Crosscut sled tricks

[Jacob Snow]

So i am going to make a cross cut sled and i am currious if anyone has any trick on making the runners without a thickness planar?

[Brian Hale]

I cut mine on the TS and sanded and planeed till they fit.

Brian :)

[Lynn Kasdorf]

My sled uses 3/4" x 3/8" UHMW platic runners that I had the forethought to purchase at a woodworking show.

Failing that, just rip some hardwood accurately. <= 3/8" is fine and not critical. The slot width is, tho. Rip 1/64" wide and sand down. Or get it close just don't worry about it!

The hard thing is getting the fence squared up!

[tod evans]

jacob, read this thread;
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=35120

.02 tod

[George Carion]

The hard thing is getting the fence squared up!
Ditto that. Everything is gravy until you try to get your fence truly square. Not that easy. Don't use glue.

[John Gregory]

I found this link in another forum. It might help. Xcut Sleds (http://www.geotekds.com/sled/)

[Jamie Buxton]

You can buy 'em. Kreg, maybe? Check your local ww catalogs.

[Alan Turner]

The trick of any sled, after it slides well and tight, is to square the rear fence to the blade. Here is what I do.

1. After you have set a line to what you think is square, then mark the fence, and drill and install a good quality screw, from the bottom, into the fence. Sand the sled top where you have drilled to be sure that there is nothing which will prevent tightness, and contersink a drop into the bottom of the fence so that when the screw is set tight, it does not create a pivot point.
2. Apply glue liberally, and insert one screw, tight, on that one end.
3. Start making test cuts, flipping them over after each to check for square. Work quick before the glue sets. Shoot in one nail on the opposite end to lock the setting, and test cut again. With this one nail, you can still tap the fence a bit to change the adjustment a small amount.
4. When it is dead nuts on as nailed with a single nail, stop, and carefully pull the sled back so that the area where the fence is hangs off the front of the saw, and holding the fence tight, and not having moved it even a skinch, shoot a couple of more nails into the bottom of the sled, up into the fence, on both sides of the kerf. An 18 ga. brad nailer is fine. You are jsut pinning it so that the fence does not move when you apply calmp pressure.
5. Carefully, with good, straight and square clamps, clamp the fence and leave it for the glue to dry. Then, using the screw holes already drilled, insert a bunch of screws. The fence won't have moved if you are careful. If it has moved a drop, use a shoulder plane to adjust it, testing with a thinner piece of plywood, and when it is right, use a bench plane to level the rest of the fence face.

For the rear fence, I use carefully prepared 8/4 hard maple, but anything strong and straight will be fine. I use mdf for the base as it is flat, and the BB that I can buy is not flat at all these days, except in the 1" thickness, which is too thick for a sled. I use 3/4" mdf, although I might should use 1/2" both for the lesser weight, and for the addition of cutting depth.

Happy sledding. For cross cutting, this is a wonderful safety device as well as a highly accurate jig. I make mine with 24 1/2" between the front and rear fences so that I can cross cut a full 24", as in carcase work. It is heavy, however.

[Rahul Varma]

I used strips of birch ply to build up to the thickness-- used 1/16 in on the bottom to get the T-shape.
As far as squaring the fence is concerned: I offset the fence from the back edge by a couple of inches; attached (glue + biscuits) two small "ledges" to the fence; screwed the fence to the base through the ledges till it was square, then added long screws from the bottom. Made it easier to square from the top-- let me know if a picture/photo would help and I'll try and email/post it.

[Brad Evans]

I used Incra adjustable miter slides for my miter sled below.

http://www.woodpeck.com/incramiterslide.html

Brad
Urban pix: www.citysnaps.net

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/b-evans/Images16/MiterJigDuo.jpg

[Charlie Velasquez]

I just bought an older Unisaw and my first project ( as oon as I can get the saw home) will also be a x-cut sled. It seems there is a lot of finagling involved in getting the sled's rear fence accurate.

I was thinking I might try this: Picture Pat Warner's micro-adjustment on his router fence. I adjust this a little at a time, make test cuts, adjust, cut... till it is square, then screw it down (maybe clamp the fence to the block as I adjust to make sure it doesn't move). I have the blocks with screws already, as I made three of them to help me adjust my RAS's table (co-planer and parallel to the motor travel in a few minutes-used to take a lot a finagling, too)

drawing of sled (http://www.machlink.com/%7Esrv653/images/xcutsled.gif)

Any reason this wouldn't work

[Jacob Snow]

This is what i have thus far. Since i don't have a thickness planer the runners turned out a little shallower then i was anticipating, although it sill rides in the slots well. I haven't put the rear fence on yet, but since this is my first one i opted for using just 2x4s. the cut in the front fence is with the blade at max height so i figure i am good. I opted to make it slightly smaller then my table top which means i can't quite cut 24" pieces, the width fo the sled is lets me cut only up to 15" or so, but i think in the future (once i get an outfeed support table) i will try and make one that is capable of accepting upto 24".


http://www.pbase.com/lrdtalon/image/58962842.jpg

[Curt Harms]

....I was thinking I might try this: Picture Pat Warner's micro-adjustment on his router fence. I adjust this a little at a time, make test cuts, adjust, cut... till it is square, then screw it down (maybe clamp the fence to the block as I adjust to make sure it doesn't move). I have the blocks with screws already, as I made three of them to help me adjust my RAS's table (co-planer and parallel to the motor travel in a few minutes-used to take a lot a finagling, too)

drawing of sled (http://www.machlink.com/%7Esrv653/images/xcutsled.gif)

Any reason this wouldn't work
I was thinking along the same lines. Seems like a controlled way to "nudge" the fence into position and still have it movable. Perhaps a short step to a home-made Dubby-type sled;)

[Bart Leetch]

So i am going to make a cross cut sled and i am currious if anyone has any trick on making the runners without a thickness planar?

I purchased the ones I'll be using for a smaller sled at Rockler they are metal & adjustable & have a allen screw on one side & a ball bearing on the other side you just adjust the tension on the ball bearing by turing the allen screw to adjust the side to side slop.

I believe for bigger sleds you can do much the same by cutting little slots in one side & putting inserts in the other side & then insert an allen screw in the insert & use it to expand the material just a little opening the slot you made on the other side just don't over do it or you'll split the wood. I believe you could use UHMW in much the same way.

[Bart Leetch]

I used strips of birch ply to build up to the thickness-- used 1/16 in on the bottom to get the T-shape.
As far as squaring the fence is concerned: I offset the fence from the back edge by a couple of inches; attached (glue + biscuits) two small "ledges" to the fence; screwed the fence to the base through the ledges till it was square, then added long screws from the bottom. Made it easier to square from the top-- let me know if a picture/photo would help and I'll try and email/post it.

Please post pictures thank you.

[Chip Olson]

My saw has 3/4" miter slots. An offcut of the 3/4" S4S cherry from my local supplier fit absolutely perfectly, so I ripped some to just under the depth of the slots and used that.

To square the fence to the blade, I positioned the table so the fence was just in front of the blade, then raised the blade to the table, and used a couple of drafting triangles to square the fence to it. It's dead square at the blade, but there's a very small bow in the fence about six inches right of the blade, which isn't a problem as long as I remember it's there.