Crosscut Sled Question

[Jerry Bruette]

Had a thought today, might be crazy, might not.

Has anyone ever used a piece of 80/20 or equivalent extrusion for the fence closest to you on a crosscut sled?

Thought it would be a good idea for attaching any stops or other accessories.

[John Ziebron]

Jerry, I have used 80/20 for a fence on a couple of drill presses. And yes, it makes for easy stops. If you were to use it for a crosscut sled I'm assuming it would be one piece and you would have to cut through it with the blade the first time and possibly more if you ever raise the blade higher than earlier cuts. Carbide tipped saw blades have no problem cutting through aluminum as long as you go slow. I do it all the time on my miter saw.

But on a crosscut sled you may get some chips or finer embedded in your wood without realizing it. That could be a problem especially with softer woods. A stop would likely be the only accessory you would use with a sled. That's why most folks simply dado the back piece for a T track.

[glenn bradley]

I added t-track to the rear (front?) fence on mine. That way I could make the dimensions fit my collection of stops and other accessories that I already have.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I think it's a very interesting thought and a very good idea. I love 80/20, for a number of reasons, dimensional accuracy being one of them. I will watch this post and see what others may think. I think it's a winner.
Edit: After this post which peaked my interest, a quick Google search provided some info. It appears this has been done before. Good ideas already floating around. And yes, also having a Sawstop, I'll be careful with the 80/20 getting nowhere near my blade.

[Warren Wilson]

I put a t-track on top of the “back” of a crosscut sled to make it easier to slide a stop into position. I made that back board higher than the blade can reach so there is no chance of it touching the aluminum — I have found my Sawstop to be very fussy about contacting metal with the blade.

[Jim Knishka]

My shop won't accommodate an SCMS, so I'm building a table saw sled with a sliding extension. The fence is two face glued pieces of 3/4 Baltic Birch with a length of 15 series (1.5") extrusion on top. The sled is using the full 60" width of the ply; when I slide this out I'll be able to replicate cross cuts long enough to cut bed rails (a planned future project). Besides the 60" extrusion I bought five central connectors (80/20 part #13187). These are mounted with a counter bore in the rear face of the fence, and then a vertical hole from the top for the connector. I centered mine, if I were to do it over I'd offset it so the front face of the extrusion was flush to the fence, but not really an issue as my saw can't cut anything that thick anyway. I also got two Dynamic Pivots (#4383) to make into sliding stops - an idea that I stole from a post on a board somewhere. Have to add a ply chop. To help keep it on the table I'm using Incra Miter Sliders. Here are some pics of the work in progress. Full Pic.jpgExtrusion Extended.jpgExtusion Attachment.jpgFlipstop aka Dynamic Pivot.jpgFlipstop aka Dynamic Pivot.jpg