How to keep crosscut sled from tipping?


Cliff

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I have an old Craftsman junk table saw. The miter slots are standard, but do not have the T groove thing. I built my sled to be 45" x 27" so when I push it all the way up and actually finish sawing the piece, the sled almost tips off the table and I have to quickly jerk it back down. This seems unsafe for a number of reasons. My thought was perhaps an outfeed table, or short shelf with grooves for the miter bars to go into? Anyone done something like this? I need an elegant, lost cost solution as I've vastly exceeded my budget for starting up wood working.

 

I also have to contend with the splitter being lost in action, though my parents (got this from them) said it was junk anyway and just caused the boards to bind. If they find it, I've thought of sending the design/measurements to the place online that makes them, but have them change the thickness. Last I checked they had a three month backlog though. :(

 

Thanks for any advice!

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How does one determine the proper size of a sled? I ended up making my basically the same size as the table saw area. 45" x 27"

 

I am making an outfeed table. Going to put on locking casters and a way to bold the table to the saw when i need to as extra insurance. Shouldn't cost too much if I can find plastic laminate in a size that isn't gargantuan.

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I agree with Daniel. The size of your ideal sled is determined by what kind of work you intend it for. My first sled was a best, I had a bigger is better mentality. After I used is for about six months, I changed blades to a thin kerf and decided to build a new one. My current sled is 18" long by 13" wide. Anything deeper, I use the miter gauge

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The size of your sled is determined by the size of your tablesaw. One sled is all that most need. Many make more just out of convenience. The depth of your sled should be sized to a depth that will not fall off the table under its own weight after completing a cut. For example you cut a wide board generally you would stop at about the center of the blade. If you let go of the sled it should not tip off the table. When you pull the sled back to start a cut the max depth should be the point at which you can let go of the sled and not have it tip off onto the floor.

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I kind of based my size off of how Marc's looked in his video. I would imagine that his would tip too. Maybe not, I may need to watch that again.

 

weithman5 - I'll have to look into the zero clearance insert and microjig splitters. My saw does not have a splitter. It came with one, but the original owner hasn't found it yet and said that when it was used it had a tendency to pinch the boards and bind them up anyway. So that is disconcerting.

 

*edit - Ordered ZCI and Splitters. :D

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I kind of based my size off of how Marc's looked in his video. I would imagine that his would tip too. Maybe not, I may need to watch that again.

 

 

 

Keep in mind Mark has a real cabinet saw. The table is 30" front to back and the blade elevator lifts the blade straight up. If you have a contractors saw its going to have less table and the elevator swings the blade.

With a sled your cut is finished at right about the arbor or before not past the blade. Raise your blade and measure from the arbor to the back of your table this is what you have to balance on. You should be able to let go of your sled when the cut is finish and move the stock away from the blade without it tipping.

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I want to thank everyone for advice you may have given. I ended up in a crap situation where I have to stick with the oversized sled for the moment. It's because I ordered ($70+) miter bars online, got them used them. They are 25 inches. So if I cut my sled down to 13 or so, I have steel rod poking out. Since I'm in Idiotville, IL, nobody locally has miter bars. So I have to order this stuff online, which means I'd have to send these back, get refunded then buy new bars. Or make my own. Lets just say I'm not ready to make my own sliders at this point. Especially when my table saw is lacking a splitter/riving knife. So the easiest solution for me was to make an outfeed table out of material that I have already. It will be an interesting experiment to see if I can get the table at the exact height I need.

 

Now I'm dealing with my sled being too hard to push (had to loosen all the screws in the miter bars, I'm guessing that even using double sided tape to position the bars it is off by just a hair.) and finally - squaring the fence - which thusfar, has been the bane of my existence.

 

The amount of work it takes to get the point where I can start my workbench is appaling, but I know its the right path. Without the sled, my cuts may be jacked and my bench would be twice the work.

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I want to thank everyone for advice you may have given. I ended up in a crap situation where I have to stick with the oversized sled for the moment. It's because I ordered ($70+) miter bars online, got them used them. They are 25 inches. So if I cut my sled down to 13 or so, I have steel rod poking out. Since I'm in Idiotville, IL, nobody locally has miter bars. So I have to order this stuff online, which means I'd have to send these back, get refunded then buy new bars. Or make my own. Lets just say I'm not ready to make my own sliders at this point. Especially when my table saw is lacking a splitter/riving knife. So the easiest solution for me was to make an outfeed table out of material that I have already. It will be an interesting experiment to see if I can get the table at the exact height I need.

 

Now I'm dealing with my sled being too hard to push (had to loosen all the screws in the miter bars, I'm guessing that even using double sided tape to position the bars it is off by just a hair.) and finally - squaring the fence - which thusfar, has been the bane of my existence.

 

The amount of work it takes to get the point where I can start my workbench is appaling, but I know its the right path. Without the sled, my cuts may be jacked and my bench would be twice the work.

You can also just cut the miter bars to length with a hacksaw...

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I thought of that. But it does feel wrong to pay $35 just to hack saw it up. Oh well. Maybe that is the world I live in now, time to cut the X-Box One in half!

 

I think I will end up doing this though. Though right now I'm on the fence for never using the table saw again. I just can't get it to be halfway safe. Which means I have the slow trek of talking my wife into a new table saw. :D

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Unfortunately that really is the work your living in, or starting toward at least. Sometimes you have to take parts of something to make Something else work.

As far as the safety issue. . That's all up for you to decide although I will let you in on a secret. I lost my my splitter two months ago and haven't been issuing one since. I still have ten fingers.

Sometimes, making something FEEL safer is the trick to get your mind over it. Do you have a zero clearance insert installed? If not, and you don't have the ability to make one, post up your dimensions and I'll make you one that you can sand into the perfect fit.

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I thought of that. But it does feel wrong to pay $35 just to hack saw it up. 

 

Unfortunately most of the miter bars are over priced and you pay just for the convenience.  Aluminum bar is 13 cents and inch and its easy to cut adjuster slots. We have been building jigs out of bar and mic 6 for years save a loss of money and you can customize to your needs.

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I've seen people on Youtube using High-density polyethylene (HDPE) for their miter bars. I'd like to try it, but don't  know where to buy just a small piece of the material.

 

Go to home depot, back in the cabinets they have cutting boards that are just rectangle chunks cheap. Whack it up on your table saw.

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Unfortunately that really is the work your living in, or starting toward at least. Sometimes you have to take parts of something to make Something else work.

As far as the safety issue. . That's all up for you to decide although I will let you in on a secret. I lost my my splitter two months ago and haven't been issuing one since. I still have ten fingers.

Sometimes, making something FEEL safer is the trick to get your mind over it. Do you have a zero clearance insert installed? If not, and you don't have the ability to make one, post up your dimensions and I'll make you one that you can sand into the perfect fit.

 

I ordered a ZCI.. got it, didn't fit. It said for Craftsman table saws 1977-2004, but i missed the words "belt-driven" which mine is not. they are checking to see if they have one that will work for me at the place i ordered from.

 

I think the dimensions are 11 15/16" x 3 3/4" - here is what my insert looks like against the ZCI I ordered: http://imgur.com/DW9CIJe

 

I already have the microjig splitters if I can get a ZCI that will work. Though I am concerned about having enough room at the back of the blade to drill my holes and install them. Seems like it has very little room.

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