Dados

[Whiskers]

Hi guys
I was watching a wood show video and heard that dado cutters are outlawed in the UK. Is this true or was the guy in error. Just had to ask as I had never heard this before.

John

 

[Demusss]

Dado blades are illegal on UK (EU) table saws because in order to use them the guard and riving knife have to be removed, and is therefore unsafe.

Were you watching Steve?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[guineafowl21]

https://www.axminstertools.com/axminste ... set-104503

Is this to do with use in a commercial environment? I can’t imagine the police knocking on my door... Still less knowing one end of a table saw from the other.

 

[Doug71]

I get the impression you can use them if you can comply with all the regs when doing so which is the problem. Things like the extra weight of the dado blade makes the saw take longer to stop spinning.

I guess you can use one if it's just for your own personal use, it's once insurance etc is involved that it becomes an issue.

I'm happy using router or spindle moulder instead, I just use my table saw for sawing.

 

[Whiskers]

Not sure who the host was on the utube feed. I just found it hard to believe that a part of a machine could be outlawed. I live in Canada so maybe the table saw police are a bit behind and will seize my set up in the future. I’m sure I could lose a limb with a lot of the other equipment I have in my shop. I never knew the dado blade was so insidious. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Sigh. I have posted about this several times and produced the definitive DVD guide to the subject, too, with help from the HSE, but still this myth persists.

Using a dado stack on a tablesaw is NOT illegal in the UK.
Using a dado stack on a tablesaw is NOT illegal in the UK.
Using a dado stack on a tablesaw is NOT illegal in the UK.

What IS illegal in the UK, in a commercial environment is:
*Using an unguarded TS blade
*Using a saw which fails to stop within 10 seconds of the power being switched off.

The problem is that most saws use the RK to mount the blade guard, so removing the RK removes the guard too. Also, a dado stack is several times the mass of a single blade, therefore it has more inertia and takes longer to stop. On a small saw, if it were able to take such a stack, the extra mas might push the stop time over 10 seconds.

In a home environment you can do anything you like, no guard, no problem. A stack that weighs more than the saw, no problem.

THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO IGNORE THESE RULES JUST BECAUSE IT IS NOT ACTUALLY ILLEGAL IN YOUR HOME WORKSHOP, AND I AM NOT ADVOCATING IT! It may not be illegal, but it is unnecessarily risky. In my view it is stupid.

My saw is an Xcalibur, a clone of the traditional Delta. Old-fashioned design (blade tilts to the right) but built like a tank. I have several guards for different situations. Most of the time, for standard cuts as well as dado cuts, I use an overheard SUVA-style guard. I have other guarding arrangements for more specific tasks like cutting tenons.

I never EVER use the machine without a guard of one kind of another, not even when no-one else is looking. Apart from being stupid, it is unnecessary.

Also, the motor is beefy, so the extra mass of the stack is tiny compared to the overall spinning mass, so it still stops in just over 6 seconds.

I hope this puts the record straight (again).