my first decent table saw sled

[Bob Riefer]

I built a very modest sled compared to some of the amazing ones I have seen on here, but thought I would post a few details since it turned to be very functional, accurate, and was completed cost effectively. Perhaps this will help another woodworker out.

My old sled was heavy-but-accurate... but you had to slide it a specific way to get the accuracy. Plus, I hadn't equipped it with any safety measures, and if the kerf was ever buggered up I had no way to easily fix. And, again... it was heavyyyyyyyyyyy.

So, my new design was:
- 2 sheets of 1/4" thick HDF
- I glued these together, except for about a 5" zone centered on where the blade cuts.. this piece was left loose to enable replacement of zero clearance insert

- The front and back fence were cut from scrap laying around the shop. The back is a really old pine 2x4 that I truly think is done with any major shape changing (it has been flat in my scrap bin for about 5 years). The front is from a 2" piece of red oak that was odd dimensions and therefore never made it into a project until now. I put a chamfer on the business face to act as a "dust channel".

- The fences were affixed with many 2" star drive construction screws. The back fence, just flush to back edge of sled. The front fence precision adjusted using 5-cut method. Got it within .001" over 20" cut, which is pretty darn good at least according to Marc (Wood Whisperer). :-)

- One of the reasons I wanted to make this sled lighter is in order to use just a single sled runner. I used some scrap ash leftover from my recent workbench build, and got a perfect fit. Affixed with 8 countersunk screws. Afterwards, I waxed the bottom of the sled and am very happy with how easy and smooth it is to move. Solid as a rock and very controlled. No wiggle at all.

- The zero clearance insert fits snugly, and then is backed up with two screws at each end (drove from underneath and into the bottom of fence). If it gets damaged, easily replaceable.

- A blade-exit safety box was added to the back. Just simple scrap ply glued and brad nailed together, and then glued to back of fence.

- A frame of scrap poplar has a center cut around the inside that perfectly accepts 1/8" plexi. Frame glued and brad nailed for sake of speed-to-build. It is held to the top of the fence with a 8-32 thread machine screw (currently philips head, knurled knob version is coming in the mail) - easy to remove if the need arises.


Anyways, this is a pretty run-of-the-mill project for sure, but I'll be happy to use it. Cuts very accurately, comfortable and safe to use, and cost me about $25 total. I hope it's helpful for someone!

451909

[Paul F Franklin]

Nice job Bob, looks great!

[Wes Grass]

I like the ZCI as an insert. And the plexi guard over the top. I was thinking of something similar, maybe with a dust port in it somewhere. Makes it a bit less handy to use, but this was gonna be for a slider. Yeah, I know, ... why ????? For short pieces, and a ZCI ...

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks guys!

I'm actually building sled #2 right now as well, with some similar features.

My rationale for two sleds is that the first (pictured above) will be used for cross cuts and shoulder cuts on tenons, and the additional sled is dedicated for dado cuts.

Because my insert on sled one is replaceable, I could theoretically swap out the insert each time I want to dado cut... but I frequently am swapping between regular blade and stacked blade, and the change in this case is 4 wood screws from the underside of the sled... so this would become a constant chore that I am not interested in performing. So, the replaceable insert on that sled is more for replacing when it becomes worn out.

On the new sled, I went with a thicker platform that allowed me to install threaded sleeves that are countersunk from the underside. Then, the inserts are a little thicker too so I was also able to countersink the accompanying machine screws from the top. This allows the inserts to be swapped from the top side in much shorter order. So, easier swap out, but heavier sled... a trade off worth having for the dado cuts (and, I'm glad I have a lighter regular sled for the majority of my cuts).

While I was at it, I did mini inserts for the area of the fence where the blade stack goes through. They are also installed using the threaded sleeves/machine screws approach.

I have 5 sets of both types of inserts, which honestly covers most / all of the typical stacks that I install.

For this sled I won't do the plexi safety cover since the sled is dedicated to non-through cuts.

For the rail, I have scrap of aluminum t-track that is a perfect fit for my miter slot, so I'm going to give that a try. Single track again is the goal.

I'll finish the build and testing today and then post a pic in case it's useful to others.

[Bob Riefer]

And here's pics of sled #2 (aka dado sled).

In these pics, I was still aligning the fence, so it's shown with a normal blade. Also, I had not yet installed blade-exit block at this point, but that is done now.

Not quite as accurate as my other sled, but this is literally splitting hairs at this point as both are very accurate.

My friend mentioned the thick base, and asked if I was worried about losing cutting height.. My answer on that is "no", because it's dedicate to non-through cuts and I never find myself cutting extremely deep for that sort of work. My old rickety sled also had a 3/4" thick base and was never an issue.

The inserts are very fast and easy to swap in/out so that worked nicely. I plan to just write directly on the face of them to indicate which stack setup they go with (i.e. "two blades, three chippers, X cut width")

This sled was free to build entirely from scrap and my coffee cans of miscellaneous items.

So, two sleds for a total of $25. Not bad :-)

[Bruce Wrenn]

Reminds me of the Woodsmith sled video I was looking at last night.

[Bob Riefer]

Reminds me of the Woodsmith sled video I was looking at last night.

Indeed that was among the inspiration vids (along with countless others). Here’s a link (https://youtu.be/KWyLrDZAW-c)

My only qualm was that I didn’t really want moving parts on these sleds nor did I want to have to order or find hardware really. But I may make that design in the future if I find that swapping inserts is a pain.

(edit: also credit Marc / The Wood Whisperer, and William Ng of course)

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work!!!!