The Less Absurd Cross Cut sled

Well after my journey with the Absurd sled I decided to have another go for a few reasons. 1 being looks. I wanted a more uniform wood choice. The second is the base. This thing is a beast. the 1/2 plywood is not up to the task. You can hear it crunch every time you tighten down the track clamps. This time around I used 3/4 BB plywood.

Vital Statistics: Wood
Runners – Hard maple
Base: 3/4” BB ply 36×24
Fence: 3/4” BB ply (x2). 36×4x1 1/2” thick
Blade guard: 3/4” bb ply
Handle: Soft maple, all edges rounded over
Stop blocks: red oak

Hardware
Woodpeckers T track knobs (x4)
Woodpeckers T-track hold down, knurled knob (x4, 1 used)
Kreg T-track clamps (x2)
Incra T-track plus – 36”
Incra T-track – 24”
Incra T-track stops (x2)
1/8” ballistic lexan

I decided to keep the lexan blade guard even though it raises the handle height for a few reasons. One is that is actually the perfect height for me. The second is safety. Like I said before, I know it’s not going to stop me from hitting the blade. It does make it a royal pain to stick my hand in there and undo the track clamps or remove an off cut. I really have to think about what I am doing, in which time I always re-think sticking my hand within a few inches of an unguarded spinning blade. Also and very unanticipated, it keeps the sawdust out of my face when peeking over the edge at the cut. I would have kept it for that alone. I don’t have dust collection so with a ZCI and the sled, the blade really throws the dust around.

I also kept the provisions for hanging the stop block with hardware and the miter fence with hardware on the back of the sled. I lose everything.

Also I really like the Incra T-Track stops. You set the stop to your cut length and leave it there. You can then side your stop block out of the way to either square the edge, or relieve the cut after you clamp it down if your are clamping on the other side of the blade. No re-measuring for the next cuts. WAY cheaper than a Kreg swing stop. I have one on the miter fence too.

In my last build, I thanked helluvawreck for his tips. This time I also owe knotscott some props as well. If you have never used a premium grade router bit, your life will change when you do. I have been slowly replacing my old craftsman and random multi-pack cheapo bits with higher quality ones. First was the edge profiling bits, and I got Freud. this time I took knotscott’s advice and got a few Infinity fluted straight bits. I seriously thought I was using my 3.5hp 7518 instead of my 2.5hp Craftsman. What took 3 or for passes with my older cheap bits the Infinity bits were able to eat through in one pass while saying “pffft, is that all you got? Plywood??” I just thought that was to be expected. Boy was I wrong.

All in all this was super fun. I’m kind of mad I like this one, I really want to make another

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