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Author Topic: dado blades what works best ? ? ?  (Read 4635 times)

Offline MikeyN.C.

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dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« on: September 29, 2015, 05:34:31 pm »
Was going to buy a set, but noticed the big price difference,,,,what works best.

Offline flyboy

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2015, 06:02:48 pm »
A had a Sears wobble dado blade... Scared the heck out of me.
Cheers
Al
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Offline swflcpl

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2015, 10:01:29 pm »
Couldn't be happier with the Freud 6" set I bought from Amazon.


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Online BeeMaster2

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2015, 10:44:52 pm »
I have both a wobble blade and stacked blade set. I like the stacked blade set better. I makes a flatter cut. The. Wobble blade cuts a rounded slot.
Jim
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2015, 09:24:13 am »
If you have a high end table saw, stacked is nice.  If you can't use one because of your table saw, wobble works.
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Offline MikeyN.C.

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2015, 08:40:46 pm »
Yes,
was definitely thinking stack,that's where the price,ca.can go from $40.00 to $260.00,  have 2 tall stand saws ,both 8" (dewalt,Hitachi)

Offline capt44

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2015, 11:07:02 pm »
I have a Porter Cable table saw and use the stack dado's to make Frame Rest and Box Joints.
The set I have can go to 13/16 inch wide.
That's all my arbor will handle.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline MikeyN.C.

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2015, 06:25:49 pm »
That's kind of what i was wanting to know are the Vermont American. $40 set worth buying or buy something thats $80,$100,$120

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2015, 08:05:03 pm »
The most important thing is that it will fit your arbor, not just in diameter, but in length.  My saw has too short of an arbor for any of the stacked blades.
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Offline deknow

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2015, 08:55:40 pm »
I have a cheaper set of stacked blades (I think vt american).  They are pretty good, but out of the box they do not cut really flat bottoms.

I believe that if I had them reground as a set (about $40....I haven't had it done yet), they would be much better.  If you want a flat bottom dado, I think the more expensive sets are at least finished (ground) better.  I don t know anyone with a nice set (freud) who doesn't think they were worth the investment.

I'll be curious to see how I feel about mine after having them ground.

Offline capt44

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2015, 12:05:50 am »
I have a set of the Mibro stacked dado blades that cost around $40-50.00 at Amazon.com
I have cut frame rest, dado joints and box joints with them.
I chipped one blade tip and bought another set as a backup.
I have cut box joints and frame rest in about 900 boxes not counting the covers, inner covers and bottom boards.
Mine have worked good.
I also have a blade sharpener from Harbor Freight that I give $40.00 for.
Hey it works.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline OldMech

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2015, 10:46:36 am »

   What are you using them for? Hand holds or cutting box end joints?
   If making hand holds, a jig made from scrap and a router with a 20 degree bit makes excellent hand holds quickly and is MUCH cheaper than a stack of blades for your saw.

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Offline capt44

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2015, 09:18:39 pm »
I use the stacked dado blades for Frame Rest, box joints, dado joints.
I use a drill press and a tire buffing tool to cut handles.
It works and I still have all my fingers.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline OldMech

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2015, 10:07:44 pm »

   Tire buffing tool Capt?  never thought of that!
39 Hives and growing.  Havent found the end of the comfort zone yet.

Offline rookie2531

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2015, 07:53:09 pm »
I have an old cheapo craftsman saw (20 year old and 250.00 then) and a stacked set (probably 50.00 then)to go with it. The arbor does not allow room for collar and will only cut about 3/4" dado. But it is what I have and I make it work. I also couldn't buy any good accessories for they didn't make them for this cheaper model, like zero clearance insert, but I made my own and make other jigs too.

Offline Better.to.Bee.than.not

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #15 on: November 01, 2015, 04:22:13 am »
I have 4 different sets, stacked and wobble, I like the stacked better but to be honest, much of the time I just make multiple riff cuts for rabbits and finger joints. and when I dont do that I just use my router. not sure which you are going to buy but dado sets cost me a fortune. relatively easy to setup a jig, put the board on it, run it through each side and then run it through the two cuts, and it comes out perfectly smooth. router honestly works way better. with that I stack my boards, offset the side boards exactly the space of the finger, then run the router along a straight guide across the whole stack, adjust the guide and finish the other side running it the other direction and do it over again for each of the others. I do 8 sides at a time, or two full boxes. then you flip them over and do the other side and done. I keep wanting to make spacers that I can simply drop behind the straight edge before clamping down, but keep forgetting so do it all by measuring and marking, but it still only takes a bit really.

Offline divemaster1963

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2015, 11:51:52 am »
I have been thinking about building a set of dado blades to cut a whole board in one pass. The idea is to get several sets of slot blades that are used to make tennons for cabinets and furniture mount them on a single shaft  with spacings and place in a fixture ran by a five  hp. motor then run the boards thru in stacks. Like its done at production company's. Should not be that hard to make.

John

Offline flyboy

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2015, 02:25:35 pm »
I have been thinking about building a set of dado blades to cut a whole board in one pass. The idea is to get several sets of slot blades that are used to make tennons for cabinets and furniture mount them on a single shaft  with spacings and place in a fixture ran by a five  hp. motor then run the boards thru in stacks. Like its done at production company's. Should not be that hard to make.

John
Many years ago I had a Fine Woodworking Magazine issue that described exactly that and showed how to make it. It is called a gang saw. My recollection is that you pushed on some kind of foot pedal to move the table down over the blades.I suspect that FWW has an index somewhere that you could look up the issue. I looked http://www.finewoodworking.com/pages/fw_articleindex.asp but did not see any reference to gang saw. Maybe it had another name. It was not rocket science, as they say, but quite as you describe. The big thing would be to tame the noise, and awesome tearout, by making sure that the blades were running true, ie no runout.

I have a blade truing disc I bought from Lee Valley years ago. They do not list it anymore, but it is very simple for a handy person to make if you have metalworking skills.

It is a 120 CM disc, 1 cm thick with 8 small set screws (maybe 5.5 MM) close to the the perimeter (centred 6 MM in from rim). The blade side is relieved 1 or 2 mm, outside of the arbour face out to 1 cm from the rim.

You just mount it on the arbour with the blade and then measure the runout. Then you just adjust the setscrews to take out the runout. The setscrews push against the blade to flatten it.

Then after the runout is taken out, you run the blade under no load for a bit and it sets and you can remove the truing device. If you leave the truing device on it restricts the depth of cut, as you cannot raise the blade.

The blade runs a lot quieter, smoother, faster, and it gives you a perfect cut with no scratches and tearout and it wears smoothly and thus stays sharp longer.
Cheers
Al
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Offline capt44

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Re: dado blades what works best ? ? ?
« Reply #18 on: November 15, 2015, 12:30:36 pm »
I have been thinking about building a set of dado blades to cut a whole board in one pass. The idea is to get several sets of slot blades that are used to make tennons for cabinets and furniture mount them on a single shaft  with spacings and place in a fixture ran by a five  hp. motor then run the boards thru in stacks. Like its done at production company's. Should not be that hard to make.

John

That is considered a GANG SAW, it takes a powerful motor to drive the saw.
Dado cuts are wide and would take a tremendous motor.
I know a man that makes wooden catfish slat traps that has a gang saw using 8 single blades with spacers.
He has a 10 HP motor pulling it.
You will need a steel protective cage in case it kicks back.
It also has to have a tractor type feed.
I've seen it kick back and sling a board 25 feet and made a hole in the wall.
But look up gang saws and you'll see how they work and are built.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

 

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