# 45 degree / Bevel crosscut sled advice



## ajthomas5009 (Dec 21, 2013)

Hi all I'm I'm in the process of building my first 45* / bevel sled for making mitered boxes. I'm pretty much following the video Jay Bates put out. 3/4" birch ply with 1.5" thick fences pretty simple for the most part but my questions come in regards of calibration. In the video he just used a 2' combo square and called it good enough. Is that all that is really necessary when it comes to this type of crosscut sled? Is there another calibration technique I can use that would ensure a lil more accuracy but not as much work as the 5 cut method? I just fell it would be difficult to get accurate caliper reading using the 5 cut method with this type of sled.

So any advice is appreciated from those with experience building this type of sled.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I may have just been lucky, but I used a pair of plastic drafting squares from the office supply store to square my fence. Used the technique on the Eagle Lake Woodworking site for building their "Super Sled".


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## hyperfine (Aug 22, 2012)

An adaptation of the 5 cut method will work great for your 45 sled. I used this when I made my 45 sled, inspired by William Ng's video. You just have to draw a picture of a square cut into two triangles, with one triangle flipped to figure out the adaptation. (hint: theoretically you want a square of side length A inches. If you don't have a square, one point will extend x thousandths past A. So your error is (x/(4A)) thousandths per inch, and you follow the same process for adjustment, etc.) I've been meaning to make a write-up and video for it, since it seems like a lot of people have trouble adapting the 5 cut method to 45*. Maybe I'll write something up this weekend.


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## ajthomas5009 (Dec 21, 2013)

Well I finished up the sled today. I ended up going with a 24" carpenters square and eyeballing it to the kerf. Which after doing so I felt like I got damn close. I then tested it with the 5 cut method for ********************s and giggles and found out I got it within .002" over 60" with the square. I tried to be gentle with the calipers so I got the most accurate readings on the pointed corners. Even if my readings weren't perfect I feel that I prob got it close enough.


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