Crosscut Sled Construction

[Jeff Moore]

Hey guys, I'm going to build a crosscut sled for my table saw this weekend. All things being equal (meaning I have some of each laying around) would you use UHMW or hardwood for the runners? Thanks.

[Josh Youngman]

id use UHMW if i had it. I built mine with hardwood and it works just fine.

[Adam Slutsky]

I buit mine with harwood and it also works fine. Tried to make it quarter sawn so little movement would occur.

[Greg Funk]

I used hardwood and waxed the runners. I don't know if you'd gain much from using UHMW as most of the friction comes from the sled on the tabletop rather than the runners. When I made mine I used a rabbet plane to fine tune the runners. I haven't worked with UHMW so I don't know if it planes well.

Greg

[Bob Michaels]

Yep, made my runners from UHMW. Works great and machines well, too.

[Greg Cole]

UHMW planes fine. I used to make some pieces n parts for some day job stuff from PE 1000 ala UHMW. I've run 16" wide pieces 4" thick thru a 20" Steel City planer... results comparable to on wood without worrying about tearout.:D And ya can really hog it off for dimensioning purposes.
It's not bad for a wear location & what TS sled runners see for "wear" versus the day job stuff is not even comparable.
FWIW, I bought metal runners for my TS sled. Aluminum ones from Woodpeck with the width adjusting wedges in them to accomodate the slight variances in slots......

Cheers.
Greg

[Mark Blum]

I used hardwood runners on mine, and properly constructed using a two-slot system with a touch of wax it works well and has continued to work that way for several years now.

[glenn bradley]

I have one sled with UHMW and two with oak, All work fine, no seasonal issues on the oak but I'm in SoCal. I fine tuned the fit with a cabinet scraper on the UHMW and also on the oak. The UHMW was easiest to fine tune. I just drew down the sides of the runners with a felt pen, slid the sled back and forth a couple times and scraped where the ink had been rubbed off. I used pencil on the oak as the ink would have soaked in.

[Al Mimm]

This is a different method of making the sled but very detailed with pictures. "http://lumberjocks.com/topics/890"

[Danny Thompson]

Mine are hardwood, but, if I had some around, no doubt I would go with UHMW.

[glenn bradley]

That would be this month's top tip winner Niki in Poland. He is quite the inventive guy. I prefer to have my fence adjustable though. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=50581

[Bob Feeser]

Jeff,
If you use hardwood be sure and make the initial fit a little too snug, for sure over time it will develop play, at least mine did. What I do now is apply a slight pressure on the perfectly square direction to get accurate cuts. I am sorry I didn't build the sled with removeable/replaceable runner, so if it shrinks I can fix it with just a new runner, instead of having to rebuild the sled. I glued mine into place.

[glenn bradley]

Bob brings up a point I didn't think about; make your runners (and your fence) replaceable.

[Jim Solomon]

Rockler has these on sale 2 for $12.99. I ordered two. I do not know if they are metal or phenolic of some sort.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=1464
Jim

[Thom Sturgill]

All things being equal (meaning I didn't have either), I bought UHMW for my crosscut sled. Only had it a few months, but seems to work well. I will use oak when I build a miter sled, just to see which I like best. I did not glue them so they are removable and will do the same for the miter sled.

[keith ouellette]

Rockler has these on sale 2 for $12.99. I ordered two. I do not know if they are metal or phenolic of some sort.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=1464
Jim

I just ordered two sets of these. They look like some kind of metal to me.

[Jim Solomon]

I just ordered two sets of these. They look like some kind of metal to me.
That is what I thought also Keith. I emailed Rockler but haven't heard from them yet. At any rate for that price I thought it was a good buy. I'll use two for my double CC sled, one for the single and the last for my circle cutting sled for the bandsaw.
Jim
Maybe after we recieve them we could post what material they are made from, though I do not think it will matter much being they are adjustable

[glenn bradley]

That is what I thought also Keith. I emailed Rockler but haven't heard from them yet. At any rate for that price I thought it was a good buy. I'll use two for my double CC sled, one for the single and the last for my circle cutting sled for the bandsaw.
Jim
Maybe after we recieve them we could post what material they are made from, though I do not think it will matter much being they are adjustable
They are steel and use spring loaded balls to keep them tight. Unfortunately it does not take much torque to flex the ball's springs and therefor allow mis tracking. You'll be happier with UHMW, wood or these (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11337&filter=miter%20slide) IMHO. I did not find the Incras to be long enough (just a bit shy) but I did use one 18" on my coping sled ;-)