Crosscut Sled for Ryobi BT3000

[Brandon Cariveau]

I am looking for some help in a crosscut sled for a Ryobi BY3000. As you could see by the pictures, there is no rails for the sled to run in, just run on either side of the saw bed. I am wondering if anyone has ever made one for this type of saw or bed and what issues you ran into.

IMG_7031.jpgIMG_7032.jpg

[Lee Schierer]

It appears that the Ryobi BT3000 has a sliding table attachment.
bt3000.JPG

[John Nielsen]

In addition to the Sliding Miter Table (SMT) the BT3000/BT3100 also has a miter slot attachment (a dual miter slot which installs on the table).
It looks like the picture below. You may want to search Ebay, Craigslist, and there is also another forum which used to be dedicated to the BT3000/BT3100 called SawDustZone.
Sometimes guys post saw parts on there or are parting out their own saw because they have upgraded/changed saws.
There is a FAQ about the BT3 saws here: https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

[John Nielsen]

Other guys have made miter slots. Here's some examples:

[Brandon Cariveau]

It appears that the Ryobi BT3000 has a sliding table attachment.
bt3000.JPG

Thank you. I do have the attachment, but there is a lot of play in it, so I was looking for some other ideas.

[Brandon Cariveau]

Thanks for the ideas. This was exactly what I was hoping for.

[John Nielsen]

Brandon - Try googling BT3000 or "BT3100 miter slot" You'll see a lot of images. And SawDustZone has TONS of guys that own them and can probably even give you a number of hints on adjusting the SMT.
The FAQ pointed to above covers it also (note - you need to download the PDF in the first post. The links in the second post no longer work).

[Jim Dwight]

Brandon,

I would not want to discourage you but I used a BT3100 for about 10 years and built a lot of furniture with it. I am pretty sure the second saw in post 4 above (the one with white melamine accessory tables) is mine. I had accessory rails on it and could rip to around 60 inches. The rip fence is great on these saws, it moves easily and stays parallel to the blade. But I never found a good way to cross cut on it. I tried the sliding miter attachment but was not satisfied with it. So I tried to improve it and made it worse. I put the miter slots on it to try a miter gauge and sled. I was never happy with the way they worked either. So I gave up and did cross cutting other ways and used the BT for ripping. It has a 15A universal motor with belt drive as I'm sure you know. I do not find my SawStop PCS 1.75hp to be more powerful. I ripped over 3 inches in hardwood many times. But I never got consistently accurate cross cuts from it.

I hope you have better luck with it.

Jim

[Myles Moran]

Brandon, before you go through the work of building a sled for it, have you tried adjusting the play on the sliding mechanism? I gave my bt3100 to my BIL so I can't tell you exactly how off hand, but the manual covers it. I believe there are 2 eccentric screws on the bottom that tighten it. Some paste wax on the sliding mechanism and you can get it tightened up to slide smooth with no measurable play.

[Randy Heinemann]

Thank you. I do have the attachment, but there is a lot of play in it, so I was looking for some other ideas.

When I owned the BT3000, I did also have the miter slot accessory. I rarely used it, though, because, no matter how hard I tried it never seemed to be square to the blade. I guess you could remedy that if you made your own crosscut sled custom for your saw (and we all certainly have the time to spend on that right now).

If your BT3000 sliding sled has too much play, maybe you can find the replacement parts which install on the sled. Yours may be worn to the point they can't be set to run true. I realize they might be hard to find these days, but may still exist on the internet somewhere; maybe on the sites suggested by others.

I loved the saw, but it was always underpowered and was subject to a few precision and squareness issues. Still it was a very capable saw for me for many years. I'm glad I sold it a number of years ago though. Newer saws are so much better; even jobsite saws seem to be more accurate and powerful.