does a crosscut sled take care of blade to miter channel offset?

[Brian Sommers]

I was measuring stuff on my table saw.

I checked the blade to the miter channel and it was off by 22/1000"
I tweaked it and was able to get it to about 2.75/1000"

Definitely a move a in the right direction. I was pretty happy about that.

If I build a crosscut sled and do the 5 cut method. By tweaking my sled that will account for the miter channel to blade ration won't it?
I would think so, because I'm now referencing off of the sled and so that accounts for the blade, correct?

[Pat Barry]

On second thought, a few mils isnt too bad

[Lee Schierer]

I was measuring stuff on my table saw.

I checked the blade to the miter channel and it was off by 22/1000"
I tweaked it and was able to get it to about 2.75/1000"

Definitely a move a in the right direction. I was pretty happy about that.

If I build a crosscut sled and do the 5 cut method. By tweaking my sled that will account for the miter channel to blade ration won't it?
I would think so, because I'm now referencing off of the sled and so that accounts for the blade, correct?

No, your blade will still be out of alignment by.00275"

[Brian Sommers]

so if my blade is off 2.75 thou.

will it be impossible then to tweak my crosscut sled to within .001"?

[J.R. Rutter]

so if my blade is off 2.75 thou.

will it be impossible then to tweak my crosscut sled to within .001"?

Your crosscut sled uses the miter slots, so it will be the same as tweaking in the head of a miter gauge. For most purposes, it will work fine. You will still be pushing the work past a blade that isn't quite parallel.

[Doug Garson]

The five cut method will ensure that the fence on the sled is at right angles to the blade so you will get square cuts on the sled. The 2.75 thou out of square between the blade and the miter slot (which controls the movement of the sled and thus the work piece) may affect the smoothness of the cut (you may get some burning) but I think 2.75 thou is pretty good (I'm assuming you are saying the front of the blade is 2.75 thou closer or farther from the miter slot than back of the blade).

[Bruce Page]

What type of TS do you have? If it's a contractor type, I would be happy with .003 - that's about as close as I could get my old Craftsman saw, IIRC. If you have a cabinet saw you should be able to get .001 or better without too much trouble.

[Dan Hahr]

I would not be happy with the saw blade marks. If it is a decent cabinet saw, you should be able to get it much closer.

Dan

[Rick Potter]

I think what you end up with is the equivalent of 'heel' on a radial arm saw. Since you are feeding it through the blade crooked, you end up with a larger kerf than the sawblade kerf. This is because the back of the blade takes a 'second bite' out of the wood as it passes by. Usually leaves blade marks too.

[Brian Sommers]

Yes, it's a contractors saw. The Dewalt 7491RS

I have a Freud 80 tooth blade and I get very smooth cuts.

Its funny how I got into woodworking, it was very spontaneous. I was going to just get a lathe and make pens. I thought, why stop there. I had the intentions of making toys and I thought all I really need for that is a sliding miter saw. Then I saw this and now I have it. I'm tempted to buy a "regular" TS, maybe a grizzly and sell this.

[Bill Space]

Think about it.

The cross cut sled is a piece of flat material that is attached to two runners that slide in the miter gauge slots.

Regardless of how the surface of the cross cut sled is attached to the runners, the sled will follow the angle of the miter gage slots as the sled is pushed past the saw blade.

The net error of the cut will be a sum of the angular error of the rear edge of the cross cut sled with respect to the miter gage slots, plus the angular error of the miter gage slots with respect to the sawblade.

Should the cross cut sled be adjusted to be perfectly perpendicular to the miter gage slots, the net error from the cut would equal the angular difference between sawblade and the miter gauge slots.

So the answer is no, you cannot compensate for the angular difference between the saw blade and the miter gauge slots, by changing the relationship between the miter gauge slots and the surface of the cross cut sled.

Just repeating what was said about in a different way…:)

[Jerry Miner]

This issue (the relationship between blade--miter slot--sled or miter gauge) is surprisingly misunderstood, IMHO.

To get a square cut, the sled fence needs to be square to the direction of travel (miter slots).

To get a clean cut (minimal saw marks, burning,...), the direction of travel (miter slots) needs to be parallel to the blade.

To get a cut that is both square and clean, the sled fence must be square to the direction of travel and the direction of travel must be parallel to the blade.

Unlike what is stated above, the five-cut method will demonstrate how square the sled fence is to the direction of travel, but not whether it is square to the blade.

[Doug Garson]

This issue (the relationship between blade--miter slot--sled or miter gauge) is surprisingly misunderstood, IMHO.

To get a square cut, the sled fence needs to be square to the direction of travel (miter slots).

To get a clean cut (minimal saw marks, burning,...), the direction of travel (miter slots) needs to be parallel to the blade.

To get a cut that is both square and clean, the sled fence must be square to the direction of travel and the direction of travel must be parallel to the blade.

Unlike what is stated above, the five-cut method will demonstrate how square the sled fence is to the direction of travel, but not whether it is square to the blade.
Well said, this is what I meant but you said it much more correctly.