Shim Installation for Stacked Dado?

[Les Heinen]

Recently purchased CMT dadoset which came with 4 or 5 metal shims of various thicknesses. When attempting to install some of these shims for a plywood dado, the shim(s) would invariable drop between the arbor threads making it impossible to tighten up the set of blades. The shim having dropped between the threads would block the subsequent blade from sliding beyond the stuck shim. After many futile attempts, the entire set of shims were artfully launched across the shop making a landing in some unaccessable spot.

Now that I have cooled off, I was wondering what the proper procedure would be to install these fiesty little rascals. Double sided tape would add thickness...no good. A quick spray of adhesive for a temporary hold?? If anyone can offer a solution to this I might find the intestinal fortitude to initiate a search for the MIA shims and try this again.

As always, I appreciate everyone's insightful advice.

Les

[Ben Cadotte]

Check your arbor. I put my shims next to the first blade on the arbor. There is enough of an unthreaded spot they don't fall down. If yours doesn't have this flat area I am not sure what to try next. Glue seems to be my next guess.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Les, I also put the shims in the solid part of the arbor, which is fairly long on my saw. (General 650).

I sometimes wind up placing shims in the threaded portion, however I haven't had a problem with either the paper/cardboard or plastic shims.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. A dado may be a pain to adjust, however at least you can adjust it, unlike a router bit.

Now for the ultimate in dadoes, look at the unit sold by Felder, it's built like a shaper cutter with scoring and hogging blades, makes a perfectly flat and square groove, and if I remeber correctly, no pesky shims!

[Peter Quinn]

get magnetic shims from forest..they don't suffer from this issue. Though I have set up a freud with metal shims and don't recall having this issue then. Hummm?

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I should receive my Freud SD508 today and was reading up on tips and tricks to prepare myself for my very first dado cutter. I ran across this...

I'm not sure if this actually works, but I've heard a drop or two of oil helps the shim "stick" to the blade or chipper long enough to get the next blade or chipper on.

Paul

[kevin mcgril]

I have a different set and experienced the same problem you described just last Sunday. My solution was to spread the shims out between several of the blades/chippers. This way, no blade would be too far from the other thereby preventing you from tightening them on the arbor.

[Joe Scharle]

They should be interspersed among the chippers with the final 1 or 2 stacked together. I know how many chippers and about how many shims from my notes & from the chart, and I'll spray WD40 at the holes on 1 side so that a shim will 'stick' to a chipper as I slide them on.

[Vince Shriver]

I bought the veritas shims. At first they look like a joke - only about two inches in diameter and made from a floppy sort of gel plastic. But, surprisingly, they do work very well. The nice thing about them is they are color coded to indicate the thickness - the smallest of which are about as thick as Surand Wrap. I think I paid fourteen bucks for these lillle guys. They do what they are supposed to do. Recommend: Yes.

[Dave Sweeney]

You can get magnetic shims from both Grizzly and Amazon. Do a Search on both sites to find them. The set on Amazon has a ¾" bore which would make mounting them a little easier than the Grizzly set but you pay twice as much for this convenience.

[Bob Johnson2]

I have plastic ones like those mentioned above, the thicker ones work just fine, the thinnest get a bit deformed from the threads but it doesn't effect there function.

[Kev Godwin]

I was fighting with that for a while too when I got my first dado set. I solved it by using a few small brush marks of paste wax on the face of the shim. I just take a very small artist's brush and dab it in the same paste wax I use on my table saw top. When I take the dado set apart, it isn't even messy and doesn't build up any thickness. Wipes off easy too and is just sticky enough to hold in place. Worked for me....;)
Kev

[Per Swenson]

I'm with Bob2 and Vince.

Lee Valley/Veritas.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=30063&cat=1,41080,41165&ap=1

Per

[Jacob Reverb]

I have a cheap Delta dado set I bought a number of years ago that didn't come with shims. I cut them from index cards with scissors and an X-acto knife. I think they came out to a convenient 1/64" thickness each, depending on the relative humidity at the time...

[Doug Shepard]

I bought the veritas shims. At first they look like a joke - only about two inches in diameter and made from a floppy sort of gel plastic. But, surprisingly, they do work very well. The nice thing about them is they are color coded to indicate the thickness - the smallest of which are about as thick as Surand Wrap. I think I paid fourteen bucks for these lillle guys. They do what they are supposed to do. Recommend: Yes.

Those sound pretty similar to the ones that came with my Forrest Dado King - color coded plastic of various thicknesses. Except mine are square with a slot to slip over the arbor. Haven't had any problems with those either.

[William OConnell]

So anyway I use blank Cds right at 1/32" and 20 cents a piece Necessity is the mother of invention I guess