Under heading of: You can have great equipment, but if you don't know how to use it

[Brian Runau]

Trying to square my Incra sled with the 52" extension. Every time I take this off the table saw I have to resquare it. Thinking I should not have to do this?

Trying to cut an @ 8-1/2 wide two piece glue up for a drawer face. @ halfway through the cut there is a burn mark and it is square from the edge that is against the fence up to this point, but goes out of square about 1/16" or a little less by the leading end of the board. Blade is perpendicular, and with 1/1000 or less parallel with the miter groove. There is no play left to right in the sled where it slides in the groove. I push and pull with my hands over the where the miter gauge fits into the sled, trying not to push or pull the work piece into or away from the blade.

I have squared the Incra fence to the table saw fence, the edge of the sled, and the blade and I get the same result to one degree or another.

Only thing I can think of is I must be moving the fence with my hands on it during the 1st half of the cut which would represent the "B" as noted in the picture, pushing the work piece into the blade more? The "F" is the fence edge.

Vertical picture below shows the square edge even with the at the top of the edge (out of the picture), showing how much off square the cut is.

Appreciate any help.

Brian

20240229_104656.jpg20240229_104720.jpg20240229_105515.jpg

[Patrick Varley]

Trying to square my Incra sled with the 52" extension. Every time I take this off the table saw I have to resquare it. Thinking I should not have to do this?

Trying to cut an @ 8-1/2 wide two piece glue up for a drawer face. @ halfway through the cut there is a burn mark and it is square from the edge that is against the fence up to this point, but goes out of square about 1/16" or a little less by the leading end of the board. Blade is perpendicular, and with 1/1000 or less parallel with the miter groove. There is no play left to right in the sled where it slides in the groove. I push and pull with my hands over the where the miter gauge fits into the sled, trying not to push or pull the work piece into or away from the blade.

I have squared the Incra fence to the table saw fence, the edge of the sled, and the blade and I get the same result to one degree or another.

Only thing I can think of is I must be moving the fence with my hands on it during the 1st half of the cut which would represent the "B" as noted in the picture, pushing the work piece into the blade more? The "F" is the fence edge.

Vertical picture below shows the square edge even with the at the top of the edge (out of the picture), showing how much off square the cut is.

Appreciate any help.

Brian

20240229_104656.jpg20240229_104720.jpg20240229_105515.jpg

Are you using a hold down clamp on the piece? Should also help prevent it (or the fence) from shifting as you move through the blade.

If that's all good, I'd continue to look at whether the fence is truly perpendicular to the blade. Using a (good) square and a calibration disc in the saw only got me very close. Had to use the 5-cut method to dial it in from there (which was cumbersome given the way the fence adjusts).

[Brian Runau]

Are you using a hold down clamp on the piece? Should also help prevent it (or the fence) from shifting as you move through the blade.

If that's all good, I'd continue to look at whether the fence is truly perpendicular to the blade. Using a (good) square and a calibration disc in the saw only got me very close. Had to use the 5-cut method to dial it in from there (which was cumbersome given the way the fence adjusts).

With the 52" fence I always use the stop block, so it doesn't move. Thanks brian

[Cameron Wood]

How long is the stock? how big is the off-cut?

If you are trying to make precision cuts from a long board, try cutting the pieces slightly oversize first, and then trimming to exact length.

[Ken Platt]

Brian, I don't know if this will help, but I've found with my incra sled, I get cleaner cuts when I clamp the piece down, even though I'm using the stop block. For longer pieces, I'll use two clamps, one in each of the T-slots on the sled. Also, I had some trouble with cut quality when I started the cut with the sled pulled back far enough (for a wider board) that one of the gizmos that adjusts the bar to the miter slot was not (yet) in the miter slot. I hope that makes sense. I found that if I wasn't careful, there was just the tiniest bit of play. Just some thoughts.

Ken

[Brian Runau]

Brian, I don't know if this will help, but I've found with my incra sled, I get cleaner cuts when I clamp the piece down, even though I'm using the stop block. For longer pieces, I'll use two clamps, one in each of the T-slots on the sled. Also, I had some trouble with cut quality when I started the cut with the sled pulled back far enough (for a wider board) that one of the gizmos that adjusts the bar to the miter slot was not (yet) in the miter slot. I hope that makes sense. I found that if I wasn't careful, there was just the tiniest bit of play. Just some thoughts.

Ken

My practice in my job was, 'when there is a problem go back to step 1 and work through it' Did that yesterday. With the miter gauge and 52" extension, this was my problem cutting wider boards, when I pull back far enough the end of the sled was off square a little, so the first part of the cut was wonky. OK, I put the sled on the table and adjusted the miter slot adjustments so there was no play when moving the sled through the cut. Installed the miter gauge, squared it off. Shadows at the face of the 52" extension and square were hard to see, so I took a feeler gauge to make sure each end of the square was up against the Incra properly then squared off. 1st trim cut was good, not perfect, but passable. Set the cut off stop and cut it to length. This cut was a little wonky, but passable, I think I pushed the wood a little to much into the stop.

My plan going forward is to use my shorter telescoping Incra with the miter gauge and the sled. The longer 52" I plan to build a simple sled with UHMW runner, mount a 1-1/2" aluminum angle to it using T-nuts and socket head caps screws to hold it to the sled. Angle only @ 26" long. I can do 26" cuts on my small one and then everything else on the longer one. Drill holes to match the top slot in the Incra and mount the Incra to the face of the angle, square then tighten down. I only us the 52" for square cuts so it does not need to be adjustable for angles. I'm hoping this will stay square better, it will also be adjustable using the aluminum angle if required to square it.

Thanks.

Brian