Microjig Matchfit Inspired Crosscut Sled Update and New Jigs pt2

everybody chris here with crisscross crafts today i get a treat for you i've got an update video for my crosscut sled last year when i made this sled it was just the beginning of my addiction to the micro jig match fit system well as you can see i've been busy so i thought i'd share with you some of the things that i've done and answer some of the questions that have come up on the video from the original sled but if you want to see what all i've done you're just going to have to keep watching so don't forget like subscribe notify all that good stuff before you leave all right keep watching so i decided i wanted to make a handle for this thing too and it's not a big deal but i needed something to one keep my hand away to a place to put my hand and so i'm using my drill press table here to uh to knock that out and as you can see that also is outfitted with the micro jig system so i created a pocket and now i'm working on dialing in the depth so that i can create a nice pilot hole all the way through and i did find some longer screws i believe these are uh two inches and i'm going to use the fixture bars from the from the micro jig system but sito screws right in the pocket and then thread on the fixture pieces on the other end and you'll see how super easy this thing is and it does make a world of difference i can't believe i didn't add that handle sooner i can't believe it took me nine months to add this thing get that hardware started just so it makes it easier to us install and let's put it on there i did butt that up right up next to the safety box that i made and you can see i have blown out the back end of that i haven't since that time but this will ensure that i keep my hands clean and far away and as you can see super smooth freaking friction free but it gives me a nice place to put that handle and the ability to move that sled very easily no matter what's on there okay so back whenever i built the sled i cut these walnut strips while i had the bit set up and essentially these were out of some scraps but as you can see they've got that angle and what i did was i set the router up the bit up where it was just barely exposed so what that allowed me to do was cut one bevel rotated it cut the other bevel and it was a trial and error adjusting the fence but once i got it i had these pieces and i haven't done really anything with them because i've just been using the micro jig but there are a few little projects i have in mind where these could come in handy where i could make custom little setups so what i also did i went out and bought the uh this little cheap set of erwin um drilling taps now you know you any drill and tap will do but i picked these up on the cheap i went ahead and tapped these holes and now they are threaded to match the 1032 very very strong and they're going to do well i also went and found some longer 1032 screws these happen to be one and a half or two inches and so two inches is going to give me a little more length to be able to get things done and so now i'm going to also go out and look for some threaded rod and some other ways that i can utilize this but for now these longer screws these will allow me to make custom jigs with two holes for doing a variety of hold downs because two will help prevent things from rocking if i'm mounting to a block here with two mounting locations next up i wanted to add a tape measure and i've been putting this off and putting this off but finally i decided it's time and so what i did i started off measuring three inches from the cut and the i measured from the kerf that's in that uh removable replaceable insert and measured out three inches took a square and loaded it straight up the fence that way i would have a tick mark and you don't have to choose three inches i just chose three inches because it sounded about right and so what you want to do is you want to line the three on the tape measure up with that tick mark and you want to get as close as you possibly can so that you're as accurate as you can because once this is down this will reflect the actual cutting and you'll see later i'm glad i took the time to pre-measure this and get this dialed in up front and this is the peel and stick left and right tape measure from craig and um it's a lot longer than i needed but i do have a plan i'm going to use these on my miter station which i won't need those tight tolerances there so having that extra on going off to the right i'll have plenty of use for that and i'm using a sable hand roller to roll that in just to make sure everything's nice and snug i don't want any air pockets i don't want that thing to come up when i'm in the middle of use and so i'm setting up this square and essentially i lined up the top aluminum part with my three inch mark then i slid the red adjustable part over so that it matched tight up next to the square and that made a perfect straight line all the way down set that up at three make an initial cut and just like that there's your three inches close enough for me and as you can see i've got about 12 inches of tape off to the right side and about another 35 or six off to the left plenty of space and man i'm glad i took a lot of flack from making a sled so big but i'll tell you i would rather have that than a small sled any day one of the modifications i did to the original build was i cut out those slots and no they're not pretty but they work and the main reason was i needed to bring in some of the matchfit hardware and so i used the the fixtures with the studs on them and i wanted to at least make it where those would clear and they do works like a champ so i looked for a long time for a good stop i had made one but we just wasn't extremely happy with it and then i ran across this cat's moses stop and this thing is fantastic and i essentially have the the screws here mounted into two hardware fixture bar sections well what i like about this is it's completely versatile in that it's adjustable side to side to give you a lot of ability to do different things but due to these serrations in the machined aluminum and tapped holes at different intervals i can adjust this all the way down and when you lock this in and you tighten this up there is no movement side to side which i really like so i'll do a full more full review video on this later but i just wanted to show you quickly the cats moses stop that i'm using on my sled now there's a lot of ways to store the hardware i've seen divider containers and the little you know plano boxes and stuff i love these little craig hardware containers they're different sizes and it stores everything i need and it's small and compact and i can store them away nicely and stack them love these things and they work fantastic so there's something else that i've made it's really not tied to the sled but i used this quite a bit for holding down a lot of parts so if i was going to glue two parts together at an angle or something like that or just need to hold it down flat while i do another