Crosscut sled - size, and other Q's...

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Hey all - I'm about to make a crosscut sled...nothing too large, not for panels or anything - just smaller pieces. I was looking at maybe 36" wide, base made out of 1/2" MDF and a 2"x6"x36" red oak for fence front and back.

I'm curious as to how people size up their sleds in relation to the blade - how much of the sled is to the left of the blade and how much to the right? If I "center" it, I'll be limited to under 18" pieces (without an extension on either side). But I would think that if you go too far to either side, it'll be off balance and more likely to bind with long pieces.

Any advice would be appreciated...

[rob mason]

I opted to go for the centered route and so far it has worked out great!
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=90694

[Bill Huber]

I really don't think it matters on the center or not, I made mine 2 inches off center, don't really know why but I think it would work just fine in the center.

I would add a thumb guard to it, I know I sure like having it there. I don't think I would have a sled without it.


101351

[Dewey Torres]

One vote from me to keep it in the center.

You can easily cut pieces longer than 18" by clamping them to the fence of the sled and allowing them to overhang.

[Jack Camillo]

This works very well for me. Inexpensive and very effective. (Here I'm cutting pistol case sides from a wenge board)

[Rod Sheridan]

I don't use a sled for cross cutting small pieces because I've never been able to come up with a design that worked well with my overarm guard.

I use a Jessem mitre gauge for those tasks.

I do have a panel cutting sled, which doesn't continue past the left side of the blade, it works well with the overarm guard.

There are some some very nice sleds made, as the photo's posted on SMC indicate.

Regards, Rod.

[Tony Bilello]

But it does.
It depends on the the type of work you do and/or the type of work you think you will do.
I have 2 sleds. One for really long pieces and one when I just want short cut-offs.
If my typical cut-off will be 2 feet, then I use the bigger sled.
Also to consider is the cut-offs. Will they go into the scrap bin? If so, a smaller sled can be used. If you are going to use the cut-offs also, the ends will get screwed up if there is a drop as opposed to the cut-off remaining on a long sled.
The size is something only you can answer.

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks Tony, your right, it really does depend upon what you're doing.

I use solids for most of my work, and the offcuts are indeed scrap.

Have you seen a design for a sled that has some sort of blade guard?

Thanks, Rod.

[Jerome Hanby]

Compared to mine, your's is going to be huge:D

I made runners to fit both miter slots, so I centered mine just because it was easier and required the least thought. At the time I planned to build a bigger, fancier sled later, but then decided to save for an Incra miter 5000.

Cashed in my Miter 5000 piggy bank this morning to get my wife a surprise for Christmas, so I may be building that sled after all:p

[Rod Sheridan]

Cashed in my Miter 5000 piggy bank this morning to get my wife a surprise for Christmas, so I may be building that sled after all:p

I don't know Jerome, your wife may have been surprised to receive a Miter 5000 for Christmas........Rod

[Scott Wigginton]

Have you seen a design for a sled that has some sort of blade guard?

Closest thing to a blade guard I've seen has been a strip of Lexan from front to back, such as this sled (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=99886&d=1225473276) from this discussion (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=95547&highlight=sled).

[Jerome Hanby]

I don't know Jerome, your wife may have been surprised to receive a Miter 5000 for Christmas........Rod

Good surprise, but I'd have to sleep outside...

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Thanks for the input everyone. I went back down and looked things over again. A big issue is that the table on my TS is very small (it's an old 34-670), so I might go a little smaller on the size; and I think I'll just center it, or go off-center only slightly. I have an extension table on the right, so I could always route a guide there and make a much larger one that would be mostly on the right side of the blade.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Thumb guard is a must. I'll probably also put on a piece of lexan or something between fences, just in case.

question - how did you get the stock for your fence totally flat? I guess this is where not having a jointer is a problem. I have some red oak that seems *pretty* flat, but I'd like to be sure.....best I can do is try to run it through my lunchbox planer, maybe riding on a 'sled' that makes sure it stays level and not move.

[Bill Huber]

Thanks for the input everyone. I went back down and looked things over again. A big issue is that the table on my TS is very small (it's an old 34-670), so I might go a little smaller on the size; and I think I'll just center it, or go off-center only slightly. I have an extension table on the right, so I could always route a guide there and make a much larger one that would be mostly on the right side of the blade.


