[MesachieMan]

I am a beekeeper who makes most of his own woodware for apiaries which are growing in number. I am new to carpentry in general but I recently bought an old Dewalt 744 Type 2 bench saw that has made a huge difference in my accuracy and confidence, particularly in the making of dado cuts which a plentiful in my trade. That said, recently I made some dado cuts that I think could have been cut cleaner, quicker and with more precision if I'd used a router. Lucky for me I had the foresight to buy a used Craftsman bench top shaper/router but I haven't used it yet. That I intend to change.

 

[Stick486]

welcome N/A...

are you actually making dadoes, rabbets or box joints???...

clean dado cuts on a TS are proportional to the the design and quality of the dado blade...
if both edges/shoulders of dado are fuzzy/torn the blade is likely dull or in need of cleaning.
if the bottom of the dado is really irregular/rough it's the chippers of the dado blade are not uniform size and/or the tooth grind is off...
to clean this up there is nothing like a shoulder plane...
if you decide to get one.. I strongly suggest you stay/steer clear of the Stanley Sweethearts...

whose blade do you have and what size dadoes are you making???...

the nature of the dado cut/rout using a router is that one edge/shoulder of dado will be clean and the opposite edge/shoulder will be fuzzy/torn...
to solve this do the dado in two passes...

since you are making a lot of dadoes you will far more mileage out of dado blade than you will a router bit..

 

[Stick486]

since WW and routering is new to you here's some PDF's that may help you sort things out...

..

 

[Stick486]

and a few more...

..

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Welcome to the forum N/a

 

[difalkner]

Welcome to the forum! If you'll complete your profile and tell us your name we can get to know you better. Good luck with your new found hobby. Ask questions, post photos, and jump right on in.

David

 

[Shop guy]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[BrianS]

Hi, and welcome to our little corner of the 'net.

 

[jw2170]

G'day and welcome to the forum..

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Glad you've joined the fun. Stick pretty much covered the topic. Good 8 inch dado sets are not so cheap. They have to match the chippers to the main cutters, and the teeth have to be flat. A cheaper set may work, but you'll want to have a shoulder plane, one smaller than the width of the dados you cut will work. The rough bottom messes with glue, or with smooth in and out movement of your wax frames.

Years ago i had a friend who was a bee keeper. Something of an art. I bet any pictures you could post would be of great interest.

BTW, if you are making boxes using box joints, you might wish to check out the Incra iBox jig. It adapts to the width of your dado stack and is noticeably easier to use than the shop made jigs.

If you decide to use a router for dados or rabbets, consider making an exact width dado jig. You'll find a ton of designs on YouTube as well as on this site using search.

 

[MesachieMan]

Thank you STICK486, DesertRatTom and everyone else, your quick replies are appreciated. Stick486 and DesertRatTom; your posts are very instructional. In answer to your questions Stick486; I use the dado blades to make rabbet cuts for corners and grooves to make frames for plywood and screens. My dado blades are 8" ROK's. Thank you as well for all the reading material. I have saved all of them and start on reviewing them forthwith. DesertRatTom; I will look into the shoulder planer you and Stick486 mentioned. I do use hand planes; typically to remove propolis and level surfaces. Thank you all again.

 

[Pounamu]

Welcome! As a one time commercial beekeeper myself, I suspect you may well be referring to the rabbets in the upper edges of your supers, which accommodate the lugs on the top bars of your frames. If that is so, your new shaper/router should be ideal.

 

[lucyajones]

Hi ,
welcome to the Forum

 

[Stick486]

Tieberius...
now how cool is that...
again ...welcome...

 

[Roy Drake]

Welcome from a failed beekeeper. I've bought in twice and had colony collapse both times. I suspect it was from sprays on farm fields and poultry houses. Enjoy and join right in.

 

[MT Stringer]

Welcome aboard.

About that exact width dado sled. I made one and it works great.

Note that I use a 1/2 inch pattern bit and usually make several passes cutting away about 1/8th of material on each pass.

Attached is my plan. Good luck.
Mike