Bevel cut on edge of plywood

[Ralrick]

I want to put a 45* bevel on the edge of some plywood. Is this a safe way to trim off the bevel corner? I have a sacrificial fence up to the edge of the blade so when the board is trimmed, there will be a loose piece sitting on top of the blade? It will just be the corner edge of the plywood but not sure if I should be doing this differently.

 

[FredP]

Move the fence to the right putting the save piece against the fence. Safest way is to make 2 cuts. Half the bevel then set fence for the rest. That way the cut off falls away from the blade. Or do it on the jointer. If you do it the way you show the save piece can slip under the fence.

 

[chris_goris]

Happen to have a tracksaw? The waste piece isnt really any problem, but guiding the piece through with a diminishing edge is always problematic. Is the piece too wide to use the other edge as your guiding edge? The plywood flatness can also raise havoc here.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I use the same method as Fred. Put your work piece between the fence and the blade, face down. Your cutoff piece will be outside the blade and will slide back safely. Watch out for kickback. Shouldn't be much of an issue outside the blade.

 

[Gotcha6]

How big a pieces are you beveling? I made a jig for my TS that sits atop the fence with a 45 degree surface which will allow the plywood to rest on while passing through, but if you're doing larger pieces, it may prove to be awkward. It does work great, however, for making cuts with a resulting angle of <45 degrees.

 

[mpeele]

Generally I would not use sacrificial fence but would feed material between fence and blade. I think that is one of the advantages of a left tilt blade.
That said I might not use table saw but a hand held router or router table and 45 degree bit.

 

[Ralrick]

Thanks for the input guys. I did move the fence to the right and then left just the small waste corner falling under the blade. This is for the sides of some shop cabinets.

Thanks again for the help, I appreciate it.
Rick

 

[Rwe2156]

The issue is keeping the plywood flat down on the table.

If I may ask, why are you doing miters for shop cabinets?

 

[Ralrick]

DrBob - I'm know this is overkill for shop cabinets but I have built four frames using 2x material and installed lag bolts with threaded inserts for adjustable height in the corner of the frames. I'm wrapping three sides of each frames with 1/2" plywood to give it a finished look on what will be the end pieces of two cabinets (no face frames). The two cabinets will be along the wall with a miter saw in between them.

I also am doing it this way to see how well this works to join the end of plywood as I plan to build some Lally Column covers for finishing off our basement bar.

The issue is keeping the plywood flat down on the table.

If I may ask, why are you doing miters for shop cabinets?

 

[Skymaster]

lock miters for lolly column wraps

 

[Rwe2156]

Rick, sorry I don't grasp what you're doing, but I would still make the point that with a long miter you have to be sure you've got good down pressure next to the blade, especially with plywood.

Not really the safest cut in the world. Definitely want a splitter or riving knife.

If you have a router table, you can use a large chamfer bit and employ featherboards. Obviously, sneak up on it with 2-3 cuts.

For the columns, you might take a look at a technique called miter folding (similar to making a box). There is a fellow on YouTube "Insider Carpentry" who recently posted on making columns this way. IMO he's probably THE best finish carpenter I've ever seen.