Help, my miter saw won't cut straight!

[Amy Leigh Baker]

I'm trying to bevel the ends of my 1x3 aprons on a Ryobi miter saw. As you can see from the pictures, it will cut the top correctly, but as the blade goes lower it gets farther and farther away from the cutline. The board seems to be sitting flat on the base. I am trying to pay attention to pulling it straight down and not putting any sideways pressure on it. I've tried adjusting the angles of the blade several times.

I've checked the framing square three different ways, line and flip test, with a protractor, and from the 4" mark to the 6" mark is 8", and all are perfect. And I have checked this cut with a combination square and it shows the same thing.

Any suggestions?

-Amy

P.S. Obviously this was a test cut.

[Don L Johnson]

Amy,

I'll await your answers as well. My Hitachi started doing the same thing recently...it use to be flawless!

At any rate, I've just attributed it to wear and tear and just use it as a chop saw now, and finish up any finish cuts on my table or radial arm saw. Good luck.

Don

[Amy Leigh Baker]

I'm sure people have done this before... posting this thread helped me to figure it out. I was checking the angle of the tilting function, THEN moving the saw to 45 degrees and the rotating function. Obviously, on this saw at least, you get one angle set correctly, it doesn't necessarily stay that way if you move the other angle. So I tilted the top of the blade right, bringing the bottom of the blade closer to the cut.

[Steve knight]

looks like it is either not snapping back to 90 or the fence is off.
put the square against the fence and then the blade.

[glenn bradley]

I'm sure people have done this before... posting this thread helped me to figure it out. I was checking the angle of the tilting function, THEN moving the saw to 45 degrees and the rotating function. Obviously, on this saw at least, you get one angle set correctly, it doesn't necessarily stay that way if you move the other angle. So I tilted the top of the blade right, bringing the bottom of the blade closer to the cut.

Glad you got it. I got varying results depending on the hardness or grain direction of the wood so I went to this.

[John Thompson]

I'm trying to bevel the ends of my 1x3 aprons on a Ryobi miter saw. As you can see from the pictures, it will cut the top correctly, but as the blade goes lower it gets farther and farther away from the cutline. The board seems to be sitting flat on the base. I am trying to pay attention to pulling it straight down and not putting any sideways pressure on it. I've tried adjusting the angles of the blade several times.

I've checked the framing square three different ways, line and flip test, with a protractor, and from the 4" mark to the 6" mark is 8", and all are perfect. And I have checked this cut with a combination square and it shows the same thing.

Any suggestions?

-Amy

P.S. Obviously this was a test cut.

Something else you have to be cautious of on miters and bevels Amy, is what as known in the south by trim carpenters as "walking the fence". You can have the saw set up perfectly at a 45* degree or whatever angle and still get a gap in the cut or off-line.

In a 90* degree cut.. you pull straight down and the stock literally offers no resistance. But.. add and angle and the teeth are more agressive coming in from the side and have a tendency to make the stock "shift" or "walk" especially near the bottom of the cut.

Make sure especially on an angle cut that the stock is very secure to the fence. You can even clamp it to prevent it. You want see too many trim carpenters that don't have a piece of two sided sand-paper attached to the fence also. That gives the back of the stock touching the fence a little added traction and helps hold it in place.

Good luck ma'am...

Sarge..

[Amy Leigh Baker]

Yep, when I moved the saw back to do crosscuts I had to readjust BOTH angles, not just one.

I also noticed that there was some variance in the cut depending on my hand motion. Not enough to create the gap on the previous pictures, but surprisingly a lot.

[fRED mCnEILL]

I had a similar problem with my Makita on angle cuts. Just about drove me nuts and wore the saw out trying to adjust it.

In the end I found the problem was the wood moving.
Clamp it to the table and I think you will find it cuts just fine.

Fred Mc/.

[John-Paul Murphy]

Sarge hit the nail on the head. angle cuts usually require a clamp if unable to hold very tight against the fence. If that does not fix it. unplug the saw place it in the down position and wiggle it to see where the play may be. there should be very very little if any.

[Ron Bontz]

Just my penny worth. I had a drifting problem on my Dewalt 708 and found part of my problem was the thin kerf blade flexing on angled cuts. No stabilizer on the blade. I use full kerf blades now and that problem has subsided. I also make sure the blade is good and sharp and slow down on those cuts.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Clamp it to the table and I think you will find it cuts just fine.

Fred Mc/.[/quote]



I would second that. Another thing that sometimes helps is to attach some adhesive backed sandpaper to the fence to prevent creeping.

The other suggestion I would make is if you are having the problem only when beveling a flat workpiece, perhaps you should try mitering it vertically against the fence?

Doc

[Gene Michael]

i run into this problem occasionally when sawing red oak. 2 things have helped: new blade and slower cuts. good luck!

[J. Z. Guest]

Glad you solved the problem, and I have squirreled it away in the back of my brain in case I ever run into it.

This may be a dumb question, but do you have a table saw? I don't think you'd have this problem with bevel cuts on a table saw.

[Glenn Corbly]

Maybe I have the same problem with my Sears compound miter. I've tested and adjusted the saw the best I can, yet the edge closest to me cuts in further. It's not square and I"m getting ready to work with some 3/4 Oak for trim. I've check the fence numerous times, but last night I moved the miter 1 degree to the right getting a closer square 45 degree cut. Any help?

[Kyle Kaldor]

One of my friends recently had this problem on his miter saw.

It turned out that his blade was very dull. He put in a new blade and the problem went away.