# Accurate Crosscuts



## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

Hey,

Just wondering what everyone is using to get accurate crosscuts? I have a mitre saw that is ok for smaller cuts eg. up to 6" or so but I've never been able to get it perfectly set up for wider cuts. Same thing with my homemade TS sled.

I do a lot of dovetailed casework in the 12-20" width range and find that I have to spend a frustrating amount of time using a shooting board to get the pieces square. Seems like regardless of whether people use a sliding MS or a TS sled, they are not perfect…I've considered getting the Sawstop sliding crosscut table for my TS and/or a different MS but kind of think that I'll have the same difficulty regardless of my setup.


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## rad457 (Jun 15, 2013)

12" to 15" Kreg mitre gauge on Table saw, over 15" to under 30", fence on Table saw?
30" to 48"/96" plywood for cabinets, dewalt track saw


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Sled based on both miter slots. Starts from accurate easy sliding rails, and build up from there. Make it right, and most importantly test it for accuaracy and adjust using the William Ng school of thought with a 5 cut. Once you have it nailed down you are good for a long while.

With use, getting moved, lifted etc etc etc all of them will loose accuaracy over time. Usually you will feel it in the rails, or the fence. When you do, or heaven forbid you notice poor cuts, build another to replace the old one.

Most accurate, and safest crosscut you can have. Offcuts are also carried through the blade, so no little piece of potential rocket left next to the blade, and you don't have to keep waiting for the saw to come to a stop to safely pluck away the offcuts.

Build goals are something light enough to not make you hate using it, but big enough to be useful. 1/2" ply is plenty for the deck.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

hmmm, dead accurate, everytime…any angle


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Incra M1000 miter gauge and fence:








Incra M1000 with Shop Stop Fence
TS-LS Accuracy (1/32") & Repeatability (.002") for Cross Cuts


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## RobS888 (May 7, 2013)

MFT style table and festool track saw.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Falls into, a lot of ways to skin a cat.

No clear path to a choice. I like threads like this. Make ya think.


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## Tony_S (Dec 16, 2009)

Just kidding….but not.
I've got an Altendorf and an SCM in the shop. Not as pretty as the one above, both 15-20 years old…but both provide dead nutz repeatable crosscuts.
But with that said…..


> I ve considered getting the Sawstop sliding crosscut table for my TS and/or a different MS but kind of think that I ll have the same difficulty regardless of my setup.
> - Manitario


What makes you think the Sawstop sliding table would fail you?
I've never used one so I can't speak from personal experience, but they seem to be designed and built on the same/similar mechanics as the Euro sliders. It's a proven design used my most major manufacturers.
I didn't read any reviews at all either….maybe they're crapola. I would doubt that though given their reputation for quality saws.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I got rid of my chop saw to save room. I doubt it was ever very accurate anyway. My weapon of choice is a dual track sled. I bought a better miter gauge but don't use it much for cross cuts.


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## tvrgeek (Nov 19, 2013)

I see many comments here are answering about small dimension stock, not the larger panels you are talking about. Small stuff, my TS with Osborn gauge or one of my sleds. If really anal, I now have a Lyon miter triller. Love it. 
For the larger panels you are talking about, I see no reason a good sled would not be dead on if a proper blade. Might want to go full kerf and check your sleds and saw alignment. I can do 4 cuts around a 12 inch square and not see light against my try square.

Table Saws, no matter the sled, have a very hard time with 16 foot moulding. So, keeping my miter saw.

In some comments, the SS sled may or may not be compatible with any other brand of saw. Investigate for yourself. Some may consider the need to drill a hole as incompatible, don't know, so check it out.


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## splintergroup (Jan 20, 2015)

> Falls into, a lot of ways to skin a cat.
> 
> - therealSteveN


Method #103: Belt sander 8^)

Without a sliding table saw, you need someway to engage the saw miter slots for alignment before cutting begins. The most direct way is a large sled with long runners.

Beyond that, the aforementioned sliding table saw, there always is a radial arm saw or track saw.


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

Thanks for the comments. It sounds like the majority use TS sleds; I guess that I need to either make mine lighter so that it isn't such a PITA to use it and/or also work to make it dead-on accurate.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

Making a sled is a very rewarding project when getting started and will get used often.


