Table Saw Arbor Length

[James Ashburn]

What is the ideal length an arbor should be on a table saw?

I currently have an old Craftsman bench saw on legs that is a direct drive. It has worked well for me for many years and still does so. I want to upgrade and was looking at a friend's saw this weeked. Unfortunately it turns out that the arbor on my friend's contractor's saw is shorter than on my bench saw. The arbor is only 1.125 inches at most. Everything else is an upgrade. The motor is 1.5 hp. I wanted to run a dado blade and maybe a molding cutter. Can I do it on this saw?

Thanks,
James

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yes, just leave off washer next to the nut. If saw is a Delta, they make an accessory kit of two nuts. One for Dados and another for saw blades.

[Jeff Duncan]

That leaves you at least 3/4" of room for the dado, considering the motor is going to bog down pretty good while trying to take out a dado that wide to any decent amount of depth, I don't see it being a problem. If you need a dado bigger than that, you'll just have to do it in 2 passes.
good luck,
JeffD

[Howard Acheson]

Most dado are 13/16" wide with all chippers. Therefore, your arbor needs to be 13/16" plus the thickness of your arbor nut. No need for the washer on a dado stack.

The major exception to the above is the Freud Adjustable Dado. The larger hub takes up additional space so if you are considering one of these dados, you need 1 1/8" plus the thickness of the nut.