck. I staked it out after using plumb bobs from the upper deck, excavated, and built the deck. To the eye it looked perfectly square, and the diagonal tools I had said "close enough" to me.
When I started laying the boards, I realized it wasn't square. It turns out it was about 89 degrees, not 90, because the deck I used as a reference was also not square. I was able to work around this, but over a 12 foot span one degree adds up to a lot. In most woodworking applications, one degree won't mean that much. But it depends on the scale - if you have a large door, one degree will be very obvious at 24" or more, but not so much at 12". I do agree with the above - no visible gaps is good enough. I will share a few things I've learned though.
1) Miters need to have no visible gaps. As I am fond of saying, a miter saw is not a precision tool. That said, provided you make joining cuts on opposite sides of the blade, it really doesn't matter. It is not a big deal to have 44 and 46 degree cuts joined, but 44 and 44 will be a problem. If you cut on opposite sides of the blade, other than blade deflection it will add up to a perfect joint.
2) When using rough lumber, always joint the wood. I am not sure I could tell you the sequence of events that got me to a certain point, but there have been several times where I tried to cut corners (no pun intended) and ended up with "parallelogram" stock. A planer will create two parallel faces, so if one isn't square the other won't be either. This gets very important depending on how the pieces are joined. In this application, all faces should be very close to 90.
3) Alignment of a miter saw or crosscut sled is most important at 90. It's the easiest cut to align and the most frequent cut you make, so it should be as perfect as possible. As mentioned above, if you are joining something like a cabinet door and the rail is cut at 89.5, a lot of stress will be put on that door if it's 16" wide and a visible gap will likely show.
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The other day I was putting crown molding on a piece of furniture and 1 corner didn't fit exactly right at 45 degrees. I had to keep shaving at different angles until it did fit right. And that's not the first time I experienced this.
Jim
Jim
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