How good are dial-a-dado sets versus stacked?

[abram godshall]

I have a Freud stacked dado set and am having trouble pinching and bending the shims and it takes me a long time (and an aching back from hanging over the saw) to mount/dismount the set. My son and I are building a lot of cabinets for his new house and every dado is set for 3/4" plywood. My questions are: how well do the dial-a-dado sets cut compared to my stacked set and can I set it up for 3/4" and just leave it at that setting for future cuts?

Thank you in advance,
Abram Godshall

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I used a 6" Sears wobble dado for years before investing in stacked dados. The main difference is the lack of a perfectly flat bottom in the cut. They can take a few moments to set the exact width but they will do the job.
fmr

[Terry Welty]

If I want something quick and easy I pull out my Craftman Dial Dado blade unit. If I want clean and accurate dado's the Craftsman stays in the drawer and I get out my Oshlun stack...

[glenn bradley]

I believe there is some confusion here over the wobble style dados and Freud's SD608 set. The Dial-a-Width stack takes a bit more arbor than a plain stack due to the mechanism. If one would have fit my saw at the widths I was after I would have one. I run an SD508. On the SD608 I believe every click on the adjuster is .004" so setting a consistent width and keeping it is no problem. Having your plywood be a consistent width is another story.

[Darrell Bade]

I have a Freud Dial-a-Width and it is very easy to use. I make the initial setup per the instructions and do a test cut. Use calipers and measure the dado and the piece to go in it. Find the difference and divide by .oo4 and change the blades by that many clicks. 9 times out of 10 that gets it dead on. I think it is a great design.

You do need to make sure it will fit your saw. Arbor length is one issue and I think Freuds website tells you how to check it. Interference in the saw can be another problem. My brother bought the new Jet Cabinet saw a couple of years ago and it has an arbor lock on it. The big hub of the dado set interfered with the arbor lock. Bad for him, good for me. I bought it for 100 bucks and it was like new and he bought a new set and is now using shims.

[John Thompson]

Sorry to veer from the original question of dial vs stacked but... setting up either proved to such an annoyance to me I sold my stacked set years ago and built an adjustable router dado jig in less than an hour. The dado set is fine if you use ply which is a constant thickness but I don't use ply.

If I set the dado for 3/4" for solid wood.. what is to ensure I can mill my stock to exact thichness of the dado set up? Simply put you really can't assure the stock thickness when planing is going to be the same as you will always be off by several .000 in the majority of cases.

So.. with the quick turn of two knobs I can run the adjustment fence up to an actual piece of planed stock regardless of how thick it actually is and have an exact dado width every time. This takes under ten seconds to dial in with the adjustable jig. The added bonus is you can make stopped dadoes which are common for me easily and another PITA to pull off on a standard dado set on the TS.

Good luck...

[Bob Vavricka]

So.. with the quick turn of two knobs I can run the adjustment fence up to an actual piece of planed stock regardless of how thick it actually is and have an exact dado width every time. This takes under ten seconds to dial in with the adjustable jig. The added bonus is you can make stopped dadoes which are common for me easily and another PITA to pull off on a standard dado set on the TS.

Good luck...

John, How about a picture/more information about your setup?

[John Thompson]

John, How about a picture/more information about your setup?

I don't think I can post a web-site directly on this forum (?) but.. if you put one of those www. in front of the words... wood smith shop without spacing.. then added another dot . and a com behind it.... you can not only see the jig I built but they have a full description and detailed pictures of just how they built it. So.. I can't post the web-site I don't believe (?) but.. I can give a hint I suppose as they are not trying to sell anyone anything there which is innocent enough IMO. :D

[Brandon Weiss]

Sorry to veer from the original question of dial vs stacked but... setting up either proved to such an annoyance to me I sold my stacked set years ago and built an adjustable router dado jig in less than an hour. The dado set is fine if you use ply which is a constant thickness but I don't use ply.

If I set the dado for 3/4" for solid wood.. what is to ensure I can mill my stock to exact thichness of the dado set up? Simply put you really can't assure the stock thickness when planing is going to be the same as you will always be off by several .000 in the majority of cases.

So.. with the quick turn of two knobs I can run the adjustment fence up to an actual piece of planed stock regardless of how thick it actually is and have an exact dado width every time. This takes under ten seconds to dial in with the adjustable jig. The added bonus is you can make stopped dadoes which are common for me easily and another PITA to pull off on a standard dado set on the TS.

Good luck...


John,
I've been curious about this setup with a router. I currently use the SD208 on my Ridgid TS3650. The setup works pretty good but I often have to make adjustments after my test cut. Like you said, this is because of the varying wood thickness. Couple of questions for you:

1. What do you use for router bits? I take it you use a smaller bit than the dado width to ensure you mill it to the exact width of your jig, correct?

2. How often do you do test cuts? Or do you do test cuts at all? How often do you need to make an adjustment on your jig based on the test cut?

3. Okay, a few questions......Are you getting the perfect flat bottom each time you make a dado now that you use a router bit? No sanding required?

