[Ed3443]

I want to buy a set of dado blades. I have a Jet supersaw--so underpowered. I would like to use the Incra Ibox which means I would need 8" instead of 6" dado's. I have thought seriously about just buying a blade for finger cuts in 8" and buying 6" dado blade. But I like the idea of using 3/4" dados. I have also heard that 8" blades spin faster and have a cleaner cut.

Then is the second quandary--which blade. I have looked at Forrest Dado King and Infinity Dadonator. I am leaning toward Infinity because of 6-chipper vs 4 and I have been really impressed with their router bits.

Any suggestions, thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

One of the reasons they sell 6" dados is for underpowered saws. It takes more torque to run an 8" set. I ran a 6" set when I only had a 1hp direct drive Sears saw and I'm pretty sure I would have had problems with an 8" set. I also have an Ibox and I'm not aware of needing an 8" set for it? You would rarely need to extend more than 3/4" and a 6" set will do that.

You want a set that is guaranteed to leave a flat bottom and not leave "bat ears" at the corners. There are several different brands that are good such as Freud, CMT, or Amana (and others that are maybe less common). Just make sure they say flat bottomed. I know in 8" you can have a choice in 12 teeth or 24 teeth but I can't remember what the options are in 6". More teeth mean a smoother cut but more teeth require more power and cut a little slower.

 

[DesertRatTom]

The chippers are the kicker for me. Don't own any Incra stuff that isn't great--someone there is a woodworker so their stuff makes a lot of sense and works as promised. So I'd go for the Incra 8 inch and adjust my feed rate. The Ibox jig would likely work as well with either 6 or 8 inches. Even my long-gone Delta 1hp worked fine with my 8-inch dado set, although I have a no longer available DadoWiz for that purpose that's easier to set up and use.

An increase in speed depends on increasing RPM. The difference will be the number of teeth per revolution that engage the workpiece, which may increase the smoothness of the cut edges.

 

[DaninVan]

I bought a DIMAR (German made) dado set last year; I'm extremely happy with it! Cuts like a laser and clean flat bottoms.
My saw is only 1 1/2HP and i didn't notice any bogging down even with the full 3/4" wide cut.
http://www.dimar-canada.com/pdf/DadoSets8.pdf

 

[RainMan 2.0]

I bought this one from Freud . It has a dial adjustment on the one end , which I just love . If your width is out a few thousands , you just loosen your arbour nut and turn it a click.
It’s expensive, but I wouldn’t use anything else

https://www.amazon.com/Freud-Dial-Width-Stacked-SD608/dp/B000089H8P

 

[DaninVan]

Yikes! That's $250 US and that doesn't include shipping to Canada in the price. That's over $300 Cdn plus taxes and shipping...

 

[Ed3443]

Ed3443

One of the reasons they sell 6" dados is for underpowered saws. It takes more torque to run an 8" set. I ran a 6" set when I only had a 1hp direct drive Sears saw and I'm pretty sure I would have had problems with an 8" set. I also have an Ibox and I'm not aware of needing an 8" set for it? You would rarely need to extend more than 3/4" and a 6" set will do that.

You want a set that is guaranteed to leave a flat bottom and not leave "bat ears" at the corners. There are several different brands that are good such as Freud, CMT, or Amana (and others that are maybe less common). Just make sure they say flat bottomed. I know in 8" you can have a choice in 12 teeth or 24 teeth but I can't remember what the options are in 6". More teeth mean a smoother cut but more teeth require more power and cut a little slower.

I read someplace that Ibox uses 1/2" of height itself. With a 3/4" dado (my likely max) the blade height would have to be 1 1/4" and my understanding that is the max for 6" dados. There is no wiggle room if you need 1/32 more. Am I totally confused??? I am pretty new to all of this so I think that I could have misunderstood something. If so I would much prefer to get the 6" since the saw has 1 3/4 HP running on 120V. Thank you!

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Yikes! That's $250 US and that doesn't include shipping to Canada in the price. That's over $300 Cdn plus taxes and shipping...

I’m pretty sure it was $340 at Windsor when I bought it . No regrets though ,as I’ve spent money more foolishly than that before

 

[MYB506]

I usually only buy Freud saw blades because I have always had good luck with them but when I upgraded to a 3 hp saw I wanted an 8" dado and after reading many reviews I bought a cheap (around $100 at the time) Oshlun set that is made in China. https://www.amazon.ca/Oshlun-SDS-08...ocphy=9061009&hvtargid=pla-434167200911&psc=1

I don't know how I could get a cleaner crisper cut by paying more than this cost. They also make a 6" set.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

I read someplace that Ibox uses 1/2" of height itself. With a 3/4" dado (my likely max) the blade height would have to be 1 1/4" and my understanding that is the max for 6" dados. There is no wiggle room if you need 1/32 more. Am I totally confused??? I am pretty new to all of this so I think that I could have misunderstood something. If so I would much prefer to get the 6" since the saw has 1 3/4 HP running on 120V. Thank you!

