This is a handy addition to a table saw.
Begin by bolting a board (mine is oak) to the side of your saw.
This board is the first piece of an extension table. Once the board has the slots running through it, you can unbolt it from the table saw and build the extension table on your workbench.
The miter slot uses a commercially made aluminum slot. The miter slot must be absolutely parallel to the slot on your table saw, so bolt the table in place BEFORE attaching the aluminum slot. Be prepared to take your time with this step.
This is the cutoff table sitting upside-down on the table saw. It's just a piece of 2' x 4' half inch MDF with a couple of hardwood runners attached.
The runners fit into the slots in the table saw. Make it a tight fit, and use paste wax to get things moving smoothly.
The fit has to be precise. I had a very little bit of play in this one, so I used a piece of Corian to take care of it. The hole is a bit off-center so I could rotate the Corian to the correct position. Once everything was adjusted, I ran some thin CA (Super Glue type adhesive) into the crack under the Corian.
The cross bar has to be exactly 90 degrees to the blade. I had to adjust it several times before I got it right.
And here it is, ready to go. If you scroll down you can see my latest version of the sliding crosscut table.
Here’s a smaller and more refined version of the sliding table. It’s 24 inches from front to back, and 26 inches wide, although the crossbar is 33 inches (which gives it a little more capacity). I find this sliding table more useful in most situations.
The crossbar has a slot to accommodate my stop block. I made the slot myself, but you could buy an aluminum channel and screw it to the top. The table itself has a couple of slots for hold downs. (To find out how I routed those slots and for a better look at the hold downs, click here.)
