CrossCut Sled Advice

[figucp0]

Hi everyone. I decided it was time for my first real thread (Aside from the my Intro Thread). I am making my first Jig this weekend. I am going to make a cross-cut sled for my table saw. I have some slider rails coming in and have a piece of laminated MDF for the actual sled. I still do not know what I am going to use for the front and back fence. I have spent a fair amount of tools, and materials lately so I don't think this is going to be an over the top mother of all CC-Sleds but wanted to hear any helpful suggestions or design tips that anybody would care to share.

Thanks in advance,
Cristobal

"I once caught a fish this big"

[sapwood]

Originally Posted by BobcatBob

. . . .
2. goes along with 1 and that is to glue a block of wood that will enclose the blade as it exits the fence. This will keep you from having your fingers/hand in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bob

+1

Roger

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by figucp0

The rails I ordered at 18". I hope I don't regret not getting longer ones. This may be a stupid question but what exactly would the advantage of longer rails be? I figure since the tails are stuck in the Slots anyway why does this matter so much?

I know what I want to say about this but it's hard to explain. I have 18" runners on my 24" deep sled. I had to decide where to have the excess sled depth. If you put it in the front there won't be a lot of rail engaged in the miter slot when the sled is drawn back at the begining of the cut. If you put the excess to the back then there will be less engaged at the end of the cut. If you use an outfeed table you will also have to cut your miter slot extensions much farther.
I decided to place my guides towards the rear of the sled, and I find that with a full width panel I don't get full engagement of the guides in the slots.
I guess ideally you would have miter guides/runners equal to the depth of your sled.

Here's a pic of my set-up -

Dave

[Sully]

My rails are the full depth of my sled about 30" so that they completely cover the top of the saw. I think that having rails less than the depth of the sled could lead to inaccuracies. Full depth rails provides good alignment of the sled throughout the cut as DaveO described. Ideally you would actually want rails longer than the depth of the sled, but you risk breaking and/or bending them.

I used hardwood rails and replace them every now and then.

J