Miter slots for Craftsman 21829

[ofna89]

Im looking for a miter slot for my 21829 mounted to the left of the blade so I can use featherboards. Does the slots for the 3100 also fit the 21829, and where can I purchase one of these? Would it be possable to make these slots out of plywood or any type of wood? Thanks

[LinuxRandal]

Yes the miter slot will fit the 21829. They had already been on closeout and "sold out" when my local store found a couple still (from the previous generation saw). I was shocked that they closed them out, without renumbering them instead. I walked over with the one to the newly displayed 21829 and it fit.

When the articles section is finished (haven't looked), there was a section in it, on building your own, or if you search here, someone just posted about a month ago, some place to buy them still, for $25.

[steve-norrell]

I used the dual miter channel from Ryobi for awhile, but did not like them because they are not "T-slot" configuration and my Incra 1000SE tended to tip out of the channel.

The pictures show my present set-up, which is working quite well and suits my needs. The channels are from Incra and do have the "T-slot" configuration. The oak is "off the shelf" stock from Lowes. The thing is attached to the rails with t-nuts and rests on the frame of the BT3100, Based on the previous post, I imagine that same setup would work for the Sears version.

Good luck, Steve

[ofna89]

Thanks Steve for posting.

[thestinker]

On the shop made t tracks, how hard is it to get them 100% parallel to the blade, and how far from the blade are you spacing them?

[steve-norrell]

On the shop made t tracks, how hard is it to get them 100% parallel to the blade, and how far from the blade are you spacing them?

The tracks are 4.5 and 6.5 inches (center) from the blade.

It was not difficult at all to get them parallel. You have to be reasonably careful when setting them up. Use the Incra t-track as a guide (for parallel placement) when placing the oak spacers. That is, place the t-track first, clamp it down, then screw it down before gluing in the oak strips.

Also, the miter table is attached ONLY to the rails with t-nuts so some horizontal adjustment is possible. The MDF rests on, but is not bolted to, the saw frame.

The miter channels are as parallel as I can measure with normal woodworking rulers. 100% parallel? Maybe not mine, but certainly as close as I can measure!

Regards, Steve

[thestinker]

That sounds pretty close to 100% to me. Ijust didn't want to be running like 1/8 of an inch different from front to back.

RS

[steve-norrell]

thestinker got me thinking about just how could I more accurately measure the parallel spacing of the miter channels and the saw blade.

I have one of those expensive Incra woodworker rulers. I took some photos using that ruler to measure the distance between one miter channel and the edges of the saw blade.

The three photos show the setup (Measure 1) and the actual measurements between the channel and the rear (Measure 2) and front (Measure 3) edges of the blade. (The rear measurement is in 64ths; the front is 32nds.) Since 8/64 = 4/32, they look pretty close to me -- at least as much as my almost 70 year old eyes can tell.

Thanks for raising this issue -- a good one for discussion.

Regards, SN