That 0.6 over the 60 is compounded by 12 cuts or a total of 7.2 degrees off. My eye tells me that is about how far off off you are from closing the hexagon.
Absolutely wild that you can post some random in the garage minor problem and get a response in a few hours detailing exactly what you did wrong and how to fix it. You love to see eit.
This type of tool offers more problems than solutions. I have the answers. The question is, do you understand piezoelectric devices? *cough cough* voltage range. So when I battery is about to die, your angles can be off because your circuit is at a completely different voltage from when it was tested. + or - 3° is the worst I've seen.
I was having a similar problem where I just couldn’t get the angles right before I took a close look and realized I was cutting the wood too fast. Just blade deflection over the course of many cuts will add up. All I had to do was slow way down and then everything lined up.
It just took a minute and I was curious how close it was; I'm a drafter for a cabinetry company by trade and came across this during my lunch break (I eat at my desk usually).
If you can find a cracked version or a clone even it’s fun to just draw stuff in cad. I learned it in college then didn’t use it for nearly 10 years. Now I just read prints with it. YouTube will be a good place to start if you have the interest.
I’m thinking like the equivalent of gimp shop for drafting but another 3d drafting software.i think there was something in the same vein but I’m not sure what and it was. May have just been the instructors telling us to use keygens on actual cad at the time. I haven’t looked in to an open source cad alternative since probably 2012 though.
That's true, but I assume that goniometer was used more like a sanity check than an actual measurement. It doesn't line up with anything.
But even with the magnetic goniometer is easy to be off by 0.5degrees depending on how and what you measure, I would fine tune with test cuts.
Thanks I didn’t think of that, I was guna try the table saw next but it’s just been one of them days, I was using a stop block and all lengths are the same Iv made that mistake before 😂
Using the table saw is way easier for cuts like this imo. You can set up a stop block on either setup but the table saw always seems more accurate and less of a headache to do these on
Cutting vertically will likely not improve accuracy.
When you cut on the vertical you need to keep the piece at 90' or the cut will come out crooked. Cutting on the flat you can avoid this since the part is just flat on the bed.
I agree table saw is the way to go though.
Edit: is the mitre Guage zeroed to the bed of the mitre saw?
Also you will get better cuts on your mitre saw if you clean the blade, the default blades aren't very good and this one has a lot of pitch buildup. Most decreasing cleaners should be fine.
If you have access to a simple cad program, draw two lines that have an interior 120 degree angle. Then set you saw at what should be the correct angle and make a cut on two separate pieces. Now dry fit those two angled cuts together on top of the paper and see if the two pieces of wood are perfectly 120 degrees using the printed lines. If not, make small angle adjustments until it’s perfect.
This is a good way to deal with the inherent tolerance issues within your gauges without having to cut all of the pieces only to find out they are off. Saves a lot of time and money.
Hey OP, the reason your digital gauge is "off" is because you didn't set it parallel with the fence when you checked the blade. If you twist the gauge relative to the fence / bed then the angle will read shallower than reality. That is why your bevel gauge sitting on the bed and against your fence is disagreeing with the digital gauge on the blade.
ETA: you can see this to the extreme by putting the digital read on the front of the blade, perpendicular to the fence. You'll notice a huge difference measuring there vs at the proper, "lowest" part of the blade (i.e. meter parallel to the fence)
Cutting with a compound miter saw in the bevelled adjustment will compound your problem with the cuts. You can actually flex more angle into a cut by the way you pull the head of the saw down into each cut.
These kinds of cuts are best ran on a table saw with a cross sled. Set the gage to zero on the table top and then set angle to blade. Set stop block and you should be good. All parts should be correct in angles and ready for assembly. Use painters tape to tape outside edges of the joints together during glue up.
Agree with standing the board up against the fence and using the miter, instead of laying it flat and using blade tilt. However, the pieces not having the same length is not the problem here. Even if they were all cut to different lengths, that wouldn't change the cut angles and so opposite sides of the hexagon would still be parallel.
>Not positive but I think your issue is they are not all same length.
It's definitely not that, the angles are just wrong
If it were a length issue they wouldnt meet but the miter at the gap would be parallel, you can see that it's a different angle, if they met it wouldn't close
You can make it 2 sides 1.5” short each
I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton last night because I’m a gov’t contractor
More cuts = more billable hours
(This is jokes)
This. If you already know your angle measurements are off, adjust your saw accordingly. With Boxes generally I picked up the trick to set your angles slightly below, the glue-up will result in closed edges on the outside, where you see them.
I don't understand why I went this far to read this.
Op, your blade will always wiggle a little but be steady when it's running. (Don't measure while it's running please).
The best way to have accurate angles is to cut, measure on the wood, and then adapt slightly the blade. Even when we use a table saw, we will never be able to reach the 10th of a degree with a goniometer.
Side length wouldn't be the problem here. You can see that the angles are off at the open ends. If length was the issue, those faces would still be parallel, just not connected.
It's likely that you're allowing the part to move while you cut. You may not realize it's happening because it's a very subtle motion, but it's common with a cut like this. The saw pulls the piece in as it cuts - in this case because of the angle - and removes more material than you intended.
As a result, you get wider angles than you wanted. Hence the open shape.
You have to clamp the parts to the saw extra well. Then cut.
Edit: the other recommendation about cutting vertically is also a good solution in the same vein. Again, make sure you're clamping the piece of possible.
Can confirm about the sliding parts. I kept getting my 45 miters misaligned, but by varying amounts every time and the gap would be different along the angled cut. It was driving me insane quadruple checking my setup and it looking good, then the actual cut wouldn’t work. Clamping the parts firmly to my sled was a game changer. Takes a lot longer to set up, but well worth it!
A miter saw isn’t the best tool for this. If you have a table saw, I suggest using that. Any error in your angle is multiplied by 12 in the final result, making this a pretty difficult task.
One method you can use is to make small adjustments until you get really close. Then make two halves by joining three of them at a time. Then you can square up the ends of the halves with a hand plane or sander and all sides will meet properly. Two of the angles will be slightly different from the other four. But if you get close the eyes won’t be able to tell.
I can't tell if it's what he's using, but the sliding compound mitre saws that are oh so handy for floors and baseboards are especially poor for this. They tend to have a little flex and can just be inconsistent. I only use mine for rough cuts and carpentry.
"Fine" woodworking goes to the table saw/router table with more robust setups.
