Poll: What to use for mitre bar stock?

[David Keller NC]

"Am I the only one who went with the Kreg runners? They come in 30" lengths and have the nylon screws to adjust the tightness. I have them on my large crosscut sled. No problems so far."

No (you're not the only one). I had used maple, UMHW and xytel in the past, but the maple tended to expand/contract too much with changes in humidity, and the UMHW and Xytel wear too fast, leading to too much slop in short order.

THe nice thing about Kreg or the Incra T-Track is that it's aluminum, perfectly stable with changes in humidity, long-wearing, and adjustable for a perfect fit in the slot. That said, the aluminum wears preferentially over the cast iron table top, and I'd sure rather replace the track when it needs it than the TS top!

[Jeff Willard]

Personally, I'd use hard maple, or some UHMW runners that are available from various sources.

[Gene Howe]

I use oak. Somewhere, I picked up a roll of self adhering foil. Makes great shims to take out the slop.

[sean m. titmas]

wooden runners that are beveled and screwed offer the same level of adjustment and quality of service that steel runners do, only at a considerable savings in initial cost.

i use hardwood strips that are eased on the edges that contact the sled bottom so that i can use a scraper or small block plane to trim them down to a precise fit after they are installed. a little butchers wax will keep things gliding nice and after 2 years my sled has needed no adjustment of any kind to keep it running fine.

i might look into using some aluminum runners from Kreg on my next spending spree to see if there is any advantage but i feel that the only benefit will be in the milling/fitting stage and once they are installed and operating properly there is little difference between the two.

[Alan Schaffter]

I use 3/4" x 3/8" cold rolled steel. Slides easy, durable, and you can tap it easily.

For all jigs with runners, regardless of the runner material, I cut a shallow dado in the jig bottom the size of the miter bar, then I square the rest of the jig to the runner and base, not the other way around. That makes it easy to keep everything in alignment when you attach or even replace the runner.

[Dar Lounsbury]

Larry

Could you post a few pictures of your uses of plastic. Always open to better ideas.

Thanks, Dar

[Bruce Wrenn]

From a local agricultural supply company, I buy a wear strip. It is 1" X 3/8" X 120" long. Being UHMW, it machines well. I use table saw to rip slightly oversize, then using a sled in my planer, I get it down to the exact width I need. Some times I also reduce the thickness in my planer. To prevent bulging where the screws are, I drill and counter sink it.

[Larry Rasmussen]

For previous router or table saw sliding jigs I've used Oak or the Incra bars. I was quite disapointed with the Incras. Couldn't get them adjusted to the correct tightness and I felt like the spacing between the adjustments on the track was way too far apart.

I bought a pair of 18" steel bars from my Rockler Store locally in Seattle. They were advertised for $8.99 ea, normally $20 ea. This was in the Feb flyer arriving at beginning of the month. The 18" bar has a series of 4 spring loaded balls inset to hit the side of the miter slot, distributed along the length of bar. A set screw opposite allows the user to adjuster the pressure. I have never had to use the adjustment. I made a sled out of baltic birch and use it in my little portable Bosch 10" table saw with a rather rough pair of miter slots in an aluminum table. I was really suprised how nicely it glided when I screwed down the second bar and flipped the table back over.

I can't locate these bars in the Rockler catalog now 3 months later, they may never have been a catalog item. The packaging was just a plain long clear plastic bag with generic label stapled to top to close. They may have some of these left, I'm going to check next time I go by, I'm exited about making another jig or two. If you see an aftermarket bar with the steel balls adjustable for pressure I recommend it above the Incra style bars or wood or any non adjustable material, especially if there are 4 of them over 18 inches of length.

Regards,
Larry Rasmussen,
Seattle

[Clifford Mescher]

For previous router or table saw sliding jigs I've used Oak or the Incra bars. I was quite disapointed with the Incras. Couldn't get them adjusted to the correct tightness and I felt like the spacing between the adjustments on the track was way too far apart.

I bought a pair of 18" steel bars from my Rockler Store locally in Seattle. They were advertised for $8.99 ea, normally $20 ea. This was in the Feb flyer arriving at beginning of the month. The 18" bar has a series of 4 spring loaded balls inset to hit the side of the miter slot, distributed along the length of bar. A set screw opposite allows the user to adjuster the pressure. I have never had to use the adjustment. I made a sled out of baltic birch and use it in my little portable Bosch 10" table saw with a rather rough pair of miter slots in an aluminum table. I was really suprised how nicely it glided when I screwed down the second bar and flipped the table back over.

