Thread: What to use for making a cross cut sled?

My sled (unfinished) base is made from 9mm MDF. A couple of coats of polyurethane to keep the moisture out.
No problems with flatness.

where did you buy the MDF from?

Originally Posted by theshattells

where did you buy the MDF from?

A local timber yard where I ge all my sheet goods. Much cheaper than Bunnies and you get to pick and choose which sheets you take. Not much of an issue with MDF but for ply, very handy.
I wanted to make some kitchen fittings out of form ply and sorted through an entire pack looking for sheets that weren't scratched.

I made mine from Ply that I picked up from a local kitchen cabinet maker. Works a treat.

Do you think the white laminated stuff from a kitchen maker would slide on a table saw ?

the white stuff is melamine. it will be very slippery on the tablesaw when new, but it also wears away with friction rubbing. I have a melamine computer desk which im sitting at right now, the surface as worn away where the keyboard slides around on it. had the desk for about 9 years. the worn away parts feels like the surface of MDF after it has been sanded with a bit of 120 grit, kinda rough and grippy.

Originally Posted by theshattells

Do you think the white laminated stuff from a kitchen maker would slide on a table saw ?

No trouble so far, mine is melamine coated

Bunnings sell a better quality ply called Marine Ply. You can get a 1200 x 900 (approx) sheet which I've found is a good size to make cross-cut sleds.

Cheers,

ajw

You can get offcuts of slippery plastics from bearings shops. Teflony sort of stuff - I think the very nature of slippery plastics makes them difficult to glue, but you could countersink and screw into a recess on your slide.

Some people cut up a milk carton and use strips of that plastic on the bottom of diy table saw sled - I did that and it worked fine.

White plastic pill bottkes from chemist seem to made from very slippery plastic - I was eyeing some off yesterday for a smooth piston on a simple diy stirling engine. Not sure if that would work or not.

White plastic breadboards have been mentioned in various posts that I've read as being quite cheap and slippery.

I have read about plastic coated plywood but wasnt able to get it in Australia but you might look at that brownish coloured plywood that builders use for formwork in concrete - it seems a bit smoother and more slippery than conventional plywood.

The plastic material type used to make many bottles is often identified by a number inside a triangle stamped on the bottom.

You can buy sticky sided thin teflon tape from various shops - google it - was quite expensive when I last looked. But a small amount may be quite economic if you can get it.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...pe+woodworking


Bill

Some of my sleds have been made from radiata pine veneered chipboard . others from a hardwood veneered chipboard .
I Like chipboard for such things . Its lighter and is nice to work with when screwing nailing and gluing . MDF is IMHO, Horrible stuff to work with . Its very heavy , brittle , Hates being screwed and nailed , it splits and de laminates .

Every manufactured board can have a bow , no matter what type , its only when they come out of a pile , a few down from the top that they are dead straight, stand them in your workshop on their side for a few hours and they cup

I would use MDF for a sled though if I couldn't have my first choice . one reason is , I have tended to go through a few sleds , Your second will be better than your first , as long as your first one works reasonably well and cuts square . I use a few different size sleds , the big ones are no good for small work , and the same the other way around .


If I find a bow when building , like anyone who finds a bow ,

[ it makes me think back to a builder mate telling me when building a roof all the bowed lengths , which is every one of them mostly , are all placed bow up , either the weight will straighten them out or they can then be planed straight I suppose? ]

I have to make the choice of which way the board will lay and how bracing will effect it . Most of my sleds have front and back fences , so for them I would be laying the bowed side down , so with a test on my saw top I could feel it rocking and get an idea of how much pressure is needed to straighten it with the fence's bracing it . It would not need much pressure at all , and if you fix it and prepare it the right way it should end up flat.

So I stick to cheap board when making them and concentrate on how its put together. a coat of shellac on timber boards and then some wax makes them slide.
I did make a MDF board for the bottom table of my thicknesser once , it did eventually wear through , it lasted five years . It was only used on occasions where I needed to try and thickness under 5mm in thickness.

Rob

The cheap ply in bunnies is not worth buying and I cant remember ever seeing a flat piece. For sleds I have used chipboard flooring, melamine and floating floor sheet. The floating floor being thin so not a lot of cutting depth is lost. Rub the underside and runners with wax.
Regards
John

Orraloon did you chipboard flooring and other stuff from bunnies?

Cheers

I went a little overboard with a lamination of masonite, MDF and ply. 5mm Masonite against the table saw top for easy sliding, 12mm MDF for the body and 3mm ply for the top (more grippy than the MDF). Hasn't bowed at all but is heavy as.

All my sled materials were leftovers from other projects but did come from bunnings.
Regards
John