INCRA MITER5000 Miter 5000 Table Saw Miter Gauge with Sled and Telescoping Fence

Chances are you are like me and read these reviews as they influence your decision to buy. If so make sure you also read the installation section. In fact, I think for making a purchasing decisions this is the most important section to read. First and foremost. You are buying this tool for the accuracy that it will give you. As such if you do not want to put the time and effort into the pre-install preparation and the installation then you would be better off making your own sled and saving yourself some money (actually, a whole lot) in the end. Up-front confession: I am a hobbyist workworker. I am not Mr. mechanical, but I do like tinkering. I have made more mistakes due to impatience than I care to admit. Pre-Install Preparation: If you want dead-nuts accuracy I strongly suggest you do these things. First, clean out your miter slots. Chances are if you use your table saw alot these will be gummed up. Some WD40 and a blade screw driver will do the trick. Doing this is important as there are tension adjustments that help to take all the play out of the slide bar. Second, make sure your blade is as close to 90 degrees to the table as you can get it. While there are fancy tools to do this I have found that my mechanical square does the trick. It is really important that you have you blade aligned properly before installing the sled. Sure, the instruction show you how to zero out the miter gage to your blade, but you should take the time and make this adjustment before installation. Finally, be patient and take your time. I say this as I am not patient. I spent a few evenings after work putting mine together. Remember, you are spending some serious money on this product. If you set it up properly to begin with you can cut joints accurate enough to make picture frames. Installation: Take you time and follow the directions. They are actually very well done. The parts come in marked bags. I am definitely not the mechanically inclined poster child and had to re-read a few of the steps a few times, looking over the parts. The bottom line is that the instructions are pretty darn good. It might be nice if a few of the pictures in the instructions were zoomed out a bit to see a bit more context, but this is really a minor complaint. I do have the following suggestions that are not part of the instructions that I found helped me. They are ... In hindsight you probably do not need to spend so much time adjusting the play out of the left slide bar until you actually attach the sled base. The reason is that with the base attached you can move the sled through the full range and much easier check for play and adjust it out. What is really cool about this product is that all the adjustments are accessible with the sled base attached. You DO NOT want any play in the bar! Repeat, you DO NOT want any play in the bar. I suspect every table saw model is slightly different. Incra has ten seperate adjustments to take out the play. I found that only tightening the two adjustments on each end first was the best means of minimizing the play in my miter slot. Then I made the other adjustments. I found a lot of interplay between these. I also moved the sled to different positions and checked for play and adjusted as necessary. I payed particular attention to the area near the saw blade (obviously) as this is where you will be cutting the wood. I also moved the sled though the miter slot back and forth and then tightened up the adjustments again. I would say I spent a good twenty minutes on this step alone. Your mileage will vary depending on the table saw you own. Before cutting of the excess, though the procedure did not say to do this, I raised my saw blade, pulled out my mechanical square and verified that the front of the sled was exactly 90 degrees to the blade. Checking the left and right sled bases square to the blade, and the other items I mentioned are the only things I would add to the instructions. I am guessing it took me about three hours to get everything setup. Someone more mechanically inclined could cut this time in half. This investment is a one time deal. In pondering all of this it occurred to me that you are pretty much mating the sled to your table saw. So, if you plan on getting a new table saw anytime soon you may want to hold off on buying this product. The Test Cut: I took two pieces of unjointed pine and cut them at 45 degrees. One word. Wow! When you spend 1/2 the cost of your table saw on a a miter gage and sled you need to set some high expectations. If you take your time, carefully read and follow the directions, this product delivers. I am blown away by the accuracy. This product delivers. You can miter picture frames with this product. There are a number of decent videos on the various incra miter gauges on YouTube. I could not find one on this specific version, but the sled appears to be the same as the miter express. After this experience I am now looking forward to replacing my fence with the incra table saw fence. I have yet to figured out how to align the rulers so I do not have to measure when making a 45 degree cut. I did not find the directions real useful in this regard. I have not found any guidance yet on the net for doing this. My first project was making two 21x24 picture frames out of purpleheart. After my initial test cut I knew this sled was up for the task. Not sure why old Norm does not own one of these puppies?