I can't locate these bars in the Rockler catalog now 3 months later, they may never have been a catalog item. The packaging was just a plain long clear plastic bag with generic label stapled to top to close. They may have some of these left, I'm going to check next time I go by, I'm exited about making another jig or two. If you see an aftermarket bar with the steel balls adjustable for pressure I recommend it above the Incra style bars or wood or any non adjustable material, especially if there are 4 of them over 18 inches of length.

Regards,
Larry Rasmussen,
Seattle

You can modify any bar to the spring plungers if you can master the relatively easy operation of drilling and tapping threaded holes. The plungers are not expensive.
http://www.springplungers.com/ Clifford

[Julian Nicks]

I've used steel, aluminum, uhmw, and wood. I prefer to use quarter sawn white oak. It is extremely stable( doesn't expand contract much at all), and is readily available( I have 500 bf of it). I make a bunch of them up, that way when I need to make a jig, I have the runners ready to go. All that needs to be done is to drill/countersink them and wax them up.

[Larry Rasmussen]

We like to go eat Sunday breakfast in North Seattle at a place just up the street from Rocklers. I did a drive by this morning after breakfast to check something out and remembered to look at the bars. They have a single bar left of the kind I've been talking about in my post- back up to $20 ea. They will get more but I'm not going to pay $40 up front for sled bars. I was thinking about making a single sliding base and setting it up to be able to drop what ever jig I want to use on top. I'd lose a bit of height capacity that I probably wouldn't need but I'm sure could figure a way for tool less change of jigs that would be convenient.

On the other hand I was wondering on the way home where I could find some of the bullets and just try a couple different set ups in wood with the bullets, maybe space them even closer, or oppostite each other too, or perhaps on the bottom of the bar so it would roll along like a tiny sliding table. What can I say, my wife was driving and I was hopped up on Blue Star Cafe coffee, planning to take over the sled world. Regardless it was fun to come home and find the link you posted Clifford.

Thanks,
Larry Rasmussen
Seattle

[Clifford Mescher]

We like to go eat Sunday breakfast in North Seattle at a place just up the street from Rocklers. I did a drive by this morning after breakfast to check something out and remembered to look at the bars. They have a single bar left of the kind I've been talking about in my post- back up to $20 ea. They will get more but I'm not going to pay $40 up front for sled bars. I was thinking about making a single sliding base and setting it up to be able to drop what ever jig I want to use on top. I'd lose a bit of height capacity that I probably wouldn't need but I'm sure could figure a way for tool less change of jigs that would be convenient.

On the other hand I was wondering on the way home where I could find some of the bullets and just try a couple different set ups in wood with the bullets, maybe space them even closer, or oppostite each other too, or perhaps on the bottom of the bar so it would roll along like a tiny sliding table. What can I say, my wife was driving and I was hopped up on Blue Star Cafe coffee, planning to take over the sled world. Regardless it was fun to come home and find the link you posted Clifford.

Thanks,
Larry Rasmussen
Seattle

Larry
Your welcome. A few years ago a machinist who posted here gave me the heads-up on spring plungers. I ordered various sizes and even tried the delrin (plastic) balls. I installed them on all my sleds and miter gages and they work great and have not made any adjustments. I think I ordered the kind that locks in place. Clifford.

[sean m. titmas]

Larry
Your welcome. A few years ago a machinist who posted here gave me the heads-up on spring plungers. I ordered various sizes and even tried the delrin (plastic) balls. I installed them on all my sleds and miter gages and they work great and have not made any adjustments. I think I ordered the kind that locks in place. Clifford.

what layout and spacing did you use for the balls? can you post a pic of one to show?

[Clifford Mescher]

what layout and spacing did you use for the balls? can you post a pic of one to show?

I'll try to post a couple of pictures.

1st picture is miter gage with delrin balls. 2nd picture is my sled with steel balls. I spaced them about 1" from each end and about 5" between the rest of them. There are 4 or 5 balls according to length of bar. I drilled the holes through the whole bar and inserted them from the opposite side. Hope this helps. Clifford.

[Alan Schaffter]

I was thinking about making a single sliding base and setting it up to be able to drop what ever jig I want to use on top. I'd lose a bit of height capacity that I probably wouldn't need but I'm sure could figure a way for tool less change of jigs that would be convenient.


Thanks,
Larry Rasmussen
Seattle

Larry, see my post in this thread about mounting the miter bar in a dado. If you did it that way you could swap a bar between jigs without worrying about alignment and not lose height capacity either.