# Table saw miter slot issue



## igster (Oct 31, 2013)

have a Skil table saw, and its miter slots are those upside-down t-slot types, not the plain 3/4" flat-sided groove that most table saws have. I want to know if it's worth it to grind off the little tabs that stick out into the slots that are at table surface level... those pesky things are a pain when I have to make a sled because i can't simply cut a 3/4" piece of hardwood or get a 3/4" piece of aluminum to use as a slide - the damn tabs get in the way. I did manage to make a crosscut sled and chamfered the edges on the runners to enable the thing to work, but I have to slip the sled on from the front or back at table level instead of simply dropping it in place...


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## BernieL (Oct 28, 2011)

I wouldn't grind the slots. For one thing. you would have to grind perfectly straight all the way on both sides of the slot. With all my knowledge and experience - that's a nightmare I would avoid at all cost!

In my opinion, the "T-slots" are better then the flat slots. I prefer the t-slots when I'm cross cutting extra wide boards because the slots keep my miter on the table. I may be wrong but I think the t-slot types are more common then you think. They might even be the norm...


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

I'm with Bernie on not grinding the slots. I'm pretty sure if you got them where you wanted them, you would grind clear through and have a small hole at each one. But maybe you could try on just one. 

Al


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Grind off the "tabs"!*



igster said:


> have a Skil table saw, and its miter slots are those upside-down t-slot types, not the plain 3/4" flat-sided groove that most table saws have. *I want to know if it's worth it to grind off the little tabs *that stick out into the slots that are at table surface level... .












It's not the slots, it's the tabs. This is about the most common question raised here on that type of saw. Most of the advice is to grind the tabs off and be done with it. It's a POS saw in the first place, if you break something that's already "broken" there is not a huge difference ...JMO.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The tabs are at the top of the slot. If you are careful to just grind the tab off and not get down in the slot I would do it. I think these engineers that design this stuff are metal workers and don't have a clue about woodworking.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Bloody hell, i had hoped skil just did that on their band saws. Guess not. Get rid of those buggers as soon as possible, theyre useless


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Steve Neul said:


> The tabs are at the top of the slot. If you are careful to just grind the tab off and not get down in the slot I would do it. I think these engineers that design this stuff are metal workers and don't have a clue about woodworking.


Agree. The advantages of not having them outweigh the disadvantages.

With an angle grinder it should be relatively simple to grind. It will not hurt if you grind a little too much in just a small area.

George


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## BernieL (Oct 28, 2011)

Thanks for the picture Woodnthings - changes my opinion from NO - to maybe. I still think the op should be real careful about grinding those things off. It looks like they could serve the purpose of holding the miter on the table but could be problematic for a sled.


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## igster (Oct 31, 2013)

Defintitely +1 for the pic...that's exactly what my slots look like, with those little tabs . I rarely use the miter slide that came with the saw - it's too small and the handle keeps breaking off. If I need a mitered cut I break out the compound miter saw


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Can you get a better miter gauge to fit your saw? If not I don't see any reason to grind the tabs off.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*it's not a standard size slot either...*

It's a 5/8" wide by 1/4" deep slot, maybe 3/8" I donno?
So a standard 3/8" X 3/4" miter gauge will not fit. Like I said POS saw, but if it's all you got, then you run what you brung. I would not want a table saw that trapped my miter gauge bar so that I couldn't remove it at any location on the table, so I favor removing the little tabs.

Improving the miter gauge is probably not going to happen. I would then use my miter saw for those types of cuts OR make a sled using the non-standard size runners.


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