Easiest way to cut ply ends at 45 degrees?

[Ruffy]

Hi all,

Just mucking around with some ply and cheap widebanders and I am looking at making a box out of marine ply. Cut to size at bunnings as I am wood tool-less at this stage. Option 1 (easily achievable for a newbie) is just to dowel and glue it with the ends visible at some edges. Other option is to attempt some 45s at the ends and line everything up but I am wondering how people cut these? Also, how do people join two bits of ply that end in 45's? Option 1 looks a lot easier too as I can just sand out join imperfections...

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[Malcolm]

Easiest way it to get a cabinet maker to make the cuts for you , they could also buy the ply in for you . Or find a trade school with wood trades and see it they could do it for you . A couple of the apprentices could get modules marked off .

Some board suppliers also offer cutting services .

Cheers

[Ruffy]

Thanks Malcolm, how do you join them?

Edited August 15, 2014 by Ruffy

[Guest Peter the Greek]

If you don't have any tools, no intention to invest in them, pay someone to do it for you.

 

if you want to buy, these are some options:

- Bench saw with a decent guide....relatively easy. Expensive and takes a lot of room

 

- Track saw (festool or Makita)......takes some practice. These were done with a festool:

 

 

- Router table either mitre or mitrelock joints - difficult to set up, but best IMO. not a great photo, but google it (mitrelock)

 

 

Other options for butt joints, your first one:

- Dowels - cheap (buy a dowel kit from bunnings)

- Biscuits - need a cutter or  router

- Slots - need a router and a saw

- Dominos - very expensive tool from Festool

- Screws (blind, this is not easy)

- Screws and fill - easiest and cheapest

 

Either which way you'll want some clamps too

[Sub Sonic]

Glue and packing tape ;-)

[EV Cali]

Hi Ruffy

I am starting from the point that you want to do this reasonably cheaply and as a newbie, easily. The cheapest and easiest way is to buy your board at Bunning's and have them do the straight cuts. To join them use a square timber block ,internally, glued and screwed to the board. Drill a hole larger than the screw in the square timber and a smaller hole in the board. If the screw hole in the board is slightly off set it will pull the boards together. You can join the boards cut at 45% with dowels or the other ways mentioned above but as with the butted straight edges it will need some degree of accuracy and would benefit from the use of a doweling jig or other expensive tools. If you are happy with the out come of your boxes you could use 45% joints on a second more complicated and costly second version.

Edited August 15, 2014 by EVcali

[Ruffy]

Thanks SS, I could throw in some cable ties stuck together too...

 

Thanks Peter, great response! I am not against buying tools but didn't want to have to buy a stack just for one job. I'll look into the track saw, maybe hit up cash converters. How do you do your joins with those 45's?

[Guest Peter the Greek]

They were just glued (with epoxy). Strong enough for that purpose....I'd not let an elephant sit on it though

 

Actually I might have used biscuits as well......yeah I must have, getting it at right angles like that is a ***** otherwise

[Sub Sonic]

Hi Ruffy,

 

I was actually serious about the glue and tape. If you glue the mitred joints, you can use packing tape stretched around the cabinet which will hold the whole job together without a stack of clamps. The edges should end up pretty well lined up if the cuts are accurate. It also helps if the mitres are cut slightly over 45 degrees as it will help keep the visible edges together, and not held apart by the glue in between.

 

Regards,

 

SS

[Ruffy]

Great, you've answered my questions Peter! Thanks EVcali too!

[Sub Sonic]

If you go with the butt joins with the slight overlap as in diagram 1, a trimming bit in a router will finish it off easily and well.

 

Cheers!

 

SS

[Ruffy]

Cheers SS, my apologies about the above comment too, I thought you were taking the piss!

[Sub Sonic]

No worries Ruffy, I should have explained it earlier :-)

Cheers!

SS

[Guest]

@@Ruffy

What tools do you have access to?

A circular saw will do the job.

If you wanna do "longways" cuts, like in Peter's first pic....

Clamp a spirit level or piece of steel to the piece you're cutting as a guide.

Set the saw at 45 degrees and run it along the guide.

If it's for "picture frame" type miters...

Mark the angle, clamp a guide to the piece and cut.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Dirty_vinylpusher

[Ruffy]

A mate has one, that could work with some practice I guess. It's small tips like that that I don't think about straight away that'd help. I am guessing a track saw would have much finer teeth to stop chipping so I'll have to check out the blade. A replacement blade on a circular saw would be much cheaper than a new track saw though!

