Q to owners of Cross-Cut Sliding Table

[bspisak]

I'm considering making a cross-cut sled, but the SS accessory might work.

1. Does this accessory use only a single miter slot for a guide? If so, how accurate is it?
2. How far back can you pull the table before it get's sloppy? It says the table is only 15" or so inches wide, but it appears the miter bar extends beyond the end of the table. I.e., can I accurately cut pieces 14" wide?

Thanks for any help!

[dusty]

Yes - buy or build a cross-cut sled. You'll never regret it. If for no other reason SAFETY. It is difficult to cross cut large stock with the miter gauge (even with a miter extension).

Yes, fourteen inches is well within the capacity of the cross-cut sled. You can comfortably cut up to about seventeen inches and still have three or four inches of the miter bar engaged in the miter track on the main table.

Yes, it uses a single miter bar and I consider it reasonably accurate. However, I have a second miter bar on order right now. I am planning to have a sled with two miter bars for the reason you propose. I believe a second bar will improve repeatability and overcome any slop in the miter track.

The jury is out.

[charlese]

I built a sled a lot like the New Yankee Workshop version. It's been around about 5 years now and still works like a charm. It is used often. I built mine with a plywood base 14" x 25" and a miter bar out of oak. The miter bar is 30" long. There is plenty of stability as the total length of the SS miter slot is usually filled with the bar. I am not sure of the two miter bar versions, as you will have to have a saw kerf through the table. This way, you would need to have a fence and a bar at the other end to hold the thing together. This seems to me to put limits on the width one can saw with the sled.

My sled needs replaced as I would like a wider and longer base. Maybe 18" x 30" with a longer bar. Also, When I get to it I will make one for the right side of the blade as well as the left side. Sometimes, I'm working with the headstock on the left side of the table and sometimes on the right side. Both versions of the sled will come in handy. Also with a sled that works from the right side of the blade - one can use the conical disk sander with the sled.

[Ed in Tampa]

I'm considering making a cross-cut sled, but the SS accessory might work.

1. Does this accessory use only a single miter slot for a guide? If so, how accurate is it?
2. How far back can you pull the table before it get's sloppy? It says the table is only 15" or so inches wide, but it appears the miter bar extends beyond the end of the table. I.e., can I accurately cut pieces 14" wide?

Thanks for any help!

bspisak
I think Dusty answered your questions, but I would like to make a comment or two. First I have the sled. Yes two mitre bars might be more accurate but my experience is that is overkill. I used my sled and stop blocks to cut some rails and stiles for cabinet doors.
I just finished the glue up of the doors and "EVERY" one glued up perfectly square. What more could anyone want???

I think the sled increases safety by 100 percent because it forces you to keep your hands further away from the blade place everything that is moveable can be clamped to the sled.

Things I don't like about the sled. It is not a zero clearance to the blade, there is a gap. In other words you still have to eye ball or guess exactly where the blade will cut.
If the sled was zero clearance to the blade the edge of the table could be used as exact alignment guide of where the cut off line is.

I have more than once considered manufacturing a simple replaceable cut off extension strip that I could add to the edge of the table. The replaceable part is important since the SS blade can be positioned laterally to the table. The distance from the blade to the mitre slot can be effected by where the table is set or if the quill is moved.

My first thought was to just drill 3 dowel holes and drill the extension with matching holes and just slide the extension onto the dowels and cut off the edge by running it by the blade, I now have zero clearance indicator of where my blade will cut.

Another thought would be to rabbet the bottom edge of the sled enough that a piece of flat stock (steel or aluminum) can be placed in the rabbet and will not rub the table. Then do the same thing with my extension stock and then mount both to the sled using a few screws in holes drilled through the flat stock. Again cut the extension by sliding the table past the blade. Once again I have the zero clearance indicator of exactly where my blade will cut.

I would paint the extension Red to remind me that the area is a no hands zone and I would have a sled with renewal edge.

I think either idea will work, in any case any sled must be built with the consideration that sooner or later the cut off edge will be effected to some degree and needs to be replacable. With my idea as the zero clearance edge gets chewed up and loses it's accuracy another extension can easily be added to give you a fresh edge.

Get yourself a sled you wouldn't regret it.
Ed

[dusty]

Ed has really covered all of the bases on this discussion.

