UHMW Jig Bar

[Don L Johnson]

Last time I was at a wood working show, I picked up a couple of the plastic type of 36" miter bars. I'm putting together a 36 x 36 sled for my table saw and pulled out the plastic bars and thought they would be a good fit. When pre-drilling and counter sinking the screw holes, the drill bit gets all gummed up, and I have to remove it off of the drill press to clean it up in between each drilling operation. Is there anyway around this? If not, I may just make some maple runners and leave it at that. Thanks. Update: I just checked my "stash" and I can't find any regualr maple; I have a lot of walnut cutoffs. Would walnut "move" too much to be used as miter bar material?

[Bud McCreadie]

Did you try your drill press on its slowest speed? I've power drilled UHMD without problems, but I don't remember what the DP speed was set on.

[Bill White]

Drill/cut UHMW slowly or it'll melt. Back out the bit from time to time to clear the "chips".

[Michael Weber]

Don, speaking from experience I a can tell you that screwing the UHMW material into the bottom of the sled may spread the material making it tight in the slot. That happened to me and I opted to replace with wood runners. May be that screwing down through the sled into the UHMW might be a better idea though haven't tried it.

[Bill Huber]

I have used UHMW and wood, the wood was the better of the 2. Now if you really want a good miter slot bar get the Incra bars, they are the best. The next better are the steel ones but they are a little heavy.

UHMW, will spread with screws and be very tight.
Wood is good but the changing of weather will change the fit.

I know they cost a lot but this will be the last set you have to buy, I have used the same set on 3 different sleds now and they are still good.

http://www.incra.com/product_jfc_miterslider.htm

[Dan Forman]

Is it the drill bit that's plugging up, or the countersink slots? I have used UHMW strips for runners and never had a problem drilling, but then I have one of these countersinks, as I got tired of the integrated ones getting plugged with sawdust. http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2005154/2005154.aspx

These still might get plugged, but are easy to clear with a bamboo skewer.

Dan

[Phil Thien]

This method is still working great for me. I've tried the Incra bars, they're okay. But this method allows me to get piston-like action w/ a single bar.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=82788&highlight=uhmw+miter

[Bud McCreadie]

Don, try a flat bottomed countersink and panhead screws. That should keep the runner fast without spreading the UHMW.

[Jeff Willard]

The UHMW strip can always be scraped for a piston-like fit. Having said that, the walnut will likely move less than the maple, but will wear faster in such an application.