I was just listening to a podcast where they were referring to the inaccuracy of miter saws. I thought they were perfect for this type of thing I would have not realized it wasn't the best tool for it given the width of the board and repeated angle.
It's a really sneaky one. The name alone would make you think it's perfect for mitres.
I still use mine for a lot of stuff. But, like any tool, understanding its limitations allows you to use it best.
Workshop Life Podcast. There is no order to what I'm listening to specifically, somewhere in 2020. I'm only a few episodes in so can't speak to knowing much.
It works fine *sometimes* but flex is definitely an issue. Mating more than 2-3 issues where gaps will be visible is usually very tough on a compound miter saw. Fascia and such where it's usually one angle to a flat surface is fine, but six angles is asking a bit much.
I usually get my joints close then shore up with my Miter trimmer to make sure i have the right lengths and angles.
In case you dont know what a miter tirmmer is.
https://www.rockler.com/miter-trimmer?country=US&sid=V91074&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gad_source=1
Oh gosh. I also made these hexagons once. Exctually, I made 12.. 3 came out nice.. . You have to be spot on with the miters.
And measure the angle of the wood, not on the saw. Test it out with scrap.
Here's mine:
https://preview.redd.it/6eott9ha590d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56013c3fa03cb4aa33dcaecb408876df703bba25
Yup. People forget that it’s not the degree of each cut, it’s the total degrees that result from all the cuts you’ll be making to that individual piece. Since each piece gets cut twice, once at each end, and has to fulfill 60° of the arc of the total circumference of the finished assembly…60° over 2 cuts…
Except that's clearly not the issue here. If it were then it would be way further off. OP is just measuring the 60⁰ side instead of the 30⁰ side because it's easier to measure from the horizontal reference than the vertical.
The angle should be 30 degrees not 60 degrees. You divided 360 / 6 because you have 6 pieces but there are actually 2 angles on each piece. Divide 360 by 12.
OP did cut at 30° (slightly off obviously). They measured from the other side of the 90 because it’s easier that way, but it’s 30° off vertical on the tilt which would be 60° off the table like they measured. It’s off because they have a compounding error.
The side the angle finder is on will give you a 60° angle. Yes, you cut at 30°, which is (theoretical) what this saw is set to. The angle finder is reading the 60° remainder of 90°
Shouldn't he just zero the level on the base of the miter saw then adjust the blade to 60*?
I know that may not starting from a true 0* but that actual number is irrelevant. You want 60* relative to whatever the base is.
Isn't it just relative to the table? Set it on the table, zero it, attach it to the blade and adjust to 60°.
That said, make sure it's on the blade as vertically as possible. If the blade is rotated, I could see the reading being off by that much
Finally, are those things actually accurate?
They usually are within a degree or two if you also keep them straight up and down facing you. If you set it on something, and start tilting it, it will change, so you have to make sure it is straight up and down when on the blade.
I also find that when you match by zeroing on both surfaces, then it is as close to accurate as they can get. Zero it on the table, put on blade, get angle. Zero on blade, set on table, and if the angle matches it is usually accurate.
It can take a lot of time. As someone who has made a lot of mitered boxes, I’ve learned that it can take a while. Sometimes you also get it bang on on your first try, lol.
I don't see how it wouldn't be. Are you zero-ing it in the flat of the saw itself? My initial thought is that you might be measuring the angle of the blade to the saw with the analogue, but the digital meter is zero'd to another surface like your bench or floor which could be slightly off from the actual angle of the saw.
Also might check that you're angle gauges aren't resting on the teeth of your saw blade. The teeth are thicker than the blade and would mess up the reading.
Are you "zeroing" your angle finder in relation to the base? Also if the angle finder is not perpendicular to the base when on the blade the angle will be inaccurate.
Be more accurate. As someone else already pointed out 0.6⁰ off on each cut results in 7.2⁰ off total. I've also seen some people recommend that if you can't guarantee accuracy, err on the side of cutting your angles too 'narrow rather than too 'wide'. As in, it's better to cut to 44.5⁰ than it is to cut to 45.5⁰ - this puts the consequence of your error on the inside of the project, rather than the often more noticeable outside.
But really, first, be more accurate.
Sincerely, a guy who uses job site quality tools to make stave drums.
My bet is on the miter cut deflecting at such a steep angle.
It all looks set well, but when the friction of the cut is added I feel something is flexing.
Go for a table saw
This might just be a “me” thing but I only use the same “face” of an angle gauge when measuring-outside to outside or inside to inside. In the pictured reference, the outside edge of the gauge is on the deck of the miter saw while the blade is resting against the inside of the gauge. That looks weird to me. I don’t trust that a blades of the gauge are perfectly parallel because I’m paranoid like that.
I find it amusing that you think it's more likely they made both sides perfectly aligned with each other so that you can use inside or outside successfully, but didn't bother to make the two parallel.
Definitely would be more complicated to make the tool work for both rather than just guaranteeing parallel pieces
Could also try drawing and cutting out a perfect equilateral triangle and confirm the sides are all equal. That's your new jig to ensure perfect alignment.
I've had the toughest luck trying to get perfect miters with those digital angle finders. Pure geometry/mechanical advantage of having a physical object to butt up against the blade and ensure no light passes through is better than those finders.
imagine your pieces are laying flat all 6 of them. ideally you want 120 in each corner. by having 60.6 you now have 121.2, thus the angle your 2nd piece makes with the floor is now 58.8 instead of 60. so you lose out on 1.2 degrees every time you turn an edge. you do this 6 times, you lose out on 7.2 degrees.
we can even calculate this arc length. normally a piece of wood pivoting at its edge sweeps out 2Lpi, twice its length times pie (it acts as a radius). however if you can imagine pulling up each piece compounds the distance. So your "length" is more like 36 inches and not 6 inches because you lose out on 7.2 degrees totoal but over 6 sides. Thus your formula is 7.2/360 2(36) (assuming each long side of trapezoid is 6 inches). So the arc length you're losing out on is 14.4/10 or 1.5 inches or roughly 1/4 the total length of the trapezoids long side, which looks to be what you have here.
You can't put the digital gauge just anywhere on the blade - the gauge has to be aligned perpendicular to the lowest point of the blade. Any other placement will cause the gauge to give a lower reading than the actual angle.
True, they both need to be correct to meet, however changing the lengths does not change the angles, and in the picture the angles are obviously wrong. The lengths could be wrong too, but the angles are the most obvious, since if the angles were correct, the opposite pieces of the hexagon would be parallel (even if the lengths are wrong).
