miter t-bar a little sloppy

[phil]

I purchased a couple of miter t-bars to make my new sled with, and there is a little bit of slop when they aren't all the way in the slot. Is this ok? Also one of them binds slightly, like it's slightly bent or something.

I have some hardwood I can use also for the runners. I'm kinda worried about the BB as it's super humid here all year on the coast, and from what I've read the ply can have problems with humidity.

Thanks

[bgavin]

Sanding sealer

[phil]

Should I not use the T-bars? I noticed even bar on the angle thing for the bosch is just as loose. Will both of them keep it stable.

I just had a hell of a time last build with my panel cuts not being totally square, and I would like to be as accurate as possible with these, as it caused quite a bit of frustration.

I'm thinking about just getting one of these....
http://www.amazon.com/Incra-MITER5000-M ... B0002ZO7A2

Everything I've read seems to indicate it's perfection with every cut.

It's fairly expensive, but with the amount of boxes I'm going to be building I feel like it's nothing compared to everything else, and may save me hours and hours with the angle cuts and getting perfectly square panel cuts.

From what I've been reading it seems a lot of people just accept the cut is never completely perfect with a home made sled. Is this correct.

[LelandCrooks]

I played with one of those at the Grizzly store. It is an amazing piece of work. I don't have anything with t slots so I'm no help there. But no, I don't accept my jig being off more than 1/32 over 24".

[soundmankeith]

I use an Incra 1000 and couldn't be happier. Most important thing is to fine tune your saw. Make sure the blade is absolutely parallel to the mitre slots (if it's not, nothing will come out square), then parallel the fence to the slot (just a hair wider at the far end).

[bgavin]

The shortcoming I see in the photo is the sled is not long enough for wide panels.

I didn't have the $279 or whatever price being asked, so I built a sled from MDF.
I'll take some pix during my workday tomorrow. Mine is just a rope 'n tire, but it does the job.

My sled uses a piece of 3/8" BB ripped to fit the groove in my saw top.
I find it has almost no slop, and certainly does not affect the accuracy of the cuts.

For big panels, your sled has to be long enough to pass the work completely through the blade, and not come out of track.
I'm thinking a long sled combined with one of those adjustable roller stands will do the job nicely.
Lay a 4' level on the saw table, raise the roller extension up to where it hits the level.
The sled will slide off the table and onto the roller without dropping.

[LelandCrooks]

For big panels, your sled has to be long enough to pass the work completely through the blade, and not come out of track.
I'm thinking a long sled combined with one of those adjustable roller stands will do the job nicely.
Lay a 4' level on the saw table, raise the roller extension up to where it hits the level.
The sled will slide off the table and onto the roller without dropping.

Extend the rails of your sled about 6" past the end of the sled so they hit the rollers first. It made mine much easier to manage when using it for big pieces.

[phil]

I bought the miter5000, and I have to say, it is going to save me at least a good hour if not double or triple that per day depending on what I'm doing.

It was expensive, but man, the time it saves me (and of course it will probably save me way more time than others cause I'm such a noob) it will pay for itself in 1 cabinet if I valued my time even at minimum wage.

The only drawback is the width thing, but I can still do up to 23" with 100% accuracy. Every single cut is completely square. The sled I tried to build that would do that big when I did my 10.5's, would do that big, but it weighed probably a good 15lbs, was a pain to put on and take off the saw, and I would have to hold the saw stand with one foot when doing a cut that big, so it didn't try to tip.

The other really cool thing, is that once you calibrate it, you have a ruler on top with a "stop" that slides along the top. All I have to do to get an exact size cut, is put the stop where I want it on the ruler, tighten it down, and put the piece of wood against it, and push it through the saw. I can't imagine how many hours that alone will save me.

I also really like the adjustable rails, so there is 0 play, none at all, and it didn't take me 2 days to get it that way (like it was trying to get it like that for me with the wood sled). If I ever get play, it will take me no more than 30 minutes to re-adjust.

Also being able to just loosen a few screws to get the fence squared and tightening makes it way easier than trying to get a chunk of wood lined up perfectly. They say once you do the initial adjustment, it stays like that forever. Even if it doesn't it will only take me 5 minutes to make it like that again.

I can also cut 100% accurate angles down to the .5%, in just a couple of minutes. No pulling a sled off, putting a miter gauge on, and then swapping back to the sled for the straight cuts, or making a jig for each angle I want to do on the sled. That also has already saved me tons of time. The miter slides out also to over 50", and has a ruler on the part that slides out so once calibrated, you put your stop on the end and slide it out till the measurement on the ruler of the slide part is lined up and put your wood on and cut.

And I don't have to swap sleds to do different blade angles. I can either just use it as a one sided sled, or if I want 0 clearance on the cuts, you can get additional pieces for the other side of the sled for $25, and you can swap that in about 5 seconds.

I have to say, even with the high price tag, as a total noob with woodworking, it has already paid for itself.

If I value my personal time at anything, then I couldn't not get this, especially with 16 cabinets on the menu.

I haven't made it very far in my dr280 build yet, but I can bust out a horn side for that in about 15 minutes now taking my time, and to exact measurements. I don't think I ever got a panel to exact measurements when I built my 10.5's because of the small amount of slop.

Anyway, I'm sounding like too much of a commercial already, but if someone plans on building a lot of boxes, I think with my limited knowledge that one of these would even save an experienced wood worker tons of time in their build.

It's allowed me to actually feel confident in my building for the 1st time .

[pwfirst]

I have used hard wood for all may sled runners, some are 20 years old now. I have one sled that is open on both ends and the leading edge and you can cut any size panel with it but for big pieces I make the long cuts with my fence. making sure every thing is square on your saw is the main thing. A slighlty loose runner is not significant over the long run of the cut but a sticking runner is a pain to with when cutting panals. Phil