JessEm Tools Mitre Slide

That Miter Slide attaches to the top of the router table fence, and if you don't have the fence that they sell it might be difficult to make it fit your fence. I can see where one of these would be handy if the router table did not have a miter slot to allow using a standard miter gauge, but I see little benefit for it otherwise. The photos show a clear plastic guard over the router bit and this will interfere with the Miter Slide as you attempt to push the work fully past the router bit, so it couldn't be used as pictured. You also need to realize that as you pass the router bit, it will cut into the HDPE piece at the bottom edge of the miter gauge, so this piece becomes a "sacrificial" backer and will need replacing often when you change router bit shapes.

This is just my opinion, based on looking at the photos that you posted. I have never used or even seen one of these in person. My router table has a miter slot and my miter gauge is several inches away from the router bit as it passes. I attach a sacrificial piece of wood to my miter gauge so it can be cut. Scrap wood is cheaper than that piece of HDPE. I'm not telling you not to buy it, just trying to point out possible problems that you might encounter when you try to put it to use.

It sure is pretty though.

Charley

C Broad Arrow said:

Has anyone ever used a JessEM mitre slide or any other type?

I am trying to figure out both how to use it and in what type of application and if its worth purchasing.

Any help would be appreciated.

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I bought a complete router table setup from Rockler several years ago. It featured a JessEM fence, miter slide, top, etc. I still use the entire setup, though I'm in the process of building a custom cabinet to replace the metal stand that it came with originally. I bought the whole set (got a great deal!), but the miter slide is the least used part of the well-made set. I do use it regularly. I have put sacrificial boards in front of the miter gauge when using it.

While it is true one could use a regular miter gauge in its place with the slot on the table, as CharleyL suggests, that would not be as easy. Getting the fence perpendicular to the miter gauge is something you don't have to do with the miter gauge mounted to the top of the fence, as with this unit.

So, does it work? Absolutely. JessEM makes very good tools, in my experience.

Several years ago, I installed a Miter Slide on an Incra LS 17. Using just odds and end hardware I had available the resulting mounting turned out extremely effective. Runout the last time I measured full length of travel was somewhere around 2-3 .ooo's IIRC. I wasn't really happy with the OE sled provided by Incra. This was more of a personnel preference than a slam on the Incra sled. I felt that the OE sled had the potential for excessive play at the worst possible times. So I went with the Jessem.

The Jessem miter slide is extraordinarily well built as mentioned earlier. The thing is as solid as a rock, no if's, and's or but's about it. It delivers exactly as advertised. The only down sides are the price (these are not cheap) and limited mounting options. These are pretty much designed exclusively for the Jessem fence systems. It can be mounted on other fence's, however it may take a bit of grey matter.

In use, when properly set up, it's smooth, accurate and a joy to use. I still have the OE sacrificial fence it came with. Choosing to just replace the OE board with a sacrificial board when in use. I've found that it excels when making box joints, dovetails, double dovetails, trivets etc. in conjunction with the incra LS fence. None of these designs are exclusive to the Jessem Mite-R-Slide. The slide more or less aides in the execution of the process's rather than provide a unique twist on them.