# Kickback of table saw sleds



## JillB (May 8, 2009)

Hi there all, this is my first posting from Down Under.

Looking through the safety items, I have reached the conclusion that sleds for cross curtting, which have the blade running down the centre of the sled, are high risk items, as the chances of kickback with these items is high.

Also, with such large and heavy items, kickback would also be much more dangerous, with this heavy item flying through the air.

Am I correct in my assumptions?

regards,
Jill


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

If they are properly made, how are they going to kick back?


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BTW, Welcome to LJ. congrats on the first post!!


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## JillB (May 8, 2009)

Any slight sideways motion will cause either side of the sled blade groove to catch on the blade teeth, I should imagine.


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## FlWoodRat (Sep 12, 2007)

Jill,

Welcome to LJ's.

Most cross cut sleds have runners in both slots that prevent any side play. Probably the most dangerous situation is not having an outfeed table to support the sled when you extend pass the blade.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

Kickback occurs when the wood turns behind the blade and get caught on the blade while it's going upwards (Back of the blade) a sled (or anything for that matter) running in the miter slot is forced by nature to follow a linear motion front to back, and cannot be turned behind the blade.

the only thing that could happen if you have a sloppy fit between the runners on the sled and the miter guage is that the sled would press against the blade uniformly causing some burning to the material of the sled.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

A cross cut sled is far safer than cross cutting with out one unless the wood your cutting is way to long or unsupported beyond the sled. If your cross cutting long and thick pieces of wood it would be best to cross cut with a circular saw first then square your cuts up on the sled


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## JillB (May 8, 2009)

thanks everyone, this has given me a lot more confidence for building a sled and using it safely. 
Regards,
Jill


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

Buy a saw like we have in europe with a large sliding metal table on the left of the blade they are wonderful I am constantly surprised the usa makers dont catch on to this and still rely on these sliding wooden contraptions which are clumsy and oput of date technology my saw is fitted with a large six foot sliding table on needle bearings all built in and cost is well worth it my opinion of course. No disrespect intended to any of the US suppliers .Alistair


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## Kindlingmaker (Sep 29, 2008)

SCOTSMAN, I saw one of those sliding tables about three weeks ago and left drool marks all over it!


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

here's mine the beiseymeyer overhead guard and fence were both made by me also and are as such near copy fakes LOL please note the sliding table virtually touches the blade well apart only by a few mm mot like other saws.Alistair


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## dusty2 (Jan 4, 2009)

That is a beautiful setup, Scotsman and I'll bet there are no drowl marks on that table. It looks to be too well kept.

However, that puppy is nearly as large as my shop.

A well made cross cut sled allows those of us that don't have anything comparable to yours to still have safe and accurate cross cut capability. The point that has been made here is that it must be a well made cross cut table with runners that fit snugly into the miter tracks.

JillB, unless you are going to get a sales flyer from the Scotsman, take what has been said here to heart. You can have a crosscut table that is not prone to kickback if it is well made and then well maintained.

Scotsman, I'll likely drool over your dust collection system as well.


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## vegeta (Mar 10, 2009)

i have 3 different sleds 1 is a small 1 for cross cutting 1 is set to cut 45 deg. for box making and 1 is a large version of the eagle lake sled for zig-zag cutting boards they are very safe there is better support under the cut so less chance of chip out. the trick to a safe and accurate sled is the runners that run in the miter tracks there can be no play in them. i use mine all the time the only down side is storage when not in use.


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## mds4752 (Sep 20, 2013)

Heartily agree with a1Jim. I built my own small cross cut sled for use with my Dewalt table saw. I added a mitre rail underneath to keep things straight and a t track on the just right side of the sled to keep the work pinned down. Everything was working great until I tried cutting some longer material (some boards were probably > 3' away from the kerf line). I had some pretty startling results and couldn't figure out what was going on. It worked great with smaller pieces. I finally learned what a1Jim pointed out; which is that the longer the board, the higher the risk of it becoming unsupported, drooping and then binding against the blade. So, technically, I'm not sure if that's a kickback or what it's called, but the end result was the table saw giving a quick and violent jerking motion! Once I learned to not cut material that wasn't supported by the sled, everything went perfect. I'm still going to add another t track on the left side of the sled so I can pin both sides of the work. It may add some time to my work, but at least that should give it a better chance of not drooping or binding up.


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