Tablesaw sled show and tell

[loganb]

As I'm in the midst of doing my normal over analyzing procrastinating...this time on some table saw crosscut sled ideas I thought might start this to see what others have done...be it your basic crosscut, angle jigs, taper jig or something very elaborate and highly specialized....if its a jig for the table saw it fits!

I've been without an actual crosscut jig since I got the current saw, and attempting to use it more I've missed a sled more...time to fix it. The local Woodcraft had this partial sheet of 3/4 phenolic hexply(smooth black laminate in the bottom) at 24 x 48 so it came home with me and I'm thinking of turning it into 3 different sleds....



Sled 1: the left most one in the tape like layout on the sheet .... roughly 30 wide and 24 deep, planning to offset the blade kerf in this a bit so that the part of the sled left of the blade would be around 20 to 22". Either hardwood or plywood front and rear fence, T track in the top of the rear fence for some type of flip stop and clamps...maybe t track or matchfit groove in the base of the sled. Miter slot runner would be a Incra Miter bar. The miter bar and a blue tape to mark kerf are close to where final location would be

Sled 2: I envision this one is probably the most used ...24" wide x approximately 12 or 13" deep so after fences can probably cut 9 to 10" wide. Thinking blade is centered in this one, likely setup so any flip stops or toggle clamps can quickly move around from one to another. Runner here could be some type of shorter premade one or a UHMW or hardwood runner

Sled 3: less confident on the usefulness of this one but gonna give it a shot ....this is more just a fast cutoff jig. 24" wide x maybe 5" deep front to back. Rear fence only, may be setup so nothing on the right side of the blade and if cutting a lot I could make a basic drop off sled that could sit there to catch the tails. The thought(other than utilizing as much of the sheet as possible) is this is a easy to use jig for quick cut to lengths(no miter saw station right now) and frequently used when accuracy is 1/4" ish tolerance, nothing says couldnt be better but expecting it's used when it doesn't have to be better. Right now those cuts are done either with a more fidgity jessem miter gauge or by grabbing track saw, sawzall or walking to bandsaw...something I can drop right in the table saw and be done seems safer and more reliable.....maybe grasping at straws. Runner on this one is probably just a piece of hardwood planed to fit tight

What are you doing?
What do you love or hate about it?
Which can't you live without and which should be stripped for parts and setout for trash day?

 

[nutjob]

This is the one I made.
https://www.newyankee.com/episode/jigs/ I was not able to get the video to play.




Good enough for Norm, good enough for me!

I have had this years and it just works fine, simple.

Kevin

 

[Jgaz]

I’m going to show a couple of mine. May not be the best pictures but I think they will be good enough.

These are (4) jigs shown stored in my last Michigan shop about 12 to 15 years ago

(1) This is my current picture frame sled. It was built to replace #4. #1 allows for longer length sides and clamping of the sides while being cut. Much better version, for me, than #4

(2) My simple table saw sled. Threaded inserts are installed in a few places to make it easier to mount other jigs or fixtures to it.

(3) Because the table saw blade runs along the left side of jig #2, #3 is used to keep the cut off pieces from binding against the blade due to the thickness of the sled above the saw table.
It‘s just a simple piece of plywood that is the same thickness as the gray saw sled base with a miter groove bar to keep it in place.

(4) My original picture frame jig. Replaced by #2

Picture frame jig in use.


Picture frame spline jig. The jig is bolted to the table saw sled.


Table saw sled in use with the cut off support piece #3 marked with a red “x”

Hope this helps. Any questions? Don’t be afraid to ask.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If you are happy with your picture frames, you did an excellent job !

 

[Jgaz]

If you are happy with your picture frames, you did an excellent job !

Thank you.

 

[karoc]

I also copy Norms idea, but I also used plastic laminate on both sides of 1/4 birch plywood to keep it flat. Before using it I sprinkle little baby powder on saw top and miter grooves help slide easier. Made it many yrs ago, still use it

 

[jar944]

I had two: small and eventually big

 

[DGersic]

Taper cutting sled I made in 2013.



Used with my woefully undersized table saw to cut the back slats for my Adirondack chairs.



Haven‘t needed to cut a tapered piece since. I got rid of the table saw, so really not sure what to do with it, but I keep moving it around the basement, just in case I find a need for it.

 

[bdbecker]

Mine is a basic, mid-sized sled. Being the first one I built, I didn't want to overthink it too much. I figured I'd incorporate lessons learned and things I'd do differently into Version 2. Works well enough that I haven't felt a need to make a new one yet. Admittedly, I haven't done a lot of woodworking the last few years though.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

You guys have some really nice sleds and jigs for your saws. I usually just take a few scraps and make an improvised slider when I need a lot of repetitive cuts. This one slapped together from a scrap of hickory flooring for the guide with plywood and cut offs screwed together to taper a bunch of eve extensions for the outer edge of some trusses on a small pole barn I'm building. Ed.

 

[y'sguy]

1/2" thick acrylic glued with M E K. cut the runners to fit the guide slots
This one doesn't have the guides glued on yet.
goes together fast and clean.

 

[Mike65]

This is the one I made.
https://www.newyankee.com/episode/jigs/ I was not able to get the video to play.




Good enough for Norm, good enough for me!

I have had this years and it just works fine, simple.

Kevin

I made the same one for my wood shop. Simple is good. I also made Norm's tapering jig, shelf pin hole jig & circle cutting jig.

 

[Voi]

Late to this thread. Have you started yet?

I've heard that phenolic is getting hard to find. I would recommend you build some more utilitarian sleds while you figure out what you like & don't like before cutting that up. I might be wrong & it's more readily available than I'm aware of.

I had several.

I strongly recommend at least one small, single-runner sled that works on both sides of the blade. One side for 90° cuts & one for 45° bevel cuts. Which side does which depends on left vs right tilt & what you're comfortable with. I built mine with rear fences but I don't see why a front fence wouldn't work.

I also built a large single runner sled that sat to the right of the blade. Sled fence on the front, or leading edge of the sled. It was made originally to cross cut & square up 48 x 32 panels so it was very basic. Panels would overhang the sled on the right & reference the rip fence via a removable MDF spacer (I had 52" right side rip capacity).

I later found it useful enough that I trimmed it into more of a boomerang shape so I could stand closer to it while working with smaller panels. Also helped with balance. Wish I had put more effort into using some sort of extrusion for the fence to use hold down clamps. Instead I relied on two sided tape when working with those large panels. I wasn't thinking it would be such a go-to sled when I originally built it & went with aluminum angle for the fence.

 

[Biotec]

I made my first sled large because of a project I was doing I made it out 3 quarter inch MDF because I was using that for another part of project so it was 36 by 24 inches downside ****** heavy.
be another one smaller got used a bit more but didn't totally seal it adequately and moisture got to it MDF soaked it up like a sponge and changed shape. Then a year ago I bought a small 8 1/4 inch DeWalt DW7485 Small table saw and made this one to only fit this table saw and it's approximately 19 inches by 19 inches much lighter weight half inch material no fancy gadgets on it tracks but it does have basically a triangle that goes in the middle to create 40 fives They're always the same I use two dowels to put it in place so it locks in it's only partially cut because the point only has to cut in just a little bit so it's very stable.

Again this one got totally slathered in polyurethane and Sanded. seems to be holding up well. the
bottom was polly urethane sanded twice And then I used wood wax on the bottom to make it slide on the table top more easily and I use two metal miters are bars.

.

This meets my needs in my modeling work I'm doing.