Rage and Incra

[nandesuka]

Hi all,
I bought an Evolution Rage 5-S table saw about 18 months ago. Mainly to make picture frames. Unfortunately I do not have much success due to the inaccuracy of the mitre slide bar. I set everything up using a set square, but obviously the slackness in the mitre slide means inexact cuts. I was looking in to the Incra sled and mitre gauge. It does run a bit pricey though and after paying a fair whack for the saw I'm loathe to fork out another substantial amount. Any advice?
Cheers,
Geoff.

 

[shed9]

The incra kit is worth the money. Peter Sefton is an authorised dealer and in my opinion the go to place for Incra in the UK.

However I agree that adding Incra accessories to an Evolution saw is probably not the way forward. I'd be inclined to sell the Evolution on and buy a better saw. You will always be dealing with compromise even if you throw an Incra sled at a saw you were never happy with in the first place. If you don't need the portability I would look at a cast topped saw with a mitre slot and add a decent mitre gauge like an Incra 1000. If you need the portability then look at a Dewalt or Bosch bench saw. The Bosch GTS 10 XC appears to look like a good fit for your purpose as it has a slider built in. Can't comment on the accuracy myself but there will be plenty of online reviews.

To add of course you can remove some of the slop in your current setup by adding low friction tape to your current mitre gauge bar or buy a gauge with some adjustment - the Incra gauges for instance have eccentric adjusters to remove slop from a wide slot - be aware though that it won't fix an tapered slot. Maybe buy a V120 and adapt your current fence or get the 1000 initially to see if that does what you want, if not you haven't lost any investment if you change the saw.

 

[--Tom--]

Making your own mitre sled could be a cheaper approach.

also don’t expect perfect mitres off a table saw - they’re useful to dimension but for finishing cuts a shootingboard will let you tune them.
If you have the money for the incra kit and you just make picture frames take a look for a used mitre guillotine. You may find a morso for similar money.

 

[MusicMan]

"1 for shooting board, especially with a settable angle so that you can fine tune mitres against slight errors.

 

[Robbo60]

WWMM has a simple mitre sled to make. Haven't done it as no reason. I did a frame recently using my mitre saw and it was spot on - surprisingly

 

[nandesuka]

Hi all,
Thanks for the replies.
Robbo what or who is WWMM?
I've been doing a bit of searching and found these 'ere adjustable slides. Great, but the dimensions seem to be for a 9.5mm deep slot. I measured the slot on the Rage (or rather the thickness of the T bar) and found it to be 7.5mm. As the bar, when sitting on the bottom of the slide, is flush with the bed surface then the adjustable ones are going to be 2mm proud. Assuming the bars on the Incra sled are the same as the separate ones you can get from them then there would be a gap between the sled and the bed. So THAT ain't gonna be good. I think back to square one and cut loses sell the Rage and look for something else. I always seem to buy the wrong bloody thing!!!
Cheers, stay safe,
Geoff.

 

[Robbo60]

Woodworking for Mere Mortals. American Steve Ramsay Youtube channel. some good stuff but with a lot of Dado stacks. Check it out

 

[Terrytpot]

I sliced up chunks of an old plastic chopping board to make mitre slot bars for my sled...cut them a gnats oversize then just hit them with my block plane till they were nice and snug.

 

[Robbo60]

I sliced up chunks of an old plastic chopping board to make mitre slot bars for my sled...cut them a gnats oversize then just hit them with my block plane till they were nice and snug.

Would UPVC facia board work?

 

[Terrytpot]

Would UPVC facia board work?

Doubt it to be honest,that generally is a fairly thin glossy skin over the outside of a softish centre...cut it open and you'll see. Chopping boards are easy and cheap to come by and generally made from UHMW material that is ideal for being very stable and abrasion resistant as opposed to being merely uv and weather resistant.

 

[Lard]

Would UPVC facia board work?

She who must be obeyed loves IKEA and so if she keeps on enough I’ll agree to go (prob twice a year)......I’ve got into the habit of grabbing one of their chopping boards every time we pass that section in the marketplace, I think they’re £1.

They are ‘solid’ plastic and do, as noted previously, make superb mitre slot runners

 

[nandesuka]

I've come up with an idea. There is an "in house" sled on the table. So if that is running true, I can lock the mitre bar to its slot and use that. I was watching a utube somewhere which was saying about the blade maybe not parallel. So first things first, give it a check. Got my DTI and magnetic base out to do it. SNAG- the table is aluminium! However, managed to secure a thin flat piece of steel to the surface and off we go. First checked the blade was running true. As best I could make out, was about .005mm run out. Moving the sled to check if it was parallel came up with about .oo8mm. I don't think that's too bad taking in to account that the blade must have a bit of deviation. So the "in house" sled is OK. Oh, forgot to say I adjusted the plastic runners for the sled so there was no movement. Now for the mitre gauge. The T bar is sloppy in its slot, however, there is a screw at the front end for locating it in a hole on the sled. So by tightening it down on to the bottom of the slide groove instead that "locks" it in place. However, at the other end, with a bit of pushing it can still move. So I drilled and tapped a 6mm hole and inserted a bolt. It is now rigid on the sled. Tomorrow will set up the angle and see how accurately it cuts a 45 deg. Will give the verdict on the Heath Robinson then.
Geoff.

 

[nandesuka]

Well, it's been did and tested. Not 100% happy but is very acceptable. The bolt I fitted will have to be changed for a small grub screw, but that's all. I must admit I think I might have been better off with a good quality sliding mitre saw But the table saw is a bit more versatile.
Regards to all and stay safe.
Geoff.