Yes, the wood sits on the Ibox jig so about 1/2" lost. I can't remember what the 6" set will extend above the table as I had changed to a bigger saw and 8" set by the time I bought the Ibox. My saw was rated 1hp but it drew 15 amps so regardless of what the maker claims the power between my old saw and yours is similar. One of the issues with using a heavier setup is the amount of time it takes the saw to start and get up to speed, particularly if the saw is cold. During this spin up phase the saw is drawing a lot of amps which heats the windings up and is not good for the saw. I had issues at times with the motor overload kicking out and popping the breaker once in a while.

 

[Danman1957]

I have the Freud and have been using them for 10+ yrs. very satisfied

 

[DesertRatTom]

With the Ibox you want an 8 inch set. I think you've over-worried the power issue. I have a 1 3/4hp saw and cutting 3/4 stock is no problem at all. In fact, I used to have a 1hp Delta that I used my same dado set on with no problem either. I also really like the Freud blades. Cuts a flat bottom just fine, but I have a router plane for flattening, just in case, but never had to use it, darn it, that plane is such a nifty tool.

 

[hawkeye10]

With the Ibox you want an 8 inch set. I think you've over-worried the power issue. I have a 1 3/4hp saw and cutting 3/4 stock is no problem at all. In fact, I used to have a 1hp Delta that I used my same dado set on with no problem either. I also really like the Freud blades. Cuts a flat bottom just fine, but I have a router plane for flattening, just in case, but never had to use it, darn it, that plane is such a nifty tool.

I agree, Tom. I have the small router plane from Lee Valley and it's nice. I use it for the small Brusso hinges I put on boxes.

 

[bfblack]

Freud makes two different 8" dado sets: dial-a-width (24 tooth) and traditional Super Dado (24 tooth). I find myself reaching for the dial-a width for convenience. To change the width, just loosen the arbor nut and rotate the adjustment wheel; one click is 0.004" change in width. Changing the width with the Super Dado requires more effort to change the width. If you need to make a 3/4" wide dado, check your arbor to see if your arbor shaft is long enough; mine is not. Both Freud models produce flat bottom holes.

 

[gdonham1]

I use the Forrester Woodworker II blades 1/8" and love them. Some have been sharpened 3 or 4 times. The Forrester dado set is first class but you pay for it. The good thing about Forrester they sharpen their own blades and know how and do it at a reasonable cost. I currently own a DeWalt Dado 8" set and it works just fine. I also have the Incra i-Box and that is great. I use the Frued box blade (1/4" and 3/8") and it is great. The Frued does not make exactly 1/4" on my and has to be shimmed to get a perfect 1/4" dado. But the I-Box adjusts so as long as it is calibrated the size of the blade is not a big deal.

I think someone else already said the 8" is required because of the shelf on the front of the I-Box and that makes the 6" less likely to work.

If you use the I-Box just cut slowly. If you go to fast you get chip out and after you get set up for height and width move the backer board to a new location. During setup you tend to wallow out the backer and you get fuzz and chip out if the backer is not fresh.

Both Forrester and Incra are great about replacement parts and accessories for you tools. Forrester is about as good as you can get with service to back it up. Consider the long term and who will fix your gear if you chip a tooth or need it sharpened. It is very easy to chip a single tooth when you take the blades off the saw so be careful not to bump the carbide tooth off the side of the top when exiting as you remove blades.

 

[CharleyL]

I make a lot of boxes using an Incra I-Box jig on my table saw. I use my Freud dado blade set when making large box joints, but found that the Freud SBOX8 box joint blade set provides super clean 1/4 and 3/8 box joints, which are the size that I usually want. For 1/8" box joints I found a Freud Ripping Blade LM72R010 that produces the same flat bottomed cut, but is 0.126" kerf width, so just slightly over 1/8" and it works well with the I-Box jig too. For the small amount of material that needs to be removed when cutting box joints I don't think you are going to have a power problem using either of these blades on your saw. For a full 3/4" width dado blade cut you should still be ok if you don't try to make the cuts too fast. Cutting box joints slow makes for better box joints anyway. I wouldn't go with a 6" DADO set if using the I-Box jig, but these other Freud blades should work very satisfactorily for your box joint needs. Although it's usually nice to have box joints the size of the thickness of the boards that you are using, you can actually use other sizes and the results can be very acceptable too.

I've attached some photos of some of my box joints made using the SBOX8 blade set and I-Box jig on my table saw. The results are near perfect, even on Baltic Birch plywood. I don't get joints quite this good using my Freud DADO set, but when making larger box joints the less perfect cuts are less noticeable (sorry, no picture).

Charley

 

[Gene Howe]

For the I Box, I'd recommend Freud's two blade set. It's 10" and cuts 3/8 and 1/2 flat bottom slots.
My dado set is an 8" Tenryu. I had the set re ground to eliminate the bat ears.

 

[TWheels]

Freud makes two different 8" dado sets: dial-a-width (24 tooth) and traditional Super Dado (24 tooth)... Both Freud models produce flat bottom holes.

For a FIRST Dado blade the Freud Super Dado, with the set of chippers and shims, is probably the better choice; it certainly is the more economical choice.