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## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

I have an Incra 1000HD in a Miter Express. It's my everyday sled for everything but dadoe's. . I keep it right behind the saw, takes no time to put on or off. The biggest panel I've cut is 18", but this is good up to 24" cross cut.

I believe in cry once, and haven't cried over this since I got it.

https://www.incra.com/miter_gauges-miter_express.html

https://www.incra.com/miter_gauges-miter1000hd.html


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

*Incrahhh!*


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## DaveM123 (May 2, 2020)

The Incra miter gauge is solid. I also have the Dubby sleds and they work just fine.


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## JackDuren (Oct 10, 2015)

Altendorf Slider at work and a DW 708 and a Delta RAS slider at home. Very surprised at the inconsistent cuts around the forums.


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## tvrgeek (Nov 19, 2013)

Agree. If I can fo it, just about no excuse for anyone else. 



> Altendorf Slider at work and a DW 708 and a Delta RAS slider at home. Very surprised at the inconsistent cuts around the forums.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## roofner (Feb 24, 2012)

I use this a cheap version of track saw station. With mft style table Wen tracksaw and track about $300 dead on accurate. I can cut a panel of 25 inch wide. I also for large panels use another rollaround table with sheet of styrofoam under panel to protect table.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Maybe stop by The Dungeon Woodworking Shop….and tell me exactly WHERE one of them things is gonna fit….let alone get it down the stair to the shop…..Not everyone here has a huge shop…


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

I'm with Tony_s and Jack them sliders take care of making repeated square cuts


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

Just depends on how much money you want to spend to skin a cat. I have an Incra 1000 and a small DIY sled.

Now you've got quite a few ways to skin that cat!


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## dbw (Dec 2, 2013)

> I have an Incra 1000HD in a Miter Express. It s my everyday sled for everything but dadoe s. . I keep it right behind the saw, takes no time to put on or off. The biggest panel I ve cut is 18", but this is good up to 24" cross cut.
> 
> I believe in cry once, and haven t cried over this since I got it.
> 
> ...


+1 on the incra 1000HD and miter express. IMO this is an awesome combo. Incra gave me a 10% discount on my first order. This was last year so…


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## Foghorn (Jan 30, 2020)

I have an early version of the Jessem miter gauge. I bought it when it was rated the best in a lot of reviews. Solid and accurate, no complaints at all. The new version seems to carry on the tradition.


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## tvrgeek (Nov 19, 2013)

Start with some sleds. Besides being accurate, they can have some considerable safety advantages. Things like a guard over the blade for exit, drop down dust collection, and clamps for small pieces that would be scary to cut by hand.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Square cuts start with a saw that is set up accurately. There must be zero slop in the miter gauge table slot. Then the miter gauge must be precisely 90° to the blade. Here is where a precision square is necessary. Machines in a factory are set up for precision cuts; that is why they can produce quality furniture or cabinets; no reason why it can't be done in a home shop. I have a Jet cabinet saw (30+ years old) that has been set up to insure a perfect 90° cut. It takes time to properly set up a saw, but once done, you don't need expensive after market gadgets. A sled will get you a square cut, but that also has to be set up just like any other device. Many say "you don't need machinist precision in woodworking", but that is not true. Square is square whether it be in metal working or woodworking.


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## bc4393 (Apr 10, 2015)

I followed this tutorial. The guy is an engineer and makes use of precision tools to get his sled set right. I've been quite happy with mine after following the video.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I used an Incra 1000WE and adjust to be snug in the slot. I also have several small sleds with Incra Miter Sliders


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## Jim2020 (Jun 26, 2020)

Manitario: Build yourself a sliding table for your saw like the one Guy Perez featured in the 1996 "Shop Accessories You Can Build" the Best of Fine Woodworking. Make the sliding table fence adjustable so you can set it square whenever you want. It's a fairly involved project, but if you do a lot of sizable panel squaring it would be worth the effort. That's what I did, taking the project even further by building a real sliding saw based on a Delta Unisaw.
I know there are sliding attachments you can hang off your saw, maybe they're OK, but I've heard a lot of complaints about adjustments. Once set up, I've never had to adjust mine. Just use a framing square set against the blade, and set the sliding table fence square. I don't think the one I built cost me more than $100 including the cost of the materials to build the base cabinet to support it.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> Hey,
> 
> I have a mitre saw that is ok for smaller cuts eg. up to 6" or so but I ve never been able to get it perfectly set up for wider cuts. Same thing with my homemade TS sled.
> 
> - Manitario


I didn't say anything here, and figured someone would, but I haven't seen it. You mention a math problem here. You have a cut that is OK, on small items, maybe not dead nutz though. As it get's longer the error you already had, with not saying dead nutz, just gets magnified, this goes across a cross cut, and along a rip cut, and really screws with a bevel/mitered cuts. The farther out you go from start, the bigger the problem will appear to be.

