Shop Project: Crosscut sled

I mentioned a few posts back (you're forgiven for not remembering) that a generous contribution from the Top Brass (along with some of our own hard-earned savings) had help to kit out our shop a little bit to help with future projects. And when I said that, this is what I was referring to:

That there is a Canadian-built General 350 cabinet saw with a 220-volt, single-phase, 3hp motor, right-tilting arbor, and a Delta Unifence. I bought it from a co-worker's boyfriend, and getting it over to the house and set up was all kinds of trouble, and worth every minute of it. It kicks so much ass, I can't even tell you.

But it did have a few shortcomings: for one, it didn't have a wing on the left side there because it was originally in use as a panel saw and had a walk-through contraption/roller table designed to let the operator make cuts in really large pieces of material. I certainly didn't need one of those, but to get the wing we have now with a built-in router table was a long, excruciating process with a whole host of separate problems that I won't get into because I don't feel like getting that angry again right now.

One of its other problems is the fact that the mitre gauge it came with was a little ... not worky, and finding a replacement is really hard and holy hell expensive. Fortunately, one of the most common self-built tools (and a good way to get to know your equipment a little better, if you know what I mean) for any woodworker is a crosscut sled.

Crosscut sleds allow you to make short cuts across the grain of a piece of wood without the risk of trapping the offcut between the blade and the fence. They can be pretty complex, and incorporate all kinds of fixtures and hold-downs and stop-blocks and tracks and whatnot, like so:

But I really just wanted to build a simple one to take the place of my broken mitre gauge.

So I gathered up a few pieces of scrap, including some of the oak trim and 1/2-inch plywood left over from my bookcases, and ponied up for a good piece of 3/4" MDF.

The first step was to create the fences, which required cutting strips off the MDF and plywood and then laminating them together with lots of glue and anything and everything I could stack on top as extra weight:

Then I had to do some fancy work with a jigsaw and a LOT of sanding with the belt sander and orbital sander... none of which I took pictures of. Oops.

Anyway, while the fences were drying, I very carefully cut down my oak pieces to act as runners in the miter slots on the table. This was really damn finicky, but I eventually got them sized just right:

Then I glued and screwed them to the bottom of the sled, and cut off the overhang:

Then it was MATH TIME!

To make sure the fence was square to the blade, I used the five-cut method. Generally speaking, anything under .005" of deviation over 12" is considered really good. After only one adjustment, I got mine to .00175 over 18". I'll take it!

And my asshole algebra teacher in Grade 11 would be so proud; I can show my work:

Anyway, here she is, in all her glory:

And yes, I did add a safety block for when the blade comes out the rear of the fence. I didn't take a picture of that because Lucille thinks the safety block makes her butt look big.

And yes, I named her Lucille. Hey, it worked for B.B. King....