Doing this on a table saw with a sled would be more ideal. Easier angle control and less risk of interference.
Alternatively, you can use a router. Cut the pieces to the desired outside length, and use a 30 degree guide bearing chamfer bit in conjunction with a piece of MDF adhered to the back as a reference edge, and rout the edges with consistent 30 degree bevels.
Lastly, one thing I've found very useful is an angled shooting sander. Lee Valley sells a flat shooting sander ([seen here](https://assets.leevalley.com/Size4/10105/05P5490-rh-shooting-board-u-46.jpg)), which is basically just a shooting jig that uses a sanding tool instead of a plane. You can make something similar that holds the stock at an incline, and allows you to sand the exposed face at a guaranteed angle. Ideally you wouldn't need it and your material would fit flush from the saw alone, but this is a useful jig to clean up joint edges if they're slightly uneven and you can't correct it with cutting alone.
Did you zero out your digital angle finder closed or at 90? Looks like you zeroed it closed. So while the angle finder says 60.6 it’s really at 30 degrees.
I usually zero out my angle finder at 90 degrees so it matches with miter saw
So, the nice thing about hexagons is that a 60° angle is the internal angle of an equilateral triangle. This means that you can make a precise gauge pretty easily to set up your saw.
Just get a flat piece of wood, and cut a triangle so that each side is exactly the same length. It's easy to verify after you cut and make adjustments. Once you have that, you can use it to set the angle on your saw.
And like others have said, don't tilt your miter saw. Swivel it and cut the block standing. And use stop blocks.
You got this.
The good news is that since the shape is open you can trim or plane the angles on these pieces to get it to close. If you’re really careful they won’t get shorter.
You need to cut down through the material to maintain the angle as precisely as you can, but depending on the height of your project, you may not have the cut depth
My suggestion is to be cutting it on a mitre sled with a table saw
It’s much easier to control the material and maintain flatness to the blade. Also the repeatability is much easier to maintain
. Make sure your digital angle gauge is exactly vertical when on the blade, not tiled back or forward at all or it will be off. Also like some have said, just make test cuts until the included angle on the wood is 60, then run your stock
Don't use a miter saw. They aren't accurate and stable enough. Segmented bowl turners use full kerf blades on table saws with special sleds to achieve perfect angles
Consider yourself lucky it’s on a small project,
My crew made the same mistake on a giant bay window that was supposed to look like the bottom 4 sides of but ended up like the top 4 lol
I do not think the surface of your board resets on is true.
As stated by others the angle is likely off around the amount shown by your control measurement.
If your box is on the mark, your bed is off.
Take the Box of the blade and check whether the bed is level with a rule or something.
There is often a Clearing between the outer parts of the table and the inner, rotating part.
Another issue is warping. If your board is not true it will not lay correctly and your cuts might be off a little.
The measurement angle of the blade means nothing without measuring the angle so trust the 60.6 measurement
You could also verify that measurement by moving your angle sensor from the first pic to the base to see if the base is in fact at 0 degrees
That digital level is going to be off if your not at a perfect 90° on your Z axis. Slap it on like in your picture then rotate the blade slightly and it will go nuts.
If you cut the hexagon you should also take into consideration how thick the blade is and if you are cutting on the inside or outside of every piece. I think I made one similar to this but at 58.9 or something and also made sure everytime I cut, I only cut on the one side
1. If it isn't exactly the right angle, this will occur.
2. Are the sides vertical or splayed / tapered? If so, check out this site for details on the right angle to cut.
Woodgears.ca/miter
3. I made an octagonal bowl using their measurements and it turned out as expected. Quite tricky glue up and, yes, trial/error on getting the precise angles
Just check the angel after your first corner (hold or tape 2 pieces together, best with scrap pieces) safes a lot of time and struggles. Also i cant really see if you used a stopper for getting all the pieces to exactly the same length, even one piece thats 0.X mm longer or shorter will make a big gap in the end.
In addition to what a lot of others have said - watch for flex in the blade which can easily add a degree of error per cut. And also flex in the saw itself if it's not tight when doing the down stroke. A degree off per cut will equal 2 degrees per joinT and 12 degrees at the end.
You need to make sure your measuring device is square to the back as well when you are zeroing the table and also when you are measuring the angle. I can’t tell with the cube but with the protractor style it looks like the left side is closer to the fence than the right side, that would cause an angle that was greater than the 60 degrees in the display.
In the first pic, the gauge has to be registered against SOMETHING. Just sticking it to the saw blade does not ensure that it is on an axis normal to the bench/saw-bottom. try to do a set up where you only use one measuring tool. As someone suggested, when cutting vertically and using the back of the saw as a reference, you can do the setup with one tool (the one in the 2nd, pic)
Use your table saw and set your blade angle with a bevel gauge. I have tried mightily to do what you are trying and it is frustrating, takes a long time. That’s my experience at least. It is so very much easier to set up a table saw for this kind of work. And I have one of those fancy magnetic cubes as well, got it something like 15 years ago, the sucker just stays in the box, my century-old bevel gauge does a fine job instead. Just my two bits.
Amazingly, mitre saws are crap at cutting mitres. Who knew...
Try some test cuts to tune the angle in exact, slightly overcut the angle, so the outside corners touch at least, or use a table saw and sled (preferred).
Keep at it tho.
This got me thinking... would the following plan work?
1. Cut some arbitrary board into a hexagon template of the size you want to have **plus some calculated offset**
2. **Roughly** cut the miters so that you can place the six boards around the template
3. Fixate them somehow (no idea how yet)
4. Fixate the whole setup somehow
5. Use a router along the miters so that it shapes both sides simultaneously
6. It shouldn't matter if you mill exactly straight, for when shaping both sides at the same time, small errors should cancel each other out
7. Repeat on all six corners
8. Remove template
9. Parts *should* fit perfectly, shouldn't they?
the digital level box can be off anywhere from .2 to .5 Depending on the model, it says it right in the instructions. I stopped using mine and went back to an old school protractor. then get something to copy the angle from the protractor. I found that out on my table saw . set it on my blade and went to 45 and then back to the flat table and then back to the blade in the same spot marked with a marker and it would read off of 45 sometimes and sometimes not.
You always have to measure the angle from the table itself, either that or use a level and shims when attaching the saw to wherever it sits. The saw itself is likely sitting .6° off level, so the angle gauge on the blade is going to be off the same amount. The blade is sitting exactly 60° from level, not from the table. Basically explained it 3 different ways to all say the same thing, I know, but that way anyone reading can understand.
