Compound angles suck......

[AmbulanceDriver]

So I've been drawing up plans in google sketchup to build a hexagonal bench around a tree in our yard....

Now that I have all the plans drawn up, I started looking at the angles I'm working with on the back of the bench...   The joints are all 30 degree angles, and the back of the bench leans back at 15 degrees.....

Now, sketchup lets me put a virtual protractor to the boards...  

Anyone know how to set a radial arm saw to 29.1 degrees and 8.4 degrees?  

Yes...   I'm gonna build me a jig to hold my boards at a 15 degree angle and just make a 30 degree bevel.

But compound angles suck.

[vaskidmark]

Plastic Wood is your friend.

(Probably old school nowadays, but you get the idea.)

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

Don't be so obtuse, tell us how you really feel.
Sounds like you'll really have acute bench when you're done though.

[griz]

Can't you tilt the arm to 8.4 (or whatever) and separately set the angle to the bed at 30?

[slugcatcher]

Quit being an engineer.  Just get it close.  It's wood.  It's going to expand and contract.  If you get it too tight the joint will split and cause bigger problems than a 1/16th gap.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Can't you tilt the arm to 8.4 (or whatever) and separately set the angle to the bed at 30?

Griz, the problem is that little ".4"....  :) 

And slug, that's why I'm gonna just build a 15 degree block.  I've got 18 boards to cut, total of 36 cuts, so a jig will help anyways.

[Harold Tuttle]

[griz]

Oh, I didn't realize you meant you actually wanted to set it to within a tenth of a degree.  In the real world, it's tough to mass produce cuts to closer tolerances than the material you're working with.

[Marnoot]

He'd use one of his high-priced 29.1°-only miter-saws, of course.

[Tallpine]

I think that you're getting 0.2 over this 

[slugcatcher]

Griz, the problem is that little ".4"....  :) 

And slug, that's why I'm gonna just build a 15 degree block.  I've got 18 boards to cut, total of 36 cuts, so a jig will help anyways.

A jig?  Where's the adventure and foul language in that?

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.ronhazelton.com/projects/how_to_build_a_bench_around_a_tree

[AJ Dual]

He'd use one of his high-priced 29.1°-only miter-saws, of course.

And make whatever it is out of cheap-ass pine.. 

[AmbulanceDriver]

Harold, that's very similar to the plans I'm using.   I'm using the ones from "This Old House" I think...  With my own modification of instead of one board as a "backrest" at 90 degrees, I'm building an actual back tilted back 15 degrees...

I'll see if I can convert my sketchup drawing to a .jpg


ETA - here we go....

[Tallpine]

What happens when the tree gets too big 

[AmbulanceDriver]

Well, it's a pretty mature tree, and you allow an extra 6 inches for that......  :)

[Tallpine]

Well, it's a pretty mature tree, and you allow an extra 6 inches for that......  :)

So you think the tree is mature enough to not get too big for its benches ?   

[AZRedhawk44]

Why bother getting worked up over a bench that is going to get covered in bird poop and no one wants to sit on, anyways?   

[RevDisk]

ETA - here we go....

I tend to build my plans slightly overkill in the engineering process. Tends to be built as if I expect Germans to drive a tank over it a couple times.



Which they MIGHT. So, there.

[Tallpine]

Why bother getting worked up over a bench that is going to get covered in bird poop and no one wants to sit on, anyways?   

It fills in the cracks nicely 

[dm1333]

Just eyeball that sh*t. 

[Scout26]

You can always cut it longer....

 


(Screw the .4 and just set you mitersaw to the whole number angles.  Wood putty and stain to finish.)

[roo_ster]

I tend to build my plans slightly overkill in the engineering process. Tends to be built as if I expect Germans to drive a tank over it a couple times.



Which they MIGHT. So, there.

That way, it stays built.

[AZRedhawk44]

Anyone know how to set a radial arm saw to 29.1 degrees and 8.4 degrees?  



But compound angles suck.

Bird poop aside, this is why you use a compound miter saw for this job rather than a radial arm saw.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Yeah, well, I don't have a compound miter saw and I do have a radial arm saw...  So there...   [neener]  However, I don't think even a compound miter saw would solve this one....