Mitre express

Any owners out there? Are you happy with it? Any regrets? Do you use an Incra gauge with it? Have you added to it eg another panel or longer fence?

I don't want to hear about making your own sled and saving money. I just want to hear from owners

Hi Barri

Interesting there aren't any replies, I guess they just work so well users take them for granted? We sell lots, the only negative feedback we get is usually related to situations where existing mitre gauges are used. They work very well, help reduce tear-out on the underside of the cut and can increase the crosscut capacity of your saw to 600mm. Longer fences are readily available if your projects need them.

If you want something even more impressive look at the Incra Mitre 5000

Always available to answer questions if you need more help, just call.

Regards

Grahame

Yes Grahame after buying it (from you) I am very happy with it. I use it with an Incra 1000SE and I've ended up dismantling my old home made sleds as a result. The cuts are accurate and with a sacrificial fence there is no tear out. Its also a lot lighter and easier to manage than my old crosscut sleds. Highly recommended. I can crosscut nearly 60cm. The 5000 is way too expensive when the mitre express does such a good job for more than half the price. There is a point of diminishing returns.

Hi Barri,

I see you bit the bullet and purchased this sled. Good decision! Sorry about the late response to your query.

I too recently purchased the Mitre Express and use this with the Incra 1000HD and I find it very useful and more flexible than a standard homemade sled but that is just my personal opinion. Some may scoff at the price especially if you need to also invest in a good quality mitre gauge at the same time.
As I have a few projects needing wider crosscuts on sheet goods I decided to look at what I could do to achieve this with the mitre express as opposed to looking at sliding table add-ons or larger, heavier sleds given I normally break down larger panels with my track saw first. As it is marketed, the mitre express does allow you to potentially cut up to 600mm safely but in its current form I found that to do this you need to pull the mitre bar out far enough from the mitre express track to give you clearance to the front of the blade but you also still need to be able to access and tighten the 3 Allen head cams that secure the mitre bar to the sled (you could possibly get away with just 2). I found that when the mitre gauge was extended out beyond the sled platform (when cutting at 90 degrees) the weight of the Incra fence, especially when extended out, sagged a little due to its own weight and would hit the front edge of my tablesaw top when doing a long crosscut.
Also, when attempting a longer crosscut, naturally there is weight at the trailing edge of the sled so I found I need to keep some pressure on the work piece towards the front of the sled to ensure it rides flat along the tablesaw top through the full length of the cut. Tightening the cams in the mitre bar also eliminates most of the side to side play but I also found that as soon as you are crosscutting at full capacity the initial cut only seems to engage two of the three cams in the mitre bar and you do get a small amount of slop in the mitre slot. All this means is that you need to keep a nice smooth and steady action when doing a pass and I try to stand directly behind the mitre gauge as opposed to the side where I may have a tendency to skew the bar in the mitre slot prior to all three cams being engaged.
I looked at a few options to increase the performance of the Incra Mitre Express and I decided to purchase a few spare parts from Grahame at Professional Woodworking whom was very helpful.
I increased the width of the sled by machining my own MDF panels in a few difference widths and I added the longer 600mm Incra t-slot panel connector that comes with the mitre 5000. The reason for this is to not only provide support to the Incra fence when doing larger crosscuts but the longer panel connector still allows me to secure the fence in place with the supplied fence support bracket when it is setup for full capacity cuts. It is important but also very effective to lock down the fence with the bracket that comes with the mitre express as I found there is too much play without it especially when doing really wide cuts. When I purchased the mitre express, I decided to install it on the right hand side of the blade. This is personal preference as my Harvey is a left tilt and I liked the idea of additional support underneath larger work pieces.
I also added the 27” to 49” telescopic fence to the existing 1000HD fence which obviously added more weight hence the importance of having that additional support to prevent any sagging of the fence but I can now crosscut very long pieces repeatedly and accurately.
To combat the lack of fence support when doing long pieces (over 900mm) at full capacity crosscuts, I looked at ways of addressing this and I decided to install an outboard aluminium “runner” to my tablesaw and I made up an adjustable bracket with a UHMW pad that simply clamps to the back of the Incra fence along with a stop. This aluminium runner is fixed to a length of t-track and it simply slides on and is tightened down to a section of aluminium angle that is permanently fixed to the right-hand side table saw extension wing.
The only drawback with this setup is that I need to remove the rip fence to install this aluminium runner and use the sled. Not a big issue though because I can remove the rip fence, install the runner & drop the sled in place in under 2 minutes. And with some planning I can do all my rip cuts before converting to crosscut mode.
The modified mitre express sled has increased in weight somewhat and as the work pieces get larger and heavy the friction when using is increased but overall it still works well given the amount of contact there is between the sled and table saw as opposed to something running on a bearing system.
It is still lighter though than larger, homemade sleds plus I have all the accuracy in the world due to Incra’s 1000HD protractor head. I can shorter the setup and/or the fence if I only need to work on smaller pieces but I wouldn’t say that it was overly cumbersome as is.
And one little tip. The Makita track clamps that I use with the track saw work fantastically well in the mitre express t-slots. And because of the “G-type” design of these clamps I can still clamp a work piece down even if it covers the entire Incra t-slot track as the clamps get in under the work piece and don’t rely on sitting in front of it like the factory Incra clamp which comes with the sled.
Even without modifying it, I am very happy with the Mitre Express. As I hadn’t yet upgraded my mitre gauge from the stock one that came with my saw, I chose the express over the 5000 as I could use the mitre gauge independently to the sled whereas the gauge on the 5000 is integrated into the design as you probably already know.
Mind you, this setup has worked out slightly more than what it is worth to purchase the 5000 but I am happy and it will last me for a very long time.


Happy sledding!

Trav.

Love your modifications Trav. Good job. The more I use the mitre express, the more I like it. I already owned the 1000SE so the extra purchase didn't hurt that much. I had made 3 sleds previously. A panel sled for wider stock, a bevel sled for my boxes and a normal cross cut sled. I no longer use the panel and crosscut sled but I still use the bevel sled. I don't see the need for a mitre saw anymore when I can crosscut accurately with the mitre express including long and wide pieces.

BTW this is the only forum, and I subscribe to plenty, where I have trouble posting pictures the right way round. You seem to have similar problems.

Thats weird. I saved them in a way that they would appear right way round which they do on my computer. Oh well.