Tablesaw Crosscut Sled

Tablesaw Crosscut Sled

by "Niki"

This article first appeared in a thread on theWoodNet woodworking forum. It was compiled and reproduced here for easier public consumption. All Text and Images are the property of "Niki."

The idea is very simple, I make part of the sled, cut the kerf and refer to it as a reference point or line to position the "Back Fence" square to the kerf by "locking" everything together.

I discovered that the plastic drawing triangles are very, very accurate, and I use them to locate the fence (actually, as you will see, I'm using the shop-made triangles that were "copied" from the plastic one).

My table saw is different and has only one miter slot, so I made some kind of "fiction" miter slots and runners for the guys with the "normal" table saw...(I think everybody except me).

Please note that I'm cutting the runners to a smaller than the miter slot width to prevent binding with humidity changes and also not to "play" so much with the "snugly fit" of the runners to the miter slots and that, saves a lot of time and simplifies the construction.

It took me around 1½ hours to make it (including 148 pics), so I assume that it should take you 2~2½ hours, considering that you have to prepare the parts (I used scraps from around the garage).

Sorry for the Millimeters but I made the text for European forums as well and I was too lazy to make two set's of pictures...

I made another 2 sleds (half sled) and I'm so confident with this method that I don't even screw the fence...I'm just gluing it with Super glue during the process...

Regards,

niki

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