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In an ongoing post in this forum a question of which miter saw to purchase turned into a discussion of miter saw vs crosscut sled (generally shop-made). See below. My question is how do you all keep your shop made sleds more accurate than a well tuned miter saw with frequent use and wood and weather changes?
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads...ID=#Post7185591
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build them using stable materials.
I have made crosscut sliders for Tablesaws and shapers that are going on 20 yrs old
they cut as accurately today as they did when I made them.
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To add to Jgrout. Your usage should be consistant also. Push from the same point / side of the fence. Similar to using a miter gauge.
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I have a DeWalt 12" miter saw. It has many, many hours of use and is fine for carpentry(deck) work. No way is it precise enough for shop work. And I have the same fine finish blade for the miter saw I use on my table saw.
I made some crosscut/miter sleds several years ago. 7 layer oak ply and 3/4" oak for the guides. I even made one I could adjust.
Then I bought a V27 Incra miter gauge---and my sleds are in a corner.
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I bought the Kreg miter bar, for my sled. I don't use a miter saw in my shop.
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in this video, William walks you through making as near a perfect sled as I have built. The beauty is, you could easily take his knowledge to make it square, and apply it to any size sled, or add gizmo's or do dads to your hearts content.
Note when he shows you the QS grain for his runners, he's using hard maple, which is excellent, but Oak or any good hardwood will work, and you can also use the metal slides sold by many vendors. BB ply is probably the best bet for the majority of the sled, it can get beaten up without falling apart. MDF is not going to last long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbG-n--LFgQ
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I use my miter saw about once a year; always away from the shop. I have an Osborne miter gauge and a shop made panel cutter. With those two I don't need a MS.
John
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I use a DeWalt 8.5" sliding miter saw for the majority of my crosscuts. I even devised a face frame technique using 60/30 miters.
I should add that I have a sliding table on my saw, I use it for box joints and for dados/rabbits on drawer boxes but very seldom for cross cutting.
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Bill
For the glides I use UHMW since they will never move. For the top I use a Melamine and do the 5 cut method to make mine .0015 from perfect. It has not changed in 4 years.
If I need to rip I take it off otherwise then that it stays on.
Arlin
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I would suggest to not use the UHMW or any of the other plastics. For a sacrificial fence they are ok due to the support of the solid fence, but as a rail in a miter slot they get wonky in hot weather pretty easily, maybe due to smaller widths? Think of noodles
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW