Project Information
First of all, Happy New Year everybody \o/
Well I finally went and did it. I got badgered in to making a cross cut sled.
As you can see, it's about as basic as it can reasonably be. The front and back piece are laminated 3/4" birch ply (pieces from the stack I'd made to serve as components to a workbench) so they're particularly stout.
The base is awfully big, I'll probably cut down 5-6" off of that right side. The thing is huge and heavy.
The bottom rails I made out of some maple I had laying around. I ripped them to about 3/4" wide and brought them the rest of the way into line with a little thickness planer.
I was surprised it was as easy as it was to make, though when I put the first two screws in each rail it slid fine, but started binding when I put a few more in. So I noodled with it a bit and improved it, but still didn't get it quite as smooth as it had been. I'll take a hack at it tomorrow.
I used the 5-cut truing method after seeing the wood whisperer video on making these, and was able to get it within 0.004 across something close to 20" which is going to serve me just fine as a first sled.
I do plan on making a 'left side only' sled (similar to the one Matthias uses.) The idea of finished pieces being able to fall off the bed and away from the blade appeals to me.
The saw gave me some problems. It's a little SkillSaw with a cast aluminum table that has a bit too much texture for its own good, so it's not really a very smooth travel. Plus the slots had little tabs built into them so it started as a t-slot arrangement. After some consideration I just took an angle grinder and ground the tabs down so they were flush. I couldn't think of a single advantage of having them there.
If you haven't done this I highly recommend it. Check out the wood whisperer video (easy enough to find online) for 20 minutes of smartsauce.
I'm already planning an array of ancillary jigs and attachments for specific projects.
Enjoy o/
Well I finally went and did it. I got badgered in to making a cross cut sled.
As you can see, it's about as basic as it can reasonably be. The front and back piece are laminated 3/4" birch ply (pieces from the stack I'd made to serve as components to a workbench) so they're particularly stout.
The base is awfully big, I'll probably cut down 5-6" off of that right side. The thing is huge and heavy.
The bottom rails I made out of some maple I had laying around. I ripped them to about 3/4" wide and brought them the rest of the way into line with a little thickness planer.
I was surprised it was as easy as it was to make, though when I put the first two screws in each rail it slid fine, but started binding when I put a few more in. So I noodled with it a bit and improved it, but still didn't get it quite as smooth as it had been. I'll take a hack at it tomorrow.
I used the 5-cut truing method after seeing the wood whisperer video on making these, and was able to get it within 0.004 across something close to 20" which is going to serve me just fine as a first sled.
I do plan on making a 'left side only' sled (similar to the one Matthias uses.) The idea of finished pieces being able to fall off the bed and away from the blade appeals to me.
The saw gave me some problems. It's a little SkillSaw with a cast aluminum table that has a bit too much texture for its own good, so it's not really a very smooth travel. Plus the slots had little tabs built into them so it started as a t-slot arrangement. After some consideration I just took an angle grinder and ground the tabs down so they were flush. I couldn't think of a single advantage of having them there.
If you haven't done this I highly recommend it. Check out the wood whisperer video (easy enough to find online) for 20 minutes of smartsauce.
I'm already planning an array of ancillary jigs and attachments for specific projects.
Enjoy o/