X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp

roddie Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:33 pm

I made some pads today on the CNC router from sheet PVC. My X-ACTO miter-box measures 1-3/4" between it's aluminum extrusion walls.. and is 5-1/2" long. I cut some "sacrificial" pads from 2mm thick stock. You could use any other sheet-stock that wouldn't "dull" your saw-blade.. but the thinner.. the better. The saw has a "shoulder" which holds the blade.. and this limits the depth of cut, when the saw is in the guide-slots. Depending on the thickness of the material that you're cutting; it's advantageous to have thin pads to "shim" the adequate depth that the saw cuts.. before it "bottoms-out" in the guide-slot.

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp X-acto10

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp X-acto10

The binder-clip is a handy "stop" for making repeat-length cuts.. or you could also use it in conjunction with a piece of small wood square-stock, for cutting delicate balsa sticks.. for example.

**RknRusty** Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:08 pm

I probably should have gotten one of those miter boxes a long time ago. I could have saved a lot of elbow grease lately. Maybe a handle for my saw would be a good idea too.

roddie Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:01 am

RknRusty wrote:I probably should have gotten one of those miter boxes a long time ago. I could have saved a lot of elbow grease lately. Maybe a handle for my saw would be a good idea too.

You can easily make one from a similar piece of aluminum extrusion Rusty. I'd recommend one that's more narrow than 2" though. X-ACTO has a "lip" on the bottom of their's.. which butts up against a table edge, so it won't slide forward on "push" strokes" with the saw.. (which is the way the saw teeth are angled..) A narrower "box" would allow a longer stroke; especially on the 45 degree cuts, because the standard saw blade is only 4-1/2" long. This only gives you about one inch of stroke when cutting 45's.

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp Lip10

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp Lip10

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp Angle10

You can remove and reverse the saw blade from it's frame using a pin-punch on the two "nibs" that crimp it together.. to obtain a cut on the "pull-stroke" if you want. Then just re-crimp the nibs with the same punch. This kinda' defeats the purpose of the "lip" on the box though.

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X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp

X-ACTO miter-box pads and stop-clamp

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