Mitering on a straight cut H band

Im beginning to occasionally need miter capacity beyond what an abrasive saw, which I loathe, will handle.

My H band is good sized and stout, 12" sq capacity, and the rigid jaw is pinned square. The vise bed and arm upport are a single large casting. I don't want to mess with that because that MF'er cuts straight as can be, maybe a few thou out per inch of cut. I'm thinking I could clamp a small swiveling mill vise in the machine's normal vise but that seems pretty hack. On the flip side, soft jaws in a vise could be quite handy. I also considered attaching something like a sine plate to the solid jaw and that has the virtue of not adding height to the assembly, but I'd need a traveling jaw that pivots to accommodate the stock's angle. No big deal, but another piece to create.


Has anyone done or seen something more elegant?

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My DoAll is like that, but mine swivels and if I change the vise it takes 3 hours to get it back to dead straight. What I do is clamp a 45 degree cast square plate to the vise. I have the whole set of monster squares in steel. I dont cut much odd stuff like 22 1/2.

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My 12x16 JET horizontal is a mitering saw and it goes back to dead nuts straight as fast as I can turn it back against the stops. I cut a shitload of W14x48 with it building my shop and there wasn't any problem with the straight or miter cuts.

I've made fixtures for that saw that locate in the machined slot the movable jaw rides in so I could hold odd parts at odd angles for repetitive cuts. Worked awesome.

It wouldn't bother me in the least to pull off the fixed jaw if it's got solid pin locations and fix something else in it's place for your specific needs.

For 45 or 22.5 that'd be the way to go. But on Tuesday I was trying to do 41.5. I ended up putting the i beam in the VMC and letting it knaw it out. Took too long, but talk about great fitup.

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Garwood said:

It wouldn't bother me in the least to pull off the fixed jaw if it's got solid pin locations and fix something else in it's place for your specific needs.

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Maybe I need to relook at my viewpoint. Ream the pin holes for a slip fit rather than press and work from there.

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Strap clamps. May have to drill and tap a few holes in the casting.

I have a plate with a grid of 1/2 13 holes tapped in it and I just use standard holdowns, you just clamp it like any other piece of stock just clear of the blade path. You lose whatever the thickness of the fixture plate, if that’s an issue? You can also do compound angles if needed?

Kevin

bsg said:

I have a plate with a grid of 1/2 13 holes tapped in it and I just use standard holdowns, you just clamp it like any other piece of stock just clear of the blade path. You lose whatever the thickness of the fixture plate, if that’s an issue? You can also do compound angles if needed?

Kevin

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I like this a lot!

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I used to use plywood cut to the angle required for angle cuts on my horizontal saw.
I would screw two pieces of 3/4" together for most work, square tube up to 4x4 etc. I also liked to leave my fixed jaw fixed and preferred to just clamp my angled plywood to make the cuts.
I do have a full size wood shop so that was a factor in my choice of materials and dialing in the angles on my sliding saw was quite easy and fast.
I found I was always having to cut odd angles and this was a fast way to get the job done.

Now I have two cold saw for all my cutting needs and my horizontal is outside for occasional work. The cold saws miter so fast and so accurately that I would never want to cut angles on a horizontal again.......

Good luck,

Michael

M. Moore said:

The cold saws miter so fast and so accurately that I would never want to cut angles on a horizontal again.......

Good luck,

Michael

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Which cold saws are you using?

Sorry for the delay, the site software doesn't always send me the new posts.

Both saws are Eisele, which is a German brand. One is very old and the other is not quite as old (36 years) but was never used and I had to clean off the cosmolene from the table. The older one is bigger, 16" blade and can cut 4x6x1/4 HSS with ease it will actually take a 20" blade but the blades are twice as expensive as a 16", with a 20 you can cut 7x7 or 1"x 10" flat bar. The smaller machine has an 11" blade but can cut 3x3 sq tubing and up to 3x3 solid I think so pretty good capacity for a small machine.
I often have both of them cutting at the same time and just keep walking back and forth as the cuts finish.

I spent quite a bit of time rebuilding the older machine and it cuts very well for its age. I spent only a little bit of time prepping the "new" saw and it has been running well and should outlast my days in the shop. I would not buy a hand operated machine, pulling on the handle would get old really fast. I like the semi-auto feature of both my machines although I still have to restore the auto vice on the large machine as it is not currently holding pressure. (air operated)

Basically mitring on a cold saw is like cutting on a woodworking chop saw, very fast and accurate, except the cold saws are more accurate! Once you use one you will never go back to a bandsaw and I have a pretty good bandsaw but I could never get it to cut mitres well. Now I can tig weld joints with no filler, perfect!