Dado blades and other table saw specialties

aniceone2hold said:

I am interested in hearing from other users about their dado blades. I have used my friends Craftsman Excalibur adjustable dado, and I purchased an inexpensive stacked set; both of these did a good job. I think a discussion of these blades (including price) would be of use to all members.
I have a sanding plate for a 10" table saw. This is an old item I inherited from a friend. It makes for an inexpensive sanding solution if you are just starting out, and your saw's dust collection if perfect for reducing the mess.
Is anybody using the table saw moulding cutters? Seems like a nice idea, just wondering if they are worthwhile?
Looking forward to your responses.

Click to expand...

Hi Mike!
FINALLY! I get to give you something back!
I just read a little technical piece about daidos. The article said that with a wobble blade (I'm guessing the Craftsman adjustable is?) doesn't make true vertical edges in the cut. Think about it, the blade is at an angle (the wider the cut the greater the angle) and cuts the edges on an angle as a result. (picture a very slight dovetail cut with a small radius in the bottom corner)

The downside to the stack set is the chippers are slightly smaller diameter to reduce tear out by the edge blades. As a result the dado has a very slight crown in the center of the bottom of the cut.
The upside to either method above is the pocket in the corner of the daido cut is supposed to be a benefit in the glueing process.

For a perfect daido cut a router is the way to go. I'll still use my stack set but will use a router on finer work or if I'm cutting a lot of material pre-cut with the daido and finish with the router so there is less material to remove with the router.

I hope that helps.
CB

Ahhh dado blades. When I was growing up instead of out we had a 6" stacked blade set. Of couse they were steel and of course they were a real pain to adjust to the right width. At the time they had small washers that you could use to fine adjust but that ment running a test then taking the nut off and inserting a spacer or two then trying again.

When I started buying my own tools and it came time to get a dado I went for a wobble style. At least the fine adjusting was easy and just getting away from steel tiped blades was great. While it is true that the hole bottoms are not flat and but the sides are close enough to vertical for me so I'm happy with it still. Of couse I then just had to have the stacked set so I got one of those but an 8" size. Then the greatest deal of all came along, a set of plastic shims that slide between the blades and around the shaft. This makes setting those widths a lot easier.

I still use them, and I like them both and if I had to do it all again I would still own the two types. If I were to have to pick just one I would say the wobble would stay and the stack would be replaced by the router. The router can be used both to make the dado/grooves/rabbits or to clean the table saw mess up.

I have yet to see a stack dado blade that address the undersized plywood issue. At least mine has two outside blades, 1/8" each then to do "1/4" inch plywood..... oh I'm at 1/4" already....... like wise 1/2" plywood the two outside blades plus two 1/8" chippers and your at 1/2" so you have to use a 1/8 plus a 1/16 and your undersized by 1/32ish. They make router bits for plywood (I know I own a set) so how about a dado set for plywood???????

Have I gone on long enough? I haven't got to the sanding disk yet.... I too own a sanding disk that fit on a table saw, it was tapered at something like 4 deg and you tilted the table at 4 deg and like magic the sandpaper went in the same direction as the wood. I still have it somewhere I think sears sold it and it was either 8" or 9" in dia. I use to use it when I owned a old rockwell saw...... gee what ever happened to that???? I never did figure out how that worked, must have been magic.

OK I'm done now......

Ed