Question on crosscutting wide pieces?

[Josh Goldsmith]

Lets say that you want to cross cut a piece of wood that is roughly 2' wide and your miter gauge isn't fully in the groove on the table saw how do you do it nicely. I have a craftsman 22124 table saw and i find my self having a hard time cross cutting something wider than the space of my blade to the start of the cast iron. I hope i am making sence? What i have been doing is set my fence to the measurement, start the cut then halfway put my miter gauge on for the finishing cut. I wasn't sure if there is a smarter way to do this. The only problem with my technique is if the piece is bigger than 32" to the right or left i can't use my table saw fence cause it only goes to 31". What do you guys do?

Thanks Josh

[Mark Duksta]

Sounds like you need a cross cut sled.

[Richard Wolf]

Josh, you should build a crosscut sled. But in a pinch, turn the miter gage around and put in into the slot head first.
BTW, you didn't hear it from me, just be carful!

Richard

[Jamie Buxton]

You can use a cross-cut sled to do it on a table saw. The sled I built is big enough to handle a 2' cross-cut. Another approach is to move the tool instead of the workpiece -- that is, use a circular saw guided by a straightedge. (This approach has all sorts of more-expensive versions, if you want to get into that.)

[Jerry Olexa]

FWW had plans for a crosscut sled a few years ago...That'll handle your problem...

[Dennis McDonaugh]

At the risk of sounding redundant, you need a crosscut sled;)

[Greg Tatum]

28" crosscut sled with long runners....you can make one with the square fence toward the back of the saw for capacity. I have one that only has the fence at the rear and open in the front.....one other thing, you said you use the TS fence first and then finish the cut with the miter gauge...I hope you are moving the fence outta the way first as it is extreamly dangerous to use the MG and fence at the same time...likely to cause serious kickback and damage to wood, saw and operator.

Here is one example with only 1 runner....a full- size sled useing both runners is more stable/accurate I think.

[Josh Goldsmith]

I have a cross cut sled but it only cuts up to 14". If i build a sled big enough to cut 24" does the sled get a little sloppy since a small portion is on the table and the majority is hanging off waiting to be cut? I hope that makes sence. Since the track is only 12" when you start the cut is it hard to keep it from wobling? Thanks Josh

[Vaughn McMillan]

Since the track is only 12" when you start the cut is it hard to keep it from wobling? Thanks Josh
Use a longer track.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

If I'm cutting on the table saw...I use a sled similar to Gregg's and it will handle 24" no problem. (Long runner) That said, I now use my Festool MFT to do this kind of work most of the time. Fast, easy and very accurate.

[Frank Pellow]

I suggest that you switch from a table saw to a guided circular saw (GCSS).

[Ken Fitzgerald]

If you have a straight edge........a perfectly straight piece of wood....a cheap straight edge from one of the Borgs.......get a piece of metal from an industrial metal supply house....it must be straight........or one of the GCSS.....use a circular saw..........use a framing square or the 3-4-5 method.......layout your cut line .....line up you straight edge correcting for the offset of the circular saw base......cut it.

If not....make a sled...........

Be safe.....if it doesn't feel right....it probably isn't.........above all be safe!

[Steven Wilson]

Build yourself a Cross-cut sled. I had a cross-cut sled for a few years but then I solved the problem by getting a euro-combo with an 8.5' sliding table - I can cross cut 8' if needed.

[Joe Chritz]

under 12" is the Dewalt SCMS. 12" to 30" is the crosscut sled and over 30" is a scrap pile jig for a circular saw.

If the sled has full length runners it will handle 30" with no problem. I used maple runners on mine and will be chopping them off somehow and replacing with metal.

A guided saw system may be on the purchase soon.

Joe

[Mike Wilkins]

Been there, done that. It is not a good idea to use the miter gauge for wide crosscuts, as the bar is not supported along its length. Invites side to side play which can result in a nasty kickback due to the workpiece being unsupported.
Norm on the New Yankee Workshop has a sled with one fence for cutting wide panels, which is what I made used years ago. Easy to make, but a little more difficult to align properly. But worth it.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[George Sanders]

I use both a crosscut sled for work up to 2' and a guided circular saw system that runs on on aluminum extrusion. The saw is attached to a plate that has rollers to guide it along the extrusion. It only costs about $100. I think I got it from Rockler. I put 2 runners on the crosscut sled for stabilization along with an extension table. This setup works great for my small budget.

[Shelley Bolster]

Hey Josh....I built this sled just before I started the cabinets. (I had a older, simpler version that was getting sloppy) If you are interested in it, I can try to walk you through how I made it.

[rick fulton]

Josh -

I'm a total hack at woodworking, so take this suggestion with two grains of salt. What I've done in your situation is put the miter gauge in backward, in front of the board. Then push the board against the gauge and follow through the cut. It sometimes helps to clamp the wood to the gauge since it may be out of reach. Does this make sense?

Good Luck. Count all your fingers after every cut.
rick

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Josh -

I'm a total hack at woodworking, so take this suggestion with two grains of salt. What I've done in your situation is put the miter gauge in backward, in front of the board. Then push the board against the gauge and follow through the cut. It sometimes helps to clamp the wood to the gauge since it may be out of reach. Does this make sense?

Good Luck. Count all your fingers after every cut.
rick

Good idea Josh.

[Jacob Snow]

anyone have any good recommendation on plans for a good sled? Also do you prefer metal or wooden rails?

[Ole Anderson]

Sled. Plain or fancy or something in between. My first was a scrap of 1/2" ply with a 3/4" x 1" oak fence at the rear with an oak runner I used to cut off 30" hollow core doors. Just finished my second (pictured below), with a third simple one dedicated to dado cuts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/CJ7ole/Crosscutsled.jpg

[Joe Chritz]

I will be redoing mine with metal runners. (about 7 years the way the projects keep poping up.)

That said it works fine with maple runners, but I over sanded them a tad and have a bit of play in the runners. Several tests and I can't measure the test board out of square so it must be working correctly.

I found my plans from a google search. Paul Comi's site if I recall correctly. I still need one for dado's.

Joe