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Keith Outten
11-30-2013, 3:06 PM
Been working on this slider for my band saw for a few days off and on around other projects. The base and the fence are 3/4" thick PVC and I used Corian for the miter slot which had to be machined to fit the European miter slot on the saw table. The table is 36" wide by 21" deep, close to the size of my band saw table.

The PVC pieces were glued together using PVC cement. The Corian to PVC miter slide and the PVC fence to aluminum track were joined using Shoe Goo. I still need to make the fence stop which will be aluminum for the top piece and a Corian piece for the stop block. The incra scale slides left to right so it can be adjusted to fit the job at hand.

Dave Lehnert
11-30-2013, 3:23 PM
Looks GREAT!
Love to have a saw like that.

Keith Outten
11-30-2013, 3:34 PM
Thanks Dave,

This is my 5th and last band saw. Been working my way up to this saw for 35 years and I finally got the saw I always wanted. Its a long way from my first band saw which was a little Craftsman 3 wheel bench top model. I wore the first one out and bought a Craftsman 12" saw cutting out kitty cat shelves to help pay for my oldest daughters tuition when she was in elementary school. Been stepping up every few years to get to the new saw.
.

David Wong
11-30-2013, 3:51 PM
That looks great. I am unfamiliar with sheet PVC material. Any reason who you chose PVC over using corian?

fRED mCnEILL
11-30-2013, 4:05 PM
What stope you from cutting the table in half or cutting into the al extrusion?

johnny means
11-30-2013, 6:42 PM
Well done. I've never seen a sled used on a bandsaw. Any particular use you have in mind or is it more of a general use for you. Any plans for mitering or beveling add-ons? I

Keith Outten
11-30-2013, 6:48 PM
David,

I decided to use PVC over Corian because of the weight. A Corian slider would have been more than twice as heavy. Awhile back I was able to pick up a truck load of PVC scraps from a local company, most of it is 3/4" thick but I did get some 1/4" thick material as well and I have been using it for lots of projects lately.

Fred,

When using a slider like mine you just have to be careful for the most part not to cut to deep into the fence. When I get some time I will probably install a short cable that will limit the sliders forward movement automatically.
.

Keith Outten
11-30-2013, 6:55 PM
Johnny,

I thought about machining an arc along the left side of the slider so I could adjust the fence at an angle. For now this fence will take care of my needs, mostly small sign work, it is a replacement for the plywood slider I used on my old Jet band saw that I sold to a friend recently.

I think I made my first band saw slider ten years ago and I found out how useful they can be. Since I bought my new band saw I have felt handicapped working without a slider. Its kind of like a slider for a table saw and used for much the same kinds of work.
.

David Wong
12-07-2013, 5:52 PM
Keith,

I forgot to ask what is the maximum crosscut width your sled is able to handle? Have you run into any issues having the work piece slip on the PVC while positioning it for the cut?

David

Sal Kurban
12-07-2013, 8:57 PM
Very nice...
Sal.

Keith Outten
12-08-2013, 12:44 AM
David,

I have a little over 12 inches of crosscut capability with my sled, larger than any I have ever had in the past. The PVC sheet has a texture on the surface which seems to grip well enough to keep lumber, plastics, etc from sliding and since I use a stop block almost all the time it helps keep things stable.

I made a large PVC block that I can use perpendicular to the fence for short rip cuts and a small Corian block for things like pen blanks. I have a couple more sign jobs to finish before I make the sliding stop that keys to the aluminum track.

The slider can be used with custom fixtures and stop blocks to setup cuts for inlay projects so multiple cuts are identical. I also plan to use it to rough cut and trim Corian sign plaques after dye-sublimating them. Sometimes it is impossible to line up artwork in a heat press, if the graphic is off a bit I can make the necessary trim cuts using the slider. When I know ahead of time that alignment is going to be a problem I cut my plaques large so I can trim to suit after sublimating is complete.
.

Keith Outten
12-08-2013, 12:50 AM
Thanks Sal,

I have to work up a plan to make a slider to cut picture frame miters when I get the time.
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Keith Outten
01-04-2014, 6:32 PM
First picture - A closeup of the stop block I just finished. I used PVC glue to join the top piece of quarter inch PVC sheet to the lower piece of three quarter inch that is the sliding stop block. Note the champher at the base of the block, this prevents chips from getting in the blind corner.

Second Picture - I used my Corian triangle against the stop block to cut a 45 degree miter.

Third Picture - This is an almost daily job, I use my band saw and slider to cut plaques to size. Most of the time this is done after a plaque is dye-sublimated as it is sometimes difficult to place the paper sheet in perfect alignment on the plaque so it is easier to trim the plaque to size after it is removed from the heat press. On most dye-sub projects I can use heat tape to align the paper to the plaque however when Corian gets soft during the heat cycle tape will leave an impression in the plaque surface.

