How to Cut Crown Molding on Flat Miter Saws

Determine the Angles

• 1

  Place a piece of crown molding in the jaws of your protractor. Place the edge of the molding that will rest against the wall near the hinge in the protractor and then adjust the protractor until the arm rests against the back of the molding. Read the number on the protractor to get your spring angle. This will almost always be 45 or 38 degrees, and is often referred to as 45/45 and 52/38 spring angles, but some molding may be different.

• 2

  Use your protractor to measure the corner where you will be installing the molding. This will often be 90 degrees, but there are exceptions.

• 3

  Consult the charts in the resources section to determine the bevel and miter angles. For a 45/45 spring angle and a 90-degree corner, your miter angle will be 35.3 and your bevel angle will be 30. For a 52/38 spring angle and a 90-degree corner, your miter angle will be 31.6 and your bevel angle will be 33.9.

Cutting the Molding

• 4

  Place the piece of crown molding that you will make into the right side of the outside corner, or the left side of an inside corner, in front of your saw. Position the molding so the top of the molding is resting against the fence of your miter saw.

• 5

  Swing the miter saw to the right the number of degrees equal to your miter calculation. Next, bevel the saw the number of degrees equal to your bevel calculation.

• 6

  Start the saw and bring it down through the molding. Release the trigger and wait for the blade to stop, then bring the saw back up. Remove the piece of molding.

• 7

  Place the piece of molding that will become the left side of an outside corner, or the right side of an inside corner, on the saw. Put this piece into place with the bottom of the molding against the miter saw fence.

• 8

  Adjust the miter to the left of center, the same number of degrees as before. Cut the molding.