Adv/Disadv of Left, Right or center kerf on a table saw sled?
I have seen table saw sleds with the blade passing down the center, left or right of center. Why ? What is the advantage or disadvantage of each?
my thinking is a center kerf will allow both sides to be used but the disadvantage is that you limit the cut to the width of the sled.
having a left or right will allow more support of the piece to be cut on one side. I assume the side that is longer coincides with the side of the table that has a larger side area. Downside is all the cuts are taken from one side, if I had to guess.
I also wonder if 45 deg miters can still be done if the kerf is at 1/3 from one side at all say when you are making picture frames.
looking to hear if my thought are valid and what other reasons to select one over the other.
thank you
Frank
Replies
Mine has the kerf on the right side, about 1/3 from the right edge. The advantage is that there is more support for longer boards extending off the left side. If you make one of those giant sleds, it ok to have it in the middle. I wouldn't make one. Those things are beasts to lift on and off the table. BTW, you aren't limited to the width of the sled. The board can hang off the end.
For miters, you want to be able to cut from both sides. A dedicated miter sled is in order.
I prefer to make mine biased to the right meaning I have more support to the left of the blade. My thinking is I usually will place longer boards to the left because my shop is pretty much unobstructed to the left but long boards to the right require me to not only remove my fence but possibly my router table fence as well since it is built into my 52" long side extension table. Another reason to maximize support to the left is I can use a Deadman to support my cutoffs or workpiece on the right side. A Deadman is a simple board the same thickness as the sled maybe 6" wide and about 24" long that has a cleat attached to it that hooks against the front of my extension table and keeps it in place as I push the sled through the saw. This option does not exist on the left side of my saw.
As for one sled to crosscut and cut mitres, it can be done one of two ways. You can usually get a wider range of cuts by putting a removable mitre guide on the leading edge of the sled, just be sure to align it with the fence not the board on the leading edge which isn't usually squared to the blade precisely. The drawback to this method is there is no support as the blade exists the cut so it is prone to more tear out. This can usually be alleviated by holding a sacrificial board behind the workpiece.
The other way to cut mitres on a single sled is to place the removable angle gauge against the fence. This will have a more limited width of cut range but remember the board that forms the leading edge "fence" doesn't need to be full width, just wide enough to get a couple of screws on either side of the kerf and provide enough support to keep the base together. Six inches on either side of the kerf is usually sufficient.
Depends. Having the blade pass down the same side of the sled as the arbor nut will keep your kerf more true for joinery and such. Its nice when you can just put your line on the kerf and know you’ll cut there with zero clearance support. Its also nice to not have to switch blades when you wanna use your sled.
This is the mostly the way I look at it as well.
I'll add that one sled won't do everything. Most times it's easier to make a "use specific" sled rather than trying to adapt an existing one.
Woodworker make sleds, jigs, guides and fixtures, it's what we do.
You want more sled on the side farthest away from your fence. You won't have to remove the fence to use the sled.
But either way works. Whatever suits you. Just don't make a really big sled. You'll end up making one that's a bunch smaller for 98% of your cutting.
2 sleds are almost unavoidable if you do mostly casework like myself. There is no way to cut a 24" panel in a small sled, but your point is valid, my large sled must weigh 25-30 lbs with the elaborate hold down systems and extendable fence I built into it to insure repeatability on long panels, an engineering marvel but a beast to get off the wall.
And if you're going to do a lot of meters it just makes sense to have a sled dedicated to that as well.
The offset of a sled is needed because there is a dead zone when using a stop block clamped to the sled fence if the blade is centered in the sled.
Say you have 10" of sled to the right of the blade. The table saw fence with a stop block will allow you to make cuts from about 10 1/8" and longer. When clamping a stop block to the fence of the sled. The stop block takes up space, So a 2" stop block only allows 8" max cuts to the right of the blade. The range to the right is 0-8", 10 1/8"+. The left needs to be able to handle the dead spot so it needs to be longer to accommodate a stop block, maybe 4-5".
Wouldn't a T track along the top and an offset stop block solve this?
Not saying this is a good one. Just showing it to explain my thought.
There's nothing to solve. We build sleds to do what we need them for. If a sled is too short we make another one. The only "cure" is to build a massively oversized sled that you will hesitate to use for a quick cut.
I build mine with 2 runners and a tall block in the middle. The arbor side of the blade will remain close to zero-clearance, even with different blades. I have no idea what "the offset of a sled" is. If I need a bit more length or solid backup for a cut I just tape in a strip of whatever is handy.
Amen
No tricks, gimmicks or hacks, you just build what you need for the job
Left or right? How about both? Some time back Matt Kenney detailed a sled that ran on one side of the blade when the blade was vertical and on the other when it was tilted to 45 degrees for mitered boxes and such. I built one and it’s super useful. Not made for large workpieces, but as others have noted, it’s pretty much inevitable that you will have several if not many.
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