cross cut sleds

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:51 am

ss50th wrote:A home made sled which straddles both sides of the blade also will have the advantage similar to a zero clearance insert. With the SS sled you lose this function .

NO, that is not absolutely correct.

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dlbristol · Post by **dlbristol** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:41 pm

Dang Dusty, now ya got me thinkin' agin!!! That is a nice set up. I have to quit looking and just do a sled!

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:19 pm

I seem to remember reading in a previous discussion regarding sleds that there could be a danger in building a sled using bars on both side of the blade. Any comments in that regard? Jim

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:47 pm

fjimp wrote:I seem to remember reading in a previous discussion regarding sleds that there could be a danger in building a sled using bars on both side of the blade. Any comments in that regard? Jim

First off, why wood a sled need more then one bar?
Second, if you did have 2 bars, they wood need to be perfectly parallel, or the sled will not slide, so
Third, where wood the danger be?

dlbristol · Post by **dlbristol** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:16 pm

I never saw anything like that in the stuff I read, in fact safety seemed to be one of the big plusses. I certainly don't know enough about them to say for sure. There are lots of 1 runner plans out there!

rpd · Post by **rpd** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:08 am

This is another great, informative thread. It has inspired me to do some research towards building a sled for my saw. While doing so I ran across this video on the making of a combination crosscut/miter sled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZuyC7udVjs&feature=channel

Of particular interest was the Shopsmith 10ER used as a drill press at 1:30 and again at 7:06.

ss50th · Post by **ss50th** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:21 am

dusty wrote:NO, that is not absolutely correct.

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That addition sure solves the problem. I'm am continually amazed at the ingenuity and innovations found on this forum. Great thinking!!
However, I'm not sure it really works. Please make arrangements to send it to me so I can test it for about 10 - 15 years.

:D

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:42 am

a1gutterman wrote:First off, why wood a sled need more then one bar?
Second, if you did have 2 bars, they wood need to be perfectly parallel, or the sled will not slide, so
Third, where wood the danger be?

I made mine with two wood bars. I made it for my old Craftsman tablesaw that mounted in the big table. I checked and the miter slots were parallel to the blade and also exactly square to the front edge of the saw table. I made the sled body then made the bars and dropped them into the two miter slots. I put a thin bead of glue down the bars and sat the body of the sled down on them. I carefully aligned the sled fence to the front edge of the saw table, clamped it down and tacked it down to the bars with a handful of small tacks (brass shoe tacks actually). Then I removed it and raised the blade and made a full cut until it came to the stops.
I always used JPW on the table top and slots and on the bottom of the sled and the bars. It always worked perfectly. It had to, there was no way it could be out of alignment...
I cannot see how having 2 properly aligned bars could be a hazard at all.

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robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:53 am

I need to make a crosscut sled for my Ridgid TS-3650 and I should also make one for my 510 since I do use it as a saw now and then if I have a set-up in place on the Ridgid.
It probably would be a good idea to make one for the old Mark VII too since with its big table system it might also end up getting used as a saw occasionally.

One is easy to make and can be so useful that one should always be at hand.

Sometimes I have an awful time just getting around to doing things like that.

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dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 9:58 am

robinson46176 wrote:I made mine with two wood bars. I made it for my old Craftsman tablesaw that mounted in the big table. I checked and the miter slots were parallel to the blade and also exactly square to the front edge of the saw table. I made the sled body then made the bars and dropped them into the two miter slots. I put a thin bead of glue down the bars and sat the body of the sled down on them. I carefully aligned the sled fence to the front edge of the saw table, clamped it down and tacked it down to the bars with a handful of small tacks (brass shoe tacks actually). Then I removed it and raised the blade and made a full cut until it came to the stops.
I always used JPW on the table top and slots and on the bottom of the sled and the bars. It always worked perfectly. It had to, there was no way it could be out of alignment...
I cannot see how having 2 properly aligned bars could be a hazard at all.

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If, for whatever reason, the sled does not slide smoothly it could become somewhat of a hazard. The extra effort that you might have to exert to make the sled move could create an issue.

If that should happen, the solution is to discontinue the use of the sled and resolve the issue of it not sliding smoothly.

Putting runners on the sled by measuring for location and squaring could be a real challenge. The miter tracks measure very, very close to 7" (inside to inside) apart. But I would bet that is really a nominal reading and that two bars installed by using that dimension would not slide real well.