Miter Saw Accessories - ShopNotes

GREATGearTame the dust in your shop andmake more accurate cuts withthese handy accessories.miter sawAccessoriesI don’t think a day goes by in myshop that the miter saw doesn’t getused. It’s great for cutting piecesto length, making angled cuts,or trimming an extra “hair” offa workpiece to get a good fit. Inshort, it’s a shop workhorse.But the saw by itself is moresuited to a construction site than aworkshop. Thankfully, the accessoriespictured above can make yourmiter saw more accurate, safer, andmore enjoyable to use.Rousseau DowndrafterWhen it comes to controlling thedust clouds produced at the mitersaw, I’ve tried just about everything.Starting with connectinga vacuum hose to the saw’s dustport, and moving on to building abox to try and corral the dust. Thedust seemed to win every time.So when I saw the Downdrafter, Ihad to give it a try.The Downdrafter is a dust collectionhood made of impact-resistantmolded plastic with a 4" dust collectionport. Using the hood, yourdust collector can handle even theworst dust clouds (like cuttingMDF) without missing much.Working the Angles. The problemwith trying to collect dust atthe miter saw is the fact that thedust exhaust changes position asyou move the blade to make angledcuts. That means a fixed collectionpoint won’t do the job — especiallywhen you angle the blade to cut at45°. So a smart system would allowyou to move the collection pointwith the blade. And that’s exactlywhat the Downdrafter does.Two Options. The Downdrafterhood is available in two models.{ Roll it to the Source. Sturdyconstruction and portability add tothe Downdrafter’s strengths. ShopNotes No. 92

The first, shown in the photo atright, is on wheels. This meansyou can position it and swivel thehood to match the angle of the sawto best capture the dust. It has theadded advantage of being mobile,so you can move it away from themiter saw and use it near yourworkbench or when you’re powersanding a bowl on the lathe.Another model attaches to themiter saw on rails allowing thehood to move with the saw as youchange angles. This option is greatif your miter saw stays in a fixedlocation in your shop and you seldomneed to move it to a job site.Results. I found it to be veryeffective, with either a standardmiter saw or a sliding-compoundmodel. And the steel stand makesheight adjustments easy while stillproviding a solid platform. You’llprobably want to add a 45° PVCelbow to your saw’s dust port, asshown in the main photo, to keepdust pointed into the hood. (Themanufacturer recommends thismodification in the instructionsheet included in the package.)With a street price of $150, it’snot the least expensive solution fordust control. But compared to coveringyour shop in a layer of dustand inhaling it as well, it just mightbe one of the most effective.The Kreg PrecisionMeasurement SystemA popular use for the miter sawis making accurate and repetitivelength cuts. Kreg has made the joba lot easier and more accurate withtheir Precision Measurement System.The kit consists of extruded aluminumT-track designed to fit overa 3 ⁄ 4 "-thick, shop-built fence. Thetrack comes in four 2' lengths, soyou can customize a setup for yourneeds. The kit also includes bothleft and right-reading measuringtapes that fit into the T-track.Stop Blocks. But the highlights ofthe system are the two stop blocks.Both slide and lock into positioneasily on the T-track and featureacrylic etched cursors for settingup precise cuts using the fence.The first block is square and fixesin position like a traditional stopblock. The second is a “flip-stop.”Once positioned, it can be flippedback over the fence and out of theway of the worksurface. Its curvedshape also allows you to slide aboard under it (as shown in the topphoto at right). The real advantagehere comes when you’re cuttingdifferent-sized pieces from a board.(For example, if you need to cutmultiple 60" and 30" pieces from aset of 8' boards.) You just slide the{ A Pair of Stops. Both the flip-stop (left) and thefixed stop (right) feature an easy-to-read hairlinecursor (inset above) for making accurate cuts.board against the flip stop, makethe cut, then slide it underneath thestop to the fixed block and makethe next cut (photo above).The price of the Precision MeasurementSystem is also around $150.But the accuracy and time savingscan quickly justify the cost.Bottom Line. The Downdrafterand Precision Measurement Systemare welcome additions to the shop.And if you cut a lot of crown molding,the box below shows anotherhandy upgrade. You can find outwhere to buy these accessories inSources on page 51.Accurate Cuts inCrown MoldingBenchdog Tools takes the hassleout of cutting crown moldingwith their Crown-Cut jig. The nicething about the Crown-Cut is itssimplicity. All you need to do isset the fence to hold the moldingupside down and at thecorrect angle — no needto tilt the blade. The directionsfor inside/outsidecorners and left/rightcuts are printed right on it tohelp you avoid errors. You justposition the molding in the jigand then cut the miter.Instructions fordifferent cutsprinted on jigAdjustable fence andback supports holdmolding in positionwww.ShopNotes.com