Thread: Crosscut sled - how to

thanks for that Niki,a sled is a sled but the extra thought and attention in the construction makes the diference.
A couple of days ago I experimented with building one for my triton. I had this great idea of using drawer slides along the side of the table so that it would run nice and smooth - of course the thing was not very good because there was too much slop in the slides.
So now I am going to adapt yours for the triton - hopefully.

Denn

Thanks Niki - great pictures and lots of detail - as we have come to expect from your posts.

Nice one Niki! The attention to detail looks like it'll make a very accurate sled. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Niki
Mate I was thinking... yeah yeah gotta stop that Anyway I made one the other month a big buggar but I was thinking would making the slides out of some of that hardened plastic cutting board be better?... just that I nicked this new chopping board from her highness's shopping the other day an well I reckon I oughta do something with it

Oh and what do you think is the optimum size for a sled?

Cheers!
Shane

Thank you for your kind words

Wendy
Thank you for directing the other post here

Denn
I don't know the Triton but if it's like mine, without miter slots, you can make it like I did mine (see pic).
It slides on two wooden rails glued to each side of the sled and rides on the table edges...of course the table must be very consistent all along the width.
I think that if you will glue one rail and only screw the other...maybe with elongated or bigger holes for adjustment of one side, you can make it to slide nicely.
The other option is to make it with wheels on one rail but, it will limit the travel distance.

Shane
I never tried the "cutting board" as a rail but I read about many people that made the rails from it and they say that it slides nicely and does not expand/contract with humidity changes.
I eliminated the binding due to humidity changes by cutting the rails narrower than the miter slot width.

It's very difficult to tell what is the optimum size of the sled...I have 3 sleds, one for big sheets (to cut at least 600 mm width and 45° frame members, see pic) the second is "one side" sled that can handle also more than 600 mm plates and the third one is for small pieces (see pics)

Regards
niki

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Hi Guys
I like the sled.I am just a beginner to woodwork.Was always into cars.
Could someone tell me where I can get the aluminium section (or simular) that is used to extend this saw table please.I have at a few places in Geelong .But cant seem to pin it down.

Thanks for this posting and the great photos and explanatory comments, Niki, they are excellent and a great teaching aid.

One thing I dont understand, and hope you can enlighten me:

If the front and rear edges of the sled are parallel, and the temporary rear fence butts against the rear of the table, then both these the edges must surely be right angles to the blade? So why not just screw the rear fence along the rear edge of the sled?

Ahhh.. I think I have it. The rear of the table is not necessarily at right angles to the saw blade. Is that correct?

regards,
Jill

Originally Posted by JillB

Ahhh.. I think I have it. The rear of the table is not necessarily at right angles to the saw blade. Is that correct?

regards,
Jill

Thank you Jill

Yes, you are correct...actually, on a much older post, I made a sled and referred to the back edge of the table top as a "90° to the miter slot"....well, it was not...even on my Made in Germany Electra Beckum (nowadays - Metabo) and I had to make some shimmed reference plate...

The best method is to, first, align the blade to the miter slot and that use the actual kerf as a reference line...as I did on the pics.

I used the same procedure when I made the "Rip & Cross-cut sled"...
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f44/table-sled-70371

Regards
niki

Hi niki have done similar my self the only differace is i used a material called bakerlight which is a material used in the electrical industry very hard and slippery great for slides , mind you the one i made up is not as proffesional as yours . one day i will get around to making a better one . Thanks for the photos .

paul , k