Which Dado set for Hammer K3?

[Brian Cosgrove]

Hi. I am awaiting delivery of a Hammer K3 slider and have spent the last few days researching dado sets. I have narrowed it down to the Infinity Dadonator 6" set (24 tooth outer blades, 6 tooth chippers) which would be $230.00 for the set with the required 30mm arbor bore and The Ridge Carbide 6" set (24 tooth outer blades and 4 tooth chippers), which would be $196 for the set with the required 30mm bore. Both include shipping. The Forrest Dado King would be $331 for the 6" set. I am looking for opinions on which is the better option. I am a hobbyist and will not be using the set on a regular basis, but do want decent flat bottom results when I use it. Also, my local sharpener sells Everlast blades, which seem nice, but their 6" dado set only has 18 teeth on the outers, which seem a little low for me. If anyone has this set, I would like your input. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Brian

[Stephen Cherry]

Why only a 6 inch dado? I have a 10 inch dado king for my felder k975, and it works great. I would consider an 8", and would also call felder in delaware to see what their Christmas specials are on their eurocutters. I was at their open house this past summer, and their tooling looks like it is at a higher level than the typical dado blade.

Just my opinion, but if you are spending good money on the machine, why not make it work with some good blades?

[C Scott McDonald]

I have the Forrest 8" drilled for Felder and it is awesome for my Hammer. I would buy it again in a second. Cut quality is excellent. 8" is the max for the dado on the Hammer btw. Another thing with the Forrest is they drill the pin holes on the chippers so they line up nicely with the outside blades.

You will have to make or buy some table inserts for it so it is zero clearence on the dados.

I would really recommend the 8" Forrest drilled for the felder.

[scott spencer]

The Dadonator is the best of the 5 sets I've owned. It's an excellent design that's extremely well made. I'm sure the other two sets you mentioned are good too, but it's hard to imagine any set eclipsing the Dadonator. (the 6 tooth chippers should be better mileage too)

[Brian Cosgrove]

Thanks for the replies so far. The reason I am focusing on 6" sets is because the manual states maximum grooving blade size is 180mm, which is 7.08". I was figuring 8" is too large.

[ian maybury]

The Hammer is limited on diameter I gather. The other basic option for the Hammer is to go for various combinations of the tipped slotting cutters done by Felder - take a look at the website and shop. They are probably a bit more expensive than even one of the good dado sets, but reportedly do an excellent job. It could be there's deals going right now since it's Christmas....

[Bill ThompsonNM]

+1 dadonator

[Preston Hoffman]

I have the Forrest 8" drilled for Felder and it is awesome for my Hammer. I would buy it again in a second. Cut quality is excellent. 8" is the max for the dado on the Hammer btw. Another thing with the Forrest is they drill the pin holes on the chippers so they line up nicely with the outside blades.

You will have to make or buy some table inserts for it so it is zero clearence on the dados.

I would really recommend the 8" Forrest drilled for the felder.

I heard the max capacity is 180 mm (~ 6" -7") dado. Are you certain an 8" works with no problems/modifications on a hammer K3? I have been looking for clarification on this and it has been hard to come by.

[Rod Sheridan]

Why only a 6 inch dado? I have a 10 inch dado king for my felder k975, and it works great. I would consider an 8", and would also call felder in delaware to see what their Christmas specials are on their eurocutters. I was at their open house this past summer, and their tooling looks like it is at a higher level than the typical dado blade.

Just my opinion, but if you are spending good money on the machine, why not make it work with some good blades?

Hi, the maximum dado diameter on the Hammer is 180mm, an 8 inch dado wil collide with the trunnion supports...........Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

I heard the max capacity is 180 mm (~ 6" -7") dado. Are you certain an 8" works with no problems/modifications on a hammer K3? I have been looking for clarification on this and it has been hard to come by.

The 8 inch will collide with the trunnion supports, that's why you're limited to 180mm...........Rod.

[Jeff Monson]

Another vote for Forrest, I have a Dado King bored for my Felder and it works awesome.

[Preston Hoffman]

The 8 inch will collide with the trunnion supports, that's why you're limited to 180mm...........Rod.

Thanks Rod. I noticed you post on the creek quite a bit and your posts have helped me with several other questions too, so thanks again. I did have another question that you may be able to answer for me. Hammer sells a slotting cutter (http://us.feldershop.com/en-US/en-US/en-US/Sawing/Tongue-and-groove-cutters/Slotting-Cutter.html) and I was wondering if you had any experience with this blade or have even heard of it. I think the idea behind the blade is its suppose to operate more "true", but I'm not sure I can buy in to that. It seems like I could just save myself some money and go with a flat toothed rip blade if I want the occasionally flat bottom slot cutter. A slot cutter could be useful for me when I am making splines for picture frames, or similar operations with small dados. I don't mind spending extra for additional precision, but I don't like wasting money either.

I also contacted Len Cimini (L.Cimini@felderusa), hammer salesman, and he responded with the max capacity dado of the hammer being 200 mm (~8"). I'm not certain if he is a subject expert across their entire lineup, so I will just have to thumb through my owners manual once I get my saw on Thursday.

[Kelby Van Patten]

This thread is 5 years old. I'm assuming he has his dado by now . . .

[Eric D Matson]

I know this is an old thread, but I am in the market for a dado blade stack. I have contacted infinity and they do not bore the pinholes for the Hammer. Where did everyone get theirs bored? I'm pretty sure I can have a machinist do it at work. I was just curious.

[Rod Sheridan]

I know this is an old thread, but I am in the market for a dado blade stack. I have contacted infinity and they do not bore the pinholes for the Hammer. Where did everyone get theirs bored? I'm pretty sure I can have a machinist do it at work. I was just curious.

I bought mine from FS Tools, it's a fantastic set that makes perfectly flat bottoms. You can also use the Hammer cutter as well..........Regards, Rod.

[Ted Diehl]

Hi. I am awaiting delivery of a Hammer K3 slider and have spent the last few days researching dado sets. I have narrowed it down to the Infinity Dadonator 6" set (24 tooth outer blades, 6 tooth chippers) which would be $230.00 for the set with the required 30mm arbor bore and The Ridge Carbide 6" set (24 tooth outer blades and 4 tooth chippers), which would be $196 for the set with the required 30mm bore. Both include shipping. The Forrest Dado King would be $331 for the 6" set. I am looking for opinions on which is the better option. I am a hobbyist and will not be using the set on a regular basis, but do want decent flat bottom results when I use it. Also, my local sharpener sells Everlast blades, which seem nice, but their 6" dado set only has 18 teeth on the outers, which seem a little low for me. If anyone has this set, I would like your input. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Brian

I have the Hammer K3 Winner and bought the 6" Dado King from Forrest - The dado king is awesome but being restricted to a 6" Dado you can't even plow a 3/4" Dado to install a 5/16 T-Track because a 6" dado won't cut a deep enough dado - PITA!

[Thomas Crawford]

I was just looking into this, for the K3 it says a max dado of 29/32? Are you talking about the width or depth of cut?