Cheap (there's a surprise) quick & easy ripsled

Yes, SST, you have mentioned how cheap you were in previous posts, so I guess you’re staying true to your character ;^D Have you ever considered running for political office? We could sure use some folks like you handling our tax dollars!

This is a great idea. Two weeks before Christmas I ordered a Freud Glue Line Rip blade, which I intend to use in place of my 6” jointer on some applications (it’s been on back order from Rockler for about 2 weeks, and I haven’t heard from them since).

I am definitely going to make one or more of these. Lee Jesberger likes to use a rip sled too.

Thanks a lot for sharing this tip with us. By the way, which size hold down from Harbor Freight did you use here? Thanks in advance for your reply!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

COOL! I was planning on making one and in fact bought the hold downs at Horror Freight. You have shown a better idea than mine THANKS!!

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Hi guys;

This looks familiar! Thanks for remembering Tom!

We use these devices in the shop on a regular basis, so we got a little more fancy with them. we keep a couple sizes around for different length boards. One is 40”, the other is 80” . (I’m guessing at the length)

We have the fence board off center, with toggle clamps facing both directions. This allows us to use one side on wide boards, and the other side on narrow boards.

These simple devices save us an incredible amount of time in ripping rough lumber, as it’s one pass through a table saw, versus several passes through a jointer. It also works well for tapering boards.

For a detailed drawing of it:

http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com/Table_Saw_Rip_Sled_Plan.html

With a good saw and blade, a glue quality joint is no problem. The board in the photo is 8/4” rough cherry, and was no problem to get a straight, burn free rip.(of course the ezee-feed unit helped considerably, but I won’t mention that or it would seem like a cheap advertising plug, and I wouldn’t stoop so low.) LOL.

This sled will extend the time between changing jointer blades, (everybody’s favorite duty), by a huge percentage.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Lee,

Thanks a lot for getting into this thread and providing the link to your excellent plans. I am going to build on of these – SOON.

It’s true, you could have used this as an opportunity to plug your EZEE-FEED, but you’ve got way too much class for that (just kidding). ;^D

I just replaced my jointer knives because my old ones were dull and had a nick in them. After less than an hour’s use, my new carbide blades have a nick in them (and I even bought some high-end ones from Infinity). That’s why this sled idea sounds so good to me.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Good idea for small jobs SST, thanks for sharing. Thanks to Lee for sharing his jig also.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Tom, I only saw one size hold down at the HF store. It has a horizontal span of about 4 inches. I haven’t looked on their website to see if there’s more sizes there, but I think I’ll get a few more just to use on my bench or on a tenon jig that’s going to be a future project. -SST

-- You get no points when you punt

Part numbers for the toggle clamps from the Harbor Freight website are as follows:
39880, 96233, 96234, 96235, 96236, 96237 and 96238.

Guess I’ll be ordering some too…

-- Hard work spotlights the character of people; some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all!

SST,

Thanks a lot for the info!

Woodgizmo,

Thanks for part numbers!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

The simplest jigs are always my favorite. Great job. I could really use one of these too.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Great idea, and thanks, Lee, for the plan!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I like this jointing jig as well. Been using mine for a while now. Great at jointing an edge. Especially useful is your shop is without a jointer like mine. If it could joint a face, I wouldn’t be in the market for a decent jointer. Well done

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I made one of those. It’s leaning in a corner next my lumber. I remember because I keep knocking it over!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

It’s amazing how much you can learn on this site. Thanx!

-- Michael R. Harvey - Brewster, NY - RusticElementArt.com - SpaceAware.org - AnConn.com