The bed of my table saw isn’t that large, so if I have to crosscut anything more than about 10 inches wide the miter gauge is pushed off the front of the table, making it very awkward to cut properly. I don’t expect that it’s very safe, either. I’m left-handed so I like to hold the work to left of the blade, and that’s the best direction for large stock to extend in my shop. (It goes out the door if it’s over about 5 feet long…)

A crosscut sled seemed to be the perfect solution.

I’ve been looking for a good crosscut sled to make myself, but everything that I found was quite large and cumbersome. As you’ve seen before, I have a reasonably small shop so moving and storing a large sled just wasn’t going to work for me.

I had never heard of a front-stopped crosscut sled until I saw this plan, and I knew that it was perfect for my needs.

I started out with a piece of 1/2″ MDF that I cut to 20″ x 20″. I figured I’d make it a bit larger than I needed and trim it later, but that size seems perfect as it is. I lined it up where I wanted the sled to sit on the table saw, with about 1/2 inch extending to the right of the blade. I then marked where the miter slot in the table was, and mounted a piece of UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) plastic as a guide. UHMW plastic is that slightly greasy feeling dense plastic they make hockey rink boards out of. It’s very stable and easy to cut and drill with normal tools. Lee Valley sells lengths of it that are perfectly sized to the standard miter slot, so I don’t have to make my own runners out of hardwood.

I like the runner to stick out about a half inch or so from the front on the sled, so it’s easier to put it on the table properly because you can aim the runner into the miter slot.

Once the runner was mounted, I put the runner in the miter slot, raised the saw blade and trimmed that extra 1/2″ off. Now I have a sled that slides beautifully in the miter slot, and that has one edge that is exactly in line with the edge of the saw blade.

I inserted threaded T-Nuts into the bottom of the sled along the front edge to attach the fence, and found out that they don’t sit flush, so I used a forstner bit to make a small recess. I don’t want the metal t-nuts sliding on the surface of my saw.

From the top:

I used a scrap piece of red oak for the fence. Once I trimmed it straight, I drilled 3 holes along the length to match the T-Nuts in the sled. The holes were slightly larger than the T-Nuts so there is about 1/16″ play in the fence when it’s not tightened down. I can loosen the bolts and easily adjust the fence to be square. I know my own skills well enough that if I tried to make the fence permanent, it would never be quite square and the whole sled would be useless. Planning for these type of adjustments has saved me a lot of grief.

A large fender washer and a 1/4-20 sized jig handle threaded into each T-Nut keep the fence nice and snug. I bought a large assorted box of jig handles and parts, including the T-Nuts, from Lee Valley. (Most of my birthday and Christmas presents are Lee Valley gift cards nowadays… ) I already have plans for most of the rest of that box.

The fence also has a pair of DeStaCo low-profile vertical clamps (guess where I bought them?) that keep whatever I’m cutting from creeping during the cut. I have them adjusted to keep 3/4 stock tight, as that’s 90% of what I cut.

The only thing that remained was to round the bottom corners, cut some holes through the near side to make it easier to hold, and to add some holes on the sides to hang it up out of the way. Voila.

Here are some pictures of it with wood clamped in, before and after cutting.

And it hangs perfectly on the wall when I’m not using it.

I was unsure about how the front-stopped sled would work, but I really love it. It’s different than the usual back-stopped miter gauge, but I already prefer it hands-down. Wider work is far easier to cut. The fact that the edge of the sled is exactly on the saw cutting line makes setup far more accurate and far simpler; Put the desired cut line at the edge of the sled and it’s perfectly lined up. The clamps make it a breeze. No more slightly angled cuts due to slipping.

Because there’s no support for the back of the work, I found I get some minor tearout if I don’t put something behind it. I have some long 1×1 pieces of scrap that I put on the sled behind the work hanging over the cut line, and when they get too short I toss them. Finally, a use for my scraps box.

I also need to make a 1/2 inch thick piece that sits on the right side of the blade to support the cut-off, because it hangs over nothing and can splinter if it’s long enough. I will just use the rest of the MDF that I cut the sled from, and put a ledge on the front like a bench-hook so it won’t slide with the wood.

The only downside that I’ve seen is that because the cutting takes place a half-inch above the table top, the under-table dust collection doesn’t work, and the sawdust all sprays back towards me. Not serious, just messy. Perhaps when I get the cut-off support made I’ll try to fit some dust collection in it, or perhaps if the cut-off support is tight to the blade on the right side the dust collection will work better. I’ll let you know.

I’ve had it for a week, and I’ve used it every single time I’ve been in the shop. This crosscut sled has made my life in the shop a million times easier, for one afternoon’s worth of work. If you’re still using a metal miter gauge, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you try this.

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