Compound You, Angles!

It was bound to happen.  Sure, most furniture is made exclusively with right-angles.  But I knew that some day I would have to face compound angles.  I thought it might be while fitting crown molding, or cutting raised-panel frames.  Turns out, my first experience with compound angles was tougher and more complicated than either of these two brain-busting tasks.  What's a compound angle, you ask?  Take a look at this image:

Notice how the piece of purple heart on the left has slanted edges, AND is shaped roughly like a trapezoid?  Those are compound angles. 

I had to cut these weird shapes because I was trying to create bases for a pair of open-baffle speakers (left).  I found success using the Festool TS75 plunge saw and its guide rail.  This allowed me to cut along one straight line, at an angle.  The line of the guide was set with a protractor.  Needless to say, all didn't work out as planned.  But the result was close enough to what I needed that I WILL be able to finish the speakers, including their pyramid bases.

Compound cuts require some ingenuity, and some math, and sometimes duct tape.  Clamping these pyramid bases wasn't easy.  Stay tuned for more on compound cuts, calculations, and the status of my open baffle speakers!

-isaac