Question about sled for tablesaw

[lwhughes149]

I see many sleds on tablesaws where a piece of wood can be cut leaving a true straight cut. These saws are quite large with a fence on the back and front. They appear to be as big as my table itself. I don't understand how one that large can be used unless some tablesaws are larger than mine. Mine is a Ridgid purchased at Home Depot. Am I missing something? Lorraine

[lwhughes149]

Good idea Scott

[Gary G]

Lorraine,
When you make the sled, pay particular attention to the runners you make.
Ideally, they should be just a hair thicker (taller) than the depth of your miter slot
and they should fit very snug so that there's no side to side movement. That's one
of the things which makes the sled truly useful. If there's slop side to side, you'll never get an accurate cut.
When I make mine, I make 'em a hair wide and sneak up on a perfect fit with a block plane. I like 'em so they grab a little when dry and slide easily when waxed.
YMMV,
G

[Woodman2k]

You can also make them narrower that your miter slots but mount them one at a time.Do the right side one first, mounting it perfectly straight using your fence as a guide then put your other strip in the left slot pushing it too the left with two sided tape on the top and lay your sled down with the other strip pushed against the right side of its slot.Set it down on the tape lift up and tack it in place and you are good to go.

You know,after proof reading this it would seem to be alot easier to show how to do this than explaining it here.I hope I made sense of it,it works really well and is very accurate.When you lay the sled down on the strips let alittle hang over into the blade path and cut it off as the first cut and the edge will be your guide.

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by Gary G

Lorraine,
When you make the sled, pay particular attention to the runners you make.
Ideally, they should be just a hair thicker (taller) than the depth of your miter slot
and they should fit very snug so that there's no side to side movement. G

Are you sure you meant what you said???? If the runners were taller than the miter slot depth, there is a very good chance that you cuts won't be plumb, and you would have increased friction while sliding the sled.
I have always made mine shallower than the slot and used a couple of dimes or pennies to raise them up flush for attachment.

Dave

[Sully]

I agree with DaveO. The runners should fit down in the miter slots completely lower than the table top surface. That way they do not bottom out on the miter slots when mounted on the sled. To mount them place them on pennies (I'm a cheapskate compared to DaveO).

The other trick/tip I would suggest would be to cut the sliders slightly less wide than the slots. Place both of them in the miter slots and push them toward the center of the saw (both inward towards one another) using playing cards (or index cards).Cut the cards off flush with the table top surface and then mount your sled on the sliders.

And finally, do not attempt to align your back fence at 90 degrees to the saw kerf until you have cut the kerf in the sled with the miter sliders in place (DAMHIKT). Furthermore, I prefer to use a MDF sacrificial face on the sled fence as it makes it easier to replace and/or fine tune the fence.

J

PS: Wax paper is an excellent way of you keeping your miter sliders nice and slippery. Just rub some wax paper over the sliders before every use and they will slip much easier.