Forth Picture - A quick cross cut on a piece of White Oak to be used for pen blanks.

Fifth Picture - The first rip cut.
.

Keith Outten
01-04-2014, 6:37 PM
Successive cuts from the slabs to the 3/4" squares then using the stop block to cut the pen blanks to length.
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David Wong
01-04-2014, 7:50 PM
That's neat Keith. Really shows the possibilities.

Craig Behnke
01-04-2014, 8:55 PM
never mind the bandsaw, i'm jealous of the CAMaster Stinger I see lurking in the background of pic 3. Been wanting one of those for 2 years now. maybe next year.

Keith Outten
01-05-2014, 8:20 AM
David,

I couldn't make it through the day in my shop without a band saw slider. It doesn't have to be as nice as this one, the slider I had on my old Jet band saw was just a plywood slider but it did the job. I decided when I got the Felder band saw I was finally going to build something a little bit nicer since it is probably my last band saw. Granted the type of work I do is not exactly main stream woodworking which is why I use the slider so much. Its a lot like a table saw slider I guess as it serves a similar purpose.

Craig,

Don't be too jealous of my Stinger, your lucky you have waited. Mine is the first generation Stinger II and it has problems these days. Initially it was a pretty good machine but it has been down as much as it has been working for the last six months. Motor shafts breaking and having to be replaced plus some problems keeping the Y axis gears from getting loose have been driving me crazy and I have lost confidence in the machine. All of the problems I am having have been corrected in the last generation Stinger II's and there is a brand new model that has really been improved that is available just this month. Its just to costly for me to upgrade my Stinger to the new specs and I haven't decided what I'm going to do with mine yet. It's still a working machine but I am not comfortable enough with its reliability to sign a commercial contract and rely on my Stinger to get the job done at this point :(
.

Richard Coers
01-05-2014, 12:51 PM
Isn't that Corian runner rather flexible and brittle at full extension? Curious what operation you do that needs a slider? Faster than a sliding compound miter box?

Keith Outten
01-05-2014, 1:55 PM
Richard,

The Corian runner is attached to the PVC sheet with shoe goo adhesive so there is plenty of support. The PVC sheet is 3/4" thick so it has some decent strength in itself, not as much as plywood but more then necessary for a band saw slider. About 50% of the runner is in the table miter slot at all times. Since the Corian runner and the PVC sheet are both plastic materials there isn't any thermal growth issue and neither are affected by moisture.

The fence is two layers of PVC so its 1.5" thick and the aluminum track is glued and screwed into a grove I machined on my CNC Router so the fit is perfect. This adds a lot of longitudinal strength.

A sliding compound box would not provide the same features that the slider does. I can setup a variety of jigs with the slider and it makes it a really safe way to cut short pieces like pen blanks while my fingers are a long way from the blade. The slider is so smooth it feels like its on bearings. Corian and acrylic cut much better on a band saw than they do with a circular blade.
.

Matthew Hills
01-05-2014, 2:36 PM
Keith,
are you keeping pretty much just one (straight-cutting) blade in the saw?
And are you getting any drift in your cuts relative to the miter slot?
(I assume that you aligned the fence to your initial kerf cut?)

Matt

Keith Outten
01-05-2014, 8:37 PM
Matthew,

I am using a one inch blade. It took me a long time to figure out that really good band saws with large blades will cut straight and mine didn't require any adjustment. There isn't any drift to adjust for when cutting and all of the cutting I do on this saw is straight. I have a small ten inch band saw that I use for curve cuts.
.

Gus Dundon
01-07-2014, 2:43 PM
That looks great on your band saw. Functional.

Kelly Craig
07-11-2014, 4:28 PM
For my circle cutter, you just push a square big enough to make the circle but small enough to spin and not hit the frame until the circle sled stops. To stop it, I just added a front piece, which hangs below the table, so it cannot go any father. I curious why this wouldn't work for yours (photo of the front of my circle cutter attached)?

Nice table, by the way and a project worth contemplating.





David,

I decided to use PVC over Corian because of the weight. A Corian slider would have been more than twice as heavy. Awhile back I was able to pick up a truck load of PVC scraps from a local company, most of it is 3/4" thick but I did get some 1/4" thick material as well and I have been using it for lots of projects lately.

Fred,

When using a slider like mine you just have to be careful for the most part not to cut to deep into the fence. When I get some time I will probably install a short cable that will limit the sliders forward movement automatically.
.

Mike Null
09-06-2014, 7:42 AM
Kieth

Now I see what you've been telling me about. I have a feeling I'll be borrowing your idea.

Yours too, Kelly.

Monday is my big day--my new Laguna 14-12 will be delivered.

Keith Outten
09-06-2014, 5:30 PM
Links to a few band saw sleds used to make custom inlays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajIlhgLuIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c85OQENRVOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLZOpzwxwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns7XRpcBD-w