Table Saw upgrades - Sled and Router (1 Viewer)

[Jetboy]

I've got an older Delta contractor's saw. I've been making some picture frames and other smaller projects with it. Good old saw, but I've often wished for more capability.

I've got the basic incra miter guide and it has the factory fence. I've also added a tenoning jig.

Next tool is a sled. I built a good base for one yesterday. Just a flat piece of 1/2" plywood and I cut two strips of solid cherry for the slots - I figured a hardwood would last longer and I had some 13/16" leftover that was easy to mill down to fit tightly.

Now that I've got a base - what do you like or dislike about your setup and how would you build again if you were starting over? I'm mostly curious about what you've done for adjustable fences and mitering? I saw one sled idea online with a more or less fixed set of 45* guides for making quick accurate mitered joints. I'm thinking that may be a good way to go.


Second, what are your thoughts on adding a router base to the table saw? I've got a cheap $50 router table that sucks. I'd very much like to use the table saw for this, but I'm not sure whether I should try to modify one of the wing areas to fit the table from the current router table - basically I'd cut it apart, weld in new flanges and bolt in the table top part from my cheap router table, or would I be better off just to start from scratch? It would be awesome to be able to mount the router approximately inline with the blade so I could use all the regular table saw jigs, but I don't see how that would be possible. I think cutting into the cast iron top would be hard to do. -what have you found works best? What would you do again?

(Unfortunately I really don't have room for another full size table for the router. If I did I'd find a table from the same type of saw and mount the router in the carriage from the saw, then all the jigs would cross over and I could adjust height etc from outside the cabinet, but I just don't have the room)

Thanks,

 

[KLF]

No matter how good the sled, table saws will never miter as well as a decent miter/chop saw.

I have an old Ryobi BT3000, it actually has a miter sled built in. In the few occasions that I've used the sled, it has worked really well. I've spent considerable time tweaking this saw to get it to run true and vibration-free, and I made my own blade inserts that sit dead flat to the deck. It's no Unisaw, but I only paid $125 for it on craigslist several years ago, and I've used it a ton. Like all table saws, it is only as good as the blade, and you have to keep it sharp. I've made a few other jigs for it, mostly for the fence. These saws pop up on craigslist occasionally (no longer made), and there is a huge following for them, this is the MUD version of a forum for them: http://www.bt3central.com/

I also have a nice 12" dual-bevel miter saw, on a good stand, so I never cross-cut on the table saw anymore.

Take a look at the Rockler website, they have some nice doodads and clamps for table saws. Might give you some ideas.

I used to have a radial arm saw, and it was excellent at crosscutting but that thing was just too dangerous, especially ripping. Glad it's gone.

Ryobi sells a kit to put a router on the BT3000, but it will never match a decent cabinet router table. I made my own base, put a Rockler top and fence on it, I've made a lot of stuff on it, including raised panel doors.

 

[Jetboy]

It seems to me that the table saw 'should' be more accurate so long as there is no play in the slot/sled interface. I cut my hardwood for the slots slightly large, then sanded them until they fit very tightly. I put some paste wax on them to slide, and it feels really solid. The bearing carriage assembly for the blade on a TS is much larger and considerably more rigid. The amount of flex in a typical SCMS slide is significant. I have a compound miter and a SCMS for steel cutting, which also will cut wood, but neither are repeatably accurate. The rigidity of the Bosch glider is really impressive. I'd love to have one, but it's not at the top of my tool list for $1,000 tools. I can build a full CNC router table for less that will do a lot more for me. - that's on my list of wants as soon as my boat is done.

I'm sure the high end SCMS could make accurate cuts, it just seems from my experience that they are either built for framers or trim carpenters. Neither of which really require high levels of accuracy like cabinetry or picture frame making. Possibly a good small non-sliding miter dialed in just for 45* miters with a thick heavy deflection free blade would be ideal.

The big downside I see to the sled is that once a piece is longer than about 4' it's going to be much more difficult to hold it in place and slide it easily.

 

[KLF]

My miter saw isn't a slider. I agree, a lot of the sliding mechanisms can get sloppy, some can be re-tightened, some not. I really like the Makita sliders, but they are $$$.

 

[HenryAZ]

During my time working in a millwork shop (25 years, my first "career"), I probably made a couple of dozen sleds for our various saws. One thing I found out, if you want a good fit, is each saw takes its own, even if the saws are identical models purchased at the same time.

I always had two good ones for each saw, one a "cut off" sled, and the other a miter sled. I used teak for the runners, if I had it, because it is naturally oily. Rosewood is another good choice (oily). Install the runners to the plywood first, oversized, then fit them to the table slots with a rabbet plane, and only then wind up the blade through the plywood, just a small cut front and back. Finally, install the cutting guides on top, either 90* or 45* to the saw cut.

The cutoff sled saw by far the most use. When one got sloppy, we'd wind the dado cutters up through it and use it with them. So we usually had three for each saw, one on its last legs.

Yes it's harder to use them when the wood is longer, depending on how wide the board is. In our shop, though, by the time the wood got to where the small table saws were (the Unisaws), it had been rough cut to length to no longer than door stiles usually (7 ft or so), so the sleds were real handy to have close to your bench.

A well made miter sled is hard to beat for accuracy with a good blade, and most especially hard to beat if you have a lot of pieces to miter.

 

[Junk]

I used some left over UHMW for the runners of my crosscut sled. Between that and making some zero clearance inserts, I'm pretty happy with my setup. It was a cheap 10" Jet contractor saw. I have a set of guage blocks from machining that I use to measure my setup frequently before making my cuts. Also put cheap paddle stop switch on it so I can knock it with my leg as I finish my cut. Just like anything else though, more practice and use is more important than the equipment. I had a deal lined up for a free powermatic 72, but it was just too big for me to dedicate space to. I picked it up and gave it to a neighbor who'd been helping me out.