Crown Moldings and Corners

Afternoon folks:

I was reading in a finishing carpentry book that the real way to figure out angles for inside and outside corners is with Trigonometry, and there was a whole page of calculations. :bang:

Now I haven't done Trig since high school--30+ years ago. Do you'all who are good at those corners *really* do a page of calculations to figure them out? Cause if so, it will take me a year of math review before being able to do 1 corner. :eek:

Thanks, and I only want to hear good news.:D
 
Naw,
I use one of these...:thumb:
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Jigs, fixtures, and measuring devices. I have jig for the miter saw that allows placing molding in the position it is to be attached and then a simple miter is cut. I also have an electronic protractor that measures the angle of the corner, divide by 2 and the result will be the angle.

Calculations are for Engineers and Techys.

The Slding T Bevel (as Don showed you,) is tried and true to determine the angle, divide by 2 and that is the miter angle. The Electronic one is for old lazy guys like myself. I have a folding protractor and was using the T-bevel measuring for the angle, etc when the friend who's house I was hanging molding watched and presented me with a gift of the electronic dodad and I fell in Love...
 
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I just cut the piece and put it up.:thumb: Out sides cut at what ever angle you need and insides I cope.:thumb:
I could try and enplane it but I can not. If you where standing on the job with me. I could show you in about 10 seconds.:thumb:
 
vision challenged guys say, Thankgod for caulking.

I recently put up crown molding and I bought the premade inside corners. ONly problem was, none of the walls inside corners matched the premade ones, I had to cut a couple of degrees off in slices till it fit right.
 
No advice on the crown molding, but...

...Do you'all...

Cynthia, Cynthia, Cynthia. :rolleyes: Did you have to leave your Southerner Card at the border when you entered the Great White North? It's y'all, not you'all. :rofl: I'd usually cut most folks some slack on forum spelling (to wit: Larry and Don), but you're a writer, fer cryin' out loud. :p

Kidding, of course. I learned long ago I have to leave my Grammar Cop badge at home when I come here to the forum. :D
 
Heck, I usually look at Larry's posts as I do cross word puzzles or Wheel of fortune... Take a look at whats there and try and figure out what the missing letters are.. :rofl:
 
like the others have said, no calcs, just one of those things like don posted. or cut it 45 and caulk...depending on how much you care about your work, which isn't many people around where i live i can tell you that much
 
Cynthia,

Last weekend I took an all day class on Crown Molding and Trim. While it was extremely technical, I understood the mechanics if not the mathematics. They handed out a book on the subject, which, if you have the math background, is more understandable. Being just an old retired civil servant, the math was a little difficult for me to grasp. The book is Crown Molding and Trim, Install It Like a Pro, by Wayne Duke at www.compoundmiter.com. I have no interest (financially or commercially) in this.
 
Most of the keys on a calculator are a complete mystery to me and I'm retarded at anything other than basic math, so no trig for me.

Smaller crowns, 3-1/4" or less, I just hold up at an angle and upside down on the saw with the vertical part of the crown against the fence, and just mitre at the correct angle. If things look wonky I'll just use a couple of piece of scrap to see how far off the corner is, and what the mitre needs to be cut at.

With bigger crowns that require a compound cut the best thing to do is to find a list for all of the numbers. My new Makita came with one in the manual. Most crowns are of two varieties, 38 & 45 degree, I can't remember the bevel/mitre angles off hand, but most compound saws have them marked on the angle finder(s). Once you wrap your head around the goofyness of cutting crown flat, you can start tweaking the numbers to make things fit better. Its just something that takes time.
 
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