How do I orient my dado chippers?

[Ben Brantley]

Hi all,

Dumb newbie question. I have a Freud 8" dado set. The instructions say something like, "install the chipper making sure the teeth fit within the two openings on the outer blade." There's no picture, so so far I've just stuck them on there at ninety-degree angles to each other, roughly speaking. I can't figure out what "two openings" they're talking about.

Is that all I'm "supposed" to do? It seems like the chippers are wide, so they overlap a little, so they necessarily have to be slightly offset from each other to fit right.

It seems to cut just fine, but I thought I would confirm I am doing it right. (Okay, well, it cut just fine until the PM2000 starter cap pooped out on the eighth or ninth cut. :( It seems this is a known issue.)

Ben

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ben,

I have a Freud 8" and used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It sounds like you set yours the same way I did and they both performed well. I think you have the right set up. The main thing, I believe, is to make sure they are set so they don't strike the teeth on the other blades.

[Ben Brantley]

Ben,

I have a Freud 8" and used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It sounds like you set yours the same way I did and they both performed well. I think you have the right set up. The main thing, I believe, is to make sure they are set so the don't strike the teeth on the other blades.

Awesome. That makes sense to me, too.

Thanks Ken.

[Tom Veatch]

Ben, I have the same or a similar set to yours. I think all they are saying is what you've already discovered. As you've found, if they aren't offset, there isn't enough room for the teeth.

As far as angular orientation of the chippers, I haven't found that it makes any difference as long as the teeth of adjacent chippers don't bear on each other or on the teeth of the outside blades.

[John Keeton]

Since Ben got his answer, maybe he won't mind me hijacking this thread to ask all of you if you would pay the extra $$ again to get the 8" over the 6". I am about ready to get another dado, but had decided on the 6" and would like some input on the soundness of my decision.

[Joe Chritz]

Depends on if you ever want to use or may use a dado sled.

Normally depth of dadoes isn't deep enough to have a problem with a 6" set but add a 1/2 thick sled bottom and it could be.

Angle of cut is better on bigger saws but I never tested two identical quality sets at 6" and 8" for cut quality.

There is a magazine article for some aspiring author. ;)

Joe

[Charles McCracken]

Awesome. That makes sense to me, too.

Thanks Ken.

Ben,

Glad to see you got the answer. Make sure the blade bodies are flat against one another and that the carbide tips don't touch each other or the other blades. Rotating two wing chippers 90° to each other is pretty standard.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

So they don't BASH into each other.

That 's about it.

[Howard Acheson]

The point is to orient the chipper(s) next to the exterior blades so that the carbide tip is in the gullet of the outside blades. That way, the chipper tips--which are wider than it's body--lie flat and do not get damaged from touching another metal surface.

[Chris Padilla]

I've always put the chippers closest to the outer blades within the gullets. I provided a pic to be clear. Gullets are the deep spaces/holes between the teeth of the blade.

Other chippers I simply rotate 45 degrees to the outer chippers.

[Frank Drew]

And the outer teeth usually have a couple of gullets that are deeper than the others.

Another thing to keep in mind, many dado sets have a regular blade meant to mount first on the arbor and regular blade meant to go on last after all the other blades, just before the washer and nut; they have special teeth designed to score an ever-so-slightly deeper cut at the edges of the dado, to prevent chipout on crossgrain cutting.