Re: Cross cutting wide panels

[Mark & Juanita]

>> Highland Pairos wrote: >>> I need to trim some side panels for a cabinet to length. They are too >>> wide >>> for my crosscut sled and too wide and too long for the mitre gauge to be >>> effective. >> >> >> The simplest way to handle this is to simply clamp a straight edge to the >> desired spot and then have at it with a circular saw. I bought an >> aluminum straightedge that can handle up to a 96" panel many years ago and >> I always use it to knock panels down to size before I do anything on the >> table saw. >> >> Forget constructing a special sled for this; you're working much too hard. >> >> >> >> -- >> Mortimer Schnerd, RN >> >> [e-mail] > >or cut it just a bit wide with the circular saw, and then move the fence >over a bit and use a straight bit on a router. >

That's my preferred approach. The circular saw gets the bulk of the material and the router with a good straightedge as a guide gets the final fine cut.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Doug Miller]

Not unless I'm cutting something *really* big. The sled is 32" from front to back. For any panel less than about 27", there's more sled on the table than off at the *start* of the cut. And for panels less than 26", at least half of the panel is over the table too. So balance just isn't an issue.

[Highland Pairos]

I ended up making a one fence sled that rides in the right mitre slot. I made it out of a 2'x4' piece of 3/4 mdf and a 3"x4' piece of 3/4 ply as the fence. Works like a charm, and with the pieces in this case being 24ish" wide, handling the whole thing at the start of the cut was easier then I had expected. I took another piece of long scrap ply and clamped it to the outside of the fence and clamped a block to that and got the repeatability that I really wanted. I am glad I took the time to make it. I now have a sled that will be cutting panels for a long time to come.

Thanks for your help Doug.

SteveP.

[Robatoy]

[circumsnipped]

I tend to take the tools to the bigger tasks, rather than the other way around. Such is my trade. My type of countertops seldom travel over stationary tools, unless it is to cut blanks for one of my fine solid-surface-edged custom laminate tops. (BTW, did I tell you I fabricate solid surface countertops?) The methods of sizing big panels has become second nature. I use a variety of aluminum fences 6" wide by 1/4" thick, 36", 50", 100" and 150" Aluminum by the pound... cheap. In case of a fridge panel, or somesuch, I'd strap on a fence and make a rough cut with a sharp circular saw to within 1/8" of where I want to be. Then I move the fence with some indexes I made which line up the extra large square routerbase with the fence so that the sharp 1 1/8" bit takes off the last 1/8" Always crisp, never any tear-outs or rattyness. Works for me, and yessir, it can work for you too! Send $29.95 to receive a printed version of this post, an heirloom for your kids, yessir, 50 years from now, they'll open up the envelope and say: WTF???

[Robatoy]

A sled it is.