Have only used it a few times but so far great. It is replacing 2 homemade sleds. The homemade sleds were just so large and heavy, this is much nicer to use. Takes just a bit to setup. Had to make a slight alignment fix to get it square. The fence extension is excellent. It is a bit expensive but the only other sled that I felt was comparable was the woodpecker. I would rank the woodpecker higher but then when you look at the price of the woodpecker you will feel you are getting and amazing deal with the Incra.

This sled is typical Incra. Terrific instructions, and everything goes together just the way they say to do it. Assembly is pretty fast and intuitive. I previously purchased the Miter Express because I already had the 3000 miter. While it certainly works, using the 5000 feels 10x more stable. When you back the Miter Express up, you are very aware of it because it feels like you are testing the limits. The miter express made very square cuts, but I never loved the way it felt. The 5000 feels so much better when backed up, and the extra surface area is great. And the accuracy is nothing short of amazing. Watching the blade track the outside edge of a pencil line on a panel with zero deviation from beginning to end is a thing of beauty.

Bought for my garage shop DeWalt 10" job site saw. The DeWalt saw extension is on the right (more table saw to support the weight of the sled), I'm RH doninant re: power tools, so I ignored the instructions and set up so the sled is pushed with my right hand. Everything arrived intact and very promptly from Rockler Woodworking, MN, arrived within 4 days! Honestly, the instructions are a bit difficult to read, and the photos require well-lit lighting or a magnifying glass! I had watched number of YouTube videos and considering making my own sled. But considering the calibration, the cost of all the fancy components and the HUMIDITY in NC, I decided to purchase an INCRA product. Very solid components, well engineered. Rather easy to assemble, and square with my saw. I have made a few practice cuts and am pleased with the square of the cuts. The sled is a bit hefty for my saw..the sled doesn't slide as easily as I imagined. Needs more adjustment...if I set the mitered runners not to be sloppy horizontally, then I am slightly stuck at some point pushing through. Any suggestions from the gallery would be appreciated! Very pleased with the product, should enhance my WW sskills. Very pleased with Rockler Hardware. Any questions?

