Incra Miter 5000 vs. shop made crosscut sled

The Incra should do all you’ll ever need. If not, I’d be surprised.

-- [email protected]

I started using the Incra sled last year. I was thinking I would have to build a bigger sled at some point but that need hasn’t showed up yet. I used a Dubby sled for 20 years and loved it. I think the Incra is a superior tool. Enjoy it.

-- Ken

I have the Incra 5000 as well, it handles most of my crosscut needs, but it will not work for cutting dados. I am also currently working on a torsion box where I need to gang cut dados in a number of long pieces for the web frame and am wishing I had a wide crosscut sled that will do dados better than my miter gauge. Look on Youtube for James King’s Fine Woodworking channel, he makes an excellent crosscut and dado sled that is on my list of projects for the future.

-- OL CHIEF, Florida Panhandle

I have the Incra I-Box and Incra-1000HD Miter. Other than the I-Box, I have found the miter minimally useful. Good for small project under ~2ft, but fails miserably on longer pieces. I’ll take my DIY Sled anytime, over the Incra. Just my $0.02…

-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."

I had the 5000 and sold it. I also had the Incra 1000HD and went to the new Jessem miter Gauge which I really like.

-- Bill eastern Washington Home of beloved ZAGS

never hurts to have a extra crosscut sled already set up for a specific use, if you have room for storage.

I had the 5000 and sold it. I also had the Incra 1000HD and went to the new Jessem miter Gauge which I really like.

- Putttn

-- OL CHIEF, Florida Panhandle

I had the 5000 and sold it. I also had the Incra 1000HD and went to the new Jessem miter Gauge which I really like.

- Putttn

The Jessem is a beast, and pricey! On my short list.

- OLCHIEF

I kind of like my sleds as I put guards on the near side fence and will be experimenting with over slot shield and dust collection. I did keep my Osburne miter gauge.

Sorry but not a fan of Incra products. I Box collecting dust, tried an Incra miter and thoroughly dislike the indexing stop. Ended up sending it back.

Plus, in the left table slot the ruler tape for the extension reads the wrong way. I talked to Incra about this and the reply was “I’ll have to bring that up at the next meeting”.

I have an old model Jessem not reliable for holding 90. My next will be an Osborne.

In sum, I think a sled with replaceable inserts for dadoes is a good way to go. Young Je has a pretty nice set up.

-- Everything is a prototype thats why its one of a kind!!

I just started a blog on TS sleds, it has the Incra mentioned here, as well as the Dubby, and Rockler sled types.

https://www.lumberjocks.com/therealSteveN/blog/132161

Robert I think I’m agreeing more with your position, then some of the others who like the Incra, but for maybe different reasons.

Plus I feel the single miter bar “sleds” aren’t really sleds. I think I called them miter gauge platforms. So Micah, at the time I am going to say yes a home made sled, made to a tight tolerance will inherently be more accurate, but I am about to embark on a journey to find out for sure.

Based on Horizontal Mike’s post I think he has seen first hand what I am talking about with the single bar, and attached fence of the Incra. I too have an I Box which I dearly love for finger joints. Not so impressed with the others though.

-- Think safe, be safe

I started with a traditional sled.

Then I got the Incra Miter Express, which I love.

But I still find myself using the traditional sled for some cuts/situations—e.g. cutting smaller parts.

This may be just be due to the fact that I started with a traditional sled and have not gotten completely comfortable with the Incra.

There are just some cuts that feel wrong not having a fence supporting both sides of the work and I am big believer in the motto—if it feels wrong, then it is wrong—at least in woodworking .

I have both an Incra 1000HD and a home made sled. When I’m cutting small parts, the home made is what I used. I made the pegs to separate my carving tools. Those pegs are 1-1/2” long, and I needed dozens. No way I’d do those cuts with the miter bar. The home made sled also has a throat extender so that I can safely cut wider sections. That is a pair of rails screwed and glued together with JB Weld. It fits in the slots of the table. The sled has HDPE rails that ride on the exposed rails. There is no slop in the system, so I get good cuts. I haven’t set it up for angles yet, though.

-- Steven.......Random Orbital Nailer

I started out, 25 years ago with the Dubby on a contractor saw. I loved it so much that when ten years latter I upgraded to a cabinet saw, I bought a new Dubby for it. I still loved it years later but It started getting long in the tooth and a bit chewed up. So I started looking for a replacement. I had the Ibox for a few years and like it a lot and a conversation here on LumberJocks drew my attention to the Incra 5000. Soon later I bought it and liked it OK, very accurate. Not nearly as easy to use as the Dubby. With the Dubby, you simply set the angle and lock it in place with one knob. Really convenient and always dead on accurate. With the incra there are more knobs to loosen and tighten every time you move the fence, still very accurate but annoying at least at first. Also the little detention teeth incra uses are unnecessary (IMOP) so I put tape over them now the stop just slides back and forth more easily. It’s took some time, but now I’m loving my Incra 5000. Sometimes I use the cut off sled to catch my cut off but not very often. I stash the Sled on a rubber mat under the left side of my table saw which makes taking it on and off a very simple matter. I was concerned at first that it would get damaged by this storage method but after about a two years of use it looks as good as new.Many years ago I had the incra router table indexing fence and also the incra table saw fence a got rid of them in Les than a year. All that indexing repeatability seems more like a problem than a feature. That’s probably just me. If I had to do it over again I would definitely have the Incra 5000 in my shop

-- Ken