12” Dado stacks with 1” bore

[Phillip Mitchell]

I am needing to outfit my short stroke sliding table saw with a dado stack that will primarily used for joinery, tenoning, etc. The saw is an 80s era SCM SI15F with a ~53” stroke. The sliding table is about 7” to the left of the blade and it has a traditionally shaped zero clearance insert, similar to a cabinet saw but much bigger.

The arbor is 1”, saw motor is 9 HP so not really worried about too much blade. A 12” blade gives me nearly 4” depth of cut which is more than enough on a dado stack. I have a shaper with an adjustable groover that I have been using lately for grooves, etc and I like using the feeder and the clean and consistent results compared to dado stack on a table saw. I had a Powermatic 66 with Freud dado stack for many years but sold it when I got the slider. There are still times I’m finding myself missing a dado set, even outside of tenoning, eg: needing to put a dado or groove in stock that exceeds the limited range of the shaper spindle height.

As far as new offerings with 1” bore I have seen the following

Freud SD512 ~ $250
Amana 12” ~ $325 (or around $250 for 10” version)
Forrest Dado King ~ $450+

Aside from used sets, is there an option I‘m missing?

I really like Tenryu blades and lean toward the industrial side in general, but haven’t readily seen many offerings in the realm aside from used auction sets.

Any recommendations? Photos of the saw below for reference. I also have a 5 HP Tannewitz table saw that also has a 1” arbor and some room on the arbor for a dado stack, though maybe not enough length for a full stack and remaking the zero clearance insert may not be as simple as the SCM saw.

[Brian Holcombe]

I use the Amana Tool set, they are excellent.

[Kevin Jenness]

I have an Amana set that I am quite happy with.

I would lean toward a 10" diameter set unless I really needed the extra depth of cut just because a 12" stack is a lot of steel to be slinging around on a 1" arbor. Your saw will probably handle it, but still... I have an 8" set and that is plenty for what I do.

How is that saw working out for you?

[Phillip Mitchell]

Good to have 2 quality endorsements for Amana. I may have located a used set from FS Tool but still waiting on details.

Kevin,

The SCM saw is great for what it was intended for, which in my opinion, is solid wood. Very happy and satisfied with the precision it provides when working with solid wood and sheet stock under say 36-40”. Crosscutting a 48” panel reveals the flaws in the design of this model with only 3 points of bearing contact under the sliding table. I read as much about this just before purchasing the saw and the table travel is just not dead nuts straight from both extreme ends of the stroke. If I don’t try to push it to that capacity then the saw is awesome and very competent.

I think when I finally move into a bigger space I would like to keep it for solid wood joinery, etc and try and find a longer stroke, slightly newer slider in the 8-10’ range. I’m not disappointed for what I have into it which is still under $2k. It works for me in my current tiny space where a long stroke slider would absolutely not fit, but it’s not quite as versatile or valuable as a longer stroke machine (no surprise there.)

Thanks for asking.

[Jacques Gagnon]

Philip,



Here is another option you may wish to consider: Royce Ayr dado stack - product # S-30 (12 inch diameter with 1 inch bore).

Will try to insert image from catalogue.

J.