Table saw sled cut list: plywood base, hardwood runners and fence dimensions

A general-purpose crosscut sled with a 610 mm (about 24 in) wide, 460 mm (about 18 in) deep plywood base needs one panel of 18 mm plywood, two hardwood runners, and a low front fence plus a tall back fence in hardwood. The full parts list, the runner sizing, and how the base panel nests onto a sheet are below.

A crosscut sled mixes two materials on purpose. The base has to stay flat, so it is plywood. The runners have to resist wear as they slide in the miter slot thousands of times, and the fences have to stay perfectly straight and take repeated screw holes without splitting, so both are hardwood.

The example sled

This guide uses a mid-size sled: 610 mm wide (the direction across the blade, which sets the maximum crosscut width) and 460 mm deep (the direction of travel, front to back). Scale both dimensions up or down for a bigger or smaller saw, the method and the nesting logic below stay the same.

Parts list

Both fences run the full 610 mm width of the base. The back fence is taller, 100 mm (about 4 in), because it is the one you push the workpiece against and the one that keeps your hand further from the blade. The front fence only needs to be tall enough to stiffen the front edge of the base and stop it flexing, 38 mm (about 1.5 in) is plenty.

Sizing the runners to your own saw

The runner width and thickness above, 19 mm (¾ in) wide and 9.5 mm (⅜ in) thick, match a miter slot size seen on a lot of site and cabinet saws, but slot dimensions are not standard across every make and model. Measure your own saw's slot width and depth before you rip the runner stock, and mill the runners a shade oversize so you can plane or sand them down for a smooth, non-binding fit rather than starting undersize and getting side-to-side play.

Runner length of 420 mm (about 16.5 in) matches the sled's 460 mm depth with a little clearance at each end. Screw the runners to the underside of the base through elongated or oversized holes, not tight holes, so you can nudge them sideways to true the sled up square before the screws are fully tightened.

How the base panel nests onto a sheet

One base panel is a small fraction of a full sheet, so this one almost always comes from an offcut rather than a fresh sheet. If you are buying new, or want spares, here is exactly how many 610 × 460 mm panels come from a single 2440 × 1220 mm sheet, using a 3 mm saw kerf.

• Rip the sheet into 460 mm wide strips across the 1220 mm dimension. Two strips use 2 × 460 + 3 = 923 mm of the 1220 mm width, leaving a 297 mm wide offcut strip the full 2440 mm length. A third 460 mm strip would need 1386 mm, which does not fit.
• Crosscut each 460 mm strip into 610 mm lengths along its 2440 mm run. Three lengths use 3 × 610 + 2 × 3 = 1836 mm, leaving a 604 mm end offcut. A fourth 610 mm length would need 613 mm more, which does not fit in the 604 mm remaining.

That is 3 panels per strip × 2 strips = 6 base panels from one sheet of 18 mm plywood, plus two 604 × 460 mm end offcuts and a 2440 × 297 mm offcut strip left over. That is enough bases for a run of sleds for a workshop or a class, or just a spare in case the first one gets a stray cut into the wrong spot.

How much hardwood to buy

Cutting both fences and both runners from one board, the total length used is 610 + 610 + 420 + 420 = 2060 mm, plus three saw kerfs between the four pieces (3 × 3 = 9 mm), for a minimum of 2069 mm. A stock length of 2.4 m (or 8 ft, the nearest common length in the other unit system) covers this with roughly 330 mm to spare. Pick a board at least 100 mm (4 in) wide and 25 mm (1 in) thick before milling: that is enough width for the tall back fence, and enough thickness to plane down to the finished 19 mm net used throughout the parts list.

Squaring the sled

Once assembled, run the sled through the blade once with the fences already screwed on. This cuts a kerf line straight through the base and both fences, which doubles as a zero-clearance reference edge lined up exactly on the blade path. If the back fence was not perfectly square to that kerf line when you screwed it down, a common way to find out by how much, and correct it, is the five-cut method: cut a test piece on all four sides, rotating it a quarter turn between cuts without changing the fence, then measure the difference between the first and last edge. Loosen the back fence's screws, nudge it by half that error, and repeat until the test piece comes out a true rectangle.

Plan your own sled cut list

Scale the base width up for a bigger maximum crosscut, or down to keep the sled light enough to store on a shelf between uses. The parts list and the nesting method above both scale with it.

SawReady works out the nesting and sheet count for any part list, plywood and hardwood together. Enter your sled's dimensions, set your sheet size and kerf, and it returns the layout and the exact number of sheets to buy.

Plan my sled cut list