Dado blades?

[punkrockdad]

Hi everyone, heres my first post, please be gentle :wink:

I'm looking into buying a table saw and would like opinions on using dado's on them.

The hammers looking good at the mo...

Pro's and cons please...

 

[mailee]

Ok I will take the bait. :lol: If you do a search on this forum you will find they have been discussed in great detail both pros and cons of them. most if not all of the table saws you can buy in the UK will not fit a dado set due to the rulings of the HSE. I admit they are a useful thing for tablesaws but having said that take a lot of setting up to use. I have a dado set for my RAS but never use it for just this reason preferring to use a router and guids instead which take a fraction of the time to set up. Dado cutters on a table saw are veiwed on as a dangerous way to cut as the saw cannot use the crown guard and present a large spinning mass of sharp edges. I personally do not use a crown guard on my table saw (wait for the comments on that one) as I find it will not allow me to make certain cuts but it is my business to use it this way and I am solely to blame if I have an accident. Well I have spent enough musings on this subject once again so will leave this space for any other comments from other forum members. Hope this has been of some help anyway. :wink:

 

[cutting42]

Hiya

A key reason for not using a Stacked Dado blade are that the types of cuts done with them are nearly always just as easy (and certainly safer from a guarding point of view) done with a router and guide. Having said that a stacked dado blade is much faster than a router.

The main scary bit for me is there is a hell of a lot of energy stored up in the spinning mass of blades if you do get kickback or heaven forbid slip onto the blade, the damage would be horrific. Guarding the blade correctly is possible but tricky. Searches will pull out suggestions from many contributors but the posts from Scrit are well worth your time reading.

At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own decisions and actions. I have a stacked dado blade set and treat it with respect, I guard as best I can, use push sticks and make sure I am standing completely balanced when using the table saw.

The best thing about advice is you don't need to take it, but I highly recommend you take the comments in previous posts at face value and make your own decision as to use dado's.

HTH

 

[punkrockdad]

Thanks for the replies.

So it seems that its the safety aspect of being unable to guard the cutter correctly thats the big issue and also kickback range and power is increased!

I was worried that the fittings (being third party) are not too secure and can exit the table in a demon frisbee style.

I shall do some further research on the guarding and kickback issues.

once again, thanks for the words of wisdom.

 

[Jake]

As well as the crown guard having to be removed, the riving knife or splitter either becomes useless or has to be removed, and the fact that they may well be incompatible with braking systems.

 

[Jhalfa]

Use a router - as has been said above, they take a fraction of the time to set up and give very precise results

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

If it was a hobby then I would use a router and clamping guide,
but if it was for business then I would go for the dado set.
Usually in a business environment you arent making just one of something, but several.
With that in mind I think it would be alot faster and more accurate from piece to piece.

 

[Scrit]

If it was a hobby then I would use a router and clamping guide,
but if it was for business then I would go for the dado set.

In business you'd be required to do a risk assessment, especially if you were an employer/partnership. The problem is that it's almost impossible to get an adequate outcome from a risk assessment of a stacked dado head on a table saw - much easier to get a safety tick with either a radial arm saw and dado set or a spindle moulder and rebate block (for rebating). This is probably why nobody uses them in multi-person shops any longer - they're expensive/difficult to guard adequetely

Scrit