I've been thinking about building a cross-cutting sled for my table saw and have a question concerning miter slot bars. What type is recommended and where is the best place to get them? Also, does anyone have a recommendation on the size and type of sled to make?
Thanks....
-- Chris
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I made mine out of quarter-sawn white oak. Start with a flat sawn board and run it through the planer taking off one RCH at a time until it just exactly fits on edge in your miter slot. Then rip off two (or more, if you want spares) 3/8" thick slices. Those are your quarter-sawn runners.
I also used oak, but my fit came out a little loose so I used some small brass oval head screws in the sides to snug up the fit. As they wear they can be backed out a little to readjust.
I also have seen a magazine article recommending plastic, but I can't remember the type of plastic. You might look thought some catalogs like Rocklers for ideas.
Try this
Why not just use some scrap lumber laying around?
3/4 by 3/8 is what most miter slots are, so? If you have extra money, just send it my way.
Scrap lumber will move so you have to make it sloppy. For $5, you can get enough UHMW plastic to make it and it will be tight and slide like a dream.
Just finished mine a couple days ago, works great. Used baltic birch
12mm for the base, and glued three layers for the front and back fence. Used UHMW for the runners. This is your first, don't spend a lot of time or money on it, just enough to make it ACCURATE. On your next one, you can shoot for good looks and such. One tip, make the rear fence less then full width, so you can rotate 180 and place a 45 degree fence on the sled.Christ> I've been thinking about building a cross-cutting sled for my table saw and
I only like one, and I have tried a bunch of miter slot bars. The one that I really like is sold by rockler, and has spring loaded ball bearings in it which keep the bar totally tight against one side. All of the others that I have used always required that the be a little loose to keep from binding in the slot, and that allowed for more play than I was willing to live with. The ones that I have tried are, making ones of wood, but they change tightness throughout the year with moisture, using UHMW which worked better than wood, smoother sliding, but the cut of the width has to be very accurate. Then I tried some adjustable metal one from Incra, and it bound in the slot when it was adjusted snug. And I also have a miter bar with graphite slugs, that are not spring loaded, and they are either too tight, or as they wear, too loose. The spring loaded ball bearings are they way to go, I just wish everybody used them.
Just go to rockler.com and look for their Adjustable Miter Bar.
Craig
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