hello all,
I don’t post much anymore around here, just mostly hang out in the shadows… I’m getting ready to retire my pair of 15″ hatach’s, gonna prolly go 12″ makita slide (wanna test run the 12″ hatach if I can first…)which brings up my question- do you cut all your crown flat vs. “upside down & backwards?” if so, what was the learning curve before you would do it without thinking about it first? I have limited experiance on a 12″ makita slide,(one sweet machine, by the way,) none on any other brand of slide, are the fences too short to cut crown (like 2 1/2″) tilted up against the fence? I have done so much crown this way for so long I started having sex upside down & backwards- kinda throws a cool spin on things…
anyway, thanks in advance, I’m off to deal with another day’s toil & trouble, everyone have a great day today, ok?
greg
Replies
You will love the Makita....I bought it (the LS1211 as it was known when first introduced) when it first came out and paid much more than the newwer model is selling for, but its been well worth the price I paid.
Do not fear, you will learn to have sex , er, cut crown lieing flat on the bed...although the latter is not nearly as fun as the former. (No matter how ya do it!)
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Edited 4/22/2004 11:28 am ET by JAYBIRD
Greg,
I have always preferred the upside down and backwards route for crown. Just to make sure I get it right, I have a small diagram taped to the housing of the saw, showing the placement of the crown in the saw. After using it for a whie, I no longer need to look, but once in a while I double check to be sure.
Try this site:
http://store.balmer.com/howto/install-molding/crown-molding-miters.html
At the bottom of the page is the diagram, clearly showing the waste side for the type of corner you have.
Steve
I Have the Makita 12" slider and love it, but not its weight. I have a jig for cutting crown upside down, as that's the way I've always done it and this dog can learn new tricks, but I have to be selective. Gary Katz was right when he said crown cut on the flat is inherently more inaccurate. He didn't expound on it any, but it sounded good to me.
Don't retire those big Hitachis! I've got aMakita 1211 and the DeWalt SCMS. I don't like cutting crown on the flat either, so it's usually the DeWalt. If it's really big crown, I "borrow" back my old 15" Hitachi, tweaking the cut is so much easier, but man, that thing is heavy. Don't worry, we can fix that later!
Its rare that I get to cut it flat. There's only 1 profile I've run into that's common around here that I can cut flat. Some of the 45 crown is only 45 as viewed, not what the flat on the back would tell you. The preset 31.6 etc stops don't work on 38/52 crown. So most of the time, I just take five minutes and build the box. Like someone else said - you know you got it right that way. Actually, I build 2 boxes. Its equally rare that crown that sits 3" down also sits 3" out - and I cope it in a box made to hold it 90 degrees from how it was cut.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Thanks for all your replys, guys...so have cleared it all up for me.
12" makita slide and a new 15 " hatach.The old Hatachis need to be retired. Oldest one has been in service since '86, second one bought from a tool repair shop (owner bailed on picking up the tool,) for 275, figgrd I couldnt go wrong, I was wrong, never could get that saw dialed in- I think I'll try & take good parts from both & see if I can salvage out 1 good saw. If not, dumpster time, I hate fighting a saw to get good miters. Right now I'm running on a 10" hatach compond miter- dont use the compound, works ok, shore doo miss having that sweet 15 incher tho...
greg
i've got the hitachi 10' slider (has its flaws in terms of user-friendliness, but it's smooth and accurate), and i cut crown both ways, depending on the size. i'd prefer to do it all udab style, since the bevel guage on the hitachi bites (rigged a paperclip in place of the plastic arrow to increase accuracy), but the saw won't allow udab on the larger crown sizes, blade/motor housing gets in the way, so i slice 'em flat and hope for the best.
how wide a crown can be cut udab with a 15" saw? the 12" non-sliders? can you cut 5 1/4 ogee cap one-piece base standing up with a 12"? i gotta know.
I have the 10" Makita slider ( LS1013). It's great. I recently cut some crown with it. I used the instructions in this document provided by Makita.
http://www.makita.com/res_tools/pdf/CuttingCrown.pdf
After making sure the wall measurements were dead on, I made the cuts. The angles and cuts were dead on. There was barely a hair's gap in between the joints. The only way to get a smaller gap would be to cope it in my opinion.