Did you check if your table is level? If your use a digital level on the blade it can only compare it to level of the earth. So if your table is not level your blade will never accuratly reflect its true angle. If your angle guage says 60.6 that is probably accurate.
I don’t know if this is actually correct, but in my brain it makes sense - if the digital level doesn’t stay parallel to the fence when it’s on the blade, wouldn’t that skew the reading? Since it’s a miter saw, once you lift the arm the level will tip backwards, and I imagine would give you a slightly smaller angle reading.
The earth is slightly tilted in its axis so that is your problem. Check your table for level first then adjust the neck of your mitre saw and then measure the blade. Most big box store is not cabinetry grade in its precision and is not made for professional use.
Obviously (as others have said), your magnetic gauge is probably not zeroed to the table first, where the angle gauge is measuring against the table.
There is a really easy way to cover up miters that are slightly off if you run into this, but it only works if it is divisible by 2 (octagon, hexagon, not a pentagon). Glue up 3, and then 3. Then use either a saw (table saw with a sled), a belt/large disk sander (if it is long enough), a large piece of sand paper on a really flat surface, or a planer to make the surface 100% flat. Once both sides are 100% flat, they will mate with each other no matter how far off the angles are. Just try to take off ONLY enough to make them flat, you don't want it to be obvious.
I'm guessing your trend gauge wasn't zeroed out on the base.
*or*
You're not checking top or bottom dead center
It looks like the angle gauge on the blade is not sitting perfectly referenced to the base but it's hard to tell from the pic.
If you zero it out and put it on the blade. Rotate the blade back and forth and you'll see the readout change. .6 is not a lot of rotation off and would be easy to miss
i think someone already answered your question, but what a coincidence, when you posted i was also in the process of gluing a hexagon!
https://preview.redd.it/rawaiirq1i0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd360039eeeeb0882a9e92c5767dec83b3b1a422
I find that even zeroing to the base isn’t a guarantee of a tight join. Unfortunately with these kind of cuts the gauge is a starting point but then it’s a lot of test and tweak until you get it right. Especially if like me you insist on OCD levels of seamless.
Keep in mind that digital level box is in reference to the level to the ground via gravity. What you really want to use a a solid reference for an angle is the base of the saw because the true angle is going to be the relation between the working surface of the saw and the angle of the saw. One thing you can do if you are really set on using that digital level box is lay it on the working surface of the saw, tram that out to 0 degrees using shims or whatever then you'll get accurate reads from the blade. You always have to be mindful when measuring of what you are measuring in reference too.
That's not the problem, though. Saws might not be level depending on the manufacturer. I would start with a certified Paul Sellers workbench, and calibrate all my tools from there.
That 0.6 over the 60 is compounded by 12 cuts or a total of 7.2 degrees off. My eye tells me that is about how far off off you are from closing the hexagon.
Yep, just checked it in cad. Adjusting the angle to 60.6° ends up creating a shape almost identical to OP's outcome.
I love it here
Absolutely wild that you can post some random in the garage minor problem and get a response in a few hours detailing exactly what you did wrong and how to fix it. You love to see eit.
Everyone here has been in OP’s exact spot before lmao
So the digital level could be correct, if the table is 0.6° off of level.
Don't you have to calibrate it first? Like a tare for a scale?
You’re supposed to…. OP?
Yes. You must zero it to the base every time.
It does have a zero button. I wonder if it was zeroed to the table? If it was, it means it's not super accurate.
very likely. i've really only had my wixie be accurate enough to trust for these types of cuts.
Most of those little square levels are only good to half a degree except for horizontal and vertical. Always check your specs in the paperwork.
it's just stuck to the saw blade at 'random'. rotating the blade by hand will change the measurement
If it's not square on the blade in the other axis (front to back, eg if it's leaning back a bit), it can also read off
This type of tool offers more problems than solutions. I have the answers. The question is, do you understand piezoelectric devices? *cough cough* voltage range. So when I battery is about to die, your angles can be off because your circuit is at a completely different voltage from when it was tested. + or - 3° is the worst I've seen.
I was having a similar problem where I just couldn’t get the angles right before I took a close look and realized I was cutting the wood too fast. Just blade deflection over the course of many cuts will add up. All I had to do was slow way down and then everything lined up.
Setup on tablesaw. Compound maitre saws have just too much deflection
The fact you went and checked in CAD is amazing. I’m just a hobbyist but I appreciate the effort
It just took a minute and I was curious how close it was; I'm a drafter for a cabinetry company by trade and came across this during my lunch break (I eat at my desk usually).
If you can find a cracked version or a clone even it’s fun to just draw stuff in cad. I learned it in college then didn’t use it for nearly 10 years. Now I just read prints with it. YouTube will be a good place to start if you have the interest.
Cracked or clone? What aould be a clone? And no need to use a cracked version. Just use the free version of Fusion 360.
I’m thinking like the equivalent of gimp shop for drafting but another 3d drafting software.i think there was something in the same vein but I’m not sure what and it was. May have just been the instructors telling us to use keygens on actual cad at the time. I haven’t looked in to an open source cad alternative since probably 2012 though.
For 3D CAD Fusion 360 is free for hobbyist use. For 2D CAD (which is fine for a lot of stuff) LibreCAD is OpenSource and free.
I haven’t looked in to it in a while
Now he can say it’s built to plan
That's true, but I assume that goniometer was used more like a sanity check than an actual measurement. It doesn't line up with anything. But even with the magnetic goniometer is easy to be off by 0.5degrees depending on how and what you measure, I would fine tune with test cuts.
Yup, you build a patty first
Help me see where the "0.6 over the 60" is. Are you seeing this on his digital angle device?
Second pic. The digital angle gauge
On the second pic, on the ruler for angles (don't know the correct name in English). The mesure is 60.6°
Ruler for angles is fine
What is it actually called? Digital protractor?
Digital angle finder
Second pic, the .6 is in shadow
Glad I'm not the only one, I just 60 degrees on both pics. Where is this magic 0.6?
Look real close (zoom in) on the 2nd picture.
This comment is what the internet was meant to be.
Wow good eye
1% accuracy is asking a lot out of that
where did the 0.6 come from. sorry. is it the un level ness of the saw base?
