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?

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.

Accuracy isn’t what I hoped for the price. Does make cross cutting so much easier. Doesn’t give you the depth of cut as advertised, the aluminum track for the drop off side panel is cheap, mine was broken but the did send me new parts to fix it. Extension arm further exaggerated the inaccuracies. If you put the work in you can zero everything in, but it’s not dead accurate like the instructions state. Overall it looks good, functions well. I don’t think I’ll every use all the positive stop positions for .5° adjustments.

Came extremely well packed and arrived sooner than expected. All parts were there except one grub screw of the stop block. Super accurate right out of the box and works exactly as described. Offcut table is nice for small parts.Now for the price. At a minimum of $100 more than comparable miter sleds it is a reluctant choice for this one.For me it was a decision on time savings. Was it expensive? Yes, very much so! But, at the end of the day this thing is worth every dollar because I’m not wasting time by setting up new jigs or fussing with inaccuracies from my home made sleds.I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for the time saving and the saving of frustration due to less accurate tools or skill level.

Should be 10 Stars! Beautifully engineered and super accurate. Works great for squaring up sheet goods after breaking down large panels into component parts for drawers etc. This thing is just dead on accurate cross cutting panels and drawer sides. You do have to make sure you take the time to accurately set up the fence and stop block along with the measuring tape.I needed to reposition the configuration for left tilt saw, PM2000 so it took a little more time to locate the sled and miter gauge on the right side of the blade. I would recommend that they provide more pictures and instructions on doing this instead of just telling you to reverse the direction, when they say left miter slot, you have to remember it is right miter for you. Many cabinet saws are left tilting, so it is not some infrequent event, so just provide a couple of sheets of extra paper with the proper instructions.The miter slots have absolutely no play with the sled or the cutoff table, they are both steady and slide nicely. Very pleased with the product and would recommend it highly to anyone that wants and easy solution to squaring their stock. I do a lot of dovetail drawers and having those parts accurately cut makes everything work smoothly with the jigs.