I’ve wanted to make this crosscut sled for the homemade table saw for a long time. It always seemed like a straightforward system for making very precise 90-degree cuts, and after doing the first test cut with it, I think it will be very useful. Now it is one of my first options when cutting wood for my carpentry projects.
I might end up making one for 45º cuts as well (I’ve already made one, and it works great), and then I might reconsider whether I would have bought the miter saw if I had these sleds before. Although I must admit that the portability of the miter saw is something the homemade table saw lacks.
As you may know, this system consists of little more than a board on which a couple of strips are placed, one to support the wood (called a fence in English, I’ll call it a gate) and another to prevent the board from opening or deforming, and a thinner strip underneath that slides through a slot in the table and serves to guide the sled.
When making the sled for cutting wood at 90 degrees with the table saw, we mainly have three problems:
- Getting a slot and a strip that slides inside smoothly but snugly. Since the table of my table saw is made of plywood pieces, you can see in the video that achieving this is very easy for me because my lateral guide is parallel to the sides of these small boards I use, and I adjusted the saw to be parallel to the guide (not the other way around, since leaving the guide parallel to the sides of the boards first is easier), and therefore, if I leave a slot between two boards, the strip running inside will run parallel to the blade. I only need to apply furniture wax so that the slide is smooth.
- Ensuring the support strip is at 90 degrees to the blade. I use a square and take my time, and the result was quite good. If you want to be very precise, there is a technique to adjust the angle with great precision that you can see in “How to make a cross-cut sled (YouTube video)” by The Wood Whisperer.
- SAFETY. One of the drawbacks of using these sleds is that you can’t trust yourself and put your hand behind the gate right where the blade will protrude, or you’ll end up with a cut finger. The best thing is, besides being careful and avoiding putting your hand there, to use some system to be protected. So, I thought of a screw in front of the guide strip to limit the sled’s advance and also some wooden blocks that hide the blade when it protrudes behind the gate.