When I made the first one I use oak for the miter bars, it work just fine until summer and then they got very tight.
I then replaced them with UHMW and that was really bad, you could not fasten then down very well or they would spread out and get to tight.

On the last sled I made which is the one I am using now I bought some aluminum, Incra from Rockler and they are just great. You can adjust them to be tight and they stay there and do not change with the weather.
They are a little high but they will last forever.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11337&filter=incra

[Bill Huber]

Thumb guard is a must. I'll probably also put on a piece of lexan or something between fences, just in case.

question - how did you get the stock for your fence totally flat? I guess this is where not having a jointer is a problem. I have some red oak that seems *pretty* flat, but I'd like to be sure.....best I can do is try to run it through my lunchbox planer, maybe riding on a 'sled' that makes sure it stays level and not move.

The way I did mine was to glue up two 3/4 red oak board opposite grain. Then ran it thou the table saw against the fence, just taking off about half a kerf. I then checked it with a straight edge and it was nice and flat.

I am sure there are better ways, but I did have a jointer at the time and that was the only way I could come up with.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Good approach - thanks. I've been considering gluing up another board as you describe, just for stability. I thought about also using agle-iron along the top (high enough so the blade could not hit it), but that might be overkill.

[Chris Padilla]

John,

You could invest in a nice not-too-expensive aluminum straight-edge from Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=50074&cat=1,240,45313). They sure are valuable to have around the shop! You'll suddenly find all sorts of uses for it.

[Jack Camillo]

When I made the first one I use oak for the miter bars, it work just fine until summer and then they got very tight.
I then replaced them with UHMW and that was really bad, you could not fasten then down very well or they would spread out and get to tight.

On the last sled I made which is the one I am using now I bought some aluminum, Incra from Rockler and they are just great. You can adjust them to be tight and they stay there and do not change with the weather.
They are a little high but they will last forever.

I use mdf for both the runners and the sled. The first one I did, I screwed the sled to the runners - same thing, they spread out (even though I drilled pilot holes). Then I asked myself why even screw it? The mdf glues together stronger than the mdf itself. I put glue on the runners, set the sled on top, and added weight, then let it dry a couple hours. The fence pivots on one bolt and tightens on another to ensure squareness. Wouldn't trade it for store bought. Took less than 30 minutes (I think about 15 minutes).

[Jason Hanko]

question - how did you get the stock for your fence totally flat? I guess this is where not having a jointer is a problem. I have some red oak that seems *pretty* flat, but I'd like to be sure.....best I can do is try to run it through my lunchbox planer, maybe riding on a 'sled' that makes sure it stays level and not move.

This wont work for anything wider two inches (or however long your straight bit is), but this is how I get my edges straight until I can save up enough for my jointer:

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/resource/JigBasedJoinery/JointingOnTheRouter/index.html

This is even easier for me since I have the Rockler Router Fence (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1383&cookietest=1) - I just slide a piece of 1/8'' plastic behind the outfeed side of the fence to create the offset.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Well I put it together last night. it's much heavier than I expected....I didn't cut/shape the fences at all like I've seen in a lot of posts, I imagine that would save a lot of weight (and look nice!).

2 more Q's for ya...
- How far in front or back do you extend the runners? I built mine out quite a ways, but after trying a few sample cuts, I think I can cut quite a bit off.
- has anyone waxed their MDF base to make it slide more easily?

[Bill Huber]

Well I put it together last night. it's much heavier than I expected....I didn't cut/shape the fences at all like I've seen in a lot of posts, I imagine that would save a lot of weight (and look nice!).

2 more Q's for ya...
- How far in front or back do you extend the runners? I built mine out quite a ways, but after trying a few sample cuts, I think I can cut quite a bit off.
- has anyone waxed their MDF base to make it slide more easily?

My runners run just to the edge of the sled and that's it.
I did wax the bottom and rails on mine and it runs as smooth. Mine is heavy and I like it that way, it has mass and that makes cutting better I think.

[Adam Slutsky]

I made two: One is about 18" on either side of the blade and includes a guard with a dust collection port and the other is just a simple sled only on the left side of the table. This one does not have any restrictions on the size of the boards, so I usually use this with larger width boards. I do have a runner/guide that goes along the edge of the table so it is actually held with two runners. The runners are just oak strips. Simple but cheap and they work great.