Dado blade help please

[Nick Clayton]

I'm looking at purchasing a dado blade set, but would rather not go into the stratosphere when counting dollars for it maybe 125 -150; lower would be nice as well. Do I buy a wobble (dial) or stacked. I'm certain both have merits I just don't quite know. How about 6" or 8", it obviously has to do with the speed of the blade or am I off the mark. I was looking at the Freud proffessional series, but what are some other suggestions. The first project will be some l" lattice for the LOML out of a yet to be determined wood product (read I made the mistake of latting her make the descision). the saw I'm using is a 2hp Delta 36-755. Thanks for the help.

Cheers,
Nick

[Charles Bruno]

Nick,
I bought a "cheep" dado set, it works ok. It does not leave a flat bottom, it has a small hump in the center. I find myself using a router more for true flat and square dado's. Buy the best blade you can afford, frued has a good rep, stay away from the cheep ones.

[Kyle Kraft]

Nick,

I prefer the stack dado setup. If your saw takes a 10" blade, use an 8" dado. If your saw takes an 8" blade use a 6" dado. Wobble dados are inexpensive and yield low budget results, with the added bonus of an imbalanced load on your machine spindle. Find a good stack dado in your price range then commit to spending an additional $50-$75 to get one you'll be happy with.

I like the Freud Super dado, it works very well for the type of work I do. (not a paid endorsement:D )

Kyle in K'zoo

[Scott Vigder]

I like stacked as a wobble doesn't leave a nice straight bottom. A good stacked set will last years and years.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Those wobblers won't give you want a flat true dado.
The cheap ones will tear out ply vineer and oak.
Amana is a fine dado
Freud is a fine dado
Forrest is a fine dado
Those 30+ year old steel Craftsman Laminate edge dadoes are quite good - especially for the $$. They also sharpen up quite nicely.

Get the largest diameter you can put on your saw - given the Horsepower you have available. I'd not ask a 1-HP motor to spin a dado larger than 8". Many folks won't consider a dado larger than 8".

What I'd look for is the number of teeth on the side cutters and the number of teeth on the rakers.
More is better. More still is better still. Even more-er-er is way better still more-er-er.
Carbide is always nice.
However if you are in the used or cheap no-name dado market be careful about carbide There are grades and grades of carbide. Usually, you get what you pay for.

If you think $200.00 is too much for a dado, I submit that you are thinking about it all wrong.
You are purchasing not one blade but, several blades that all must be diametered just so and sized just so and balanced just so.

You are purchasing the ability to create a very precise slot cut in a wide variety of materials and do it flawlessly each time with perfect repeatability and adjustability.

A low quality dado will frustrate you every time you use it.
A good dado is well worth the purchase price. You will get your money's worth.

[Lamar Horton]

I bought the $90.00 +/- Freud dado set from Home Depot and it works great. Flat bottoms, no tear out on any ply that I have used, oak, maple, china birch, etc. Nice storage case and plenty of shims. For the price it's a great set. I had delta's dado set, it was awful, except for cutting grooves (dado with the grain). Bought the Freud and sold the Delta.

[Charles McCracken]

Nick,

Excellent advice so far. Step one is to check the manual for your saw to find the largest diameter dado it will accommodate. If it will accept an 8" then determine if it is actually powerful enough to do so (i.e. does it bog at all when ripping?). A 6" dado requires 25% less torque than an 8". It is true that more teeth will give a cleaner cut but they also require more power. Another consideration is the depth of cut. With an 8" dado DOC is 1" less than with a 10" blade and for a 6" dado it is 2" less than the 10" blade. HTH.

[Cecil Arnold]

I have the Freud 8" with the extra small chipper blade. I have found that I don't have to use as many shims in ply and the cuts are always clean. For a less than 3 hp saw, I think I would recommend the 6" set.

[Lincoln Myers]

I have had good performance with the Systimatic Fine Stack Dado set. I got mine from Woodcraft 7 years ago, I don't think they carry that particular blade set anymore, though I did find a couple Systimatic blades on their site.

I don't see much mention of this manufacturer, but I've been satisfied with the dados I get from them; clean, with flat bottoms.

I did find them online here:

http://www.justsawblades.com/systimatic/dado_sets.htm

don't know anything about the seller good or bad.

http://lincmyers.com/images/DadoBlades.jpg

-Linc

[Dan Oelke]

A question about the size issue. I know my saw doesn't have much umph - not even the 1.5HP it is "rated" at.

