Shopsmith Forums

Tooooo cold in the shop to show how to do this on the shopsmith so I went and did the operation in sketch up. I hope this works out for you.

The intent is to show how easy it is to get a pair of runners dadoed into the bottom of a cross cut sled. I'm going to cover how to set and cut them so they fit.

You will need to have made some runners and have enought to cut off a few short pieces, say two 4"-6" long runners that we will use as part of a jig. You will also need a piece of 3/4" MDF or plywood about 4 or 6 inches deep and as long as the front of sled is going to be. A few pieces of scrap to make sure you get the dado width set correctly is also a good idea.

The main table and a floating table to the left will work. The dado blade needs to be adjusted to cut to a width for a snug fit with the runners that you have. I will assume that the runners fit the main table they way you want them to.

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The actual location of the floating table will depend on the size of the base of your sled and where you want the center of the sled. You will need to decide these things before you go on.

The short runners can be placed in the miter slots. If they are a bit short, ie not flush with the main table top you can add a couple of dimes in the slot then set the runners on them to gain height.

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This next step uses the cut off that is the width of the sled you are making. Once you have decided where the center of the sled is you will add the rip fence that far away. The cut off then is placed square against the fence and the runners are attached to it. Nail, screws, double sided tape, about any way you can think of will work but they have to be fixed in place. This is critical, they must not be able to be moved.

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You now have established the runner so they fit your table. Do a test slide, if it jams then you need a redo.

Mark the piece so you know which side was against the fence. You need to reference that end later.

Once you have this part made it will look something like this:

[ATTACH]19565[/ATTACH]

You can set that aside for the moment. You are now going to make your next cut.

Next post that is.

Ed

Without moving the fence you will now be making the first cut in the sled bottom. The depth of cut will be your decision.

You should mark the edge of the bottom that goes against the fence. Then make the first cut.

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Next you will need to reposition the fence and maybe the floating table as well. That distance is measured by using the jig we made moments ago. This time the jig is place with the marked edge towards the fence and the right runner in the left main table slot.

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The fence is adjusted square to the jig end and touching.

Now you can do the second cut, make sure you have the reference mark towards the fence.

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If everything went well you can now put the full length runners in the main table and set the cross cut table on. Everything should fit together.

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If you want to test this out you can make a small crosscut table first or test it on some scrap...

Got questions?

Ed

Positively brilliant! I have looked at many explanations on the web about how to make sleds and this is the first time I have seen someone demonstrate how to locate the dados like this. Thanks!

Al

algale wrote:Positively brilliant! I have looked at many explanations on the web about how to make sleds and this is the first time I have seen someone demonstrate how to locate the dados like this. Thanks!

Al

Most sleds don't have the runners imbedded into dadoes on the under side of the sled. Whose lame brained idea was that anyway?

dusty wrote:Most sleds don't have the runners imbedded into dadoes on the under side of the sled. Whose lame brained idea was that anyway?

Well, I'm here to tell you I have had that very same lame brained idea and I have looked for explanations for how to get the dados in the right spot ....

algale wrote:Well, I'm here to tell you I have had that very same lame brained idea and I have looked for explanations for how to get the dados in the right spot ....

Many of us have lame brained ideas!

http://shopsmith.net/forums/showpost.htm?p=133131&postcount=1

ED, it seems to me that you have moved the dadoes 3 1/2" to the right of where they were originally located on the test sled.

What am I missing.

PS EVERYTHING apparently. Now that I look at it with a clear head - everything works just exactly like I believe it was intended. I should have known better than to doubt you Ed. Shame on me.

OK... I also need to make a new sled since I no longer use the saw that I made my original for.
I have read this thread and appreciate all of the great effort that Ed put into his explanation.
Now, having said that I believe that embedding the rails really is a "lame-brained idea"...
It has me convinced that my plan to use metal rails is the way for me to go.
Current plan is to use CRS bar stock as rails. Note: this sled is to be for my Ridgid TS-3650, not any of the SS's. Since my miter slots are "T" slots I will use washers embedded in the front end of the rails like the original miter gauge rails. I would use originals but I suspect the cost would be much higher. I probably should check for sure... The rails will be drilled and tapped to accept counter-sunk head machine screws down through the floor of the sled. As long as I get it sliding smoothly the rest of the alignment will come from cutting the saw slot in place by raising the blade up through it. The sled rear fence will be adjustable by a slotted hole in one end for minor adjustments.
One important thing to me is to have a quick and positive stop at the end of the sled travel and a very effective guard over the part of the blade that normally gets exposed as the sled rear fence reaches the end of the travel (like my old one was made).

I also want to make this one "finished" and attractive and not be something "that just growed" like my old one.


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ED, thank you for demonstrating this by using Sketchup. I have been playing again with Sketchup doing the same thing. It works really good for this.

ED, do you actually have a dado set that will give you a dado that is the proper width for this job (47/64") or would you have to do this in two narrower cuts.

I can't get there without a bunch of shims.

I could use the adjustable dado but getting it set accurately might be an all day task.