Yes, the cross cut sled could be improved by creating a sled that provides the zero clearance edge. I have given some serious thought to doing that with the SS sled that I have. All I would have to do is remount miters bars (one or two) so that the left edge gets trimmed by the blade and I have it.

Yes, the adjustable quill creates something of a problem. How often do I adjust the quill while using the cross-cut sled. Very seldom. I could just discipline my self to make certain that the quill is where it should be for the sled and problem is resolved.

I'd bet that the SS sled doesn't have the same characteristics as Norm's for that very reason - the adjustable quill.

Good or bad, i'm going to change something on this sled. Either make a new one or modify the old one. Soon after my miter bars get delivered, I
ll post the results. It has to be soon because I can't continue in the shop without the sled available for use.

[bspisak]

Thanks everyone for your input. I've already decided to build a sled that will utilize both miter slots. I've got all the pieces cut and will assemble it next.

I'm using 3/4 MDF for the sled base and rear fence (because it's cheap and dimensionally stable), 3/4 plywood for the front rail (had it lying around), and oak for the runners (simple trim piece from HD that just needed a few passes through the jointer for proper width.)

It will be 48" by 19" such that with the headstock positioned to use the jointer, it will reach the 32" to the extension table at the right and still leave 16" to the left of the blade. It will be a bit heavy, but with support will be fine.

The issue you mention with respect to blade position can be solved with a stop block clamped to the sled fence. If your piece is longer than the sled and you have floating tables, you can position your SS fence to act as stop block. Longer than that, and you can clamp a piece of 1x3 to the rear of the fence and attach a stop block to that.

Just some thoughts.
Brian

[charlese]

Thanks everyone for your input. I've already decided to build a sled that will utilize both miter slots. I've got all the pieces cut and will assemble it next.

I'm using 3/4 MDF for the sled base and rear fence (because it's cheap and dimensionally stable), 3/4 plywood for the front rail (had it lying around), and oak for the runners (simple trim piece from HD that just needed a few passes through the jointer for proper width.)

It will be 48" by 19" such that .....
Just some thoughts.
Brian

If you build that big sled and it has two miter bars - What is going to hold the two halves of the sled together after making a cut?

My sled has a 3/4" base (because I used shop scrap). I have alway regretted that. When I do it again my new sleds will have a 1/2" base. This will give an additional 1/4" lower saw blade adjustment and a resulting small increase if front table free space. Sometimes this free space is very important, but with your wider sled you probably won't have much of this issue.

Also my sled, originally had a zero clearance. I operated the sled and SS without a rubber spacer on the rear way tube, so was able to maintain that zero for a long time, but it slowly gotten eaten away. Now that I have the rubber stop collar, just need to glue a strip of wood to the sled edge and saw the extra part of it off. Thanks, Ed. I really didn't think of that simple solution until I read you post.

Brian: The zero clearance is one feature, I thought all sleds had. Not only does it help in lining up the cut, but also gives support to the bottom of the workpiece to prevent tear-out. With one miter bar, all that is needed is to put a piece of something (equal to the thickness of the sled base) on the cut-off side. This will prevent any splintering of the cut-off (and maybe into the work piece. Make sure your miter bar is at least 14" longer than the sled width. This will allow you to use all of the saw table front, without using an in-feed/out-feed table.

[bspisak]

Yeah, I would rather have used 1/2 as well. I tried using 1/2 MDF for an extension table, and wasn't happy with it's flatness. Even after adding aluminum angle for bracing, it still sags.

I'm sure I could have found a better quality 1/2" plywood than what my LDH offers, but this was the quickest cheapest way to get me going. The 1/2" ply they had was crap.

Brian

[reible]

Hi,

Since no one has mentioned it yet shopsmith offers two other sleds from Incra. The 5000 model allows you to crosscut 25" wide boards. The express I don't have numbers for but knowing how it works it two will have impressive numbers but maybe not as impressive as the 5000. (FYI they are single bar type.)

I know, I know they are expensive and yes I know a lot of you don't like all the precision but for some this might be the ticket.

Ed

[dusty]

I just noticed that the cross-cut sled is on sale. The miter pro is too.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... gtable.htm

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... terpro.htm