Resolved Saw clamps

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GreyDrakkon

GreyDrakkon

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I was working at my shop for over a decade and then bought it, so of course everything has been falling apart after years of use. One thing that crapped out was my miter saw, and the scales along with it were kinda janky, so I sprung for a hot fresh Clearmount scale system, set up for two saws so we wouldn't have to keep flipping back and forth to cut the miters. Here's the problem, it's completely ass-backwards compared to how we're used to it being, so there's been a learning curve.

CLAMPS: In theory they work, in practice they're a pain to set, since they're screw-in and need to be changed according to the width of the moulding, which varies a LOT more than the height. My last saw had a clamp that came down from the top with a rubber bump, and that was pretty quick and easy to adjust, albeit limited in where it could hold down the moulding (right by the saw blade). The clamps that came with the Clearmount scales slide along the front edge of the scales, which is actually a problem because they can't get inside of 8" on a thin moulding, because the base of the saws gets in the way. Not only that, but on shorter mouldings they seem to rock the moulding upwards, which is not good for accurate cuts of course.

My issue seems to be that I don't have the vocabulary to look for a good alternative method of clamping down the pieces, the clamps that came down with the saws are WAY too wide and would only work for flat mouldings besides. I can't use the old system because they were falling apart. So can anyone help me out with figuring out what kind of clamps I can use on the miter saw/scales?
 
While I have used clamps on a regular Mitre Saw, I have never used them when cutting regular Mitres.
On My Dewalt Mitre Saw I end up using F-clamps for unusual projects.
On my Pistorius, I can hold everything by hand just fine.
Can you share pictures of your current and previous clamps?
I am more curious than knowledgeable on this.
 
Another resource:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
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alacrity8 said:
While I have used clamps on a regular Mitre Saw, I have never used them when cutting regular Mitres.
On My Dewalt Mitre Saw I end up using F-clamps for unusual projects.
On my Pistorius, I can hold everything by hand just fine.
Can you share pictures of your current and previous clamps?
I am more curious than knowledgeable on this.
Click to expand...
I am uneasy about holding the moulding down, since now the moulding faces towards the holder, that means the saw is coming across the arm. Before, the moulding faced away and that meant the majority of the leg being cut was easy to hold without the saw being in a concerning area. You can see what I'm talking about about in the first pic. (Yes, the guard is in place, but I still don't like having a spinning blade aimed my way).

You can see in the second picture how the clamp that comes with the scale acts, lift the lever and the rubber end pins the moulding against the fence, EXCEPT it's doing a bad job of it of it's a short moulding, and it's annoying to unscrew the thing and replace it with a shorter/longer one each time a different sized moulding is cut. The pivoting top down clamp is the one that came with the saw, and it's pretty much useless, the disk wobbles like crazy, and being metal would dig into the moulding anyways.
 

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wpfay said:
Another resource:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
Click to expand...
Aha! The hold down toggle clamp is actually what I'm looking for, since that comes from above and won't get fouled by a low rabbet. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
GreyDrakkon said:
Aha! The hold down toggle clamp is actually what I'm looking for, since that comes from above and won't get fouled by a low rabbet. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I can see how the blade coming at you would be scary.
The always in place blade guard of a Pistorius gives me more confidence than the moving ones on a traditional Mitre Saw.
Those hold hold Toggles are exactly what I got for when I needed to make some wide angle cuts on my Mitre Saw.
 
GreyDrakkon said:
Aha! The hold down toggle clamp is actually what I'm looking for, since that comes from above and won't get fouled by a low rabbet. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes, but be sure to position them so they don't block the downward travel of the motor housing on the right hand side.
The vertical clamp on my Phaedra can get in the way, but only on the right hand side.
 
Some of those ones that push forward into the rabbet might be useful if you could have a local metal shop graft a flat metal pusher onto the front of the moving rod, like the front clamp on a v-nailer.
:cool: Rick

BTW, I have a very basic saw bench setup made by Pootatuck almost 50 years ago. This is how they mounted the clamps on that... just a bent piece of metal to hold the clamp at the desired angle to clear the moulding. The hold-down on the clamp is adjustable too.
Saw Clamp.webp
 
I have Phaedra support wings on a Dewalt 10" saw. I only use the clamps on the warped stuff.

A good pair of vinyl palm gloves will make your grip stronger and reduce slipping.

I have a miter sander that I couldn't live without.

Most everyone shy's away from cuts shorter than 5 inches. If I have a real short leg I use a wood tong with soft rubber ends, it's a kitchen utensil I stole from my wife. When using the silly tong, I cut at least 1/8 long and fix it on the sander.
 
Yes, you would have more than your fingertips to worry about, eh?
 
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