Right tool to cut v-notches in the bottom of stair balusters?

[tk21769]

I've been replacing rotting wooden porch railings around my house for years. For the replacement rails, I'm using a design that features a sloped-top bottom rail to shed water. I buy the railing parts from a firm in Texas that will cut v-notches in the baluster bottoms they deliver. However, they don't offer this service for stair railings, which require compound mitre cuts.  My insurance company is giving me until April to install railings along the concrete steps to my porch. A local contractor will do the job ... for $2598.  That's for labor only.  For that price, I figure I may as well invest in  the right tools to do it myself.

So ... what's the right tool?  For years, I've been getting by with hand tools, a track saw (Festool TS55), and a MFT 1080 (the old version of this table).  This is one of the first cases where I've come to the conclusion my tools (or my skills?) aren't quite up to the job. I can do it crudely like so:
1. set the saw depth to 1/2 the width of the baluster (1.25 inches divided by 2)
2. set the saw bevel angle to 30 degrees (to account for the bottom rail slope
3. set the miter fence to 35 degrees (to account for the stair slope)
4. cut half the notch; flip the work piece over 180 degrees; reset the miter to -35 degrees; cut the other half of the notch.

Doing this on the MFT  is very awkward, inefficient, and imprecise. Probably the biggest problem is getting the bevel angle and the depth to match exactly on both cuts, then repeat this exactly for 26 balusters.

I don't have a table saw and don't want to allocate space for one.  I think a router table with a tenoning jig might work well, but might be dangerous, and wouldn't be too versatile for the work I usually do.

How about the Kapex 60 or Kapex 120? I definitely could use a SCMS for lots of jobs around my place.  Would they offer the precision, accuracy, repeatability, ease of use, etc., for a job like this?  A Kapex 60 (cordless) with the mobility cart and extension wings would run $2300 + tax.  I could set it up right under the porch, where there is no electrical outlet.

 

[Packard]

I would make fast work of that with my radial arm saw, or with a dedicate sled for a table saw.  Perhaps a sliding chop saw would work.  I would probably use the radial arm saw.

Starting with cut-to-length pieces, I would place the stock against the fence and make the first angle cut with the blade set at the desired angle. Note that the stock should be set against a positive stock block.

I would then rotate the stock 180 degrees and make the finish cut.  My radial arm saw has a maximum cut of about 18”.  So I could make gang cuts of about 12 pieces per cut.

You could set about 30 piece on your table and clamp them together as though you were making a butcher block countertop.  Then use your track saw with the blade set in the correct angle and depth and make your first cut, the unclamp and rotate all the pieces 180 degrees and repeat for the second cut.

For this method I would also precut the pieces to a uniform size and use a stop block to maintain alignment prior to clamping.

I think the track saw would make faster work of this.

Personally, I would use some aluminum tubing and cross pin it to through holes on the bottom rail.

You can find that tubing, already powder coated in the railing department at Lowes or Home Depot. That would be easier in my opinion and probably more durable.

Alternatively you could mill a flat on the bottom rail exactly the size of the staves.  That would continue to allow drainage and would make fastening to the bottom a simple one-screw-and-done. 

Rethinking this, I think the milled flats would be the easiest and will assure uniform spacing between staves.  A simple jig and your router will make fast work of this, setting both the size and the spacing between staves.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Easiest would be corrugated knives on a shaper with a tenoning sled, but since you don't have a table saw I'm going to assume you don't have a shaper.

If you have a bandsaw this would be easy, use your miter gauge and some stop blocks, easy-peezy. Depending on how many of these you need to produce, a bandsaw would pay for itself on this project alone......