# Do I need another sled for 45° cuts or is there an insert for crosscut sled ??



## OldBull (Apr 30, 2020)

As a new woodworker I struggle a little getting things lined up and cuts to fit correctly. I just built a box joint sled and it was a harder build than any of my other shop projects (in fact I am still working on it). I had a hard time getting the pin size square on such a small part and other things such as It was my first router useage. I have my first non-shop project coming up for a jewelry box and am worried I will botch the thing because of non accurate 45's on the lid which will have a panel insert. How do you deal with getting (or when you don't get) accurate 45's?

My crosscut sled is medium size and I was wondering if there is an accurate way to make a 45° attachment for the crosscut sled and not have to build another jig or sled? I have a miter saw (DWS715) but it seems big and clunky for accurate 45's, although I could be wrong.

Anyone ever succeded at somthing like this ??

Thanks for any help you can give.

Donny


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

Yes. There are *lots *of ways to do that. Here is an example and here is another.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

You can accomodate it in your sled in various ways as mentioned, or just pay $20 and be done
https://www.rockler.com/45-degree-miter-sled


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## OldBull (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks for the replies, 
@SMP are you using this ? I find that most things like this are not truly 45° and these miter corners are finicky.


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> Thanks for the replies,
> I find that most things like this are not truly 45° and these miter corners are finicky.
> 
> - OldBull


I have one that is a DIY similar to the Rockler but for *consistent* repeatable cuts I like the sled modifications better. My miter saw is accurate but it can be a little heavy-handed and is not really designed for "finish" carpentry. It's hard to beat a sharp crosscut blade on a table saw.

My sled is also medium size as I can never seem to find a place to store a big full size sled.


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## wildwoodbybrianjohns (Aug 22, 2019)

I use a tennoning jig to do my 45ºs, one that saddles my tablesaw fence. Hold-down clamps keep the pieces tight, or, if the parts are really small I use double-sided tape. I use a backer board too, so there is always zer-clearance on the cut, so no tearout in finnicky woods. Accurate, if your blade is sharp, and you build the jig so there is zero play.

The Rockler jig looks good, but I have a Bosch saw, and their mitre slots are not standard.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> Thanks for the replies,
> @SMP are you using this ? I find that most things like this are not truly 45* and these miter corners are finicky.
> 
> - OldBull


Old Bull. I have one of those I bought at an auction in a box of stuff. If you have ever been to an auction you know things in a box of stuff are never worth SNOT. It is also true with that plasticky POS Rockler is selling there. It wobbles like a drunk duck, the faces are plastic, so there is NO hold as you move the thing through the cut, and it allows for a few inches of creep, unless you wrangle a clamp onto it. The clamp however would cause it to leave your miter slot, because the entire thing is just a few ounces, and the weight of the clamp would pull it one way or the other.

So to sum it up, if you have the price of postage I'll send you mine.

BECAUSE 45's are usually so touchy. and if not almost perfect you get gaps, and ugly joints. I am a believer in making a very simple sled just for 45's However just saying 45's is only part of it. As depending on where, and what you are 45ing you could be served better with different jigs.

If you are looking at a 45 like for a picture frame sawing from the inside of your stock, to the outer tip a sled like the one below is almighty accurate, and if you follow the bouncing ball, and just take it step by step, not a hard build.

This sled isn't like all the other miter sleds. It's left side is really short, and only serves to whack a board off at a 45 degree angle. It's the right side that has the magic. but you need to build it on a dead triangle, so you are sawing right at 45 from either side. Of course that part is necessary for any true miter sled. Watch the video, see if it looks like too much? If you were going to throw money at it, and buy one I would suggest the Dubby. Rockler has a kinda dubby, but it isn't made as exacting.

Dubby is here. Either single or double (both sides of the blade)

https://www.in-lineindustries.com/products/dubby-the-original-table-saw-sled/

The one I would suggest you try to make. It is dead azz accurate. There are several videos of the same basic sled. This dood is a little weird, but he really does explain the steps better than the other videos IMHO.






