Custom Incra Miter Sled

[depeltea]

Hi All,

I thought I'd build a custom Incra Miter sled based on the Incra Miter Express and share it with folks.

You might want to skip down to the pictures first to see if the long description might interest you.

I recently bought a new table saw and my old crosscut sled would need to be modified or re-built. I was tired of having a sled go out of square every 6 months and having to recalibrate it. I also wanted a sled that could do angles, perhaps not just 45 deg. I liked what I saw of the Incra 5000 in Marc's review but wanted to overcome the drawbacks (like the fixed piece on the cut-off side of the blade which did not move with the rest of it and introduce friction under work-piece).

So, I thought I'd build a custom Incra miter sled.

I liked the size of the Incra 5000 but I also liked the idea of using a standard miter gauge with it and being able to remove the gauge and use it separately like you can do with the Incra Miter Express. The Express went on sale near me making it cheaper than buying just the Express hardware from Incra so I went with that.

The first picture shows the beginning of my custom Miter Express sled, with my own custom panels instead of the smaller red ones from Incra. The Incra red panels were 1/2" mdf plus a little thicker than that due to the red veneer. It seemed I could go a little thicker than Incra's panels, and it did not seem safe to go thinner and use 1/2", so I used 5/8" mdf. The only 5/8" mdf I could find in Ottawa came as 8 ft x 16" shelf panels at HD so I bought one for around $16 ($CAD). In the picture, the panel on the left is the original 16" width and the two on the right were cut from a 16" width. Overall it is 35 1/8" wide and 34" long. Oh, I also spent a couple bucks on a few more screws to fasten my larger mdf panels in a few more places to help keep it strong.

Next (second picture),I put an 8/4 piece of pine all the way across the outfeed end to help keep it all together like you would on a normal sled. I also put an L-shaped piece of maple on the bottom left to also keep the sled together after I cut through, to give me a place to put my left and hand, and, if necessary, slow the blade down if I push the sled too far. This piece does not go all the way across the width though and it does not act like a fence. It does not have to be perfectly square to the blade. I will let the 1000SE gauge head sit to the right of this L-shaped block for maximum depth 90 deg cuts.

Then I just fastened the Incra Miter 1000SE I also bought into the main hardware piece as you would in the normal Incra Miter Express (third picture).

My new table saw allows me to install the spliter from above using a lever at the front of the saw. I was able to put my blade guard on (fourth picture). I can cut material up to 14" wide with the guard on. The right side of the guard will ride up over the Incra 1000SE fence so I can cut all the way through the work piece. The metal piece in the guard which doesn't move will hit that maple piece to stop me from going to far (after cutting all the way through the work piece). 

I then made an auxiilary fence for 90 deg cuts to give me zero clearance and push cut off pieces past the blade (fifth picture). I had squared the 1000SE gauge just on my table saw directly. When I put it on the custom sled and locked it in place it was also square with the blade and when I put the aux fence on it was still square. With the aux fence I can still fit a 26" wide panel in there (without blade guard). That should be plenty. The fifth picture also shows the clamp in the middle hardware rail holding the workpiece and the stop block set up to work with the auxilary fence.

I thought I'd do a test project - a picture frame. So, I also made and mounted a second auxilary fence for 45 deg cuts (sixth picture). The test 45 deg cuts were bang on even though I moved the miter gauge forward in it's slot and re-fastened it and I did not re-check the fence was square at the new location before rotating the head to 45 deg.

I've since removed and re-installed the miter gauge, changed it from 45 deg to 90 deg and back again and then I did a picture frame. I did not have to re-square it after these changes. The picture frame turned out great with nice tight, square miter joints all around.

I hope some people find this interesting or useful.

[VizslaDad]

Very well though-out. Thanks for sharing your sled.

[Belle City WW]

Great Idea and nicely executed!

[gee-dub]

Nicely done.  A good sled is a blessing in the shop.

[pkinneb]

Nice!

 

[depeltea]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone.

I have since used the sled several times, changing the angle on the protractor head and swapping between my square and 45 deg auxiliary fence to make square and miter cuts. I've also been moving it from the table saw to it's wall hanging position and back a bunch. It seems to be holding calibration so far. That is one thing I was worried about. I think this is all down to the design and manufacturing of the Incra hardware. I just assembled another picture frame and the joints are nice and tight and square on that one as well.

..Gary 

[markh]

Impressive, Gary.

inspiration to do the same with my 1000HD gauge.

having just acquired the gauge, i'm wondering how a single 45 degree setting on gauge lets you cut frame, unless you're just flipping each piece. i see that one of the two pieces in sixth photo has parallel slanted sides, rather than their being 90 degrees to each other as on the other piece. What are the steps you use for cutting a frame? Thanks.