[Guest]

A bit of tape across the cut line will reduce chipping.

The "bottom" of the piece as you're cutting it, will chip less as the saw blade teeth rip in to it, rather than cutting on exit, so to speak.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Dirty_vinylpusher

[Guest]

[Green Wagon]

You could set up a guide and use a 45 bit in a router.

Could do rebated edges to reduce the visible amount of edging.

Could do butt joins and make a feature of the end grain (personally I quite like the look of ply end grain).

 

I would also suggest that even though I do like expensive tools, it is more to do with practice, skill, and understanding the tools you have, that will make the biggest difference.

 

Understand the dangers that some tools bring. Pointless having the best if it takes a finger or five on its first use.

 

90% of the tools I have are not expensive, and half of those are my dads that he bought ~50 years ago.

 

If your (like me) not so great with tools, it wont matter if you own a metabo or a dewalt.

(I don't like dewalt. I used to repair tools. I will never buy a dewalt. Actually theres quite a few brands I will never buy).

 

Get some scrap and practice.

Understand that you will probably make mistakes.

Learn from the mistake, workout how to fix the mistake, move onto the next drama

 

And never forget, if all else fails, mistakes in wood can be hidden with fire.  :ph34r:

[awty]

Hi all,

Just mucking around with some ply and cheap widebanders and I am looking at making a box out of marine ply. Cut to size at bunnings as I am wood tool-less at this stage. Option 1 (easily achievable for a newbie) is just to dowel and glue it with the ends visible at some edges. Other option is to attempt some 45s at the ends and line everything up but I am wondering how people cut these? Also, how do people join two bits of ply that end in 45's? Option 1 looks a lot easier too as I can just sand out join imperfections...

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

 

This is a guide on how to join at 45 and strengthen. If you get the boards pre cut it should be easy enough to do with a few basic tools.

http://www.startwoodworking.com/sites/startwoodworking.com/files/Mitered-Boxes-Rogowski.pdf

 

You can do heaps with just a straight edge, some clamps a circular saw, router and jigsaw.......thats all I use to use, only recently got a triton bench.

 

When making speakers I usually use MDF, rebate all my joints and after Im finish I cover the box by gluing on thin finishing ply and just trim the edges and sand.  That way you get no noticeable end grain (if you use less than 3mm) and have a very strong box.

 

[TMM]

Wood glue and clamped is generally good enough for 45deg mitre joints as long as the mitre cuts are accurate.

I use a circular saw tilted to 45degrees, with a second piece of wood clamped to the workpiece to act as the 'fence' which the circular saws runs against. A factory edge of a piece of MDF works great as the fence, since the factory edges are close to dead straight and MDF doesn't warp too much over time.

The hardest part is working out how far away from the 'fence' your circular saw cuts (will be different for 45deg and straight cuts), and then clamping down your fence in exactly the right spot to cut your workpiece to the exact size you need. Alternatively you can attach your 'fence' to a second piece of scrap wood, run the saw along it so it cuts through it, then you can clamp it down to your workpiece and it should cut exactly along the cut edge of the scrap wood. It also has the benefit of preventing chip-out on the top face of the piece you are cutting. You'd need to make one for straight cuts and one for angled cuts however.

 

If the workpiece is bowed enough that the base of the circular saw lifts up from the piece then you will not be able to cut a 45deg mitre cleanly and you'll end up with a hollow where your two pieces join.

 

You will probably also want to put a piece of blue painters masking tape along the cut line to prevent chip-out which is particularly problematic with plywood and softwood.

If you are using a circular saw to make 45deg mitre cuts with a homemade fence, pay attention not to let the saw 'tip over' into your workpiece as you pull it away at the end of the cut. It is sometimes easier to just hold the saw in place at the end until the blade has stopped.

 

A circular saw blade with lots of teeth is your friend for clean cuts. I use a 40 tooth blade and that seems to work fine as long as you don't go too fast. You don't want to go too slowly either or you can burn the edges of the wood.

 

A couple of belt clamps (the type you use to clamp picture frames) and a few long clamps will come in handy. Bunnings sell a type of clamp that is similar to the Irwin Quick-Grip clamps but about a third of the price.

 

And above all, it always pays off to try the cut first on a piece of scrap if you are unsure how well your setup is going to cut!

Edited August 16, 2014 by TMM