# Ideas for a crosscut sled for cheep saw



## DARKSCOPE001 (Dec 21, 2010)

Hello all Its been a while since ive been on the forum but I have found myself with a question for everyone.

I would really like a crosscut sled for my table saw but because I have a cheeper craftsman unit it has non standard size and has annoying little "Fingers" that hold onto the included el cheepo miter gauge. 

Anyways Today while crosscutting some wood with my circular saw I found myself really wanting a crosscut sled (and I would really like a miter saw but thats later) Well I was looking at my saw trying to figure out how to defeat craftsmans mistake and then it hit me!

Cut a rabbet on either side of a piece of ply or hardwood cut slightly undersize of 3/8 (or whatever the thickness of craftsmans cheep miter slots are) So I ripped some ply on my table saw untill it fit into the miter slot. Then took my machinests scale and took some measurements and off to the router table I went.

I came up with a rough idea that was cut out of 3/4 ply its obviosly to thick but it was just for ideas. Took some photos and was hoping you guys could tell me what you think. Can you see any problems? Do you think this is a viable option?


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Seems like workable concept, but I bet you'll be happier longterm using some of this:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1580&filter=uhmw

it comes in 2ft lengths also


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## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

You can do it like that! My old Craftsman I just cut a square block runner and glued/screwed to the bottom of the plywood carrier then put the stop at 90 degrees and ran it through the saw to true the edge. Yours will be less likely to tip out . Wax the crap out of it with carnauba after you have it together to make it slide smoothly.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Yeah, just like Gary said. Make your slot piece out of hardwood and then plane it down so it is level with the table top then add your plywood top and 90 degree stop. I use mine all the time.


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## DARKSCOPE001 (Dec 21, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the fast replies. Unfortunately tho I dont have a planer  The woodworking bug just bit me (and i understood that i needed a few basic woodworking tools to compliment my hand tools) But I deff liked that plastic jig stock stuff deffinately look into that probably less likely to get worn down and damaged in my abusive shop. I dont throw tools I just have a nasty habbit of droping and stepping on them :furious:

Thanks again guys
Sean Scott


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## Itchy Brother (Aug 22, 2008)

You can also check out how to make one on utube.Theres a lot of different kinds.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

FYI, I'm going plastic over wood mainly because humidity and temp levels fluctuate a lot in my shop and supposedly the plastic jig stock is very dimensionally stable.


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## DARKSCOPE001 (Dec 21, 2010)

Thanks again guys I deff like your idea for the plastic runners steveel. Wonder what kind of glue to use to attach them? I think Im going to glue them and once I get it square Ill flip it over and screw it in just for good measure. 

One of the comenters on this video 



Actualy had the same idea I did. To go to wally world and buy some cheep plastic cutting boards. But i will see tomorrow when I get up and have a chance to run to walmart and see what they have. 

Thanks all I think im going to steal steves idea from WWFMM to build my first crosscut sled. Then once my skills get better I think im going to build something with more accesories for miter cuts and bevel miter cuts and so on. 

And I was thinking about using steves toilet bolt and slotted 1/4 ply T-track I was going to just get ready to go T track from rockler or something. What do you guys think?

Thanks all
Sean Scott.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

That's kind Sean, but the truth is I just passed along what some of the guys here shared with me a few weeks ago. Someone mentioned cutting boards for this application then too. I bought the fancy plastic instead because I wanted some 3/4" smooth leftovers for future jig making


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## snookfish (Jan 10, 2011)

Great idea man! i like the concept. Ithink I have the same table saw and i got so fed up with those tabs that i broke down and took my grinder to them. It isn't pretty but I was tired of trying to cut small dados for every jig. I am fortunate enough to have a plastics shop down the road and they have scrap acrylic/lexi..whatever and they sell it by the pound. So I've started to make all my runners with that because it happens to be the same depth as the slots in my tablesaw.


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## DARKSCOPE001 (Dec 21, 2010)

Yea the non standard miter slots are a pita. Im really mad that I cant use any other miter guages other than the one craftsman makes. (the one the saw comes with is a joke and is perhaps only acurate +-3 deg. I was giddy when I found out that there are miter bars and feather boards for non standard 5/8 miter slots. Im still pissed tho. Why would craftsman do that? Makes no sence.

Anyways thanks for all the replies guys I deff love the idea steve gave me for plastic. Here in a bit when I do some studying and the snow slowes up (I live in central ohio we are getting dumped on) Ima run to wally world and try not to catch walmartitis. And try to find some plastic cutting boards that are around 16" long to make my crosscut sled. 

Thanks all
Sean Scott


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

My old Hitachi tabletop saw had those same little fingers over the miter slots, keeping anything like a sled from just being dropped in. I took my dremel and cut/ground the fingers off.


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## Greg in Maryland (Jan 6, 2011)

Sean,

It looks like your mites slots are both non-standard in size and comes equipped with some odd-ball "lip," correct?

With respect to the odd size, this wouldn't really impact you as long as you make your own mites bars. Obviously, you couldn't by the latest wizbang Incra mites guage, but it shouldn't stop you from making your own sleds and such. Also, try a google search on "shop made mites guage" or somehing similar. There is a neat tutorial out there on making your own. I haven't started one yet, but it is on my to do list.

With respect to the "lips," why don’t you just get an angle grinder or dremel and grind them away? They don’t look that big, nor that integral to the mites slots fat you couldn't do away with them and still have a functional mites slot.

Just some thoughts. Good luck.

Greg

Ps forgive my bad spelling and grammar


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## jharris (Jan 8, 2011)

Thanks everybody. I bought this same saw for my field work and was struggling with same same problem.
Thanks to your input I've decided to grind off those rediculous tabs and use plastic runners on all my jigs. This way I can use them on both of my TS's.

I love this forum!

Jeff


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## DARKSCOPE001 (Dec 21, 2010)

yea im still playing around with the idea of grinding them off. Im just not sure yet. I think it would probably help if I did. So I might stop by the store tomorow and grab a set of cutoff wheels for my dremmel and take em off. But im not sure yet. But yes i might look up how to make miter gauges at home because the included stock one. SUCKS!

Thanks
Sean Scott


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