Crosscut Skate

In order to crosscut longer pieces of wood (8 to 10ft) on my new table saw, I needed something to support the long ends (and allow them to slide easily sideways).   I came up with the idea of a ballbearing mounted platform that would easily move the ends of the wood sideways.  

The frame will be 1x2 8" and 48" long, with 5 1x2 crossbraces.   All joints will be glued mortise and tenon, my favorite for 1x2s.   3 sets of 5/8" ballbearings will be placed under the skate, one at each end and one in the center.   Each set will have 4 ballbearings.   The ballbearings come from Rockler in sets of 6.

1x2 cut up for stingers and crossbraces.

I have already cut the tenons on the crossbrace and marked for the mortises in the stringer.

Closer look at mortise marks.

Stringer on my Power Matic Mortiser.

The tenons and mortises are 3/8" high by 3/8" by 1-1/8" here I'm drilling the end of a mortise.

Mortses drilled and cleaned out, ready to glue.

Test fit.

Everything lines up and is square.

Skate frame in glue clamps.

Ballbearing sets from Rockler.

Test fit.

Skate frame being painted.

Holes for ballbearings marked and drilled.

Mounting ballbearings.

Skate sitting on ballbearings.

Things are nice and flat, so all bearings are touching the benchtop.   Ready to use.