buy or build a crosscut sled

[Stephen White]

Can't decide. Watched a couple of videos, seems easy enough yet I wonder if it will end being precise enough. Can order a kit that has the hardware and that seems to make sense and will save time. I get that its a project but pumped on making tools but there seems to be a real lack of options. The one I see around is made of MDF and also have seen pictures of the ones that arrive smashed up and prob useless.

What does everyone here do?

edit 11/9

Just ordered the Dubby combo right and left. Was a tough choice and respect those here that said it is a worthwhile project for a new woodworker and that makes sense but I have a lot of projects to learn with and I think the thing that rang true to me is the several folks that said they were never really happy with the one they built. I come up a little short on a project I don't have to work with it all the time.

Several here recommended the Dubby and watched some videos and read a lot of woodworkers (including in sawmills archive) rave reviews so it sounds like a good tool.

[Mike Kees]

I bought a sliding TS.:D Before those days I had a crosscut box made from Baltic birch plywood and used UHMV plastic for the runners. It is possible to build an accurate box with some care and attention to detail.

[Cary Falk]

I have an Incra sled and Miter gauge, Takes up less room. It is lighter. It has infinite angles, I was never satisfied with my home made one.

[Frederick Skelly]

I have an Incra sled and Miter gauge, Takes up less room. It is lighter. It has infinite angles, I was never satisfied with my home made one.

Me too. Small, easy to store, nice tool.

[John TenEyck]

I built a large crosscut sled when I wanted to build my kitchen cabinets 25+ years ago. Nothing fancy; plywood base, maple runners, poplar fence front and rear. It is as perfect to 90 deg today as I can measure using the 5 cut method as it was when I first built it. When it absolutely has to be right this is what I use. I think it took about half a day to build for the cost of the materials which wasn't much. I have other crosscut sleds, too, each built for a specific purpose.

John

[Thomas McCurnin]

William Ng has a great video on making a cross cut sled and calibrating it to 3 thousands of an inch.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Thomas got there first. Yes, William Ng, YouTube. Be patient and hear William out. Study his method; it's the gold standard. It is as accurate for crosscutting as a Biesemeyer fence is for ripping. Indispensable in the shop.

The first time I made one, years ago, I used cheap plywood, which I refer to with a name I cannot print here: ____wood. Bad idea. Use the highest-quality Baltic Birch you can find. Half-inch is the right scale. MDF erodes at the edges.

Don't buy a crosscut sled. Every time you use the one you made you'll be proud of your handiwork.

Good luck and have fun!

[Bryan Lisowski]

I agree to make your own. Watch the Ng 5 cut method and it will be accurate.

[Steve Eure]

If just using it for crosscuts, my advise is to build it yourself. If you want to do angled cuts with one, buy one. Incra and Dubby Sled are the best out there in my opinion. I do segmented turning and made my own sled for it, but it never gave me repeated results that I likes. It was close, but still had a gap or two. I bought the Dubby and on the first, last , and in-between segment rings, I have never had any gaps. I still use my homemade crosscut sled all the time for crosscuts though. It really depends on what you want to do with it.

[Marc Fenneuff]

Building a crosscut sled is kind of like a rite of passage. Give it a try - I had a blast building mine. Watch the Kings Fine Woodworking and William Ng vids on youtube to familiarize youtself with the 5-cut method.

I used half-inch baltic birch.

[Brian Tymchak]

Tom Mc Laughlin of Epic Woodworking has a 3 cut method for squaring a fence on a sled. Haven't used it but it seems pretty simple.

https://youtu.be/2l5DFlCRGKo

[Paul F Franklin]

Tom Mc Laughlin of Epic Woodworking has a 3 cut method for squaring a fence on a sled. Haven't used it but it seems pretty simple.

https://youtu.be/2l5DFlCRGKo

I used the three cut method described by Tom on a recent build after hearing about it on the FWW podcast. Then I checked the result using the 5 cut method. The latter showed the fence was off less than two thousanths over about 20 inches...close enough for me. The three cut method is a little simpler for those who might struggle with math a bit, or who lack good calipers. But it is likely a little less accurate because the error is only multiplied by 2, and measuring it is a little subjective because it relies on how "tight" a story stick with stops is on the test board compared to a precise caliper measurement. OTOH, the accuracy I got using the 3 cut method was plenty close enough for me at least.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Built several "panel cutters" in NYW style. Finally after many years of watching Jerry Cole demonstrate the Dubby, broke down and bought one. Kicked my own butt a thousand times for not buying one earlier. Have super neat cut off sled now. It's a single runner, with a fence on one side only. Fits into left miter slot. Measures about 6" X 8." Turned it around in miter slot, and cut, so no matter which way I load it onto saw, it's correct. Use it in place of my gauge for squaring cuts on small stock.

[glenn bradley]

Obviously two schools of thought here. I do have one small sled that I use for small stuff but my other sleds are much larger than the commercial versions. I don’t have a lot of trouble making square cuts on small parts where as large panels are another story. I have made a half a dozen sleds for myself and others.

The three cut method looks slick but it’s more involved than the five cut method. Choose your poison, they both will work to get you dead on. Whether you want zero clearance inserts on the face and fence, pivoting fence for angles, t-track for stops, measuring tape etc. is up to you.

[Ed Edwards]

Here are the responses from "the creek" from 2013.
Bill NG does a great presentation on his site, as well as the 5 cut method. As was said earlier.

