Big Ol' Crosscut Sled

Vaughn McMillan

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I've been working on a fairly large cutting board, and I needed a way to trim the edges square. Since it was longer than my crosscut sled could handle, I slapped together a longer crosscut sled. I needed to use it today, so I figured I'd snap a few pics to show here. You'll see that I did no refinements. Eventually I'll likely sand it, ease the edges, and put a few coats of water-based poly on it, but for now I'm spending my time making products to sell, not pretty shop jigs.

I started with a 2' x 4' piece of 3/4" oak plywood, and made the fences from 3 layers of 1/2" baltic birch plywood laminated together. The runners are UHMD plastic, bought from Peachtree Woodworking already cut to size. Stealing an idea from Glenn Bradley's (nicer) sled I saw here a while back, I made the front fence in such a way that I could adjust it. (Although once I had it tweaked just right, I locked it in with a handful of long wood screws.)

Here's the sled, ready for work:

Big Sled 1.jpg

The wood on the edges of the cutting board is sacrificial pine that I used earlier in the construction process. Since the cutting board is too wide for my planer, I had to cut the initial glue-up in half before planing it (the long grain). I added the pine to the ends of each half so that when I ran them through my planer, any snipe would be on the waste wood, not the keeper wood. When I re-cut the wood and did the second glue-up, I left the pine in place, planning to trim it off after the second gluing operation, when I turned all the pieces to get the end grain orientation I wanted. After the second (final) glue-up, I sanded the whole assembly flat, then trimmed the edges.

Big Sled 5.jpg

Here's a picture of the bolt I used on one end of the front fence. The hole it's in is a bit wider than the bolt itself, allowing for some adjustment. The other end of the fence was attached with a wood screw, so that acted as a pivot point. This made is very quick and easy to set (and lock) a perfect 90° angle to the saw blade. I'll likely never adjust it again, but making it adjustable for the initial setting of the fence was a very useful addition. (Thanks for the idea, Glenn.)

Big Sled 2.jpg

The bolt is oval-headed for use in a t-track, but I used it because of the lower profile:

Big Sled 4.jpg

And one final shot of the bottom of the sled, showing the runners and the wood screws that I locked the fence down with:

Big Sled 3.jpg

As I said, this one's nothing fancy, but it'll allow me to safely crosscut pieces up to about 3' in width. (My other, smaller sled is a bit more refined, with t-track for a stop block, rounded corners, and a nice clear finish on it.)

Pics of the finished cutting board will be ready after a few days of soaking in oil. ;)
 
Vaughn
Dont bother to sand it, just send it over here.

What kind of products are you making for sale?
Myself in the process of building two 4' benches, hoping to be done this week. (Go faster if I get off this machine)
 
My crosscut sled is great for most things but to small for about ten percent of the cuts that I need to make. In addition to my small sled I need one "Big Ol' Crosscut Sled" just like yours. (Need more room please) I do have the EZ but without buying a great big ole honkin' saw to go with it I cannot cut a full 1 1/2" depth with it on the rail.
 
That's a beauty Vaughn. Now you know how I came to make that beast that you so kindly mention in your post; task specific need. You'll probably find it coming in quite handy for your larger cutting boards in the future.
 
Hey, I just noticed something..................

You can see the floor in Vaughn's show :eek: ;) :D

:rofl:
And in my shop, too. :D

I gotta say, the carpet's easy on the legs and knees, but it's a pain to keep clean. Also makes moving equipment on mobile bases a challenge.

...I barely remember my crosscut sled days, trying to blot them out...
Fine. Rub it in, buddy. I'm trying to feel your pain, but it's just not workin' for me. :rofl: :D :rofl: I hope to someday be in your position. ;)
 
Vaughn,

your sled looks nice! Nice-n-big! :thumb:

I'm going to borrow Glenn's design and make one for myself. I had one that I put together a while ago, but it was dropped and now it isn't so square.:doh:

One question.... do you remove your splitter when using the sled, or does the sled go right over it?

My splitter is shop made from a small piece of angle bracket steel (like the stuff that is used to mount electric garage door openers). I can take it off, but its kind of a pain. If it wouldn't cause a problem, I would probably leave it in when using the sled.
 
Sean, I have the Micro-Jig splitter, so it comes right off, and I don't use it for crosscuts. I don't see any reason you couldn't leave yours on, though.
 
I'm with Vaughn. Micro Splitter here also. I remove it because I'm afraid I'll snap it off by accident. As you describe yours, I see no problem.
 
pretty neat sled Vaughn.
Somewhere I have pics of my aircraft carrier sized panel sled, but one of my first 'finished' projects will be to build a much smaller sled. Mine is 36" side to side and can handle up to a 25" panel, made of 3/4" solid core Luann and Poplar risers. Heavy beastie let me tell you.
 
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