Dowel jig has perfect cuts pegged
I needed a number of same-length dowels for a recent project. To keep my hands away from the tablesaw blade while cutting these, I made a dowel-cutting sled that allows me to make multiple cuts of identical lengths safely and accurately.
First, I cut a 1/4" slot 1/4" deep across the sled that safely holds dowels from 1/4" to 7/18" in diameter. Next, I attached a 1x2 clamping fence to the sled as shown, and clamped it to my miter gauge so that the distance between the right-hand edge of the sled and the saw blade equaled the length of the dowel I wanted.
To make multiple dowels, I slide the dowel stock so that its flush with the edge of the jig, make the cut, and then back the sled out of the blade. Sliding the dowel stock to the end of the sled again safely ejects the cut-off dowel and readies the next cut. You can cut additional kerfs in the sled, if you like, for different lengths of dowels as needed.
— David Ramsey, Cleveland, Tenn.
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Another way of doing the same thing. My cross-cut sled has two removable stops: one provides a "hold-down" for thin wood, and; the second allows repeated cuts of stock to the same length. The first is on the right hand side of the sled, and allows thicknesses from virtually zero to 2.5 inches. The second is on the left hand side of the sled and allows lengths of about 0.5" to about 4". Both are removable. I can provide JPEGs of this sled on request to e-mail address "pxcopley@ix.netcom.com".
11/29/2009 04:48:00 PM Report Abuse