Woody1 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums, and pretty new to woodworking in general. I'm having trouble making a cross cut sled. I've watched countless videos on how to make them, but now my third try at the sled has failed. It's never perfectly straight. I spent a lot of time measuring and triple checking angles but I just can't seem to make it right. Any suggestions? At this point I'd be willing to buy one just so I know my cuts will be straight. Thanks for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Can you tell us about your process for building it and a bit more about what went wrong? Also what are your tools like and have you checked them out? For example if your table saw blade isn't parallel to the miter slots, you're never going to have much success with a sled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I read about this for weeks before making my own. My first one took me about a week or two to make. I scrapped it in a week. Wrong material, went out of square. Second one took me 2 hours to build. Well, turns out my blade wasn't exactly 90 degrees. Scrapped it after a good 2 months of using it. I'm about to finish my 3rd one, which is a major upgrade. I used everyone's five cut method originally. I found I had a lot of trouble getting it square that way. This time I set fence square kind of two ways. First I measured 3 inches in from the back of my sled and drew a line (putting on handles in those 3 inches.) I set the board there and screwed one end down. Then I took two plastic craft squares, 12 inches long and put them against the fence against the blade. Made minute adjustment to work out the play. Then I screwed second side down and did a test cut. I just tested for square with my square and called it a day. I can't be sure this method will work the best in the end but it seemed easier to me. I had the worst time adjusting the fence with the feeler gauges. In fact, this is basically based my sled on (including the kreg trak) - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weithman5 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Before you build another sled, make sure every aspect of your table saw is tuned up and square. apologies if you have already done that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I made this one and really like it. http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/the-cross-cut-sled/?as=crosscut sled&mode=posts&ap=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 Before you build another sled, make sure every aspect of your table saw is tuned up and square. apologies if you have already done that Hell everything was tuned up in mine before. But I had used the blade at 45 degrees and assumed that when i turned the wheel all the way to the left it returned it to 90 degrees. It doesn't. It hits 90 degrees just before the end then if you keep turning it goes back the other way to about 92-93 degrees. I just didn't realize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weithman5 Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 that kind of thing is maddening 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob493 Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 I typically lock my blades in at 90 and use jigs to get angles. If thats an option for you, consider that into your sled perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 In addition to tuning your saw, consider making your rear fence adjustable for square. Since "stuff" happens, at least to me, I am really glad I did this on my sled. Now before I use it, I just check it for square and adjust if needed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 I typically lock my blades in at 90 and use jigs to get angles. If thats an option for you, consider that into your sled perhaps. This is a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted July 16, 2015 Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 ==>rear fence adjustable for square. Since "stuff" happens excellent point... You can certainly glue the front... But keep the rear adjustable -- if you can... I put a couple of screws in the rear, use the '5-cut' method to get it dialed-in, then add some screws to lock it... If the worst happens, I can just loosen the screws, re-square and tighten... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1 Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll be working on a new one this weekend taking into consideration everything pointed out here. I especially like the wood whisper's video mentioned - I'll probably try that one. While were on topic, anyone have suggestions for my crappy table saw fence? It's a cheap Ryobi table saw, and the fence is awful. I measure a LOT before each cut but I don't think I've ever been able to get a perfect cut out of that machine. Short of buying a new saw...Any tips on getting a good rip cut? Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 It depends on what's wrong with the fence. Knowing it's a ryobi, we can already assume it's not a heavy stable fence, but there are things you can do to help it. If it's not locking down well, and moves on you, you need to fix that with shims on the fence rails or the fence lock itself, It might take some monkey engineering. If it locks down well but flexes you can add a wooden auxiliary fence. Your auxiliary fence can be shimmed as well if need be. You can make one that wraps around the whole fence. You need to know the problem before you can address a fix. The goal here is to lock the fence down near the miter slot and look at the reveal, then move the fence and bring it back to the miter slot and lock it again. You should be getting a consistent reveal each time. If that happens then you can dial it in to the blade, if it doesn't you need to research and address why. Honestly though, you can't expect furniture quality cuts or even faking it with that saw. It really sounds like you are ready for an upgrade. There are some decent quality contractor saws made nowadays that won't kill the wallet and make good reliable cuts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Adamec Posted September 10, 2015 Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 It's a cheap Ryobi table saw, and the fence is awful.I had one of those when I first started getting the woodworking itch. Mine was a death machine. The "safety" equipment had enough play in it that the guard hopped once while making a cut, ripped it from the mounting, and threw it at my face. Had it rotated another 45-degrees, I'd have had one of the pawls sticking out of my throat.I have a ton of Ryobi cordless tools, but man those table saws...Short of buying a new saw...Any tips on getting a good rip cut?They're really not much more than a circular saw mounted upside down on a cheap table. Before the guard incident, I'd spend 30 minutes or so re-squaring the fence for each cut and leave myself between 1/8" and 1/16" waste on the outside of the cut line, then go back and clean everything up with a router and a template bit using a straight piece of plywood as a reference.You can spend some time duplicating the hold-down functions on the rails with some hard wood rock maple or get something like 2" steel square stock and weld up your own, but by the time you spend the money and effort to do that, you're probably just better off getting an old Delta or Craftsman from Craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffo Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 On 2015/07/17 at 6:16 PM, Woody1 said: Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll be working on a new one this weekend taking into consideration everything pointed out here. I especially like the wood whisper's video mentioned - I'll probably try that one. While were on topic, anyone have suggestions for my crappy table saw fence? It's a cheap Ryobi table saw, and the fence is awful. I measure a LOT before each cut but I don't think I've ever been able to get a perfect cut out of that machine. Short of buying a new saw...Any tips on getting a good rip cut? Thanks again! Hi Woody - I notice that your post is dated last year, but I do (did) have your very problem with my Ryobi fence. A parallel ruler will solve your problem (at least mine did). Raise the blade all the way up and place one 'rule' against the blade and the other 'rule' against the fence and while holding the far end of the fence lock it down. Made my own parallel ruler and I am still using it with good results, pretty sure that any good stationary supply store will have them available. All you will need to do is replace the 'inner' short legs with longer ones, with mine I can set my fence to 400mm which is about 15" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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