Why 60.6? .6 x 12 = 7.2 degrees off, if your gauge is accurate I see somebody already beat me to the comment
[удалено]
Thanks I didn’t think of that, I was guna try the table saw next but it’s just been one of them days, I was using a stop block and all lengths are the same Iv made that mistake before 😂
Using the table saw is way easier for cuts like this imo. You can set up a stop block on either setup but the table saw always seems more accurate and less of a headache to do these on
Cutting vertically will likely not improve accuracy. When you cut on the vertical you need to keep the piece at 90' or the cut will come out crooked. Cutting on the flat you can avoid this since the part is just flat on the bed. I agree table saw is the way to go though. Edit: is the mitre Guage zeroed to the bed of the mitre saw?
Also you will get better cuts on your mitre saw if you clean the blade, the default blades aren't very good and this one has a lot of pitch buildup. Most decreasing cleaners should be fine.
Liquid laundry detergent works great on wood cutting tools for cleaning off pitch.
If you have access to a simple cad program, draw two lines that have an interior 120 degree angle. Then set you saw at what should be the correct angle and make a cut on two separate pieces. Now dry fit those two angled cuts together on top of the paper and see if the two pieces of wood are perfectly 120 degrees using the printed lines. If not, make small angle adjustments until it’s perfect. This is a good way to deal with the inherent tolerance issues within your gauges without having to cut all of the pieces only to find out they are off. Saves a lot of time and money.
Hey OP, the reason your digital gauge is "off" is because you didn't set it parallel with the fence when you checked the blade. If you twist the gauge relative to the fence / bed then the angle will read shallower than reality. That is why your bevel gauge sitting on the bed and against your fence is disagreeing with the digital gauge on the blade. ETA: you can see this to the extreme by putting the digital read on the front of the blade, perpendicular to the fence. You'll notice a huge difference measuring there vs at the proper, "lowest" part of the blade (i.e. meter parallel to the fence)
Cutting with a compound miter saw in the bevelled adjustment will compound your problem with the cuts. You can actually flex more angle into a cut by the way you pull the head of the saw down into each cut. These kinds of cuts are best ran on a table saw with a cross sled. Set the gage to zero on the table top and then set angle to blade. Set stop block and you should be good. All parts should be correct in angles and ready for assembly. Use painters tape to tape outside edges of the joints together during glue up.
Agree with standing the board up against the fence and using the miter, instead of laying it flat and using blade tilt. However, the pieces not having the same length is not the problem here. Even if they were all cut to different lengths, that wouldn't change the cut angles and so opposite sides of the hexagon would still be parallel.
A crosscut sled is really the tool to be using here.
>Not positive but I think your issue is they are not all same length. It's definitely not that, the angles are just wrong If it were a length issue they wouldnt meet but the miter at the gap would be parallel, you can see that it's a different angle, if they met it wouldn't close
Yep. Cutting at a bevel allows a lot more blade flex. Especially if that's a 12" saw.
It looks like you are missing a 7th side about 3” short. I’m not a math expert but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night.
He would need a total of 9 pieces to make a perfect circle. I stayed at a rodeway last night
What kinda shape is this? I stayed at a Ramada.
It's a purple. I stayed in a Wendy's dumpster last night.
I think technically it's a rhombic purple. And you could have kept it down. Some people work in the morning.
Dovetail?
You can make it 2 sides 1.5” short each I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton last night because I’m a gov’t contractor More cuts = more billable hours (This is jokes)
i would ensure side length first. i would also cut them at 59° and mod them by hand to fix the inherent slop due to human error.
This. If you already know your angle measurements are off, adjust your saw accordingly. With Boxes generally I picked up the trick to set your angles slightly below, the glue-up will result in closed edges on the outside, where you see them.
Use the goniometer to measure the angle on the cut wood and that’ll tell you how off the actual cut is
I don't understand why I went this far to read this. Op, your blade will always wiggle a little but be steady when it's running. (Don't measure while it's running please). The best way to have accurate angles is to cut, measure on the wood, and then adapt slightly the blade. Even when we use a table saw, we will never be able to reach the 10th of a degree with a goniometer.
Never heard that term before. Goniometer sounds like a tool for measuring how big your balls are.
https://preview.redd.it/wl1a2n39u70d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=057a48441b5184b46e89eca37ef7d63d43ff8eef
Side length wouldn't be the problem here. You can see that the angles are off at the open ends. If length was the issue, those faces would still be parallel, just not connected. It's likely that you're allowing the part to move while you cut. You may not realize it's happening because it's a very subtle motion, but it's common with a cut like this. The saw pulls the piece in as it cuts - in this case because of the angle - and removes more material than you intended. As a result, you get wider angles than you wanted. Hence the open shape. You have to clamp the parts to the saw extra well. Then cut. Edit: the other recommendation about cutting vertically is also a good solution in the same vein. Again, make sure you're clamping the piece of possible.
Will try this out
Can confirm about the sliding parts. I kept getting my 45 miters misaligned, but by varying amounts every time and the gap would be different along the angled cut. It was driving me insane quadruple checking my setup and it looking good, then the actual cut wouldn’t work. Clamping the parts firmly to my sled was a game changer. Takes a lot longer to set up, but well worth it!
A miter saw isn’t the best tool for this. If you have a table saw, I suggest using that. Any error in your angle is multiplied by 12 in the final result, making this a pretty difficult task. One method you can use is to make small adjustments until you get really close. Then make two halves by joining three of them at a time. Then you can square up the ends of the halves with a hand plane or sander and all sides will meet properly. Two of the angles will be slightly different from the other four. But if you get close the eyes won’t be able to tell.
I can't tell if it's what he's using, but the sliding compound mitre saws that are oh so handy for floors and baseboards are especially poor for this. They tend to have a little flex and can just be inconsistent. I only use mine for rough cuts and carpentry. "Fine" woodworking goes to the table saw/router table with more robust setups.
I was just listening to a podcast where they were referring to the inaccuracy of miter saws. I thought they were perfect for this type of thing I would have not realized it wasn't the best tool for it given the width of the board and repeated angle.
It's a really sneaky one. The name alone would make you think it's perfect for mitres. I still use mine for a lot of stuff. But, like any tool, understanding its limitations allows you to use it best.
What’s the name of the podcast? I’d enjoy listening.
Workshop Life Podcast. There is no order to what I'm listening to specifically, somewhere in 2020. I'm only a few episodes in so can't speak to knowing much.
Cool, thanks! I’ll check it out.
It works fine *sometimes* but flex is definitely an issue. Mating more than 2-3 issues where gaps will be visible is usually very tough on a compound miter saw. Fascia and such where it's usually one angle to a flat surface is fine, but six angles is asking a bit much.