Ed

[Alan Lightstone]

I bought a large commercial sled, and fine-tuned it with the 5 cut method. It's made of 3/4" MDF and aluminum extrusions. It weighs a bloody ton. I had an overhead hoist installed to lift it up and store it when not in use. While that's a cool method, it's crazy to have that heavy a crosscut sled. Plus the cost became exorbitant. But it is pretty cool.

Use 1/2" Baltic Birch Plywood, make it yourself (I did that with all my smaller sleds), and watch William Ng's video. You'll be very happy.

[Todd Trebuna]

I have the Rockler sled and built the right hand platform from spare plywood. It is adjustable and gives great results. I also segment turn and it produces very good tolerances on mitered cuts.

[Winston Chang]

I built a crosscut sled out of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood using William Ng's 5-cut method.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned here (or elsewhere, really) is that you should make sure that the piece that you used for the fence is flat. Plywood is often (usually) not flat, and this is true even for high quality plywood like baltic Birch.

For my fence, I laminated two pieces of the 1/2" plywood together. When I first built my sled, I noticed that the work piece could move slightly depending on where my hand was holding it to the fence, and this is because it was slightly bowed. I eventually took it off, flattened it with a hand plane, and put it back on, and ever since then it's been dead on.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I just made a sled using the Micro Jig zero play 360 kit. All it contains is a few dovetail pieces and the cool thing is an adjustable miter slot piece. You build it using 3/4 inch plywood.
The main reason I gave that a try, is it's all wood, and I have a Sawstop. They also sell clamps that fit in the dovetails so you can clamp those pesky smaller pieces. You can cut any angle.
Downside, I personally think you would need a sled, or some way of making a really square base to rout the dovetails into.
Google it. I think it's pretty cool for making those small boxes. I made a templates for 22.5, 45 and 90 so setting the fence is a snap.

[Stephen White]

Hey thanks everyone! I may well make one later but need to do a lot of picture frames and square off small 10x18 cutting boards and it sounds like the Dubby will put me immediately in business with getting that going.

[Alan Lightstone]

I can't remember who makes it (might be Kreg), but the miter fixture bars I installed have a metal disc on the end that prevents the sled from tipping over when it is hanging off the front of the table saw. Big safety improvement there, especially with my big sled.

[Warren Lake]

had a 1/2" baltic sled used for years, maple runners big hard maple fence front and back large enough to cross cut a 4 x 8's. Worked fine to make a living with it. No internet so didnt thinkI needed more than what I was taught. Old guys made wood sleds and used them on their cabinet saws for their life time. Maybe replaced the runners sometimes i never asked but they both had them. Actually do remember asking about play and he said he holds it to one side it cuts perfect.

[Stephen White]

hey thanks for the repley, I have a sawsstop as well is the dubby going to be a problem with that? Only wood should ever tough the blade so not clear why it would be a problem.

[Steve Demuth]

I guess it's a matter of personal preference whether to build or buy. Money or time?

The only thing I would say is that if you start looking at youtube videos on building crosscut sleds, you will soon go crazy. People go off the rails on this subject. In reality you can build a sled that is as accurate as your table saw will permit with a few simple materials, and a little attention to detail, pretty easily.

And while I appreciate the geometric elegance of the 5-cut method for squaring your sled, it is completely unnecessary. Assuming you've got a good square, and your saw is set up to rip accurately, you can square a sled with a single cut, a single adjustment, and and then verify with a second test cut. On a bad day, you might have to make a second adjustment and verification cut:

1. Build the sled with a floating end on the "fence" as all the methods require.
2. Carefully square the fence using your good square and parallel offset from the blade. A mechanics parallel is useful for this, but lacking that, a carefully ripped bit of stable material will do. On a ten inch table saw blade, you should be able to get square with this to within a few thousandths over 3" with no great effort.
3. Make a test cut on a truly parallel stable material with a known width, and measure the variance from square using the flip method.
4. If necessary adjust the fence enough to close half the variance measured in step 3.
5. Do a test cut on a second parallel, and if necessary repeat steps 4 and 5.

[Derek Arita]

Ng is the way to go. Not only is it a good project for any woodworker, but it's a real learning experience. It's not at all complicated...it's just very exacting. I've had mine for about 5 years now and it still cuts as dead on as my Starrett will show.

[Robert Hayward]

hey thanks for the repley, I have a sawsstop as well is the dubby going to be a problem with that? Only wood should ever tough the blade so not clear why it would be a problem.

I have a left side Dubby but not a Sawstop. On my Dubby there is a metal angle gauge on the left side, opposite the blade. The rear aluminum fence is capped with a couple inch wide replaceable wood block, this is what the blade contacts. Just went out to the shop and do not see any way possible for your Sawstop to touch metal on the Dubby. Unless you drop the Dubby sideways or upside down onto the blade.

[Larry Frank]

I think building a sled is a great learning experience.

I have a couple and use them especially for small parts . My base is 3/4" BB and I screw jigs to it. I use an Incra Miter Slider which allows me get a good fit to the slot. When I wear out the sled, I just reuse the slider.

[Stephen White]

I have a left side Dubby but not a Sawstop. On my Dubby there is a metal angle gauge on the left side, opposite the blade. The rear aluminum fence is capped with a couple inch wide replaceable wood block, this is what the blade contacts. Just went out to the shop and do not see any way possible for your Sawstop to touch metal on the Dubby. Unless you drop the Dubby sideways or upside down onto the blade.

Thanks! I was hoping he was referring to something else. I measured the blade to runners and my contractors sawsstop is in the standard rand so figured I was good to go.