Small Crosscut Sled

[Chet]

I saw a version similar to this in a video posted on Matt Kenney's instagram account.

I am running out of room in the house for major furniture builds so I started to think about making small jewelry boxes or keepsake boxes, maybe to sell.  I wanted a sled that was designed for nothing but cutting 45's on box pieces.  What I ended up with is a two piece jig.  One part sits in the left miter slot and catches the off cuts, the other part is the sled itself that holds the work and slides on the right miter slot.  

The sled is 10 inches by 24 inches and has a tee slot for a stop block.  I have a safety box on the back edge to keep the blade from being exposed on the back side of the fence and there is also a piece of plexiglass 2 inches wide over the blade end that allows me to see my work but keeps my fingers away from the blade.

I built some practice boxes to test the concept and ended up adding a toggle clamp to the stop block to make it much easier to hold the smaller pieces.

I should make a comment about safety - In the first three picture I have the blade a lot more exposed then I ever would during operation.  I had it up to make sure I had all my safety clearances covered properly.  I didn't noticed that I had left it that way while taking the pictures until just now.

Four pictures of the sled and the last is one of my "test run" boxes, not even glued, just tape.

 

 

 

 

 

[Woodenskye (Bryan)]

That's a great solution Chet!  I like the thought of the part to catch the off cut.

[Kev]

39 minutes ago, Woodenskye (Bryan) said:

That's a great solution Chet!  I like the thought of the part to catch the off cut.

Agreed!  Reminds me of the Incra 5k but, a much less expensive solution!  Nice job Chet!

[Coop]

Pretty cool Chet! Usually when I take your lead it ends up costing me my stimulus check but this can be done on a budget. I also like making boxes and my old method, tried but not true was getting my fingers as close to the blade as possible on small pieces. So my insurance carrier will appreciate this as well. Is there not a concern of the left piece getting bumped or moved and hitting the blade? I may add a runner to it as well. Thanks for sharing. 

[Coop]

Chet, do you just eyeball the edge of your blade guided by the 45* cut of the board that supports the plexiglass? Cut you put a stop attached to the end board that guarantees this. It wouldn’t be necessary on most cuts but I could see where it would be helpful on your box divider. 

[Chet]

43 minutes ago, Coop said:

Is there not a concern of the left piece getting bumped or moved and hitting the blade?

It has a runner just like the sled so it doesn't hit the blade and I made it pretty snug so that it also doesn't move parallel to the blade either, it stays pretty much in place.

 

35 minutes ago, Coop said:

Chet, do you just eyeball the edge of your blade guided by the 45* cut of the board that supports the plexiglass? Cut you put a stop attached to the end board that guarantees this. It wouldn’t be necessary on most cuts but I could see where it would be helpful on your box divider. 

You are correct when making the front and back and ends of the box it is not critical as long as the front and back are the same and the ends are the same.  When it gets to dividers or other internal parts it needs to be a more dialed in situation.   I learned with my practice pieces that if I measure 1/8 inch less then my needed length from the edge of the sled closest to the blade back to the stop block then I am good.  But until I an really convinced thats what works, I am going to be setting up and cutting scraps to check my work.  I will be milling some poplar pieces along with my chosen species to us for set up through the project.

[Chet]

Just a point of interest.  I designed this so that the blade is tilted away from me and my fingers.  So if someone has a right tilting blade, they should design their sled to go on the other side from mine. 

[Coop]

3 minutes ago, Chet said:

You are correct when making the front and back and ends of the box it is not critical as long as the front and back are the same and the ends are the same.  When it gets to dividers or other internal parts it needs to be a more dialed in situation.   I learned with my practice pieces that if I measure 1/8 inch less then my needed length from the edge of the sled closest to the blade back to the stop block then I am good.  But until I an really convinced thats what works, I am going to be setting up and cutting scraps to check my work.  I will be milling some poplar pieces along with my chosen species to us for set up through the project.

Would’t a stop block eliminate the guess work or would there be a concern of kick back of the off cut, similar to cross cutting a board using a miter gauge and fence combo? 

[Chet]

I am using a stop block.  I measure back from the edge of the sled closest to the blade back to the stop block, minus 1/8 of an inch. This gives me the correct bevel on Bothe sides and both ends.  I don't know if you noticed in my practice box, but I am using a "V" glove instead of dado, I think it will look a little more elegant for small stuff.

[Coop]

Ok, gotcha now. And 1/16” if using a thin kerf. And I agree with the vee groove. Thanks

[Chet]

26 minutes ago, Coop said:

And 1/16” if using a thin kerf.

Well, no not necessarily because you create the edge of your sled by making a cut so your thin kerf would be the same distance from the edge of your sled as my blade would be from mine.

[Coop]

Thanks bud. I realized that after I typed it but tried and could not edit/correct my mistake.