# Coping Sleds Question



## Timmberman (Feb 8, 2009)

I been looking at "COPING SLEDS " from Woodpecker, Infinity, Woodhaven, and others.

There seems to be two schools of thought on how they work in relationship with the fence.

The first is to rides on the track which is in front of and parallel to the fence.

The second is to have a plastic shield that rides on the fence.

Woodhaven is #1

Infinity and Woodpecker are #2

Your thoughts, please.

Herb


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

Timmberman said:


> I been looking at "COPING SLEDS " from Woodpecker, Infinity, Woodhaven, and others.
> 
> There seems to be two schools of thought on how they work in relationship with the fence.
> 
> ...



Hi Herb - Well, as long as you're asking for opinions there is no shortage of those. I'll preface this by saying that I don't use a sled, I use a large push block guided by the fence. Should I ever decide to go with a sled, I will probably go with the track guided one. Reasoning is I think there would be less chance of tearing up an expensive jig as it is well away from the bit. 
The main thing is NOT to use both the fence and the track in conjunction with each other. You can use the fence as a depth stop but you don't want to follow it through with the entire cut. Much like a table saw, you normally don't use a miter guage with the fence but you can use a stop block on the fence to set the cut length when using the miter guage as long as the stock clears the stop block before it is engaged by the blade.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Herb, many of the jigs you find elsewhere were copied from Bob and Rick Rosendahl's designs. Bob's company Oak Park sponsored 14 seasons of the PBS show: "The Router Workshop" where Bob and son Rick taught the "Keep it simple" method of routing. The coping sleds you mentioned are versions of Oak Park's raised panel system which guides off the fence. Miter slots are needed for alignment when guiding material to a flat cutting edge such as a saw blade or sanding disk; router bits are round and do not require them.


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## camper3 (Jun 16, 2010)

*Here's what I do....*

I bought an MLCS coping sled that rides against the fence. I rarely us it because I have found that if I cope the ends of the rails before I cut them to width I am working with a surface on the end grain that gives me plenty of support that I can keep it square to the fence. A featherboard centerd over the bit keeps the stock flat on the table. I also found that making a climb cut instead of using a scrap backer block eleminates tear out. I only use the sled when the rail I want to cope is not wide enough to safely hold square to the fence.


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## garycurtis (Sep 17, 2007)

I've had the Infinity for 3 years and don't see any downside to using the fence as a guide. My reason for choosing the Infinity is that I don't want any track or trench in my table top. 

It weakens an important component of your table. Things catch on it when sliding boards over the surface. And in practical use, when a bit is exerting thrust against your workpiece, a miter track can have some play in it.

Pushing a Coping Sled against a fence with both arms offers plenty of stability when pushing a stick through a cut. Choose a sled that offers a built-in safety shield covering the workpiece.


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## Timmberman (Feb 8, 2009)

Gentlemen,

Thank you again for your valuable inputs. This forum is my go to for questions.

Thanks again,

Sincerely,

Herb


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