Newbie help with crosscut sled insert

[Todd]

I was reading Jim Toplin's Table Saw Magic and the crosscut sled he discusses has a removable insert for different blades. He says to drill holes in the 4 corners to attach the insert. My question is what is the insert attached to? Do I route dados into where the plate goes? if so, don't the screw holes cease to hold after several changes?

any guidance you could give would be greatly appreciated. I realize I could build a crosscut sled and a dado sled, but is there a way to have both in a single sled?

thanks,

--todd

[Roy Smith]

I built a crosscut sled, and soon after, I needed to do some dados so I just used the same sled and enlarged the slot.

Then I discovered an interesting thing. The right side of the slot is still zero-clearance from the right side of the blade, even if the left side of the blade is hanging out in mid-air. So, if I put the good side of the piece to the right of the blade, I still get a fully-supported cut edge. I've just been using it like that for a while and it seems to work fine.

[Bruce]

I discovered something a bit more interesting. My blade is not centered between the mitre slots. Turn the whole sled around and use the dado in a new portion. The slots offset it by about 4". Works fine though you obviously don't want to cut the dado longer than necessary.

[Dan Valleskey]

hey, I like that idea!

-Dan V.