Cross cut sled question

[John Branam]

I am going to build a cross cut sled tonight. The only thing that concerns me is how do I make sure the fence of the sled is perpendicular to the blade so that I get a true cross cut?

[Dave Richards]

Probably the best way is to leave the fence adjustable and make test cuts with some wide scraps and adjsut as needed.

[Ted Shrader]

John -

Make the sled and attach the runners so they fit the miter gage slots, Then attach the fence using a square as follows: At one end of the fence put in a screw that will place the fence in its permanent position L/R and in relation to the edge of the bottom of the sled. Then, using the square, get the fence as close as possible and temporarily screw the other end of the fence down. Make a test cut. Adjust the movable end of the fence as required to get it dead on square. )Probably will require a new temporary screw hole.) Once you are satisfied with the cut, add several more screws all along the fence to permanently secure it in place.

Good luck and take your time.

Ted

[Dennis McDonaugh]

John, that's the way I did mine, except I used some slow drying epoxy so once I had it square I just screwed the temporary screw tight and waited for the glue to dry.

Semi hijack - I broke my very large, David Marks, USS Enterprise type crosscut sled and need to make another. I'm going to incorporate a aluminum T channel in the fence to attach stop blocks. Can I just install the T track and cut it with the saw blade? I understand carbide blades cut aluminum very well.

Thanks,

[John Branam]

Thanks for te help everyone. Great tips!

[Ted Shrader]

Dennis -

I put one of those in mine, too. Great addition - the stop block gets used all the time.

The "back" fence - one closest to you that the piece is up against - it made from two pieces of ¾" plywood. I ran the dado for the aluminum T-track prior to putting the fence on (obviously). After the fence was all squared up, cut a notch in the T-track with a hacksaw and installed it in the fence. Granted a sawblade will cut it, but why stress a blade when it is not required?

Ted

[Steven Wilson]

Fix the end near the blade and allow some adjustment room on the other end of the fence. Then run a 5-sided cut to square up the sled.

[Rob Horton]

I am going to build a cross cut sled tonight. The only thing that concerns me is how do I make sure the fence of the sled is perpendicular to the blade so that I get a true cross cut?

I just did this on this past weekend. It was my first sled. I'll post pics later if the pic police require it. Anyway, here are the steps I followed to get mine square the first time trying.

1. After cutting a piece of MDF, for my sled base, to the right size and squaring it up I attached the rails for the miter slots and then the "back" fence (the one farthest away from you.

And now to install the front fence and square it up.

2. I attached the front fence on one side only so it would swing on a single screw.
3. Then I put the sled on the saw, raised the blade to full height and made my cut through the middle of the sled, stopping about half way through. Don't complete this cut yet.
4. So now, I have a swinging front fence, the blade raised all the way, and stopped in the middle of the cut.
5. Then with the saw off of course, I took a square and squared the fence to the blade. This is the advantage of having the swinging back fence initially. It allowed me to just swing the fence into position until it touched my carpenter's square.
6. Then I slid the sled back just enough to get a clamp on my fence.
7. Then I attached the other screw, to permanently hold the fence in place, unclamped and checked for square again just to be sure.
8. Then I made my test cuts. The fence was dead on.

I hope this made sense and I hoped it helped.

[Brian Riley]

One mistake I made when I did my first sled was not making sure the blade was parallel to the miter slots. Since that time I have aquired the TS Aligner and now everything about the saw is dead on. This has in turn caused that first sled to be off just a bit in regards to the initial cut and fence alignment.

So now anytime I build a jig of any sorts that requires the use of the miter slots I always break out the TS Aligner and check the slot alignment to the blade.


Brian

[Rob Horton]

Brian has a great point and one that I forgot to mention. Before I made my sled, I did a tune up on the table saw to make sure everything was in alignment.

[John Branam]

I tuned the saw up the other night, but I will recheck everything before starting. Again thanks everyone for your help.

[John Cole]

You know I see people asking this question a lot and I see some very clever replies but I must be missing something becuase I've made a number of sleds and they all turned out perfectly. I use a very simple method.

First and foremost your blade needs to be square to the mitre slot. On every saw I have owned and checked the front of the saw table was square to the mitre slots, so:

Cut the base for the sled and make sure it is square. Then put the runners in the mitre slots and put the base on top. Align the base with the front of the saw table and put a couple of brads in the runners to hold them (or put screws in) - I then turn the base over and put the screws in from the bottom.

At this point all you need to do is line the front fence up with the front edge of the base and fasten with screws. The back or rear fence can be added in the same way.

OK, so am I missing something here ?

John