Machined miter bar?

[JDuke]

I know due to variability most aftermarket miter gauges ship with an adjustable miter bar.

The woodcraft branded incra miter gauge that I have used for years has such a bar, and the aluminum bars I ordered for a sled have plastic set screws to adjust.

Has anyone with machine shop ability at home made their own perfect fit miter bar?

I have a Lagun mill that should make fairly easy work of making one from steel that I could then drill and tap for the incra head.

Might even be better to get close with the mill and sneak up on the final fit with my belt grinder.

Has anyone made their own?
Any gotchas I should look out for?

Duke

[Handplanesandmore]

Not a machinist here, metal rubbing against metal , would it result in play over time?

My miter bar has spring-loaded balls, and they need to be replaced after prolonged use.

Simon

[EricU]

I'm not sure this is the part of the miter gauge that I would want to improve.  I'm pretty happy with my Incra miter bar.  If I ever end up machining a fixed 90 degree miter gauge, I'll probably use the incra bar.

If you were going to make the bar, it seems like a surface grinder would be the tool to have.

[Bob Vaughan]

For decades, I've been ordering 3/4 x 3/8 CRS bar stock and using that.  Lately the machining hasn't been perfect so I've had to file fit or bend some of the 18"+ sticks.  This makes for a very precise fit.  Most miter gauge slots are made to take a 3/4" wide bar.  Some of the old Sears table saws used a smaller slot so to accommodate this, makers made bars that fit the old Sears saws and an expanding detail so the miter gauge will fit the rest of the saws.
A penny is 3/4" diameter (actually most measure at .749 rather than .750).  It makes a quick gauge block to check miter gauge slots.  A penny will not drop down into a lot of the Sears saw slots.

[barryvabeach]

I agree with Simon, if you develop wear in the slot, then how will you solve that?  I drilled holes and threaded them and put nylon screws through them to get a tight but sliding fit, and assume that if anything wears, it will be the nylon screws, not the slot.

[Woodshop]

I had one made years ago 24" long, worked good. but not that impressive. I replaced it with a large Excalibur slide table. it gives me 49" in front of the blade on my 12" saw, absolutely love it. personal I think a wood sled is better than a machined miter bar. I still use those.

[JDuke]

Eric, you are correct, a surface grinder is the right tool for the job, but not one I have in my arsenal.

I hadn't thought of ordering 3/4 x 3/8 CRS, thats a good idea and probably would work better than my plan of cutting something down to size.

as for wear, if I had someone running the tablesaw nonstop for years, then I would worry more about wear, for a hobby shop where I probably put less than 50 hours of actual run time on my saw, I can't imagine the wear would be a problem in 3 lifetimes, and at that point its somebody else problem.


One of the reasons I was looking at this was for the longer piece to be able to use my miter gauge more reliably when its further out (yes I have a support table that goes over the front rail of table saw to support the work out there.

I am curious as to why you think a wood runner is better than metal?

years ago I experimented with UHMW as a runner, and it failed miserably.  My thought was that I could use screws to variable apply pressure through it to get a tight fit, and to some extent that worked, but only in very local points.

Thanks
Duke

[Handplanesandmore]

Not saying it's wrong to make your own bar, but I thought wear from constant and intensive use was a critical reason why you wanted to make one yourself. The usage estimate you gave could be handled even by a qtrsawn hardwood runner.

Simon

[JDuke]

Not saying it's wrong to make your own bar, but I thought wear from constant and intensive use was a critical reason why you wanted to make one yourself. The usage estimate you gave could be handled even by a qtrsawn hardwood runner.

Simon

its not so much wear that I have an issue with,its that on the incra, there are 6 tiny surfaces that are plastic that contact the saws miter slot, and when the gauge where as a solid bar either metal or wood gets more contact area.

the wood that size does flex when used out as far as I want to use it though, thats why I was thinking metal.

thanks

Duke

[Handplanesandmore]

Duke,

Knowing more about your needs, I think this could be another option using a long wooden runner with an infeed table. There're several different versions such as this ---

https://www.homeownershub.com/woodworkin...93500-.htm

Simon