Brian Brown
11-01-2012, 10:18 AM
Well, I did it. I cut my angled dado cuts in the breadboards I am making. Thank you all for your input. I received many replies to my previous question, in this thread. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?193359-Is-this-safe I currently have 10 fingers (I started with 10 just in case you were wondering:D). The comments I received were excellent, and helped a lot. This forum is so great for the sharing of ideas, and helping others. I don't do much flatwork, (I am one of those round spinny guys), so I don' have a lot of experience in anything that isn't a 90* cut. It is really helpful to bounce ideas off of other people. So how did I end up doing this?
I was going to make a sled, but lacked time and materials. Obviously with a dado cut, I couldn't use the blade guard and anti kickback pawls. I ended up clamping a board over the top of the dado set just a whisker above the stock. This kept there from being any extra friction on the stock as I fed it into the blade, and took the place of the anti kickback pawls. If the stock did rise up during the cut, the overhead board would stop it from rising much. The cut angle was 10* and required only about 5/16" depth. It was a cross cut, but I ran it against a fence as if it was a rip cut (9" cut in hard maple). A sharp blade, and great effort to keep it against the fence and success. There was absolutely no hesitation from the saw blade as it went through. I got a perfectly clean cut in one pass. By the way before I started, I took the time to clean, align and calibrate my saw.
A couple of thoughts on some of the comments i receive to my original question... Jay Jolliffe made the comment that we were all over thinking the process, and he was right, but I would still like to over think than under think a procedure when I am unsure. Jay followed up his comment with the same sentiment.
The sled is a great idea, and if I were going to make more than 1 or 2 more of these, I would definitely make a sled.
I didn't want to make multiple stepped passes with a single kerf blade, because the bottom of the cut would be so ragged with a saw blade tooth pattern (think Charlie Brown's shirt) made by the corners of the blade. I know I can chisel the bottoms out, but I lack finesse with a chisel, especially in a channel without 90* sides.
I also thought it would be better to make a single depth cut all at once because of the possibility of ragged edges, and more because of the depth repeatability from cut to cut.
I was born with FBS (feeble brain syndrome) so the idea of a ZCI confounded me. I don't know how to make one. Can somebody help me here? When I make a ZCI for a non angled cut, I just grab a blank throat plate (I have a few on hand), clamp it securely into the throat with the blade all the way down, turn the saw on and slowly raise the blade while it cuts through the plate. With a single kerf blade, or dado set at an angle, using the same procedure seems to me that it would cause the blade to bind as it is raised. Darn that FBS. Maybe if I raised it slowly enough, It would burn the necessary slot, :eek::eek::eek: but then on the other side it would leave a large gap. Ok sorry for that, but that is just the way my brain works. Obviously there is something I am missing here. It is probably incredibly simple, and I just can't see it. So what is the process to make a ZCI for angled cuts?
Thank you all again for helping my brain through what should have been and ultimately was a simple process. I'll try to get pics, but with real life, work, and just to make life extra fun, Jury duty, I am very slow getting these done. They are currently embalmed in blue tape from the glue up stage.
I was going to make a sled, but lacked time and materials. Obviously with a dado cut, I couldn't use the blade guard and anti kickback pawls. I ended up clamping a board over the top of the dado set just a whisker above the stock. This kept there from being any extra friction on the stock as I fed it into the blade, and took the place of the anti kickback pawls. If the stock did rise up during the cut, the overhead board would stop it from rising much. The cut angle was 10* and required only about 5/16" depth. It was a cross cut, but I ran it against a fence as if it was a rip cut (9" cut in hard maple). A sharp blade, and great effort to keep it against the fence and success. There was absolutely no hesitation from the saw blade as it went through. I got a perfectly clean cut in one pass. By the way before I started, I took the time to clean, align and calibrate my saw.
A couple of thoughts on some of the comments i receive to my original question... Jay Jolliffe made the comment that we were all over thinking the process, and he was right, but I would still like to over think than under think a procedure when I am unsure. Jay followed up his comment with the same sentiment.
The sled is a great idea, and if I were going to make more than 1 or 2 more of these, I would definitely make a sled.
I didn't want to make multiple stepped passes with a single kerf blade, because the bottom of the cut would be so ragged with a saw blade tooth pattern (think Charlie Brown's shirt) made by the corners of the blade. I know I can chisel the bottoms out, but I lack finesse with a chisel, especially in a channel without 90* sides.
I also thought it would be better to make a single depth cut all at once because of the possibility of ragged edges, and more because of the depth repeatability from cut to cut.
I was born with FBS (feeble brain syndrome) so the idea of a ZCI confounded me. I don't know how to make one. Can somebody help me here? When I make a ZCI for a non angled cut, I just grab a blank throat plate (I have a few on hand), clamp it securely into the throat with the blade all the way down, turn the saw on and slowly raise the blade while it cuts through the plate. With a single kerf blade, or dado set at an angle, using the same procedure seems to me that it would cause the blade to bind as it is raised. Darn that FBS. Maybe if I raised it slowly enough, It would burn the necessary slot, :eek::eek::eek: but then on the other side it would leave a large gap. Ok sorry for that, but that is just the way my brain works. Obviously there is something I am missing here. It is probably incredibly simple, and I just can't see it. So what is the process to make a ZCI for angled cuts?
Thank you all again for helping my brain through what should have been and ultimately was a simple process. I'll try to get pics, but with real life, work, and just to make life extra fun, Jury duty, I am very slow getting these done. They are currently embalmed in blue tape from the glue up stage.