# Help: miter/crosscut sled for portable/jobsite (SMALL) table saw



## ajw1978 (Jul 5, 2014)

Long time, no chat, jocks. Now that the scary yellow orb has returned above the God-forsaken wasteland that is the Upper Midwest, I've been able to drag my tools out of storage (more specifically, the CEO's walk-in closet) and get cracking.

My first two missions for the year are to build some sleds for my table saw. Have watched a ton of videos and attended a great seminar at the Woodworking Show, so was all set and ready to go until I pulled my saw out, set it up and realized: every single sled I've seen is for "full-sized" table saws, not the puny, piddly portable number I own (thanks to a very, very good HD deal).

I'm working with the Ridgid R45161 (the black friday special, if anyone else saw it). So I feel like a sled might not work because of how close the blade is to the front or back?

If anyone has any suggestions / links / projects they'd be willing to share, the Schlitz is on me.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

No reason why you can't make a sled for your saw… it will just have to be a bit smaller than what is possible on a full sized table. This is one I made for a little benchtop c-man saw:










It's about 10 inches front to back and can handle stock up to a little over 7" wide. Made from scrap wood I had laying around the shop.

Cheers,
Brad


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## ajw1978 (Jul 5, 2014)

Awesome. I figured it was possible, just wanted to double check with the smart folks!


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

I have the Bosch 4100 and it doesn't have a lot of room in front of the blade, either. I made this sled, and it's worked well for me for 2 years now. When I use it, the blade is slightly inside the sled, but the adjustability allows one to set it up such that there is no possibility of pinching the blade.


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## ajw1978 (Jul 5, 2014)

Can you post the picture, Ed? That saw seems very, very similar to mine.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Just realized that I did not give a link in my previous post… here are the plans to the one I made (it's a PDF).

Let me know if you still want pictures (the plan has good pictures in it).


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## paxorion (Oct 19, 2012)

I think your saw has ~5-6" of space before the blade. Nothing stopping you from building a crosscut sled. Steve Ramsey had a video from way back building a sled for his old saw, which is similar in size.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

I have that very saw. Used it for woodworking until I got a cabinet saw. I made a sled for it and it works fine. It's a bit smaller than those for larger saws of course.


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## ajw1978 (Jul 5, 2014)

Ed - Thanks, that helped!

PAX - Steve's videos were what got me thinking about a sled. That and my inability to cut an accurate miter with my miter saw.

JDH - Did you make it to cover the entire table surface?


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

The sled I pictured above was for basically the same saw as that shown in Steves video… and yeah, it only had about 6" of table before the blade, but the sled worked great. You can pull it back off the table a few inches and the runners will still keep it lined up, or just set it so the blade is slightly inside the front brace. I like the idea of the sliding stop block on his though. I just used a small c-clamp to secure a stop block which worked just as well but not quite as convenient.

Cheers,
Brad


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## ajw1978 (Jul 5, 2014)

I just got started on a couple yesterday. Runners are being a little fussy, but I think some paste wax will help things slide a little easier. I'll post some pictures after they're done.


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