With the sled base done next is to move on to the leveler
assemblies. Here is what the six of them
look like set up on the sled base.
The first group of pieces to be worked on in the assembly
are the 12 sliding blocks. There are two
kinds of these blocks. Six of them have
a T-nut set into the side which is shown in the inset and the other six do not,
other than that they are identical.
The sliding blocks are made from oak as they will get the
most use sliding along the sides of the sled.
In searching though my scrap box, I could not find big enough pieces so
decided to glue up what I had to get what’s needed. Once the necessary pieces are rough cut to
size, they get glued and clamped together.
It doesn’t clearly show it here but there are four blanks made up of two
pieces each.
While the glue cures the leveler assembly’s base plates
get rough cut to size. They are ¼” thick
and could be made out of the MDF except almost all I had got used making the
sled base. I do have some leftover ¼”
oak veneered MDF leftovers so used them.
When the glue cures, the slider block blanks are removed
from the clamps so they can be cut down to their near final thickness and
length. Here they are setting on the
table saw ready to start that work. The
sliding blocks are 3” long and these blanks are about a foot long each so three
or four will get cut out of each blank. 
After making a clean cut on the ends they get cut to the
correct width on the table saw and a little thick. They then get run through
the thickness sander to remove any saw marks shown below in progress. They are still slightly thick to allow for
some final fitting later.
Next is to cut a small rabbit to fit under the lip of the
top skin on the sled base. That could be
done on the table saw or the router. In
this case a router is used to make sure I get a flat bottom and a sharp inside
corner. The rabbit is cut while the
blank is long so I don’t have to work on smaller 3” long parts. This photo shows the setup on the router
table along with the gripper used to keep my fingers away from the router
bit. Speaking of the router bit most of
the time when cutting a rabbit, I use a straight bit and the fence. However, in this case the bit has a bearing
on the end that limits the cut to ¼” deep, which it what’s needed.
After the rabbit is cut the blanks get run though the
thickness sander to fine tune the thickness.
When finished the top of the blank is just a tiny bit below the
top. This is so when the sled is used
there is just a little clearance so the sliding block moves freely. Once fitted the long blanks are cut to their
final 3” length on the chop saw using a stop for consistency. Since the base plate width is the same as the
sliding block length they could now be cut to their final width.
Making the leveler bars is next. They are 1½” tall, 1¼” thick and about 12”
long. I decided to make them out of a
Douglas fir 2x4 left over from the Glider/Swing project. The drawing below shows what they look like
and where they will go in the leveler assembly.
The bottom photo is of the two 2x4 pieces that got so twisted and
contorted as they dried that they were unusable for anything in the
glider. Due to the leveler bars relatively
small size it seemed worth it to take a chance and see if one piece could be
cut down, flattened and straightened out.
It was going to be either that or they are firewood. 
The end result is that after a lot of work with a hand
plane to remove the twist and the table saw to get straight edges I ended up
with flat and square oversize blanks.
Not trusting them to stay that way they were set aside to see if they
were done doing an impression of a pretzel.
A week later they were still in good shape so they got cut to final
width and thickness. As their final
length is the same as the base plate, they were all cut using the same stop
block shown below on the chop saw for consistency.
Here in the top photo is the sled bottom along with the base plates,
leveler bars and sliding blocks all cut to their final length, width and
thickness. They are not done as there is
still quite a bit of work yet to do on them.
In the bottom photo on the left side the red arrow points to the test leveling
assembly using the sliding block cutoffs along with an MDF base plate. To its right is a partially assembled leveler
using the actual sliding blocks and base plate.
To its right is the rest of the base plates, leveler bars and sliding
blocks.
Before shaping the leveling bars, I hit the edges with
some sandpaper to soften the sharp edge and reduce the chance of getting any splinters. The 120-grit sanding
block works well to do that. 
Drilling the bolt holes are next. First, the top photo shows the setup for the
5/8” diameter Fostner bit used to drill a ¾” deep flat bottom hole. A stop is set on the drill press to control
the depth and a stop clamped on the right sets the left/right position of the
bar. Its front/back position is set with
the fence. The bottom photo shows the
second setup for a smaller 5/16” though hole for the ¼” bolt. The left/right stop and the front/back fence
are in the same place so the through hole is centered on the larger previously
drilled hole.
In case that all does not make sense here is a section
through the leveling bar showing the drilled holes. The smaller hole does not go through since it
is in an area that will get cut away.
That comes next.
Next Up – Completing Leveling Bars & Starting Leveling Wheels
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