Incra Miter Sled: users question

[Craig Behnke]

I received an incra miter sled for Christmas. Put it together last night. The sled isn't PERFECTLY flat on the saw table, so it won't be perfect 90 degrees to the saw blade. With a digital angle gauge I see the sled lays about 0.3 degrees off of horizontal.

Do you guys that use incra miter sleds adjust your blade to make it vertical to the sled to account for that when you use the sled? Seems like a nuisance to adjust the blade each time to use the sled then adjust it back so the blade is perfect vertical to the table when not using the sled. i'm relatively new to woodoworking, so who knows, that may be standard operating procedure. Or, there may be some step I missed in set up. Any insight appreciated.

Thanks.

[Cary Falk]

Are you talking about the Incra Miter Express? I have one and it is flat to teh table. There is no need to re adjust the blade. Something is wrong. Maybe you should call Incra. Their CS is very good.

[Tony Maio]

I have the Miter 5000 and have never had a similar problem, either with the original panels or the replacement I bought when I switched from the left to the right side of the blade. I would call Incra customer service and describe the problem. I have always found them to be helpful.

Tony

[Craig Behnke]

thanks for the input guys. yeah, i'll give mark at incra a call, i've had outstanding customer service from them in the past.

[mike holden]

Craig,
does the sled rock at all? Is there something hitting the bottom of the sliding bar in the miter slot? Is the table flat across from the blade to the edge (90 degrees to the blade) Sounds like something is either lifting the sliding bar up, or holding an edge of the sled up (or down). Is the sliding bar shorter than the miter slot depth?
Mike

[Craig Behnke]

Mike, the sled doesn't rock at all. To the eye the sled sits flat and is stable as can be. It’s not like it’s visibly heaving up or not flat on the table saw top.

The issue that i'm having is that when I zero out my digital angle gauge directly on the table saw top then place the gauge on various spots on the miter sled panels, i get a range of readings from 0.25 to 0.45 degrees. I know that could be an issue with my digital gauge, so I checked with a precision square placed on the sled panel,...and i can see a sliver of daylight near the top of the saw blade indicating the sled panel isn't perfectly horizontal versus the vertical saw blade. It's minor, but it exists.

That’s the issue i’m experiencing.

[JimT Thompson]

Just ordered a 1000SE. In researching prior I found threads talking about the need to shim some Incra mitre gauges with paper. Not sure if that's the same thing, and I think they were models from a few years ago.

[mike holden]

Does the table top pass your digital gauge test? If so, then you will have to shim your sled appropriately. I would start by using a torque wrench on all the fasteners used to put the incra sled together, then recheck. Then perhaps try adding a second layer to the packing tape slider incra has you put on the bottom, and recheck.
Finally, cut a tall piece of wood and flip one side over and see how an actual cut comes out, if the cut is good then you are done.
Mike