Tracksaw non-square cut on 45 degree cuts

[John T.]

Hi all, I have a TS 55REQ track saw I'm trying to cut baseboard miters at 45 degrees and the cut is drifting. The track is on Dashboard track guide, checked to make sure it's fully supported including an offcut under the track near the board. Tightened up the knobs that control the left to right play on the track.

I tried going slower on the cut, takin a half depth cut, nothing seems to help cut square along the guide. I'm going to use my miter saw for these cuts but for future reference what should I adjust to fix this?[attachimg=1]

 

[John T.]

Just to anticipate replies, the pictured cut isn't *that* bad for baseboards I'm going to have to patch and caulk anyway, but if I were working on furniture this accuracy wouldn't be great so again, just trying to get some pointers for future reference.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

That looks like slight rail movement to me. Bevel cuts are often tricky because the whole weight of the saw is tilted over and offset to the opposite side of the cut, and it's easy for the rail to move just by a fraction as you've moving this uneven, unbalanced weight along it. Try clamping the rail down to the workpiece.

 

[John T.]

Thank you, I'll give that a shot. It feels pretty sturdy in the rail guide, and I have the workpiece clamped to the MFT, but maybe there is still some play.

For what its worth, if I repeat the cut right after, it doesn't cut the exposed portion on the second cut, so if it is rail movement, it's temporary I guess. Maybe the rail is flexing even though I'm pressing down on the opposite side of the cut.

 

[tsmi243]

Scribe a line along your splinter strip, before you make the next cut.  Use a box cutter or something.  That'll tell you if the track is slipping

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Even though I very rarely clamp on square cuts, I consider every bevel cut to require clamping.
The friction pads on the bottom of the rail works because of the force you put on the saw to overcome the spring that pushes it back up. As soon as you start tilting the saw, for a bevel cut, that force is not only directly downward, it is also pushing the track to the side.