Answer of course is fix the problem at point "A" the start, and the end will be good, maybe not absolute perfect, but plenty close enough that you can take the majority of the cuts, and go on with them.

If you want to spend $$$ to fix it, well can you fit an Altendorf in there? I made a living with Bandit's box back in the day, and can assure you, on fine cuts you haven't seen the need for a shooting board until you started with a miter box. I think Bandit uses magic dust.

Otherwise make sure your table saw is dead on. People laugh at 0.001. As a standard to try to cut your wood, and fantasize it will stay that way, it is a joke. BUT if you set up the physical metal machine to 0.001, or as close as you can get it to that mystical number, then, if you have wonky cuts you have to blame your method, how you physically push the wood through the machine.

What do you look at when making a saw cut? I have long ago given up hope that everyone is looking at the rip fence, and the very leading 12" of their stock, to make sure it is glued to the fence as you push the stock through….. I know this isn't where so many are actually looking. Otherwise when they say they don't use a saw guard, because then they can't see where their cut would be. I always laugh, and shake my head at that one. Like the freeking saw blade, or the miter slots, or something fixed is moving. Only moving thing should be the wood, through the blade. Look at the fence, where the leading edge of your wood is, no where else is needed. They wanna look at the blade because they are pretty sure they are gonna lop off a few fingers if they don't, seeing as their blade is unguarded.

That on a cross, they have a plenty wide enough support for the width of their board, and that piece of wood is LOCKED to the miter/sled/whatever and can not move. If your hands can't lock it, you have to consider a clamp of some type. Thing is, if your wood is going into the blade at anything except optimal, then any resulting cut will have error. That is the beauty of the Altendorf, it factors that out, with it's extremely well supported bed, and smoothly moving the stock right through the blade. Zip, all day long.

Think of what you are doing, at every inch of movement through the cutter, and where the board actually is, in relation to the cutter, and if your tool is correct, then it can be done plenty accurate enough on regular homeowner tools. The Altendorf is only rally needed for the guy making 20,000 cuts….


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## MPython (Nov 30, 2018)

Crosscut sled is the simplest, least expensive answer. A square fence is the key. With this method, you should be able to get the fence within 5 thou or less over its length.






I have a big sled with a 28" capacity. I squared the fence with this method and it's pretty dead-on square.


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## RCCinNC (Jul 4, 2017)

I built a simple cross cut sled that worked perfectly. Later, I bought a used Excalibur sliding table. An absolute pain to set up and align, but once I got it where I wanted it and bolted the whole thing to the floor, it has since worked out wonderfully with excellent accuracy. 
Caveat…it Eats shop space, needs be a permanent set up to maintain accuracy, and like a sliding table saw, the carrier height need be slightly higher than the saw table itself. I dealt with this issue by using laminate keyed into the miter slots of the saw to equalize height when needed. The Formica also acts as a zero clearance insert.
The whole set up makes handling large sheets much easier.


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

If you can't afford a $10K sliding saw, a panel cutting sled will do the job 

If you don't know what this is, its basically a sled with a fence on the far side.

Use 2 guides, one in a miter slot and one the rides the edge of the table saw.

A couple hold down clamps on the fence.

I can cross cut panels up to 24" wide on my saw.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

I understand folx like miter sleds, but I do my crosscuts using an Incra M1000 miter gauge with the 32" fence. It's dead on and the M1000 snugs up on the miter slot so there is no slop.









Incra M1000 with Flip Stop fence crosscuts only on 1/32" increments.

The Flip Stop increments in 1/32" steps so repeating a given dimension is trivial. The stop also prevents the stock from shifting so no clamps are needed.

I can safely crosscut down to about 1". As long as I'm holding the metal my fingers are safe.

What advantage does the sled have over the miter gauge? Most of the sled designs I've seen are too small for panel cutting. I'm not being a smart ass, I just don't see the advantage.


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