Crown Molding made easy. We have taken all of the guess work out of cutting crown molding. Chapter 4 in our new 2nd edition book deals with installing crown molding on a horizontal ceiling.
In today's modern construction, corners are often built at unusual angles. For example, if you measure a corner angle of 146° and were using crown molding with a spring angle of 38°, you would just simply look up the miter and blade tilt in Chapter 4 or the crown molding table, page 124 thru 141. You would set your compound miter saw for a miter of 10.7° and a blade tilt of 13.3° and cut a perfect compound miter joint.
What you will find in other books are instructions that say "for those corners that are not 90° just adjust your saw until you get the corners to fit". Here is where everyone loses it. You have created a huge pile of firewood from your expensive crown molding and now have an ulcer and give up.
Let's start by explaining just the basic compound miter cuts to install crown molding for a horizontal ceiling.
This is the most common type of crown moulding cut. The crown runs along the wall and ceiling and will make a horizontal turn of some angle in a corner and continue on along the ceiling. The ceiling is horizontal but the corners are almost never exactly 90°.
Standard Corner Turns consist of two types, Inside Corners & Outside Corners. (These are cut somewhat different, as we will demonstrate.)
Inside Corners - Corners that measure between 0° to 180°.
Outside Corners - Corners that measure between 180° to 360°.
Left-hand Side Piece of Crown Moulding
Measure the inside corner where the crown will be installed with your True Angle® Tool and obtain the miter and blade tilt settings from either the book, the Crown Molding Table or the Excel Program.
Turn the compound miter saw table counterclockwise to the correct miter setting and tilt the saw to your left to the correct blade tilt angle.
Place the top of the crown molding face up, flat on the table, with the top of the crown moulding next to the fence and make the cut.
When looking at the crown molding in the position that it will be installed, it will always look like this.
You will always be able to see the saw cut, and the pointed end will always be at the bottom of the crown moulding. (This is the left-hand side piece for an inside corner.)
Right-hand Side Piece of Crown Moulding
Notice the changes made to the compound miter saw.
The blade tilt position did not change, but the miter table was rotated clockwise to the correct miter setting opposite the previous setting for the left-hand side piece.
Also now the bottom of the crown moulding (instead of the top) is next to the compound miter saw fence, lying face up and flat on the table. Make the cut.
Notice again: The bottom of the crown molding was against the fence for the right-hand side piece.
All inside corner pieces will look similar to these.
When looking at the crown moulding like it will be installed, the pointed ends will always be the bottom of the crown molding (next to the wall) and you will be able to see the saw cut surface.
The crown moulding is ready to install.