operation like a routing or some kind of drilling or milling this jig works really well it's portable i can take it just about anywhere and do a lot of things with it well i made an adaptation of that and added another feature well i have my top groove but i also have one on the bottom or i can flip these over whichever way and how this works essentially you slide that in from the bottom you now can clamp this piece down to your to your workbench or whatever slide this in from the other end and now you've got the ability to either hold down and route or if you're trying to um make sure that two two parts are flat like if you're making an angle like on my picture frame which is right here uh this helped me ensure that both angles were held down tight to the table while i ran in my pocket screws and that does really well this is very very portable the other benefit of something like this you can expand on this design literally expand it make it longer and as long as one edge is straight you now have a straight edge guide and how that would simply work is you can come in from one end slide in from the other end like that clamp your two parts up to the whole clamp it down to your work work material and now you have a straight edge that will follow that pattern so make this as long as you like but know that this is completely adjustable so even if it's way longer than what you need you can clamp in from each end so this is a very versatile straight edge guide for cutting off plywood sheets or any kind of straight edges you might need so now again not tied to the sled but it is a jig that i use quite a bit in conjunction with these micro jig match fit clamps all right so one of the biggest questions i get on my sled video my original sled build video is how do i bring clamps in from the back well i've really never had a need to i did have a need for some fixture bars so i did make some slot here so that the fixture parts like these can slide in from the back but as far as clamps go i have not had a need to now i do make a lot of things where i need longer bolts a little something a little heavier i can slide a t-bolt in from the end make a turn at any intersection and i'm good to go i have decided if i ever needed clamps to come in from the back end i could i'm willing to sacrifice both ends should i need to but if i did have a need to clamp something down i would bring in a piece of a fixture bar or a you know one of my homemade ones and then i would use this one over the clamps that i've made for like my cnc i would use a wooden clamp but i have not had a need to do that and i use this thing a lot i've had it nearly a year now and i'm finding more and more uses for it every day but to answer that question i simply use t-bolts and turn it in any intersection if i need something like that otherwise there's been no need for clamps to come in from the back end plenty of times i've brought them in from the side and it's worked fantastic so there you go if you've got any other questions drop them down below and let me know all right so there you go this is just some of the things that i've done to my sled since we last talked you've got different angle jigs here for creating miters or different types of angles or tapers i've built a fence and i've we've got an auxiliary fence here it's got several different slots for different hold down capabilities uh this thing's fantastic we have a different jigs here for doing uh this these little things work great for locking in but they also make great tapers as you saw i use that to make a shim jig we've also got this sled here which go which can either be used in conjunction with the sled or as a standalone unit where the back is riding against your fence on your table saw a nice thing about this this can either help you create dominoes or a nice little mortise and tenon joint like this or saddle joint it can also be used to create splines so this is very versatile little jig for doing a lot of your vertical work and having it mounted to the sled ensures that you really aren't having to worry about keeping a part held tight to a fence until down to a top you clamp it where it needs to be clamped and you just move your sled it's just that simple so because i built such a big sled right out of the gate it has made made this thing even more versatile to me because i can do a lot more with it than i could with a small sled also other little jigs this is an auxiliary fence slash clamping station we have other little jigs and fixtures that are designed to be mounted with this these these same angles can be used with this to create custom tapers uh or custom setups um i've got this here which is an uh is an auxiliary fence but it's also a a straightening jig or tapering jig i can line my part here butt this against my fence and then set my fence a set distance and then cut a straight edge on a rough board so i very rarely use my jointer and i definitely very rarely use my planer anymore but this sled has been a game changer in regards to what all i can do with it between being able to make your own little fixture pieces going out and finding longer hardware uh to be able to do other things the fact you can use t-bolts uh with this system and then don't forget the most important part of this system is the micro jig clamps uh so all of this is just drastically transformed my shop and how i use this thing i hardly ever touch that miter saw anymore everything if i do it's just for quick rough cuts everything else when i need precision it's done right here so i've added the tape measure to the top i picked up a cat's moses stop and this was after a lot of research trying to find just the right stop i had built one temporarily but i landed on this cat's moses stop this is very versatile and i love it if it's perfectly in this slot on the top of my fence utilizing the slot on the back of the fence i did make a real beefy handle i found that because this was seeing this thing was so left heavy in regards to how it wasn't equal in the slots of the table that this is the perfect spot for me to use to be able to slide that in and literally you can see with minimal effort i can make that happen so i really do love this sled and again i create dominoes but i just wanted to share with you the update to the micro jig inspired cross cut sled and so if you got any comments leave them below let me know and uh hey i'd love to hear from you maybe i missed something maybe i should have included something else let me know on that too so give me some feedback and we will talk soon until then this is chris and we'll see you next time so [Music] you

Channel: Christcross Crafts

Views: 1,219

Rating: 4.891892 out of 5

Keywords: how to, crosscut sled, microjig, matchfit, dovetail, clamp, jig, sled, tablesaw sled, shop jig, jigs, table saw, fixture, kreg, uhmw, katz moses, incra, dovetail clamps, tapering jig, tenon jig, spline jig, katz moses stop, straight edge jig, miter jig

Id: UnXhRcueuMs

Length: 16min 55sec (1015 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021