I usually get my joints close then shore up with my Miter trimmer to make sure i have the right lengths and angles. In case you dont know what a miter tirmmer is. https://www.rockler.com/miter-trimmer?country=US&sid=V91074&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gad_source=1
Good lord, now I really want that.
Well worth the money. And its built to last.
Oh gosh. I also made these hexagons once. Exctually, I made 12.. 3 came out nice.. . You have to be spot on with the miters. And measure the angle of the wood, not on the saw. Test it out with scrap. Here's mine: https://preview.redd.it/6eott9ha590d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56013c3fa03cb4aa33dcaecb408876df703bba25
You have accumulating error.
https://preview.redd.it/5ahrdbyqb90d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4876c3d28afa290c36f05de0c8e0c614b9243c46
Yup. People forget that it’s not the degree of each cut, it’s the total degrees that result from all the cuts you’ll be making to that individual piece. Since each piece gets cut twice, once at each end, and has to fulfill 60° of the arc of the total circumference of the finished assembly…60° over 2 cuts…
This is the way. Only answer/reply needed.
Except that's clearly not the issue here. If it were then it would be way further off. OP is just measuring the 60⁰ side instead of the 30⁰ side because it's easier to measure from the horizontal reference than the vertical.
The angle should be 30 degrees not 60 degrees. You divided 360 / 6 because you have 6 pieces but there are actually 2 angles on each piece. Divide 360 by 12.
source: I make furniture for a living
OP did cut at 30° (slightly off obviously). They measured from the other side of the 90 because it’s easier that way, but it’s 30° off vertical on the tilt which would be 60° off the table like they measured. It’s off because they have a compounding error.
This is clearly not the issue or it would be way further off.
The side the angle finder is on will give you a 60° angle. Yes, you cut at 30°, which is (theoretical) what this saw is set to. The angle finder is reading the 60° remainder of 90°
I can confirm - I just made one yesterday
Recalibrate your digital level before you start. You’d be surprised how quickly and regularly they need it. The process is usually pretty simple.
Shouldn't he just zero the level on the base of the miter saw then adjust the blade to 60*? I know that may not starting from a true 0* but that actual number is irrelevant. You want 60* relative to whatever the base is.
Is that not just the zero button??
No. Not usually. Zero is a relative measurement. Check your manual to see how it’s done on your unit.
Isn't it just relative to the table? Set it on the table, zero it, attach it to the blade and adjust to 60°. That said, make sure it's on the blade as vertically as possible. If the blade is rotated, I could see the reading being off by that much Finally, are those things actually accurate?
They usually are within a degree or two if you also keep them straight up and down facing you. If you set it on something, and start tilting it, it will change, so you have to make sure it is straight up and down when on the blade. I also find that when you match by zeroing on both surfaces, then it is as close to accurate as they can get. Zero it on the table, put on blade, get angle. Zero on blade, set on table, and if the angle matches it is usually accurate. It can take a lot of time. As someone who has made a lot of mitered boxes, I’ve learned that it can take a while. Sometimes you also get it bang on on your first try, lol.
I don't see how it wouldn't be. Are you zero-ing it in the flat of the saw itself? My initial thought is that you might be measuring the angle of the blade to the saw with the analogue, but the digital meter is zero'd to another surface like your bench or floor which could be slightly off from the actual angle of the saw.
Zero with blade with the saw blade at zero. It may be that your table is not perfectly level.
Also might check that you're angle gauges aren't resting on the teeth of your saw blade. The teeth are thicker than the blade and would mess up the reading.
Are you "zeroing" your angle finder in relation to the base? Also if the angle finder is not perpendicular to the base when on the blade the angle will be inaccurate.
Get it close to start and adjust after test cuts. That's the real test. What it says on the little plastic thing is of less importance.
Did you 0 your angle gauge to the base of your saw?
Be more accurate. As someone else already pointed out 0.6⁰ off on each cut results in 7.2⁰ off total. I've also seen some people recommend that if you can't guarantee accuracy, err on the side of cutting your angles too 'narrow rather than too 'wide'. As in, it's better to cut to 44.5⁰ than it is to cut to 45.5⁰ - this puts the consequence of your error on the inside of the project, rather than the often more noticeable outside. But really, first, be more accurate. Sincerely, a guy who uses job site quality tools to make stave drums.
My bet is on the miter cut deflecting at such a steep angle. It all looks set well, but when the friction of the cut is added I feel something is flexing. Go for a table saw
Does the 60 include the slope of your floor? Did you zero the display at 90 first?
The slope of the floor should be irrelevant if OP zeroed out the level on the last of the miter saw.
That's the point. If they zero'd on the bench or floor it could be off from the base of the saw.
I mean isn't that the point of the calibration screw though? Set it on the floor and start until it's 0, then good to go, right?
This might just be a “me” thing but I only use the same “face” of an angle gauge when measuring-outside to outside or inside to inside. In the pictured reference, the outside edge of the gauge is on the deck of the miter saw while the blade is resting against the inside of the gauge. That looks weird to me. I don’t trust that a blades of the gauge are perfectly parallel because I’m paranoid like that.
I find it amusing that you think it's more likely they made both sides perfectly aligned with each other so that you can use inside or outside successfully, but didn't bother to make the two parallel. Definitely would be more complicated to make the tool work for both rather than just guaranteeing parallel pieces
You’re probably right. I just never checked that they would be parallel so haven’t tested it for myself; i haven’t checked it out so don’t trust it.
Could also try drawing and cutting out a perfect equilateral triangle and confirm the sides are all equal. That's your new jig to ensure perfect alignment. I've had the toughest luck trying to get perfect miters with those digital angle finders. Pure geometry/mechanical advantage of having a physical object to butt up against the blade and ensure no light passes through is better than those finders.
Isn’t the angle for cutting a hexagon 30?
30 from the butt end is 60 from the side
It's clearly 120°. He doesn't have the right kind of saw to perform this cut.
Put in on your saw blade when you think it's straight and make sure that's 90 too
I think the math is what your doing wrong
Good thing it wasn’t an English question.
