Shopsmith Forums

I have to admit that cutting molding on the Shopsmith has got me beat. This molding is the same design as molding that is install on a ceiling. I made the molding for a bookcase featured in the Hands On magazine September/October 1985 issue. Does anyone have a method that is clear and easy to follow? I am looking for the angles and the placement of the molding on the table. Thanks.

I haven't done this, but I think if you make a U shaped box that hold the molding on the miter gauge with the top of molding at the bottom of the U and away from the miter gauge set at 45 it will work. Now if the molding is too tall (wide) to cut on saw, use the same on your bandsaw and touch up cut on disk sander. Try on scrap piece. Like I said this is my best guess without doing it.

There is a section in Power Tool Woodworking For Everyone on cutting compound angles that includes a chart with the miter and tilt angles.

link to online version. https://www.shopsmith.com/acadhttps://w ... oundangles

I see that the link to the chart is bad.
here is a photo of the chart in my copy.

If you click the "printer friendly version" of the on line link above, the chart is on the last page.

You can easily do it like BobCoates1953 said.

I've done quite a bit of those cuts and I just put a backing board on my miter gauge, sit the molding against it in the position you want it mounted on the project, set the miter gauge to the desired angle and cut.

garys wrote:You can easily do it like BobCoates1953 said.

I've done quite a bit of those cuts and I just put a backing board on my miter gauge, sit the molding against it in the position you want it mounted on the project, set the miter gauge to the desired angle and cut.

Which is essentially how one does it with a miter saw.

RetiredNavyChief wrote:I have to admit that cutting molding on the Shopsmith has got me beat. This molding is the same design as molding that is install on a ceiling. I made the molding for a bookcase featured in the Hands On magazine September/October 1985 issue. Does anyone have a method that is clear and easy to follow? I am looking for the angles and the placement of the molding on the table. Thanks.

I think the advice you got from Bob Coates1953 is probably your easiest solution. I cut some wide stock for crown moldings on a large piece this winter and posted the following back in February:

"As far as cutting compound miters, the chart in PTWFE seems to be accurate, but there may be an easier way to do the job. You can build a simple miter box consisting of two parallel sides and a bottom, making the distance between the parallel sides whatever it takes to get the molding wedged between them at the correct tilt angle. Then set your miter gage at 45 degrees and run the molding in the miter box through the saw. I know this is not a thorough or even very good description of the process, but hopefully you get the general idea. There are lots of good videos on line that show how its done. The beauty of doing it this way is that you avoid tilting the table. The method of tilting the table and angling the miter gage works, but introduces complexities, like dealing with the cut-off on the uphill side of the saw and the difficulty of adjusting the table and the miter gage to fractions of degrees.

Just a thought, but you can also use a good old-fashioned miter box and back saw. Some might consider this heresy, but hey, its all woodworking. I recently cut a crown molding that was 4 inches wide, which meant that I could not make the cut completely through with the Shopsmith, so I cut the last half inch or so with a Stanley miter box. Worked great.

Thanks everyone for their advise and helpful input. I was able to make the cuts today.

RetiredNavyChief wrote:Thanks everyone for their advise and helpful input. I was able to make the cuts today.

Which method did you use?