I've Googled the group (not exhaustively however) and can't find any reference to the use of these 'casters' to replace miter slot bars and was wondering if anyone has ever done this before. Also would like suggestions for other WW applications (besides work infeed/outfeed support) for these casters and/or comments or criticisms of my idea for utilizing them.
Recently came into a bunch (as in lots and lots) of 'ball casters' or 'ball transfers' or as Woodcraft calls them 'ball bearing work rollers'. They had obvious WW applications for large/long work support. . Woodcraft sells a flange model but these are stud mounted with a threaded bolt out the back. Various styles are available at McMaster Carr. In the process of utilizing some as an outfeed support, I noticed that they set into and rolled nicely in the miter slots of the TS. The photos here
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show a simple sled that uses four of the rollers as guides in the slots instead of miter bars. A box joint jig I designed to utilize the sled is installed on the sled front. The sled is remarkably stable as long as some downward pressure is applied while pushing straight forward. There is absolutely no detectable side to side slop and absolutely zero binding along the length of the slots. It glides along with no effort even with heavy pressure. The rollers on one side were mounted in slots so they would align perfectly with the slot before final tightening. A couple of already noted disadvantages are: If you push with a twisting, non-centered or sideways motion without applying enough downward pressure it can come out of the slots. Also, you lose about an inch of cutting height because the base of the sled rides above the table top. That wasn't an issue with the box joint jig because it mounts vertically on the front and could be lowered or raised to wherever it's wanted. Next I'm going to make a dual slot cutoff sled using these rollers. Probably two rows of three or four rollers spaced so the sled will remain stable if either sled edge runs past the TS edge. I'll see how that works. And Yes, the finger joint jig is using metal for the spacer finger. If anyone is interested I'll be happy to pass along my solution for the "ultimate box joint jig".