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Aye, I think I’m probably lifting the saw, or doing something hokey. I’ve done a few max depth cuts to trim multiple boards and it didn’t feel like it was struggling the same way with the mitres, so I think the blade is still in good fettle.
Admittedly, rushing it last thing on a Friday was probably not the best method of testing. Will try again Monday with more thorough clamping and steadying the baseplate.But yeah, butt joints for lyf! With a cheeky chamfer to take some two-pack for that smoove finish.
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If you want to smooth the edge of mdf you just need to sand it through grits 125-400. Then it’s as smooth as the surface of the mdf.
I’ve cut quite a few mitres with the Mafell and it does need you to go slow and I usually clamp the rail. I’ve not had any problems with it but I don’t usually cut more than 400mm that way.
I never bother adjusting to meet the chip strip for mitres, just compensate 1.5mm like you’re doing.
45 deg does work the saw much harder as you’re cutting like 1.5x the material, but in MDF it should be fine. I always clamp and go slow doing mitres in birch ply. Often put a coarser blade it too I think. I’ve never had a problem with the angle being off though. I guess you could fiddle what the clearance / tightness adjustment of the rail grooves. Only way I could see the angle being off is if the saw is lifting off the track so I’d be concentrating on keeping my thumb of my left hand on the little bit made for it and pushing nice and straight along the track with plenty of downward pressure. Could just be a bit of a blunt blade showing itself up when put under a bit of pressure.
Butt joints FTW 😉