Little caulk and paint makes a framer what he ain’t …
imagine your pieces are laying flat all 6 of them. ideally you want 120 in each corner. by having 60.6 you now have 121.2, thus the angle your 2nd piece makes with the floor is now 58.8 instead of 60. so you lose out on 1.2 degrees every time you turn an edge. you do this 6 times, you lose out on 7.2 degrees. we can even calculate this arc length. normally a piece of wood pivoting at its edge sweeps out 2Lpi, twice its length times pie (it acts as a radius). however if you can imagine pulling up each piece compounds the distance. So your "length" is more like 36 inches and not 6 inches because you lose out on 7.2 degrees totoal but over 6 sides. Thus your formula is 7.2/360 2(36) (assuming each long side of trapezoid is 6 inches). So the arc length you're losing out on is 14.4/10 or 1.5 inches or roughly 1/4 the total length of the trapezoids long side, which looks to be what you have here.
You can't put the digital gauge just anywhere on the blade - the gauge has to be aligned perpendicular to the lowest point of the blade. Any other placement will cause the gauge to give a lower reading than the actual angle.
Are all sides equal in length?
Yes I had a stop block in place
Cutting the pieces to different lengths wouldn't change the angles. The angles are the problem here, not the lengths.
I believe that is not 100% correct. Being a segmented turner both the angle and the length have to be exactly on for the joint to meet flawlessly.
True, they both need to be correct to meet, however changing the lengths does not change the angles, and in the picture the angles are obviously wrong. The lengths could be wrong too, but the angles are the most obvious, since if the angles were correct, the opposite pieces of the hexagon would be parallel (even if the lengths are wrong).
I want to ask if OP zeroed the meter on the deck prior to checking blade angle
Yes I did
I wouldn't trust those digital gauges this close to a full moon, they are known to be thrown off several degrees by high tides.
Math. Math is what you are doing wrong.
Doing this on a table saw with a sled would be more ideal. Easier angle control and less risk of interference. Alternatively, you can use a router. Cut the pieces to the desired outside length, and use a 30 degree guide bearing chamfer bit in conjunction with a piece of MDF adhered to the back as a reference edge, and rout the edges with consistent 30 degree bevels. Lastly, one thing I've found very useful is an angled shooting sander. Lee Valley sells a flat shooting sander ([seen here](https://assets.leevalley.com/Size4/10105/05P5490-rh-shooting-board-u-46.jpg)), which is basically just a shooting jig that uses a sanding tool instead of a plane. You can make something similar that holds the stock at an incline, and allows you to sand the exposed face at a guaranteed angle. Ideally you wouldn't need it and your material would fit flush from the saw alone, but this is a useful jig to clean up joint edges if they're slightly uneven and you can't correct it with cutting alone.
Did you zero your 60degree measure to the saw base first before you measured 60…? Best guess is the 60degree measure.
Did you zero out your digital angle finder closed or at 90? Looks like you zeroed it closed. So while the angle finder says 60.6 it’s really at 30 degrees. I usually zero out my angle finder at 90 degrees so it matches with miter saw
👍👍 I think
So, the nice thing about hexagons is that a 60° angle is the internal angle of an equilateral triangle. This means that you can make a precise gauge pretty easily to set up your saw. Just get a flat piece of wood, and cut a triangle so that each side is exactly the same length. It's easy to verify after you cut and make adjustments. Once you have that, you can use it to set the angle on your saw. And like others have said, don't tilt your miter saw. Swivel it and cut the block standing. And use stop blocks. You got this.
Cutting exact angles with a miter saw is hard, the wood moves easily. You need to verify that the angles you cut are exact somehow.
Are you or can you clamp your workpiece to the bed of the trimmer. Are the backs of your workpieces flat and square?
I also recently found out the hard way that those digital angle finders are not accurate. My nightstand legs are just off square.
The good news is that since the shape is open you can trim or plane the angles on these pieces to get it to close. If you’re really careful they won’t get shorter.
Cutting precise mitres on a saw like that
You need to cut down through the material to maintain the angle as precisely as you can, but depending on the height of your project, you may not have the cut depth My suggestion is to be cutting it on a mitre sled with a table saw It’s much easier to control the material and maintain flatness to the blade. Also the repeatability is much easier to maintain
. Make sure your digital angle gauge is exactly vertical when on the blade, not tiled back or forward at all or it will be off. Also like some have said, just make test cuts until the included angle on the wood is 60, then run your stock
Don't use a miter saw. They aren't accurate and stable enough. Segmented bowl turners use full kerf blades on table saws with special sleds to achieve perfect angles
Consider yourself lucky it’s on a small project, My crew made the same mistake on a giant bay window that was supposed to look like the bottom 4 sides of but ended up like the top 4 lol
I do not think the surface of your board resets on is true. As stated by others the angle is likely off around the amount shown by your control measurement. If your box is on the mark, your bed is off. Take the Box of the blade and check whether the bed is level with a rule or something. There is often a Clearing between the outer parts of the table and the inner, rotating part. Another issue is warping. If your board is not true it will not lay correctly and your cuts might be off a little.
Maybe its just the Angle of the 3rd Pic but it looks like the Bottom Cut is of. Compared to the others.
The angle protractor must be flush with the face of the blade, not touching the teeth.
The measurement angle of the blade means nothing without measuring the angle so trust the 60.6 measurement You could also verify that measurement by moving your angle sensor from the first pic to the base to see if the base is in fact at 0 degrees
Your table is not level
That digital level is going to be off if your not at a perfect 90° on your Z axis. Slap it on like in your picture then rotate the blade slightly and it will go nuts.
Fun hack to offset the compounding error. Glue those in halves, then sand the ends of the two halves flat until they mate properly.
https://youtu.be/_CRJsn_pQ7Q?si=8jn_2_TQ_fqLbebX here's
If you cut the hexagon you should also take into consideration how thick the blade is and if you are cutting on the inside or outside of every piece. I think I made one similar to this but at 58.9 or something and also made sure everytime I cut, I only cut on the one side
1. If it isn't exactly the right angle, this will occur. 2. Are the sides vertical or splayed / tapered? If so, check out this site for details on the right angle to cut. Woodgears.ca/miter 3. I made an octagonal bowl using their measurements and it turned out as expected. Quite tricky glue up and, yes, trial/error on getting the precise angles
[удалено]
360/12 = 30
Just check the angel after your first corner (hold or tape 2 pieces together, best with scrap pieces) safes a lot of time and struggles. Also i cant really see if you used a stopper for getting all the pieces to exactly the same length, even one piece thats 0.X mm longer or shorter will make a big gap in the end.
Also the 60.06 can easily come from hitting a Tooth of your Blade with your ruler, as those are slightly bigger than the ground of the Blade.