Now I referred to 2 types of miters. Instead of flat like a picture frame, think of standing like a box corner, or flooring trim at a corner. I probably should have started here, buttttt I didn't. The video below is a Stumpy Nubs vid, and he does a great job of clearing up the different kinds of angled cuts. What I grew up calling an upright miter, Stumpy calls an end grain bevel. I know if you have a bunch of trim guys trapped in a room, and say hey your bevel is off, you'll get hit with a hammer. 






Now for doing an angled bevel, or an upright miter, whichever You want to call it. It can be as simple as a long board attached to your miter gauge. Put most of it to the side away from your blade tilt, because you are just going to have a smidgen for backup on the angled side.

LJ Ron Stewart shows it on his sled, or talks about just doing them from the miter gauge. here I'd only add I feel he needs a taller fence with the metal on top. It looks like he close to striking it.

The absolute positive thing about cutting bevels like that, is the fence shows you exactly where the cut will go through every time, unless you move the fence. But you can also make a very simple sled, that will allow you to lay the part to be cut to be right at the mark on the fence of a smaller, easier to build sled with one runner.


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

+1 many jig options available

+1 use clamps to hold parts onto jig. 
Finger pressure alone occasionally allows movement, and resulting board is too long/short; and leaves dreaded gap.

YES, you need a 45° TS sled.

Not seeing an important detail mentioned above. 
Maybe in video's but that doesn't help anyone reading this.

The one key to tight 45° cuts in a 90° corner: Don't worry about exact angle! 
:-(0)
'Trick' is each corner has 1/2 of the 90° cut made on opposite fence of SAME 90° jig. 
(AKA Rockrap design linked above that needs miter slot adjusted everytime) 
If the corner of the jig is perfect 90°, the resulting corner is always 90°. Even if the jig is tilted slightly to create 44° and 46° cuts; you still get a tight 90° angle! 
This is #1 advantage to TS jig .vs. miter saw that requires changing blade angles for opposite cut. 

FWIW - it takes more than ~1° away from 45° before most people will notice one side of 90° miter is 'fat', and other is 'thin' on average picture fame. Wider mitered frames tend to make it easier to see an angle difference, if/when it exists.
Thanks to a Klutz in re-mounting miter rails on old jig for new saw; my current jig is off by 0.2°. This OCD Klutz can detect a fat/thin difference with 5" mitered frame, Ms Klutz thinks it is perfect. ;-) 
The error disappears on smaller frame sizes she normally requests.

Best Luck!


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

> - therealSteveN


Gotta agree with @therealSteveN. Different applications need different jigs. The one he listed above is what I use for picture frames also. Absolutely deadnuts accurate for picture frames as it cuts to the size of the rabbet that the glass and picture fit in, not the size of the frame. A very very valuable function. But I digress because that isn't really what you asked.


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## OldBull (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks everyone @therealSteveN @CaptainKlutz @Andybb @wildwoodbybrianjohns Just what I needed.

""'Trick' is each corner has 1/2 of the 90° cut made on opposite fence of SAME 90° jig.""

The video Steven linked to explained the 2 sides of the angle real well where they used a square cut in half so you always get the 90°.

That sled looked like it was accurate and I need that for what I am doing, the lid of a jewelry box using mitered frames holding an insert, basically a picture frame.


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## RonStewart (Jul 18, 2011)

> LJ Ron Stewart shows it on his sled, or talks about just doing them from the miter gauge. here I d only add I feel he needs a taller fence with the metal on top. It looks like he close to striking it.
> 
> - therealSteveN


Thanks for mentioning my sled, therealSteven. I actually cut right through the aluminum T-track on my sled's fence, so you're right about having it mounted higher, or on top of a flat-topped fence being better. The biggest drawback is that I lost the zero-clearance support on the fence side. I'll keep all of that that in mind if I ever build a new sled. But this one works fine for me. I've built boxes with mitered corners, picture frames, etc. and gotten tight corners.


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