I hate to be the dissenting voice, but I think this product falls short of ideal. It is sad, because all of the flaws could be easily corrected. The actual miter action (setting angles) is a bit slow, but very precise, and I like that component very much. The general concept is excellent as well. To put this in context, I have a JDS AccuMiter and several shop-built crosscut sleds for my 20 year old Unisaw. I was hoping to replace all of them with the Miter 5000. However, that won't be fully happening. The AccuMiter is a great tool, with a much quicker setup, and with easier-to-use flip stops. It is not as precise for setting specific miter angles, but is quick and rugged. I will be keeping it for basic use, since it is faster. Now for the flaws in the Miter 5000. The worst problem is the bar that rides in the miter slot. It is "adjustable" to fit snuggly in the saw bed slot using nylon washers that can be adjusted. When the bar is mostly in the channel, this works very well, and the bar slides smoothly and precisly. However, when the miter table is pulled back (toward the operator) to cut a wide panel, only the front of the bar is in the channel. Cutting panels wider than 18 inches allows the bar to only have a couple of the washers contacting the sides of the channel, which gives a lot of slop. Beyond 20 inches, a panel at the saw blade can wander back and forth about 1/16 of an inch which is not acceptable. A tighter fitting bar would solve the problem - even my original equipment Delta bar fits much more snuggly. The fence extension (for cutoffs longer than about 3 feet) is also imperfectly executed. First, to extend the bar, you must use a hex tool. For something you use all the time, this is silly - I don't want to reach for a tool every time I want to make a change my cut length. A simple plastic knob would have been easy to provide and would have solved the problem. Also, the measuring tape in the extension is backwards - I had to turn it upside down to have it read correctly. Neither of these is the end of the world, but silly frustrations. I am also agravated by the measuring tape in the fence. It is "friction fit" and the instructions say it will stay put, but it is possible to accidentally move it out of position with a thumb or finger as you are moving wood around on the table, and the tape will then be out of position and you will not know it - possibly leading to a series of unfortunate events. The cut-off catching table that sits to the right of the blade is another silly problem. The concept is great - it locks in the right hand miter slot and provides zero-clearance at the throat plate to safely catch even the smallest off-cuts. The problem is that it uses a tiny allen wrench (and I do mean tiny) to snug the bar in the miter slot (which you do every time you put the table on or take it off - as in every time you want to rip something). Why not simply engineer it so that the screw mechanism would use the larger hex screws used everywhere else on the tool? This tiny allen wrench hole clogs easily with even the smallest dust, and it is a pain to deal with (and the tiny wrench is easy to misplace). Finally, the fence is not square with the table - in fact, it is WAY off. The instructions recognize that this will be a problem and provide directions on how to shim the fence with paper or something - so it is a known bug. The problem, i think, is that the miter head is connected to the fence with a piece of bent steel (think of corner braces you buy at the hardware store) which fall short of precision. Why Incra didn't use an extrusion or casting (like they did for almost everything else on the product) I can't imagine. Well, the product is still pretty good, and it does some things very well indeed. However, the odd shortcomings (all of which could be easily fixed in design, at little or no additional cost) are puzzling and make this a less-than-ideal product. The slop in the miter-slot-bar when it is pulled partly out of the channel is the most serious problem for a product that bills itself on precision.

Before purchasing this item, I have tried several shop built cross cut sleds. These were limited to straight 90 degree cuts. I could never get a shop made sled to cut exactly square. Purchased this items to help with straight cuts and angled cuts on my table saw. Sled and miter gauge are well made. Item was well packaged as well. Item came in a left cut orientation, with the help of the instructions, set mine up for a right side cut. Instructions and the pictures in the instruction manual are helpful when setting up and using the miter gauge and sled. The miter gauge allows for accurate and reliable repeated angled cuts. The extendable fence and flip stop will certainly help with longer cutting requirements. The miter gauge can be removed and used separately if needed. The miter gauge bar can be adjusted to eliminate any space, slop, or movement in a saw's miter slot. Cannot say enough good things about this miter gauge sled combination. Still trying to find the best storage arrangement to prevent it from getting banged up or damaged when not in use. For the most part, it remains on my table saw.

A nice tool but seems a bit overpriced for the quality. The flip stop device doesn't fit together properly.

This is a great tool for squaring up pieces cut from sheet goods. No matter how careful you try to cut up a 4x8 sheet of plywood there are invariably non square pieces. Put these on the 5000 jig and they are square in no time. I use mine for 45 degree compound miter cuts so I ripped the cut off sled for that purpose. Incra has extra cut off sled pieces and miter bars you can buy for about $75 so you can rip one for 90 degree cuts as well, however it is easy to go to Home depot or Lowes and buy a 2' x4' piece of 1/2 inch MDF and make your own for about $12. Just make sure you don't take out too much material when countersinking the screws so that they don't go through the aluminum and scratch your table. The cut off side doesn't move and has nothing to do with the accuracy of the cut so a home made mitre bar works fine on the cut off side. Some reviewers have said it is difficult to cut anything longer than 18 inches on this jig but I have easily cut compound 45 degree mitres in pieces 24 inches in length without the wobble in the mitre bar suggested by others, I do have my mitre bar tight in the mitre groove and use one of the rubber based push pads from my jointer to hold the work piece steady against the 5000 mitre bar. The Incra clamp is only good for holding much smaller pieces to the sled. When adjusted and set up according to the diretions this is a dead on tool which makes absolutely precise cuts exactly where and how you want them. Delivery from Amazon was, as usual, fast and without damage.