jig & fixture bars

[Pat Meeuwissen]

Hello, I'm wondering has anyone used these to make their own sleds? Specifically a crosscut sled for the table saw. Thanks Pat

Any videos using these??

[Ken Darga]

Pat,

Metal bars can be successfully affixed to a cross-cut or miter sled base.

[Ken Darga]

Pat,

Slats can be accurately machined from maple, and used as miter bars, affixed to the underside of the sled.

Make extra strips to use at a later date.

TIP:  cut the strips slightly wider than 3/4" and plane them down for a  bars to slide freely, with NO wobble.

Use finishing paste wax as a lubricant, for smooth operation.

[Scott G]

I need to build a cross cut sled as well. I'd found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBW9Bpi8wSs
This looked cool not just for the easy adjustment to make it fit perfectly, but to mount it to the sled itself. It's obviously critical that everything be as square as possible, and mounting from top down seems the easiest way to do that. (As opposed to lining up aluminum bars, which is another option.) Still, I'll probably go with the aluminum bars because I'll want the thing to slide the whole way across the table.

The metal option is to use these:
http://www.rockler.com/rockler-18-24-aluminum-miter-bar

I know plenty of guys make their own from wood, but I don't want to do that. Main reason is I just don't do as much woodworking as I'd like and jigs I make may sit for awhile. Wood is going to expand / contract a bit - at least for me because everything is in the garage. And even a little bit is going to mess up the play or be overly tight in the fairly precise slot in my metal table saw's top. So while I haven't built mine yet - planning on for spring as I mostly cut things in my driveway - these are the options I've found while looking into this.

[Scott G]

Ah... just found this one as well:

http://www.incra.com/product_jfc_miterslider.htm