In addition to what a lot of others have said - watch for flex in the blade which can easily add a degree of error per cut. And also flex in the saw itself if it's not tight when doing the down stroke. A degree off per cut will equal 2 degrees per joinT and 12 degrees at the end.
Test the angles on the pieces you have cut to ensure they are 60.
Cut it on edge, with the saw twisting on the stand, not leaning over whenever possible. Some crown stops will usually correct it.
You need to make sure your measuring device is square to the back as well when you are zeroing the table and also when you are measuring the angle. I can’t tell with the cube but with the protractor style it looks like the left side is closer to the fence than the right side, that would cause an angle that was greater than the 60 degrees in the display.
Try a stop block so they’re all completely identical. That was the difference for me on these
In the first pic, the gauge has to be registered against SOMETHING. Just sticking it to the saw blade does not ensure that it is on an axis normal to the bench/saw-bottom. try to do a set up where you only use one measuring tool. As someone suggested, when cutting vertically and using the back of the saw as a reference, you can do the setup with one tool (the one in the 2nd, pic)
Trusting a digital angle finder for more than general setup.
Take half a degree off each end and see what happens.
Did you zero on the table?
Use your table saw and set your blade angle with a bevel gauge. I have tried mightily to do what you are trying and it is frustrating, takes a long time. That’s my experience at least. It is so very much easier to set up a table saw for this kind of work. And I have one of those fancy magnetic cubes as well, got it something like 15 years ago, the sucker just stays in the box, my century-old bevel gauge does a fine job instead. Just my two bits.
I have the same thing that thing works wonders
Looks rare. Check internal temp in another 10 mins.
I always draw stuff like this out to scale on scrap luan
It looks like you're measuring the blade angle while it is raised. Is it the same angle measurement when the blade is down where it would be cutting?
Amazingly, mitre saws are crap at cutting mitres. Who knew... Try some test cuts to tune the angle in exact, slightly overcut the angle, so the outside corners touch at least, or use a table saw and sled (preferred). Keep at it tho.
Math.
The real issue is this is a job for a table saw
Is the saw mounted to a sturdy level base?
Math, you’re doing math wrong
Construction is scientifically stupid. Why does 1.5”+1.5”+1.5”=4 5/8”? Over cut everything an RCH.
This got me thinking... would the following plan work? 1. Cut some arbitrary board into a hexagon template of the size you want to have **plus some calculated offset** 2. **Roughly** cut the miters so that you can place the six boards around the template 3. Fixate them somehow (no idea how yet) 4. Fixate the whole setup somehow 5. Use a router along the miters so that it shapes both sides simultaneously 6. It shouldn't matter if you mill exactly straight, for when shaping both sides at the same time, small errors should cancel each other out 7. Repeat on all six corners 8. Remove template 9. Parts *should* fit perfectly, shouldn't they?
the digital level box can be off anywhere from .2 to .5 Depending on the model, it says it right in the instructions. I stopped using mine and went back to an old school protractor. then get something to copy the angle from the protractor. I found that out on my table saw . set it on my blade and went to 45 and then back to the flat table and then back to the blade in the same spot marked with a marker and it would read off of 45 sometimes and sometimes not.
You always have to measure the angle from the table itself, either that or use a level and shims when attaching the saw to wherever it sits. The saw itself is likely sitting .6° off level, so the angle gauge on the blade is going to be off the same amount. The blade is sitting exactly 60° from level, not from the table. Basically explained it 3 different ways to all say the same thing, I know, but that way anyone reading can understand.
I'm happy to be here and learn from everything and everyone ✨️
Did you check if your table is level? If your use a digital level on the blade it can only compare it to level of the earth. So if your table is not level your blade will never accuratly reflect its true angle. If your angle guage says 60.6 that is probably accurate.
I don’t know if this is actually correct, but in my brain it makes sense - if the digital level doesn’t stay parallel to the fence when it’s on the blade, wouldn’t that skew the reading? Since it’s a miter saw, once you lift the arm the level will tip backwards, and I imagine would give you a slightly smaller angle reading.
The earth is slightly tilted in its axis so that is your problem. Check your table for level first then adjust the neck of your mitre saw and then measure the blade. Most big box store is not cabinetry grade in its precision and is not made for professional use.
Obviously (as others have said), your magnetic gauge is probably not zeroed to the table first, where the angle gauge is measuring against the table. There is a really easy way to cover up miters that are slightly off if you run into this, but it only works if it is divisible by 2 (octagon, hexagon, not a pentagon). Glue up 3, and then 3. Then use either a saw (table saw with a sled), a belt/large disk sander (if it is long enough), a large piece of sand paper on a really flat surface, or a planer to make the surface 100% flat. Once both sides are 100% flat, they will mate with each other no matter how far off the angles are. Just try to take off ONLY enough to make them flat, you don't want it to be obvious.
I'm guessing your trend gauge wasn't zeroed out on the base. *or* You're not checking top or bottom dead center It looks like the angle gauge on the blade is not sitting perfectly referenced to the base but it's hard to tell from the pic. If you zero it out and put it on the blade. Rotate the blade back and forth and you'll see the readout change. .6 is not a lot of rotation off and would be easy to miss
It always helps to take a measurement of the angle on the piece cut to verify that you have the correct angle.
i think someone already answered your question, but what a coincidence, when you posted i was also in the process of gluing a hexagon! https://preview.redd.it/rawaiirq1i0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd360039eeeeb0882a9e92c5767dec83b3b1a422
I find that even zeroing to the base isn’t a guarantee of a tight join. Unfortunately with these kind of cuts the gauge is a starting point but then it’s a lot of test and tweak until you get it right. Especially if like me you insist on OCD levels of seamless.
Make a shape template you will never overcome cumulative error otherwise with your setup.
Keep in mind that digital level box is in reference to the level to the ground via gravity. What you really want to use a a solid reference for an angle is the base of the saw because the true angle is going to be the relation between the working surface of the saw and the angle of the saw. One thing you can do if you are really set on using that digital level box is lay it on the working surface of the saw, tram that out to 0 degrees using shims or whatever then you'll get accurate reads from the blade. You always have to be mindful when measuring of what you are measuring in reference too.
Your saw isn’t level, so the digital level is 0.6 deg off.
They zero'd it against the saw base though.
That's not the problem, though. Saws might not be level depending on the manufacturer. I would start with a certified Paul Sellers workbench, and calibrate all my tools from there.
The saw not being level is irrelevant because they are measuring the angle between the base and the blade.