But - why/how does a 6" dado work the motor less than an 8" dado?

If I am plowing out a groove that is 3/4" wide by 3/8" deep - I am removing some quanity of wood based on how fast I am feeding the stock into the blade. I don't see how the diameter of the blade affects the performance.

Thanks for educating me!

[Charles McCracken]

Dan,

Think of one tooth of the blade as being the end of a lever that has a fulcrum at the arbor. The farther away from the fulcrum the more torque is required to move the lever (tooth in this case). So a tip that is 3" from center of the arbor requires 25% less torque to turn than one that is 4" from center. Same theory as why smaller tire diameter on a car allows the use of a smaller motor and, therefore, increased economy.

[Joe Chritz]

Well put Charles. One would think you are in the business or something. :D

That said I also use the $100 Freud set from Home Depot. I have cut a lot of dados and have had excellent results. I get a really shallow groove in the bottom of the cut, but I think it is with the arbor since it doesn't change if I change chippers.

For the price it is an excellent set. If you have a little more look at the higher end Freud's, Amana or Forest. Any of them should serve you well.

I don't use the wobbles for the reason's posted already.

Be sure to be careful those blades take a big bite.

Joe

[Vaughn McMillan]

I have a 6" Avenger stacked dado set for my 1.5 hp contractor saw, and haven't had any need for anything bigger. I have read of others who were not pleased with the Avenger set, but I've gotten good results with mine so far. I went with the Avenger set because it was the only decent set I could afford at the time. I endorse the previous advice to buy the best you can afford. All of my other TS blades are Freud, and I think you'd be very happy with a Freud stacked set. (As others have mentioned, you'll likely not be happy with a wobble blade, regardless of the maker.)

- Vaughn

[Dave Boxmeyer]

I purchased a Frued SD508 Dado set about two months ago for a new Delta 36-715 10" table saw. It runs great and gives very nice results - comes with chipper blades especially designed for plywood which is a nice addition. I purchased it off Amazon in early March when they were having a special - after a 10% off coupon it was only $114.14, money well spent IMO.

[Alden Miller]

I'll toss in a vote for the DeWalt dado set. I have one and am amazed at the performance it gives. This is my second dado set, the first one I bought has been sitting in the cabinet since I got my DeWalt set.

-Alden

[Don Baer]

I have the Freud 8" set that I got from the blue borg and use it on my Jet Contractor saw. I have cut everything from 3/4" wide dados 3/4" deep in hard maple to 1/4" wide 1/2" in redwood. It does a fine job.

[Kelly Anderson]

I have the Forrest and like it alot. It dose cost a little bit more though. I got it at one of Grizzlys' sales for a good price. Am I the only one that gets a little intimidated firing up the saw with a dado blade installed? I just keeping thinking thats an afull lot of steel spinning real fast :eek: .

[Art Davis]

I recently bought a Freud SD508 at a WW show. I'm really happy with it, but am a bit bugged after reading other posts here because I paid 200 bucks for it and now find that if I had ordered from Amazon.com I would have only paid about 120 bucks. Oh, well---live and learn. It is a fine dado stack.

[Norman Hitt]

One Set that always seems to get top marks both in the tool tests, And User reports for flat bottoms and no tearouts is the Infinity. Seems like they either are having a sale this week or just had one on them. I had just bought a new set when I first discovered the Infinity set or I would own one of them. Freud is also good, and Forrest is reported good, but VERY expensive.

[Larry Norton]

I'll second my buddy Alden's recommendation for the relatively new Dewalt. Perfect chip free cuts in plywood even across the grain. I also have the Freud Super Dado and haven't used it since I got the Dewalt. That isn't to say that I don't like the Freud. It's a great stack dado! I had it sharpened just before I got the Dewalt, and the sharpening job wasn't the best. I'm considering sending it to Forrest to get it sharpened.

[Nick Clayton]

Great feedback as always..................... What do you folks think of the Freud " saftey dados"? I was looking at the sd306. I will also look into the dewalt. The amana seem very nice, but are not only out of my price range right now; the description with rake and hook are terribly confusing!

[Charles McCracken]

Nick,

The Safety Dado SD300 series sets have positive hook angles and are best for solid wood with some plywood and/or laminate use. The SD200, SD500 and SD600 series have negative hook angles so they are best for plywood and laminates and also perform great in solid wood.