The idea would work if the miter box sides were taller and the razor saw blade about a half inch deeper. The tallness of the one side prevents even engaging the blade in the box guides. I have two sizes of miter boxes and the larger one just isn't adequate unless they make one size larger than the large I have now. As a postscript there have been a lot of good ideas that would work if it wasn't for the shape of the material, high on one end lower on the other, and the characteristics of the material which have been previously described. And while I have a decent assortment of tools most are designed to handle smaller materials than this piece was. While assembling yet another component of the kit I found that I had to break out some styrene metal roofing material to finish as enough was not supplied with the kit. That reminded me that I also had some brick and stone sheets tucked away in my styrene drawer and it would have been much simpler to have substituted that for the kit supplied material. I have one more kit by the same company that I hope I don't run into this material again and if I do it is into the trashcan and break out the styrene. I am pretty much convinced now that that Dremel table saw will end up as the next big ticket purchase.
A bit late but if you do more of them you might try a foam board cutter. Never used it myself but I've seen someone use one made by Xacto to cut 45 degree bevels. It did a very clean job of it.
A foam cutter I had not thought about but I have one. Cheap wood miter box from the home improvement store if they make them anymore for the guide. Can't use metal since electricity passes through the wire blade and would short out the whole mess.
The kit is actually a high quality wood craftsman kit that produces a very nice structure. Reams of instructions and diagrams plus templates. There have been a few changes to the kit since it first came out and all for the better. However the choice of the material for the brick power house just wasn't a good choice and may not be what is included in the most recent kits. Mine is a number of years old. The scribed wood that represents metal siding and roofing would have been a better choice for the walls. And if I were to ever build this again it is what I would use or the styrene equivalent of the same. I am covering the building of the kit on the What's on your workbench thread and have just completed the woodchip loader out of the kit supplied cardstock and wood. I would not discourage anyone from buying this kit if they want an excellent sawmill. A lot of work in cutting and truing up sides and tops and framing but so far the results have been excellent and I am just getting ready to start the frame support for the chip loader, and then the loading docks and log deck which will be challenging but doable. While I have a reasonably good assortment of various tools to handle this work it just boiled down to that I had nothing to adequately handle this brick material both because of the size needed and the extreme flexibility. I am already browsing through the micro table saw capable of beveled cuts with a big tax return burning a hole in my pocket.
John... Couldnt ya just butt the to walls together and finish them off with some small strips of vertical styrene to hide the edges ? Something like this... http://inspectapedia.com/exterior/PHG_Hillis_154_DJFs.jpg
If you go back to post 19 in this thread you will see I went ahead and butt jointed the pieces and the bare foam was covered with the paint. The other wood structures you see in the photo actually have corner posts that the cut ends of clapboard siding butt up to.
While some kits could certainly use better instructions, "reams" sounds a bit overwhelming. I wonder what percentage of the kit price might be for the cost of all that instruction paper?
39 pages worth and some steps refer one back to some original front page instructions so they saved a little paper there. There are about 10 or 12 plastic templates measuring 3.5 by 12 inches also in the kit along with about 4 sheets of roofing paper about the same size as the templates. Considering that the mill has six main structures that get built separate then combined and a bunch of ancillary stuff probably explains why so much paper. Literally half the box was paper and templates the rest sheets and strips of wood plus that danged brick/foam wall material.
Without seeing the actual composition of the brick-laminated foam board, I can only make a suggestion to cut away the foam backing behind one edge of the brick laminate on one wall, if possible. Cut enough foam away so when you butt up the other untrimmed wall against the cutaway one (at a 90 degree angle) just enough brick laminate extends out to cover the bare end of the uncut wall. It should be possible to get a 90 degree sharp edge where the two brick sheets intersect, might need a little trimming or filing. Added advantage to this method is being able to put a square corner post on the inside of the corner for a more secure joint and make a true 90 degrees. You can do this for any joints that otherwise have to be cut at 45 degrees. This is an easy and fast way to get the joint done. You have already solved your problem another way but I offer this to anybody else who may face such a situation.
