Making Shop-Made Sleds for Small Project Pieces

I'm gonna show you how you can increase accuracy here on your table saw and on your bandsaw, using some very easy to make shop made sleds. Here on the table saw, I'm gonna show you how to make a sled that'll let you cut very accurate miters. On the bandsaw, a sled that's very good for crosscutting. Especially tiny parts you want to cut on your bandsaw. Makes it accurate and a lot safer. So, anytime we're doing something that relies on a miter gauge slot, on either of these tools, or a shaper, or a router table, anything that's got a miter gauge slot in it, the key to accuracy is making sure that the bar that travels in that miter gauge slot is a good fit. So one of the things you want to look for is a device that allows you to snug it to your particular miter gauge slot. On this one, the way it works is that, this stop slides into the table saw, slot first. And when I tighten that down, the stop stops. Then from there, the manufacturer recommends a couple nickels, on the bottom of the miter gauge slot. And in goes the device. Now, the way this works is that there's a taper, a wedge shape to this, so that as I gently push that forward against the stat, the two taper components work against each other, making it nice and snug. So when I tighten these cap screws down it remains in that position. A perfect fit for your particular miter gauge slot. The sled that I'm making for the table saw requires two of these. So I'm gonna do that same setup to the other one, for the right miter gauge slot. And then we'll be ready to fasten them to the sled. I've got both tracks snugged up to my particular saw and my particular miter gauge slots. The base of the sled is 12" by 16". What I did then, was drilled holes right down the center of the miter gauge slots to align with my tracks. Just follow the manufacturer's instructions for that. Locating those holes. Then I can put screws through those holes into the tracks so that the sled is secured to 'em. Cool. Now, I had it sitting up on those nickels to make it easier to get the screws started. And what that gives us is a miter gauge sled, a mitering sled, that's a perfect fit for my table saw. Pretty close to being able to wrap this up so it's actually ready to cut the miters. Here's what I've done. I took this whole sled and I pushed it forward, so that I cut about three inches or so into it. Then, I struck a line at 45 degrees from this curve. It doesn't have to be a perfect 45 degrees but get her close. Next step is to fasten this cleat on here. I've got the cleat cut at 45 degrees. Doesn't have to be perfect. And what I'll do is glue and staple the cleat on that pencil line such that, it's approximately centered on the curve. Here's the important part, when cleat number two goes on here's what's really, really important is when you fasten this one on use a good quality square, and make sure these two cleats are perfectly perpendicular to each other. That's what'll make your mitering sled work, and work well. So I'm gonna go ahead and finish that assembly on this one. And then we can have a look at how this cuts. Your mitering sled is ready to use. So here's the way this works. As long as these two parts are perfectly 90 degrees to each other, what'll happen is that, when I cut on this side, I'm gonna get some angle. When I cut on this side, I'm gonna get some angle. And they're gonna add up to 90 degrees. So even if this one is 44, and this one is 46, you're still gonna get two parts that come together perfectly. So here's how you'll make your cuts. Very cool, very easy. The mating part of this miter will get cut on the other side of the sled. And as long as you put them together at 90 they're always gonna add up, be a perfect miter for you. Next, let's have a look at a really simple and great to use crosscut sled for the bandsaw. Here's my bandsaw crosscut sled. Using the same track, so I can micro adjust that, make sure it's a great fit for the miter gauge slot. And here's the way the slide itself works. I made mine 10" by 16". Might have to change that for your saw. Inch and a half wide cleat here, that acts as a stop for my material to go against. There's a stop on the back of the sled right here, so that as I push the sled forward, this stop hits the operator side of the bandsaw table. So that I can't cut any further than just a little bit into that cleat. So this is pretty cool. As long as you're careful putting this on. Making sure it's perpendicular to your cut. You're gonna have a way that you can very easily and safely crosscut small pieces. Like this one that I'm gonna turn into a handle for a letter opener. So, we've got the crosscut sled here for the bandsaw, the mitering sled that we looked at for the table saw, both relying heavily on accuracy that comes from an adjustable miter gauge bar, like this one. So that we can make sure that the sleds we make are gonna produce the results that we want.