Predicament with new Freud Box Joint Blade

[Anthony Whitesell]

I needed to make a 3/8" dado tonight. Normally I use a spiral bit in the router table, but it was setup with a different bit for another step of the project. So I grabbed my shiny new Freud Box Joint blade arranged the blades and installed them. This was the first time I used the blade, so I was being extra careful that everything fit right including giving the blade a spin by hand. That's when I ran into trouble. If you have seen the blade, it's actually two blades with the carbide brazed off center which allows for the two different width dados (actually I think you could get three but that's another story and not in the instructions). Set for a 3/8" dado the carbide hangs to the outside of the blade. When I installed the blade and tightened the nut, the teeth were rubbing on the trunnion around the arbor. Apparently the shoulder on the arbor is just a hair too "short" to allow enough clearance to run the blade as is.

Any ideas for a safe way to shift the blade away from the arbor about 1/16" of an inch? Can I use a 5/8" hole fender washer as a specer between the arbor and blade?

[Andrew Nemeth]

I don't think I would use a fender washer as it is not a machined flat surface and you will likely introduce some wobble to the blade. However, several companies make blade stabilizers or stiffness that would probably work. I have one from Frorrest that I have been happy with.

-Andrew

[Matt Meiser]

I was thinking blade stabilizer too.

[Bob Wingard]

Fender washers, as well as standard machine washers are punched out of sheets of steel, and are very consistent in their thickness dimension ... they are then plated with zinc and/or cadmium ... they should be consistent in thickness to within a thousandth or two.

Blade stabilizers would probably be a better choice, simply for their larger diameter ... and the fact that they are ground flat ... plus, you can run to SEARS and get a cheap set if you have one of the larger stores in your area.

[Norman Hitt]

Anthony, I'm curious as to what kind of SAW you have? The reason I ask, is that on my PM 66, you can adjust the position of the arbor (and blade) a small amount left or right in relation to the slot in the blade insert, by loosening two set screws that hold the arbor bearing assembly in position in the arbor housing. If your saw is built this way, a small adjustment could possibly solve your problem. Just a thought anyhow.

PS: The only way I can see those set screws is IF the table is off OR if the blade is tilted to 45*

[Anthony Whitesell]

I have a 1952-54 Craftsman Table Saw. I also have and use a blade stablizer, but only on the right side of the blade. I can't use it on the left of the blade as it is so thick it would shift the blade too far to the right and out of the hole in the insert.

[Larry Edgerton]

I make thick shims out of old blades. Maybe you can look around the shop and come up something to cut the center out of an old junk blade. I use a plasma cutter and dress up with a grinder while rotating the piece on the arbor with the saw running. I position the grinder how I want it solid on the table and raise the blade disk into the turning grinder wheel very slowly. works great. Every once in a while they come in handy for weird setups...

[Norman Hitt]

I have a 1952-54 Craftsman Table Saw. I also have and use a blade stablizer, but only on the right side of the blade. I can't use it on the left of the blade as it is so thick it would shift the blade too far to the right and out of the hole in the insert.

In that case, couldn't you make a new insert to use with Spacer and "The Box Joint Blades" just like you would to make a zero clearance insert for a normal blade or a dado set?

Incidentally, I still have one of those old Craftsman Saws too, that I gave my Dad one year for Christmas. It is a model 113.29991 and still works like a champ.

[Anthony Whitesell]

The saw is a 1952-1954 King-Seeley model number 103.20000. The insert is on 0.085" thick. I have not been able to make a new insert for it. Someone sent me pictures of an insert design for the saw but I have not been able to locate a cost effective supplier for the material (3"W 14"L 5/8"T soft aluminum). I'm trying to move it only 1/16" to keep it in the original slot. The blade stailizers I'm aware of are all too thick, including the set I have.

[glenn bradley]

Blade stabilizer. You can get a good machined set for $20 - $25 or pay more if you like.

[Matt Meiser]

Anthony, check http://www.asapsource.com

[Chip Lindley]

Your Freud Dado set should have come with a set of shim spacers. IF those are the same diameter (or larger) than the saw's arbor flange, you can shim out the blade with one of the thicker discs.

[Cody Colston]

You are cutting a dado. Blade marks are not an issue if the fender washer is not perfectly, exactly flat. Go ahead and use it. I think worrying about blade wobble from any variation in the thickness is being too finicky, anyway. You are cutting wood, not machining plutonium.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Its the box joint dado set. Not shims, just 2 blades.

[Charles Lent]

You will be better off using a blade stabilizer to shim the blade out away from the trunion and then making a zero clearance insert out of wood (even plywood), Corian, or one of those plastic cutting boards that are available at discount stores. I don't like metal anywhere near my saw blades and never even use the original metal factory inserts, except for using them as patterns for making my own inserts. You will need the zero clearance around the blade to get good quality box joint cuts from this blade anyway.

I have made a different zero clearance insert for each of my saw blades and I write the blade information on the bottom of the insert to be sure that each blade and insert are always used together. I've made 2 inserts for my box joint blade, one for each width. These inserts aren't that hard to make, and I usually make several blank inserts at a time to use whenever I need a new one. I use the factory metal insert as a pattern, trace it onto the insert stock that I'll be making them from, cut slightly outside this line with the band saw, and then attach the factory insert back to the stock cutout with double sided tape. Then I trim away the excess material on the router table using a flush trim router bit with the bearing rubbing against the factory insert. Then holes are drilled and threaded and set screws are added to level this new insert in the saw. If your stock is a bit thicker than the factory insert an area around the edge of the new insert you can cut a rabbet along the bottom edge so the insert is the correct thickness at the edge and will sit at the proper level in the saw. To cut the blade slot, install the blade and the new insert in the saw, making certain that the blade is all the way down and not touching the insert. Clamp a scrap piece of 2X4 across the top of the insert, parallel with the blade and alongside of where the blade cut line is, to hold the insert down during the cut. Now start the saw and slowly raise the blade up through the insert to the height desired. Turn off the saw and remove the 2X4. Your new zero clearance insert is now ready to use. Remove it and write the blade information on the back side of it.

Charley

[scott spencer]

Do you have any shims from a dado set?

[Ellen Benkin]

I haven't been here for a while. Is the guy from Freud still monitoring this? He was very helpful.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Here's the saw and insert. As you see it's not so easy to whip up a new one. Someone many moons ago provided me with their design which I plan to use but I haven't gotten the material. Matt's supplier looks promising.

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