crosscut sled

[phone60]

has anyone made a simple crosscut sled for the bt3100? It looks difficult because of only one mitre slot to the left of the blade.

thanks
Greg

[JR]

I have a number of sleds, but then again I have slots on left and right.

Here's a thread with pics of my sleds and references to those of a couple other members' threads.

Good luck,
JR

[scmhogg]

I have had no difficulty with only one miter slot. Here is my sled.



This is the stop that prevents the blade from coming through the shield block.



Steve

[phi1l]

For most small things you can use the SMT with a clamp on the miter fence.

For longer pieces, you can make a sled that attaches to miter fence channel in the SMT on the left, and uses the miter channel placed on the right of the blade. You can use 5/16" hex bolts You have to use 3/4" ply or MDF for the bed so that the the washer & nut can counter sunk below the surface. If you don't have a miter channel, you can use 2 5/16" bolts in the miter fence channel, to hold the table in alignment.


If you expect to be cross cutting material that is wider than what would fit in a sled attached to the SMT, you could also set up an upside down miter channel on the bottom of the sled, and a miter slider on the SMT. Unfortunately I think you would have to get one of those steel sliders; one made from wood, probably wouldn't hold up very well. You will have to drill & tap the miter slider for a 5/16-18 screw thread. then get to work on a couple of 5/16-18 bolts with a Dremel. First you will need to round off the corners of the bolt head so that it will be able to turn in the miter fence channel. Next the bolt will have to be cut down so that the end will not extend above the bar (about 5/8" - 3/4", I think). Finally, use a Dremel cut off wheel to put a screw driver width slot in the end of the screw. Then, you can use a screw driver to tighten the bar to the SMT.

[LCHIEN]

has anyone made a simple crosscut sled for the bt3100? It looks difficult because of only one mitre slot to the left of the blade.

thanks
Greg

unless you added one the BT3100 has ZERO miter slots, not one as you state.
if you added the optional accessory Dual Miter Slot table then you'll have two.

The sides of the main table housing the blade are not guaranteed to be parallel to the blade, teh way the BT's are constructed.