So, I always use this large table saw sled for
sizing up lumber or making cross-cuts.
And with a long steel guide bar its really sturdy so I can easily
cut the end off of a large 8 foot piece of lumber.
But for small stock it's not ideal.
So, I built myself
a small table saw sled. And, this one doesn't have to be very large
because I already have the other slide.
And this sled has turned out to be really,
really handy and I've used this an awful lot.
And sometimes people ask me about how to build one of these.
So, I've got some ideas on how to improve on this one.
So, I'll build another one and make a video to show you how.
With a runner that's gonna run in a T-slot.
I'm gonna use some exotic hardwood.
This, I think, is Cocobolo.
I picked that out of a dumpster from some hardwood flooring store.
So, I'm gonna rip that to just a bit wider than I need it to be.
So, the T-slot in my saw
measures 756 thou
Here's 805.
My piece is about 50 thou wider than the slot.
So, I'm gonna take the fence
and move that by exactly 50 thou.
So, using a dial indicator
actually not that hard to get one of these things on the thou.
Just by bolting it.
So, so far this doesn't fit in. Not unless I drove it in with a hammer.
And measuring this
I get 760 thou.
We're shooting for about 755.
But what happened is as I was only grazing the side of the saw blade
the blade got deflected this way a little bit.
But, now if I make another cut
and move the fence by about 6 thou.
I should be able to get it bang on.
Let's check that fit.
And that appears to be a very exact fit.
So, on my previous table saw sled
I just screwed the guide rail to the bottom.
But on this one, I made it a little bit thicker
so it sticks out above the table. And I put a dado
this is just a test piece
into the plywood. So, that's gonna catch on here.
Make the rail a bit thicker and give it better attachment.
And I cut that dado just with a series of table saw cuts
using a saw blade that has got flat teeth.
This is a 9 inch Freud saw blade.
With flat-top teeth.
I want to start that dado at about the same distance
that I've got from the edge of the blade to here. So that's 11 centimeters.
But I need to move my fence
to be 11 centimeters from the blade
and this is just a few millimeters more.
That's good. That gives me a little bit of safety margin.
I need to widen that slot by just a smidgen.
So, here's my dado. It looks very nice.
And this fits in. I've got, unfortunately a few thou of play.
So, I'm gonna try some hot glue
to take out that play. I don't really want to glue this in permanently but
I just want to get rid of the play.
So, I'm pre-heating the wood and the rail here.
And when I put the hot glue on there, it will flow nicely so I don't get this
thick bead in there.
I'm just putting a tiny bit of glue in there.
Just enough to fill a few thou of the gap.
Gotta work quickly.
Ok, that's stuck in there good.
I'm using some 1/2 inch number 4 screws,
to now lock this bar in place.
And I've pre-drilled them to be just a tiny bit smaller than the other diameter
of this screw because in this exotic hardwood
these screws really hold.
Next I need to make the front and back rails.
And I'm starting with a big piece of 2 by 10.
And I'm cutting the end off of that using my other table saw sled.
And once more over the jointer to remove and snipe from the thickness planer.
Now, I'm far from done with making this sled
but the next step here is to cut the slot in it.
Next, I need to mount the fence part on here.
And that needs to be exactly perpendicular to the line of cut.
Now, having cut my slot already
I can just use the square.
Put that flush with this here.
Just using another piece of wood.
And that lines up for where to put this here.
Now the square I'm using is just a framing square.
In my experience these are very reliable squares. I've never had
a framing square that was out of square.
So, I always trust these for my reference.
What I neglected to do before I screwed this together
is to put a chip for on the inside edge here.
That way, there's a place for some of the sawdust to get caught.
And, I'm just gonna screw this back together.
And the location of my screw holes are all very tight.
It's gonna help things line up again.
So, hopefully I'll have it all precise. But I'll give it a check.
Now I'm ready to mount the rest of the floor of this jig.
And how I mount that is actually not that important.
Now to keep my hands from possibly touching the blade
when it comes out of the sled maker.
I'm just gonna glue a little block of wood on here.
Now, here's a new safety feature
which I'm not entirely sure if it's a good idea.
We'll see how it works out.
This little block is gonna fit on here and it
prevents the sled from moving too far back.
So, what I'm doing is this block is normally up but when I push the slide back
it'll catch on my outfeed extension
and so I can't push it far enough that the blade comes really far out.
So, unless I'm making a really deep cut
when I push this as far as it will go
the blade doesn't really come out here.
It's coming out here just in the corner here.
But I'd really have to reach hard down here to even catch that with my fingers.
So, it should be an adequate safety thing. I didn't want to make
the sled too bulky on here.
I put 3 coats of varnish on the sled.
But only 1 coat on the inside so it doesn't get too slippery there.
So, here's my sled all finished.