45 degree Bevel sled

greasetattoo · Post by **greasetattoo** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:42 am

Needed to do a bunch of bevels on a project.
The walnut/aspen candle holders. WIP (see below)

Here is a sled I made to do some 45 degree bevel cuts on my Shopsmith.
You all know how hard it is to cut the bevels on a Shopsmith.

I found the plans on google.
http://www.woodstore.net/nobeslpl.html

Works very well!
Safe too!

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:26 am

greasetattoo wrote:Needed to do a bunch of bevels on a project.
The walnut/aspen candle holders. WIP (see below)

Here is a sled I made to do some 45 degree bevel cuts on my Shopsmith.
You all know how hard it is to cut the bevels on a Shopsmith.

I found the plans on google.
http://www.woodstore.net/nobeslpl.html

Works very well!
Safe too!

With the SS I never considered a sled for bevels. Interesting! Hmmmm.

Gotta like the candle holders! Looking great!

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:21 pm

I made a similar one, though not as nice, for cutting bevels for a flag case.
Mine runs against the fence and has no hold down clamps. The miter slot is a better idea.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:09 pm

Interestingly most cabinet makers used this type of sled for all their 45 bevels.
Most cabinet makers saws of the time were either fixed or tilting table so a sled was either the only way or the what many felt to be most accurate.

Later as tilting arbor saws came out, most were built with arbor supports like most of today's contractor saws. A multi piece assembly that would often rack or twist when cranked over to 45 degrees. Again the sled was the most accurate and didn't mess up a properly aligned 90 degree saw that was used 99% of the time.

This multi piece design was the actual reason the contractors saws with table mount trunions have such a bad name. The table mount trunnion was actually a superior design to the cabinet mount but at the time all came with multi piece arbor support. If you look into a contractor saw you will usually see two bar, tubes the run between the trunnions on which the arbor assembly is mounted. If you look at the ends of the bar/tubes you will see they are pressed, pinned or pressure bolted into a casting that actually rides in the trunnions. These bar/tubes would rack or shift within that casting and cause the saw blade to come out of parallel alignment with mitre gauge slot. This condition was called heeling and many believed the trunnion had shifted. This idea came about because it was understood that moving the trunnions was the way to set the blade in parallel.

When the heavier production machines (now misnomered cabinet saws) they usually had a heavy casting that ran between the trunnions and thus eliminated the heeling. Since their trunnions were usually cabinet mounted most contributed the solution to the cabinet mounts. However in truth the cabinet mounts are inferior to table mount. But the proof is in pudding and since the blade didn't heel the cabinet mount trunions had to be the solution.

I'm sorry about that bunny trail back to the bevel sled. If you think about it, it is the perfect solution. Gravity is on your side, you don't have to risk messing up your 90 degree alignment, you don't have to crawl under and if you wear bifocals do funny things with your head to read the bevel angle indicator. Also a properly constructed sled is always 100% perfect.

I was trained on sledding bevel sleds, it was common practice and even today many of the old pro's still use the concept. I know one shop that does high high class custom work that has I think 5 sleds all sitting at different angles. The don't stop to adjust they just grab the sled for the angle they want and start cutting. When they finish they don't have to reset the blade just set the sled aside and keep going. One thing they use sleds for all most all their cuts. In fact two of their machines are slidding table type machines to begin with.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:54 pm

Great idea. It reminds me of the sled Nick taught us to make in one of his sawdust sessions. I made one and find it very handy.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:40 pm

Fascinating information, Ed. Thanks for sharing! I always love reading about that kind of stuff.

tryinhard · Post by **tryinhard** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:59 pm

fjimp wrote:Great idea. It reminds me of the sled Nick taught us to make in one of his sawdust sessions. I made one and find it very handy.

Jim,

How would I go about figuring out which sawdust session that was?

Thanks

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:15 pm

tryinhard wrote:Jim,

How would I go about figuring out which sawdust session that was?

Thanks

To answer your question]this Sawdust Session[/URL] is what you want.

greasetattoo · Post by **greasetattoo** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:38 am

The finished candle holders...

The recipient loved them!
It was for the Xmas gift exchange...

Merry Xmas all!

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:46 am

They turned out great. Thanks for sharing.

Shopsmith Forums

45 degree Bevel sled

45 degree Bevel sled

Sawdust session reference