I have a tradesman table saw and I am looking for a miter bar so that I might make a crosscut sled. The slot has a notch in it so that it will not accept a stand miter bar. I have heard of people making bars out of a high density plastic. Is there a source for that?
I am also thinking of filing the notches off the slots in the saw so that it will use square bar stock. Even then it is about 5/8 wide instead of the standard 3/4.
Replies
UHMW plastic, expensive. Runners can be made of wood or consider just a simple metal runner from steel bar stock.
Plastic and metal can be bound at http://www.mcmaster.com
If anyone knows of a source for miter bar like the one I am talking about, please provide a link. Tradesman and Craftsman's lower priced saws use this type of bar and slot system.
I thought I could file or grind away the notches in the track but that would render my stock miter gauge (useless, but really the only one I can use because of the stupid miter slot) un-usable.Thanks for any help.
Bill
Highland Hardware sells some phenolic runners at very reasonable prices that can be sanded & filed to fit. Also, you might check w/ ShopSmith. I seem to remember that their miter gauge slot was smaller than standard, so one of their guages might work for you.
My low end Craftsman TS also has non standard miter slides. I milled down some hard maple scrap for sled sliders and it performs very well. If you use two sliders rather than just one there isn't really much lateral force being applied to either. The waxed maple also slides more smoothly than any of the metal rails I have on other machines.
Where are the notches that a square bar won't work? Your filler idea sounds like a good one. Bondo might be a good choice since it will be effective but could be removed if you absolutely had to.
Pete
Put an endmill in a router, mill the slots off, then widen to 3/4"x 3/8". Ask a machinist what type of endmill will be needed. I saw a fellow rout a circle in a cast iron top for his router, then deepen the cutout for the router base to sit in. I never tried anything like this, but it can be done.
mike
Widening the slot with a router can be done, but it's really hairy in practice. At the very least,you're going to need very careful use of jigs to avoid destroying the slot. You also need to be sure there's enough meat in the casting to widen it. This only works for aluminum, and should not be attempted in a cast iron or steel table. I'm guessing the operation that you describe was done in an aluminum table, or it was done on a milling machine.The original post mentioned slots, but it sounds the miter slot has some kind of ridge or rail. If so and the rail is narrow and down the middle, it can probably be removed without a lot of trouble. To do it with a router, you'd still want to rout with on both sides to keep the cutter off the walls.PeteEdited 2/3/2006 11:35 am ET by PeteBradley
Edited 2/3/2006 11:37 am ET by PeteBradley
Bad advice. Info like yours on the web is scary stuff. Endmills and steel are run at a few hundred rpms not 10,000 or 20,000. Cast iron and steel are really different materials. Non-ferrous like brass and aluminum can be done on a router but I wouldn't recommend a beginner try it. Light passes and not free handed.
After reading your reply I called the person who I saw do this. He confirmed what you said. The saw table he cut the hole for a router was cast aluminun, he used a speed control on a router to run as slow as possible. He does not advise the average wood worker to try this. He felt safe doing it, he came up with a better solution.Mill slots in mdf , install on top of the existing table. Make it easily removable for ripping or higher cuts.
mike
Problem solved. I did my taxes today and I'm getting enough back to afford a "real" saw. I talked the wife into letting me get a $500 contractor saw. I saw a Jet 708100 at Lowes for $500 on clearance. I think I am getting that one.Anyone want to buy a Tradesman benchtop saw?
Edited 2/10/2006 12:17 am ET by Billgiblin
Could you accurately describe the shape of the miter slots in your saw's table, with dimensions, and what the table is cast out of? Everybody is making recommendations based on guesses about their shape. Also are you referring to a Tradesman brand name tool?
John W.
http://www.toolcenter.com/pics/tools/8030bl2.gif
This your saw??? You can take some plastic (UHMW) and make the runners fit the saw by ripping the plastic on the tablesaw to make your sled runners. http://www.mcmaster.com
Things are only as difficult as you want them to be!
Very similar. THe slots are the same. I think I am going to make some runners out of hardwood. Another thought I am going to explore is using a plastic kitchen cutting board and cutting some strips out of it. Maybe that wont be hard or dense enough.
I think I can mess around (probably take all day to get it perfect) with a thin strip of hard wood and a rebetting bit to notch it out. Thanks for all the help.
>Another thought I am going to explore is using a plastic kitchen >cutting board and cutting some strips out of it.I tried to make some zero clearance inserts out of one years ago. Even though the surfaces look good, the interiors of those things are full of voids and coarse globules of plastic. Probably not worth your effort to cut one up, but if you do, please let me know if you have other results.
If you can order parts from the manufacturer, you could order miter bars as a repair part.
John W.
yeah, I checked and they're like $17 plus shipping per bar. You have to get the miter gauge.
My friend bought one of those saws. He made a sled for his but made the runners to fit between the tabs. Served for the carpentry work he needed.The table is made from pressed/formed aluminium. The slot tabs are pressed in at intervals along the slot to function like a "tee slot". The top is not thick enough to mill to the standard slot size to take standard accessories. If memory serves it's shallower than standard as well so that makes it ever harder do match the bar profile to the origional in other materials.Sears should have a slap upside the head for ever marketing it! I know this isn't what an owner of that saw would want to hear. But you should free yourself from that machine and upgrade. Even the imported contractor saws are better machines and for about the same money.
Yeah, that was my thinking too once I saw the picture. Benchtop saws better than that one show up in the classifieds all the time.Pete
Bill, you're talking about a t slotted table groove. The miter gauge rides in the corresponding groove and won't rise up.
This application has been used in machine tools for many years
I recently made one for a cheap, imported (Oxymoron?) band saw by attaching two lengths of aluminum to form the 'tee'.shaped bar. The material was 1/8" aluminum flat stock and I ripped the segments on my table saw.
Drilled the holes,tapped the lower bar's holes and countersunk the upper bar's holes for 8-32 flat headed machine screws.
A smooth file and a bit of 'bluing' was used to deburr and hand fit the gauge. Steinmetz
Edited 2/10/2006 10:30 pm ET by Steinmetz
I had the same issue. I went to Mcmaster Carr and bought 6061 aluminum @ 5/8"×1/4"×24" to accommodate smaller guage slots on my table. Buying 4 from Mcmaster was $30 with shipping for 4 pieces. Fit great and you can easily drill slots and countersink them to fit crosscut sled.
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