Thanks

[John Thompson]

John,
I've been curious about this setup with a router. I currently use the SD208 on my Ridgid TS3650. The setup works pretty good but I often have to make adjustments after my test cut. Like you said, this is because of the varying wood thickness. Couple of questions for you:

1. What do you use for router bits? I take it you use a smaller bit than the dado width to ensure you mill it to the exact width of your jig, correct?

2. How often do you do test cuts? Or do you do test cuts at all? How often do you need to make an adjustment on your jig based on the test cut?

3. Okay, a few questions......Are you getting the perfect flat bottom each time you make a dado now that you use a router bit? No sanding required?

Thanks

#1.. 1/2" straight plunge.. double pass.. one on the fixed fence clockwise then take the remainder on the adjustable fence counter-clockwise. I do stop the router when I exit the first cut to turn the face of the router base toward the adjustable wall. If you draw an arrow on your lead face.. by doing so you insure that the cut is exact in case the bit is not perfectly centered in the collect if you exit and re-orient the arrow facing the second pass fence.

Correct on using a smaller bit to allow the 2 passes. I am set up for 1/2" - whatever by using the 1/2" bit! In the rare occasion I do a 1/4" or 3/8" dado.. I simply use my Freud box joint blade set and do it on a TS. The blades are exactly 1/4" with writing facing out and 3/8" with writing facing in. The 40 teeth are all flat cut which leaves a perfectly flat bottom when using them.

#2.. Once the adjustable fence portion is slid next to the actual milled stock you are ready to go. I do a test cut with a scrap piece as I do with tenons and a lot of other things but so far there have been no adjustments.

#3.. Yes to a flat bottom as well as a plunge straight bit will leave one considering it has slight wings on the bottom. That's pretty smooth but I still take hand chisel.. hold it with the bevel facing away from (flat back toward) me in almost a vertical (I cant it about 5* off vertical) and pull toward me. That will clean what little needs cleaning in one pass if you hold the chisel handle in one hand the use your other the guide the blade just below the tang.

Again.. see the wood smith shop site for details. I believe a Google of Adjustable Router Dado Jig will lead you to that site among others also.

Back to the shop with coffee in tow... :)

[Kevin Lucas]

since there is a dado maybe here is a good spot for a question I have. I found a dado set at a estate sale for a good deal. It is a 6 in set and looks perfectly new and its sharp (it bit me). The problem is it is not 5/8 but 1/2 inch arbor set. Would getting someone to drill that extra 8th in it ruin it or unballance it?

[glenn bradley]

John,
I've been curious about this setup with a router. I currently use the SD208 on my Ridgid TS3650.

Not John but, I use this (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=46406) for router dados. The stack and the Router both have their place. Just to add to the mix, I set the stack undersize and move the fence (DRO) and do the final size in a second pass. Not something I would like to do in a production run but, I rarely do those.

[Rod Sheridan]

since there is a dado maybe here is a good spot for a question I have. I found a dado set at a estate sale for a good deal. It is a 6 in set and looks perfectly new and its sharp (it bit me). The problem is it is not 5/8 but 1/2 inch arbor set. Would getting someone to drill that extra 8th in it ruin it or unballance it?

No problem, a saw manufacturer or supplier can do that for you.

I have 3 blades at FS tools being bored from 5/8" to 30mm, along with drilling two pin holes in the blades.

I'm now trying to decide whether to have them supply a 6" dado with the above bore/pin holes or purchase a shaper style cutter for dado applications.

Regards, Rod.

[Tom Veatch]

I have a Freud 508 set and encountered the same shim headaches you describe. I now have a Freud 608 and the 508 is gathering dust. I heartily recommend the 608 if your saw arbor is long enough for the added width.

As far as matching to stock thickness, it's a simple matter to caliper the stock, rough dial the width, test cut a piece of scrap (which I'd do for depth of cut, anyway), and dial in the adjustment. No problem with plywood variation from sheet to sheet or milled thickness of solid stock since it's so easy to adjust the cut width, every dado gets matched to the actual stock.

[Chip Lindley]

The big Q.! Does the Freud 608 make a truly flat-bottom hole? No curve at all? Just wondering....

[Tom Veatch]

The big Q.! Does the Freud 608 make a truly flat-bottom hole? No curve at all? Just wondering....

Yes, it does. It, like most stacked dado blades puts small "bat ear" grooves in the corners, but it's not a "wobble" dado blade.

It works just like a stacked dado set with an inner and outer blade with a number of chippers between. The difference is that the outer blade has a threaded, click stop spacer that adjusts the separation between the outer blade and the adjacent blade. Each click increases (or decreases) the separation by appx. 0.004 inches.

The procedure I use is:
1) measure the thickness of the workpiece.
2) find the closest stackup of blades and chippers on the supplied thickness chart that is less than that dimension.
3) mount the dado stack
4) dial in the required adjustment (Workpiece thickness - stack width)/.004 = number of clicks
5) tighten the arbor nut.
6) adjust the blade height and make a test cut to verify dado depth and width.
7) Adjust height/loosen the arbor nut and adjust width as needed - 1 click per .004 inches of adjustment.
8) tighten the arbor nut.
9) another test cut if desired

Takes longer to write than it does to actually make the cut (depending on typing speed)
I'll not voluntarily go back to a shimmed stacked dado set.