Crosscut Sleds & Spline Jig

[Bernie Weishapl]

Well finished another crosscut sled. It is much nicer than the first one. This one I made out of MDF. I cut oak runners and waxed them. I used a 2 X 6 and cut down the back fence or the one nearest to me with a little style as some others have done. I routed in the T-Track for hold downs and stop blocks. I also make quite a few picture frames for my sister so made this spline joint jig. I made some maple frames and then splined them with cherry on one and walnut on the other. Looks really nice. I told here she couldn't take off with the next ones until I had picture. She had to go the first time because my camera was in for repair at Kodak. Anyway what a way to spend a beautiful rainy afternoon making sawdust and knowing that SMC is alive and well. Hope everyone had a wonderful afternoon.

[Roy Wall]

Lookin good Bernie!!!!

[Bart Leetch]

Good looking sled. We used to call the big 4 door cars sleds because they were so big & heavy. :eek: :D

So I just gotta ask why do people make their sleds out of the heaviest material they can find. I've used sleds made of 1/4" plywood for years with no problems, I have one that will cross cut a 30" panel.

I once had a sled that was blue-green & was really heavy in fact it was so heavy to move it I had to use a 390 cubic inch motor :D ;) yes that old 1968 LTD could really haul. :)

[Bruce Page]

So I just gotta ask why do people make their sleds out of the heaviest material they can find. I've used sleds made of 1/4" plywood for years with no problems, I have one that will cross cut a 30" panel.

Bart, it's because we are Manly Men! We like lifting manly things!! :p

[Bernie Weishapl]

Now Bart what would "Tim the Toolman Taylor" say about a skinny measley 1/4" sled????:D :D :D

Actually Bart those are all scraps from the shop. I went thru the wood bin and that it what I came up with. It has some weight but not bad.

[Corey Hallagan]

Hey looks great Bernie! Fits the saw perfect, mine is to big for what I need it for, it is a beast. Did you use 1/2 or 3/4 mdf? I really like the spline jib. Is it pretty stable when you run it down your TS fence? I need to make something that I can do splines with for boxes. Keep up the good work Bernie.
Corey

[Bernie Weishapl]

Corey I used a piece of 3/4" MDF on the crosscut sled. It was a piece of scrap and the biggest piece that would fit on my table top. The spline jig is made out of 3/4" plywood. I wanted it as hefty as I could since it needs to be stable when cutting splines in picture frames.

Corey I would have shown the back side but had just put the poly on. On the back side I have a piece that fits over my fence (it is the form of 90 degrees) and is screwed into the jig. Will get a picture for you tomorrow. It holds the jig next to the fence nicely. It was a little tight at first but put some of that blue masking tape down as a shime. Remounted it. Worked perfect and slides nice but not to tight.

I also have a pattern to make a spline jig for boxes. It is like a finger joint jig. If I find the pattern I will e-mail it to you. Thanks Corey.

[Corey Hallagan]

Sounds good Bernie! Yeah, the fence thing makes sense!
Corey

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Looks great! Another shop jig that you will wonder how you got along without! I really need to make a 45 degree sled and a crosscut sled!

[Alan Turner]

Bernie,
I agree with your use of MDF for the sled. I hate the stuff, but it is flat, which is needed to cut a perfect 90. My favorite jig wood is BB, but today that is not flat, or at least I can't buy it flat.

[Bob Oehler]

Hi Bart I too had a 68LTD with a 390. Also had 3 on the Tree which I changed to a Hurst Indy floor shift when the collum shift went south and the parts were no where to be found :-)
Take care
Bob Oehler

[Bernie Weishapl]

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments. I will say that the key to a sled is a perfectly flat bed and it really helps if you joint the bottom edge and the face of the rear fence. This thing after I was done with it I made a cut of pine, oak and oak plywood. The neighbor came over with his machinest squares and calipers. He told me I wasn't more than a .001 off if that. I fiddled with it for maybe a hour till I thought I had it dead on.

Alan you are right. I don't care for MDF but what I had was dead flat. I could not find any BB or Oak plywood that didn't have some kind of curve in it and besides like I said it was in the scrape pile so used it.

Jeff I did make the 45 deg and it too is dead on. I cut a picture frame out just so I could try it out and the new spline jig. It is dead on. I really like the looks of maple with Jatoba splines. It really looks good.

Now the lovely wife thinks I should make her a medicene cabinet for the bathroom. She wants the frame out of Jatoba or cherry, the door out of curly maple and spline it with the Jatoba like I did the picture frame.
She wants glass shelves inside and a mirror in the door. So I guess I need to get some maple. I told her it would have to wait though till grandsons wagon is done.

[Bart Leetch]

Bernie,
I agree with your use of MDF for the sled. I hate the stuff, but it is flat, which is needed to cut a perfect 90. My favorite jig wood is BB, but today that is not flat, or at least I can't buy it flat.


The 30" sled I have with 2x on the front & back is nice & flat on just plain ordinary shop grade 1/4" plywood.

I think maybe the plywood isn't as good as it used to be & where I purchase it they are stacking it on racks made for lumber not sheet goods so the material stack sags in the middle. So it doesn't set flat & I can't make anything that has to be just the plywood with no support to straighten it out with this material.

[Corey Hallagan]

Bart is right non that. If HD was selling top of the line plywood half of it wouldn't be worth a dang as it gets ruined in storage.

Corey