Multifunction Crosscut Sled

[pelligrini]

I was having some problems doing some 45 degree beveled cuts for some trophy bases I'm working on. The very slight variations in heights of my saw table, SMT and auxiliary tables were throwing my miters off.

I was just going to do a sled for 45 degree bevels but I was able to do a combo 90 degree crosscut and 45 degree bevel sled. The base is a laminate covered poplar plywood shelf scrap. It's 48" long and 11 1/2" wide. It will handle up to an 8 1/2" wide board. The milled 2x4 SYP fences have routered t-slots down the lengths for stop blocks & hold downs. There are 3 t-slots on the sled top for hold downs too. An Incra 24" miter slider was fastened in the middle of the sled. I just have to flip the sled end for end to change the degree of the crosscut.

The miter bar sticking out in the middle makes storage difficult, but I sure can get some accurate crosscuts and bevels now.

[JR]

Very impressive! It's amazing that you were able to square both the front and rear (or is it rear and front?) rails to the base.

If you're like me, you just might give up on your SMT from now on.

JR

[Shep]

Very cool idea. Thanks for posting.

[pelligrini]

Very impressive! It's amazing that you were able to square both the front and rear (or is it rear and front?) rails to the base.

If you're like me, you just might give up on your SMT from now on.

JR

I got the rear fence (closest to me) for the 90 degree cuts square, then I used a couple of 8-5/8" wide ripped scraps as spacers to set the other fence.

[PhilofKayDu]

Nice job. Thanks for posting. Phil

[pelligrini]

Thanks for the kind words.

I was initially going to set it up for one direction, 90 in the right miter slot and 45 for the left slot. Doing that would have made me either move my outfeed table for use with either slot, or modify the outfeed table for the right miter slot extension. I also didn't want to deal with any slight variances between the two slots either. I think using the single miter slot on the left was a better solution.

[Bruce Cohen]

Erik,
Just what I've been looking for, looks real good, do you have any plans or shop drawings your used. I assume that if I run into any glitches, I can PM you for help.

Many, many thanks for the post.

Bruce

[pelligrini]

I don't have any plans or drawings. PM is fine by me, but others might benefit from any questions or answers too.

I just put it together with some materials I had onhand. I had some leftover squared 2x SYP material from by bench build last year. I checked them again for square and trued one up a bit with my jointer plane. I routed a T-slot down the middle of them.

Then I marked the center line of the baseboard for the Miter Slider and drilled the holes for it and then laid out where I wanted the T-slots and routed them in. I'm glad I did the slider first as I planned to put a T-Slot in the middle. The slot had to be moved off to the side a bit as it would have conflicted with the fasteners for the slider. I didn't worry about having the miter slider absolutely perfectly square to the base as any little variances from square will be adjusted when I set the first fence.