CSC SYS 50 Cuts Square, but not 45

[Aburk808]

Aloha,

I recently bought a CSC SYS 50 and finally got it tuned up where all my pieces are square, even using the miter gauge! However, I can’t get good miter joints on it when using the locking fence for my taller pieces that I want to use for boxes. It’s not clicking in my head as to why and how I could fix this… because I shouldn’t have to adjust the angle that much to correct my 45s… but maybe I do? Anyone else have experience with this and a work around? Perhaps a nice YouTube video I just haven’t been able to find?

 

[Vondawg]

More and more these toy like tools are expected to be on par with higher level tools and they just aren’t…to make them work as such you need to be handy and inventive and sometimes rely on 3rd party’s to provide the fix

 

[woodferret]

Did you double check that the slider runs parallel to the blade? Because technically you can still get 90 if it's toed towards or away from the miter gauge, but the second you put an angle on the gauge, it's going to drift that degree amount.

 

[Aburk808]

Did you double check that the slider runs parallel to the blade? Because technically you can still get 90 if it's toed towards or away from the miter gauge, but the second you put an angle on the gauge, it's going to drift that degree amount.

I didn’t double check the slider, but I will just to make sure that is all good as well. But I get square cuts just fine from the fence and the gauge. I did find the proper angle to get good miters this morning. Just odd that I can get dead on square cuts when the readout is at “0”, but my “45” readout doesn’t yield good miters. So I guess my problem is somewhat solved… just odd to me.

 

[Aburk808]

More and more these toy like tools are expected to be on par with higher level tools and they just aren’t…to make them work as such you need to be handy and inventive and sometimes rely on 3rd party’s to provide the fix

Agreed, I got this saw for accuracy and I can’t fit a full size saw in my work area. But I spent more time getting this saw good to go than when I would just put the gauge up to the blade to get it at 45… however, I did find the right setting and now it’s going by without frustrations. And now it’s saving me time like how I expected it to. Just odd how I can be square on my miter gauge and fence when the blade is set at “0”, but unable to produce good miters at what should be exactly “45” on the saw. Otherwise, saw is amazing and enjoyable to use

 

[noahpurdy]

Anyone who has fully tuned up an industrial saw knows that square at 90 does not equate square at 45. You have additional geometry at play. The way you fine tune square at 45 is by shimming the corners of the front edge table. To achieve front to back co-planarity.

On a sliding saw you’d need to do this twice. Once for the table surface when using the fence as your stock guide, and once on the slider table when using it to make the cuts.

I don’t know how this would apply to the CSC-50, nor would I attempt it. I think most of the obsession for perfection on these saws comes from both inexperience (wanting the sliding table to be perfectly flat with the main table, or parallel to the blade and not toed out) and misplaced expectations (thinking this is a saw capable of fine woodwork and perfect glue joints when it has no mass, no flat reference surfaces, and a blade kerf too thin to hold true on demanding cuts. It’s an install tool designed to cut engineered cabinet material).

Assuming the slider is well adjusted (slightly above the table, toed away from the blade to keep the trailing saw teeth from contacting your workpiece) you are likely to get your best cut quality on the CSC from the slider than the fence.

The cast aluminum top is too wonky to attempt to adjust with any precision. If you needed a glue-line cut from the fence ensure that the piece you are cutting is as small as it can be to complete the miter and has as little on the sliding table causing the piece to be lifted.

Another thing to rule out is user error. A perfect miter is a hard to accomplish joint on its own. I get my best results on a full sized sliding table saw or with a track saw with the track heavily clamped down. Any little shift or bump or change in feed speed can cause the angle to cut incorrectly and the csc table is so small you are setting yourself up for a very challenging cut to begin with.