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- Jan 2, 2014
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Hi Gang,
I thought I would share this table-saw jig/sled I just built. It is meant to safely and securely hold the work while keeping fingers far from the blade.
Recently the local Scout group built their small trucks in my workshop. A couple times I wished I had a better way to hold smaller parts safely. We did temporarily screw some parts to a board that was slid along the fence. It worked, but was a little crude. I wanted something better.
My new jig uses t-slot inserts like this:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=52400&cat=3,43576,61994,52400
They are actually called "double" t-slot tracks because the external "tee" holds the track into the wood, there are no fasteners. That way there's nothing for the t-bolts to get hung up on and the base does not need to be thick enough for mounting screws. (Of course the thickness of the jig base limits the depth of cut into your work as it lifts the work-piece above the table.)
I used a left-over piece of 1/2" MDF 12" wide by about 32" long for the base. The first step in mounting the tracks is cutting a 3/4" wide by 3/8" deep dado, then the "tee" part is added with a special under-cutting router bit (also shown at the link above). I used four track across my 12" jig. You can see that one slot uses the cut-off track from the other three slots.
The t-slot inserts and router bit are a little costly, but I got the toggle clamps cheap ($2 each). My clamps came without any way of mounting them, so I cut some short pieces of angle and drilled and tapped for some socket-head cap-screws (shcs) and drilled larger holes for the t-bolts to hold them down.
I made some of the hold-downs with little MDF "wheels" cut out with a hole saw. They are hot-glued onto the threaded rod, and that little pad of glue helps add friction. I thought I might add sand-paper discs in the future. For some other hold-downs I just used the bolt heads.
To use it you simply clamp the "cut line" right at the edge of the jig. The jig rides against the fence that is set at exactly the 12" jig width. When it's clamped right you can pick up the entire jig using the work piece as a "handle".
I might also draw lines across the jig for any commonly used angles. That way I could just clamp the work along a line and cut.
Years ago I built a larger sled that is similar. It was a half sheet of plywood, with a series of counter-sunk holes drilled from the back. Carriage bolts were used to mount the top-side clamps. I made that one really big to help get a straight cut in a piece of kitchen counter-top. That one had a runner on the bottom that rode in the saw table mitre slot. It worked fine but was ugly, a little unwieldy and setting up the clamps was slow from the back-side.
This new one works great!
-brino
I thought I would share this table-saw jig/sled I just built. It is meant to safely and securely hold the work while keeping fingers far from the blade.
Recently the local Scout group built their small trucks in my workshop. A couple times I wished I had a better way to hold smaller parts safely. We did temporarily screw some parts to a board that was slid along the fence. It worked, but was a little crude. I wanted something better.
My new jig uses t-slot inserts like this:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=52400&cat=3,43576,61994,52400
They are actually called "double" t-slot tracks because the external "tee" holds the track into the wood, there are no fasteners. That way there's nothing for the t-bolts to get hung up on and the base does not need to be thick enough for mounting screws. (Of course the thickness of the jig base limits the depth of cut into your work as it lifts the work-piece above the table.)
I used a left-over piece of 1/2" MDF 12" wide by about 32" long for the base. The first step in mounting the tracks is cutting a 3/4" wide by 3/8" deep dado, then the "tee" part is added with a special under-cutting router bit (also shown at the link above). I used four track across my 12" jig. You can see that one slot uses the cut-off track from the other three slots.
The t-slot inserts and router bit are a little costly, but I got the toggle clamps cheap ($2 each). My clamps came without any way of mounting them, so I cut some short pieces of angle and drilled and tapped for some socket-head cap-screws (shcs) and drilled larger holes for the t-bolts to hold them down.
I made some of the hold-downs with little MDF "wheels" cut out with a hole saw. They are hot-glued onto the threaded rod, and that little pad of glue helps add friction. I thought I might add sand-paper discs in the future. For some other hold-downs I just used the bolt heads.
To use it you simply clamp the "cut line" right at the edge of the jig. The jig rides against the fence that is set at exactly the 12" jig width. When it's clamped right you can pick up the entire jig using the work piece as a "handle".
I might also draw lines across the jig for any commonly used angles. That way I could just clamp the work along a line and cut.
Years ago I built a larger sled that is similar. It was a half sheet of plywood, with a series of counter-sunk holes drilled from the back. Carriage bolts were used to mount the top-side clamps. I made that one really big to help get a straight cut in a piece of kitchen counter-top. That one had a runner on the bottom that rode in the saw table mitre slot. It worked fine but was ugly, a little unwieldy and setting up the clamps was slow from the back-side.
This new one works great!
-brino
Last edited:
Steve Shannon, P.E.