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Thread: Miter Sleds... Can I see Your Pics??

  1. #1

    Miter Sleds... Can I see Your Pics??

    I have 2 sleds I am working on. I am near finishing the cross cut sled but I have a new Freud blade on the way so I don't want to finish the fence set up until the new blade comes.

    I also started a small miter sled that I will use in clock and box making. I basically have the sled made and that is it. Would like to see some photos of any of you guys sleds if I may. That may help me in finalizing mine.

    On the subject of sleds, I pretty much followed Marks thoughts and instructions so far on the cross cut sled. The screws tend to tighten the sled up in the tracks. On the miter sled, I spead a thin layer of glue on the top of the tracks and set the sled top on the tracks. I use the fence to position the top as mark said. I put a couple heavy items on top to weight it down. In about 2 hours I was able to remove the sled from the saw. I used 1 inch brads set to barely sink the nail head and it worked great. Put it back on the saw, waxed the runners and the top and it just about slid right off the saw!

    Anyway, appreciate a look at your miter sled's if yah have some pics.
    Thanks as always,
    Corey

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    KC, MO
    Posts
    2,041
    Corey,

    No pics or anything...these are on the "to do list" also...

    But I"ve often wondered.......

    Why not make a sled really "wide" to the RIGHT?? Use all that room on the ext. table (I've got 52" ) ......for when it's needed??!! Why do we always CC on the left side of the blade??? Just some thoughts....

    good luck!

  3. #3
    Hi Roy. That is a good idea for a large sled and cutting big stock. I personally don't want long stock hanging off either side. I am using it more for small cut off work accurately, small clock cases, boxes etc. I use my miter guage for stick stuff, but I wanted the sled for stuff up to 12 wide or less for the most part. For wood up to my miter saws capacity I usually cut close to length or cut off with my small cs and then cut accurately on the table saw. I can tell already that my cross cut sled will probably be to big for what I really want to do with it. It will be a nice sled, just bigger than I really want. It has been a good learning experience. My miter jig is much smaller. I will probably build a smaller version of my cross cut sled later, when I know exactly what it's pro's and cons are and what I find I really want it to do.
    Thanks,
    Corey

  4. #4
    I posted a pic on here a while ago, this is my aluminum miter jig,
    was not all that hard
    www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12115

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    1,958
    I like to use the old fashion plywood sliding panel that rides in the tablesaw's miter slot. It allows me to quickly remove the the panel when I don't need it. I have experienced two problems though: (1) the wood runner has some slop, and; (2) the panel get tippy when I'm crosscutting larger panels.

    Since I have limited room in my shop, an aftermarket sliding table, like Excalibur, takes up too much room. Also, my tablesaw is a right tilt blade and it is very important to me that the fence can be moved to the left side of the blade when making beveled rips.

    My solution (still in the works) is to make a collapsable support that folds down out of the way as shown below. The get rid of the miter slop, I purchased a beefy metal runner from Woodpeckers that has adjustment for miter slot slop.

    cheers, Jeff



  6. Excellent CAD work Jeffrey and good design of the fold down table. It really helps to see a picture like this for clarity.

    I do have drafting and blue print experience but would like to use a simple CAD program to start illustrating ideas for customers. Could you suggest an easy way to get started in this?


    Wallace

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Northern New Jersey
    Posts
    1,958
    Wallace,

    The rendering above was created using AutoCAD by AutoDesk. It's a very costly program ($3,000+) and has a large learning curve. Needless to say, it is not very practical for personal use.

    I have used other low cost softwares in the past. Unfortunately, the ones that I knew are long since gone. However, I understand that many hobbyist like TurboCad. A search on Google will provide a lot of info.

    cheers, Jeff

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Easthampton, MA
    Posts
    986
    www.woodhaven.com has a perfect example of a miter sled. Go to the framemaster. It's like Sasha's but has taken it a step further with repeat measuring figured in. I've been using a similar sled for 20 years with perfect results everytime.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    University Place, Washington
    Posts
    1,268
    Hey Corey! if it is to big, send it to me! Out in the shop now, maple runners made a U-turn after cutting, birch ply (21.50 for 2/4 4x4 at the borg) also looks like it took a u-turn, I give up fpr now. A Bud is looking real nice! I'll be watching out for UPS. Thanks!
    Sometimes we see what we expect to see, and not what we are looking at! Scott

  10. #10
    Thanks for the responses guys. Sascha, you aluminum jig is very much like what I am building only out of wood. Waiting for the new blade to come before finishing the sleds. Mine will be a little bit smaller, made out of 2 x 2 ply. Very much like Jim Beckers sled.

    Scott, sorry to hear about the mishaps. That stuff happens. I used some old yellow pine I had in the shop for the runners on the miter jig. That stuff is hard and very durable and the best of all, edgewise the 1 x 4 fit perfect in the miter slot with about 30 seconds of sanding. Just had to cut them off to 3/8 high. One of my 2X2 Birch panels from HD also did a flip flop so that is basically worthless now as well.

    The cross cut sled will work ok I think. While it is a little wider on each side then I probably need it will be ok. I am moving the front fence forward about 5 inches on the panel to make room for a heel that sits on the panel behind the front fence. That makes about the perfect for what I want. If it is accurate it will be pretty good. One thing I didn't realize all these jigs and fixtures take up space! I am going to have to organize a wall to hang these things on cause I can't have them under foot all the time.

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