Recommendations on a router sled?

[Stevenjohn21]

I do not have the space for a CNC machine but I do want to start flattening slabs and cookies for customers and projects. I thought about DIY with strut or steel but I'm not sure it would be solid and for the most part, it seems anything I DIY, it always ends up costing the same as it would if I'd of just store bought and saves more time.
Does anyone have any first hand experience with a router sled they could recommend? 

[bigblockyeti]

What size workpieces are you wanting to flatten?  I built my own with a really wide router sub-base that rides on my tablesaw fence and an identical height auxillary fence for a total work envelope of about 30" long x 24" wide x 3.25" tall.

[Walnut Beast]

Check this one out. Might be the ticket for you! 

https://www.truetracsaw.com/collections/router-gantry-system-slab-flattening-router-mills

[Ed]

Lee Valley has one, uses emt conduit for rails with guide blocks. Pretty neat setup.

Ed

[Larry]

I built a sled last year.  The sled its self is made from 1/2" Baltic Birch.  Sides of the sled are 2 - 1/2" pieces glued together for stiffness.  Rails are just some straight grain red oak.  Router is my PC 7518, probably 25 years old.  Still one of the biggest out there.  Its built to be set up on a couple of sawhorses and than broke down so everything hangs up on the wall.  Hardly any space required when not in use.  Router bit is 2" from Amazon for $20 or so.  It will do 8' by 30" wide.




My friend has made a few slab tables with it and I have used it a couple of times.  Results were great.  The down side is its slow and terribly dirty.  It was only used once inside my shop.....never again.  We now use it outside on the driveway.

Eventually I will have something bigger that will run on the sawmill rails with a bigger motor.

You mentioned customers.....while you can get good results from a sled, I don't think my sled or any other router sled would be suitable for customer work.  Too slow.

[metalspinner]

Having a big, permanent router sled setup wouldn't work in my shop.
I do have two sleds I used regularly - a short one about 4' long and
A long one at 8'. They are both about 16" wide and made of plywood. This gets me through most projects. Just throw them in the sawhorses and face joint the board.

For bigger stuff, I made two "L" rails from plywood and am able to space them out as needed.

The important thing in ANY setup is that your two long rails are in the same plane to give you a flat, machined surface.

Here is something scabbed together to rout a big piece of walnut...



 
I had to recruit my sister to manage the far side for this one.

And while I was at it, I set it up to level the tops of these logs for an out door table.



 

You can see the shorter router sled is screwed to longer plywood strips just for this project.

[bigblockyeti]

My friend has made a few slab tables with it and I have used it a couple of times.  Results were great.  The down side is its slow and terribly dirty.  It was only used once inside my shop.....never again.  We now use it outside on the driveway.

I run into this same problem, since mine is simplier yet using the top of my tablesaw, it can't go outside but it really needs to.  The mess a 1.5" - 2" bit can create when spinning 15-20Krpm even when only shaving off 1/8" is impressive, something simple can fill the dust collector at least once.