Crosscut Sled Finished!

[Michael Peet]

Well, I haven't yet completely solved my table saw cutting problem but I decided to move forward and complete the sled.

I stole a bunch of ideas from you guys, so thanks for that . Glen Butler's micro-adjuster construction and procedure really made aligning the fence a snap. I got it to 0.00025" over 18" by following these steps.

Mine is basically a copy of this sled. 30" x 24", 3/4" BB ply for the base and ash for the rest. All the hardware is from Rockler except for Incra miter sliders on the bottom. I bought a bunch of Incra T-track for the top originally, but then I discovered it requires a 1/2" deep channel and I thought it wouldn't leave enough material underneath for the screws. The Rockler T-track is only 3/8" deep, leaving 3/8" below for the screws.

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The biggest issue is that the miter slots in my table saw are not exactly parallel. There is no slop side-to-side, but they are off by just enough so that towards the end of the cut there is more resistance as the sliders bind up in the tracks. I don't think it will affect the performance though.

Thanks for looking,

Mike

[Neil Brooks]

Absolutely beautiful.

Looks like it WORKS as good as it LOOKS, too ... which ... isn't a bad thing

Nice job !

[Brandon Weiss]

Excellent looking work. How did you cut the t-track? Whatever you did the cuts look pretty flush with the wood.

[Rob Holcomb]

I have the same problem with my Grizzly G0691. The miter slots are off just enough that the sled binds. Mine must be a little worse than yours though as I can't get the sled to slide all the way through. At the start, it's smooth as butter but as it gets 90% through, the binding stops it cold. In my case, I'll have to removes one of the slot runners. Hopefully yous will work well enough so you have the extra support and accuracy.

[Glen Butler]

Nice sled. I have two right now, one for cutting bevels, and the other for squaring cabinet panels. I have been looking for the time to build one like yours for cutting angles.

[Michael Peet]

How did you cut the t-track? Whatever you did the cuts look pretty flush with the wood.

Hi Brandon, I cut the T-track with my SCMS. It's as easy as cutting wood. For those sub-fences, I actually attached the T-track before I cut the 45° angles, to ensure they would be perfectly flush.

Mike

[Terry Hatfield]

Very, very nice. Should serve you well vor a very long time.

t

[Kent Parker]

WOW.

Very nice work!!

Cheers,

Kent

[Matt Meiser]

I build mine today but kept it really simple. Yours is really nice!

I tried the SCMS last week for cutting T-track and that's how I'll be doing it from now on. Other than the aluminum chips everywhere it its a snap. And the finish is a lot nicer than I get off my metal bandsaw.

[Brandon Weiss]

You guys cut that with your standard SCMS blade? Doesn't damage the teeth?

[Brendan Plavis]

I cut through the cast iron fence of my CMS.... no damage... opps...

[Matt Meiser]

Here's an old thread on the subject. In typical forum fashion, a number of "I wouldn't"s and a number of "I do it all the time"s. I've still got the factory blade on mine and have two others so I figured what the heck. This is a good blade but the other two are even better so I consider this one to be my junk blade. That said, it cut wood nicely today.

[Tom Henderson2]

regarding the binding guides due to non-parallel slots...

Have you tried using graphite lube (either pencil lead, or perhaps powdered graphite lock lube) make them slide easier? I saw that in a "hints and tips" column in one of the magazines recently... thought it made sense.

-TH

[gary Zimmel]

Nice job on a first class crosscut sled Michael.