Carve Sled

[J_Man]

All the stuff being said about carving sleds, I'm still not sure about them. What I'd like to do is make an adjustable sled so that the ends can slide forward or backward to lock the piece of wood down in the middle. I could countersink some bolts and place a nut underneath to hold the pieces in place. I can loosen and tighten the bolt, locking the sliding piece. I figure this will work, but the question is, do I need wood on the sides or is the 3/4" wood stripes on each side all that's needed? I attached a picture of what I mean. Thickness, width, length, and such would be all consistant with the usual measurements. The sliding boards I figure would be 4" from front to back and width would allow the pieces to fit between the 3/4" strips.

[J_Man]

The attachment didn't attach.... I'll put it on this reply.

[Jeff_Birt]

Do some searching for sleds. Somebody posted plans a few weeks ago for an adjustable sled.

[Router-Jim]

Somewhere around here I posted a picture of my adjustable carrier sled.

I like your design but will offer up two suggestions:

1. Use threaded inserts instead of nuts. One less thing to rattle loose.

2. Don't put your adjustment groove right down the center. That is where the machine measures the length and you're always going to need to tape over it.


HTH

Jim

[J_Man]

Oh, ok. I see now. That's part of what I wasn't understanding is the measuring of the machine and what needed to be covered. That's another bad thing with search on a forum though, it only finds what you type in for key words so it's easy to miss something. For anyone that stumbles on this post, I found the link to your thread:

http://www.carvewright.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6112

I think I'll probably keep the sides for guides. I'll draw up some new plans based on what I've done with some ideas of yours as well then post in this thread. I'll probably keep mine at 30" long though since I'll mostly be doing small stuff.

Thanks for the replies!

[bjbethke]

This is one I made. Top board is fixed, bottom board moves. Both boards 3.5 inches, same thickness as your carving. You do not need side boards.