Coping Sled

[George Bokros]

What coping sled do you use?
What do you like about it?
Would you buy again? If not which would buy?

I am considering the professional one from Infinity Tools.

Thanks.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

George,

The Infinity appears to be a great coping sled.

I bought this one from Rockler http://www.rockler.com/rockler-rail-coping-jig. It's okay for the limited number of times I have used.

[Mac Cambra]

I have the Woodpeckers sled, its very nice, safe. Check it out at https://www.incrementaltools.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WPCOPESLED1 .

[Rick Thompson34]

Many folks will malign you for considering purchasing one instead of making it yourself, but if you have the funds I don't think you'd go wrong with the Infinity.

[George Bokros]

I have the Woodpeckers sled, its very nice, safe. Check it out at https://www.incrementaltools.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WPCOPESLED1 .

The Woodpecker sled would be my second choice for an upgrade to the Eagle America one I have now.

[pat warner]

Made one (http://www.patwarner.com/images/tswebb4759.jpg) (NSF) that can handle stock in both directions. Moreover, robust enough to handle plastic, aluminum and wood.
Could not find anything that could stand the stress, rigor & work-isolation so necessary for these imposing x-cuts.

[glenn bradley]

Shop made:

301650

[Jack Lemley]

I have the pro version from Infinity and really like it. I have had for 6 or 7 years. The new one with the aluminum guide blocks and bessey clamps would be very nice indeed.

Jack

[Kevin Jenness]

I use a simple shop made one. 3/4" melamine coated particleboard with sandpaper on the top surface, aluminum runner, wood backup fence and a DeStaco clamp. Out of pocket cost less than $20. One thing that really helps with consistency is a vertical featherboard that bears on the workpiece and pushes it and the sled down onto the shaper table while making the cut.

[Ole Anderson]

Home made one here too (hmm, need to take another pic, this one is missing the push handle???):

[Tom M King]

Most of the time it's probably best to have one that lets the piece ride on the tabletop, but sometimes it has to ride on top of a sled. I just keep some clamps around for the purpose, and cobble something together for a specific use.

[scott vroom]

I've got the Woodpeckers. The star knob hold downs are a PITA when doing any kind of volume work......too much time turning 2 knobs to tighten and loosen repeatedly. My next one will use DeStaCos.

[William C Rogers]

I have the same one as Ken (Rockler). I also have the Sam opinion as Ken, it's ok. However when I changed to the Somerfield matched bits it wasn't useful in taking advantage of their system. I don't use it any more. I now have an extra wide push block that works very well and don't really need it anymore.

[Richard McComas]

I use the copping sled from Weaver on my Delta 3hp shaper. It does require a miter slot on the table. It's quick and easy to use. No clamps to fiddle with. Stock is held in place with hand pressure.

http://www.weaver-sales.com/manual-tenon-jig.htm

[Michael Heffernan]

I have the Infinity Pro coping sled. IMO, it's a great sled. The toggle clamps make it easy to cope a small production run, as opposed to screw down clamps. You can use it sliding against your table fence or in the miter slot with the optional miter bar. I bought it years ago and it included the miter bar in the package. Now it's an accessory. I recently upgraded it to the new aluminum blocks that the new version comes with. Solid as a rock. I run it in my miter slot on my Incra router table. With the Freud Quadra Cut rail and stile bits, I get perfect cope and stick joints.

[George Bokros]

[QUOTE=Michael Heffernan; I run it in my miter slot on my Incra router table. With the Freud Quadra Cut rail and stile bits, I get perfect cope and stick joints.[/QUOTE]

How do you get your fence perfectly parallel with the miter slot, or do you not use the fence at all?

[Ole Anderson]

How do you get your fence perfectly parallel with the miter slot, or do you not use the fence at all?

Not answering for Michael, but I run with the miter slot too. My Freud fence has a micro-adjuster on each side of the bit opening, allowing me to easily adjust the fence parallel to the miter slot. I see the advantage of a sled that slides on the fence, but with the miter slot, you don't need to force the work up against the fence, you just push the sled, the slot keeps it going straight. You still need the fence in order to set the depth of cut relative to the bit.

[Art Mann]

I use a simple home made one similar to the Rockler one that Ken posted a link to. Woodpeckers makes really nice and precision stuff, but it looks pretty awkward to use if you have a lot of doors to build in a short amount of time. Why do all that screwing of threaded clamps when you can do the same job much faster with a simple toggle clamp? There is such a thing as over-engineering.

[Kevin Jenness]

"How do you get your fence perfectly parallel with the miter slot, or do you not use the fence at all?"

I don't worry about parallelism except in a gross sense. The cut depth is gauged off a stop block screwed to the infeed side of the fence; once past that, the bar/groove control movement.

[glenn bradley]

I use the copping sled from Weaver on my Delta 3hp shaper. It does require a miter slot on the table. It's quick and easy to use. No clamps to fiddle with. Stock is held in place with hand pressure.

http://www.weaver-sales.com/manual-tenon-jig.htm

That is a slick rig. I had not seen that before. Thanks.

[Randy Henry]

I have the knock off of the Weaver sled mentioned above. Ballew Saw and Tool in Springfield, MO sells them. Got mine for under a $100 several years ago. I use it on the shaper, in the miter slot. Same principle on the router table. I use stop blocks clamped to the fence for reference points. To set the fence/blocks originally, I colored the end of the original test piece black with a sharpie, and just skimmed it with the cutter, to make sure I was getting the full profile, without changing the length of the rail. Works like a champ, and very fast too. Ballew has all of the Weaver knock off jigs, very reasonable. I'm not affiliated with them, just a loyal customer. Kenny is the guy I deal with, since the owner died.

[Justin Ludwig]

I have the knock off of the Weaver sled mentioned above. Ballew Saw and Tool in Springfield, MO sells them. Got mine for under a $100 several years ago. I use it on the shaper, in the miter slot. Same principle on the router table. I use stop blocks clamped to the fence for reference points. To set the fence/blocks originally, I colored the end of the original test piece black with a sharpie, and just skimmed it with the cutter, to make sure I was getting the full profile, without changing the length of the rail. Works like a champ, and very fast too. Ballew has all of the Weaver knock off jigs, very reasonable. I'm not affiliated with them, just a loyal customer. Kenny is the guy I deal with, since the owner died.

I deal with Jack. Great company and very knowledgeable.

[bennie blackwell]

Shop made:

301650

Nice innovation on the lever clamp to hold down both the stock and backer board. :) With my prototype coping sled, I have experienced movement of backer board because I had a single foot on the lever clamp.