# Coping Sled Suitable For Triton RTA 300 Router Table



## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

Coping Sled Suitable For Triton RTA 300 Router Table?
Woodpeckers Coping Sled

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Which Router Cutter For House Door Stile Edge 

I have a 1/2" Dewalt 625 router which is rated at 2.6hp. Is mounted on a Triton Table on a Triton stand. ( see attached photo ) is pressed steel not cast iron,
However the combined weight is quite heavy. 

As I'm going to be taking light cuts, will the Dewalt be up to handling Utili hardwood?
The Woodpecker sled has an extension piece you can buy that I believe allows you to make wider cope cuts , than the standard 5½" wide ones,trying to verify this. 

There is another sled I've looked at, Woodhaven 525 Large Coping Sled, Woodhaven 525 Large Coping Sled : Coping Sleds

The sliding carraige on the Triton table is not a perfect fit and wobbles from front to back. Also it also does not have a mitre track. Would need to cut a new piece of MDF a perfect fitlock in position and put some t track into it?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Peter I normally just use a square block of some appropriately sized panel board as a pusher block and hold my workpiece to the pusher block against my fence. so do a few other members. I'm not saying that that sled wouldn't be a nice tool to have but it looks pricey and it is certainly something you could work around.

For one router table I have I made a simple coping sled that was guided by a strip of wood that followed the front lip of the table. I made it out of scrap and it cost nothing. Then if you set the fence to right depth of cut you want you just register the end of the rail against the fence and then route it. In neither case of the ones I use does the work sit on the jig. With some routers and some bits the loss of depth from the thickness of the sled could be an issue.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I have one of these and it is a very well-made piece of equipment. For your application, the plus is that you don't need a track/slot in the router table as the sled is fed by running the clear guide against the fence. Set-up is dead simple - put a piece of 3/4" stock between the table fence and the base of the sled and locate the clear guide against the fence. The stock is pushed up against the table fence and clamped in place. Set the bit to the right height and that's it.

I'd be interested in how they modify the sled for stock wider than 5-1/2". I can see the need for the longer guide as you need to be in contact with the fence, but I don't see how they get wider stock clamped down onto the sled - I measure 5-3/4" from the red 90° fence to the edge of the slotted clamp at the other end, and you wouldn't pick up much by removing the slotted clamp and just relying on the vertical clamps as the limit would be the vertical posts.

FYI I originally bought their smaller mini-coping sled Mini Coping Sled and was very disappointed. The concept is good, the problem is that I found the clamping arrangement to be questionable. I called Woodpeckers Customer Service to see what I was doing wrong and they sent me the larger one at no cost - and said to keep the little one. I've looked at it a couple of times, thinking what could be done to fix the clamping problem but never had any time to really work on it. You certainly can't beat that for customer service, one of the reasons that I keep going back to them.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

Charles,
" I normally just use a square block of some appropriately sized panel board as a pusher block and hold my workpiece to the pusher block against my fence. " Any chance of a photo of that? It would help me more clearly understand.

Any safety issues, would this method be up to handling 1+7/8 inch thick door rails 9 inch wide? Do you think my Dewalt 625 and table set would handle OK what I want it to do?
Regards,
Peter.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

I'll let you know when they get back to me regarding extending width it can cope. Let me know if you have any views regarding points I bring up in my reply to Charles.
Thanks,
Peter.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Gaia said:


> Charles,
> " I normally just use a square block of some appropriately sized panel board as a pusher block and hold my workpiece to the pusher block against my fence. " Any chance of a photo of that? It would help me more clearly understand.
> 
> Any safety issues, would this method be up to handling 1+7/8 inch thick door rails 9 inch wide? Do you think my Dewalt 625 and table set would handle OK what I want it to do?
> ...


I saw "outside door" in your original post and it didn't register at that time. Woodpecker states 5-1/2" wide x 1-1/2" thick as the capacity of their sled so it's probably too small for what you're looking to do. I would think that this type of work is typically done on a large HP spindle shaper and may be out of the range of what you can do with a router, but have no experience with something of this size. The only outside door I ever made was when I doweled together 2 x 6's to make a door for my father-in law many years ago.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm not home to take a picture of either way I do it Peter but I'm heading that way tomorrow but it is a 12 hr drive so it would be the next day for pictures. As far as a push block this link is as close as I need.https://www.google.ca/search?q=rout...4cKd8M:;5Fk8AKVo4cKd8M:&imgrc=5Fk8AKVo4cKd8M:
It is very safe. When I use one my right hand goes on the back side of the push block which never comes close to the cutter. My left hand holds the piece against the push block several inches away from the cutter although there is an easy way to clamp to the push block which I can show you in a couple of days and describe now. 

If you take the push block and drill a large hole near the leading edge (say at least an inch away from the edge) you can stick one jaw of a fast acting clamp in the hole and the other jaw on the piece. This would also give you a handle to hold onto. You might have to square the hole up with a chisel or saw. Like I say, Ican post you some pics day after tomorrow if you need. 

One issue you may have is the width of your piece with this method. I can take a pic of the other jig Friday morning if you need. It works just as well and better for wider pieces that don't leave much room for the push block.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

Tom,
I see your right can only handle stock 1-1/2" I overlooked that.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

Charles,
Photos,if no inconvenience, yes please.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

ok, tomorrow.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Ok Peter here are some pics of sleds. 001 is one I built years ago to go with my Veritas steel table top. The top piece doesn't need to be nearly as wide as I made it. Probably 6"/150mm would be enough. The L shaped piece underneath rides against the edge, each side keeping the other straight and flat. This design also gives you something to clamp to. I don't show it with the fence on but it is advisable to set the fence even to the bearing on the profile cutter and then you just butt the work piece against the fence, clamp it to the guide, and route it.

005 and 006 show what I normally use when I'm using my other table. I set the fence even with the bearing on the bit then grip the work to the push block with one hand and push with the other. I found that piece of mdf in my scrap and it already had a hole drilled in it in approximately the right place so I just squared up the front side of the hole with a coping saw. I don't normally bother with the clamp but it may help. I think it was Gene Howe that said once that he had trouble using this method because the work moved on him so this should solve that problem.

I thought I had a workable suggestion for making the saddle cuts but I tried it and the results weren't acceptable so a mortising jig seems to be the best answer at the moment if you go that way.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

OK thanks for that.


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