moulding cutters for my Dewalt Radial Arm saw.

[peterdewolf]

OK got this beast a few weeks ago and it is a revelation, haven't used my chop saw since. Been doing mitres, cross cuts, rips, bevels etc. and it's just brilliant ! I've been ripping ( actually just cutting lengthwise, not all the way through ) with the blade at an angle and achieving a range of interesting decorative coves and naturally came across what Americans call 'Dado cutters'. The most popular of these is Craftman. I'm seriously tempted to give these a go but darned if I can find anyone on our side of the pond or in the pre-brexit 'common market' :lol: who sells them, can't even turn up a set on ebay here, everything is in the US and I'm getting quotes of 30 to 60 $ in postage alone !! Does anyone have a link to a source on our side of the pond ?

 

[Trevanion]

Depending on the size of the saw arbor you may need either a 5/8" or a 30mm set, I think most if not all of the DeWalt saws are a 5/8" arbor. Occasionally a secondhand DeWalt dado set comes up on eBay but I reckon they're a little outdated as far as sawblade technology has come.

Scott & Sargeant sell a CMT TCT Dado set for either 5/8" or a 30mm shaft:

5/8": https://www.scosarg.com/cmt-230-dado-saw-blade-set-d-200-z-12-d-5-8
30mm: https://www.scosarg.com/cmt-230-dado-set-d-200-b-6-35-22-23-d-30-z24

The main thing you need to check is if your saw is powerful enough, I reckon you'd need at least 2HP / 1.5KW to run a Dado Stack because of the weight on startup. If you had a 3HP / 2.2KW motor I would possibly suggest getting either an old Wadkin trenching head like:

Or even buying a new adjustable groover or fixed groover from Whitehill or OMAS if you were planning on doing a lot of dado work(Trenching if you're not from the colonies) as the dedicated groovers make for a much nicer cut. You may also need a special flange for Dado work as I know some of the DeWalt saws have a flange which allows 30mm blades to be used on a 5/8" arbor so if you stack a dado stack against that flange you will have very little surface contact with the blades themselves, which can cause an imbalance and your machine will be dancing out the door.

From the thread title I thought you were on about the moulding blocks you could get for the machine to make beadings, tongue and grooves, coves and the like until you said dado. But, if you were on about moulding cutters and not the dado stacks, they also do pop up on eBay ocassionally, but as far as new cutters go you might be out of luck. Closest think I can think of is getting a 30mm x 200mm Whitehill Tenon Disk (https://www.whitehill-tools.com/catalogue.php?cid=2&c2id=28)and having the cutters ground by Whitehill to suit what you're doing or chosing from their limited amount of cutters (https://www.whitehill-tools.com/catalogue.php?cid=1&c2id=128). A lot of people think they're dangerous but they're only really dangerous in the wrong, incompetent hands.

 

[peterdewolf]

many thanks for that response. yes what I want is the moulding cutters. I've been browsing the Dado and Moulding cutter videos on the tube, the dado stacks aren't what I'd be doing. My machine is a Dewalt 1251, not sure what HP it is, have to check later, several of the decals are peeled off, they're only paper. My saw accepts 30 mm blades on a 5/8 in shaft. Yep looks like US ebay is my only real option, loads of new and 2nd hand moulding cutters.

 

[RobinBHM]

Be really really careful, RAS's are not the best machines for moulding or ripping.

I did ripping on once, never again!

 

[deema]

I have a Wadkin RAS and use my spindle moulder cutter blocks on it with a top hat / reducer rings.

 

[peterdewolf]

Be really really careful, RAS's are not the best machines for moulding or ripping.

I did ripping on once, never again!

I've heard that a lot while researching these saws but I've done my homework and was ripping material by the end of the week. It has pawls, guards, riving knife, razor sharp leitz blade and honestly it wasn't any more of an issue than using a table saw. Youtube is repleat with 'mr Beans' using/misusing powertools, including a 'legend' who posted a safety video on how to RIP safely on his RAS and proceeded to feed his material in the wrong way !!! After a barrage of protest he posted an apology but his 'safety' video was still up last time I checked !!. Think thrice, cut once :wink:

 

[peterdewolf]

I have a Wadkin RAS and use my spindle moulder cutter blocks on it with a top hat / reducer rings.

any chance you could post a few pics of your set-up, that sounds very interesting. BTW what HP is your beast

 

[peterdewolf]

Just found out that my 1251 machine is 1.1 KW and according to a discussion somewhere on this forum, 750 W is equivalent to 1 HP, so that would make mine a 1.5 HP . Open to contradictions

 

[Inspector]

You will have to measure to see how much from the shaft to the bottom of the motor takes up which is the limitation to the depth you can cut. A 6"/150mm diameter dado would be better for your saw if it leaves you enough for the kind of work you want to do. If you need deeper then you would have to go to an 8"/200mm set. Keep in mind that is a bigger ask for the small saw like you have. The saw's arbour is probably not long enough for a wobble type as the two angled washers and blade take up a little more space with than the stack of individual blades do. Look for chip limiting blades as they are less likely to self feed compared to the older styles without. Same applies to the regular blades. Ironically I have to replace my 8" dado set or have the chip limiters ground off because they slow down the blade brake action on my SawStop and it won't take my 10" blades from my other saw. :roll:

If you are very careful and think out a cutting operation a radial arm saw is a very capable machine. It is very unforgiving if you are not.

Pete

 

[deema]

Laid up at the moment with Siatica, at the hospital on Monday to hopefully find a solution. Anyway as soon as I can I will get some pictures and post. I tend to use my wobble saw, variable width groovers mostly but I have also used a block with 40mm Euro cutters. I think the Wadkin shaft is 1” and I just slip a couple of top had bushes into the 30mm bore and bolt it on. The blade guard will still fit on.

 

[peterdewolf]

You will have to measure to see how much from the shaft to the bottom of the motor takes up which is the limitation to the depth you can cut. A 6"/150mm diameter dado would be better for your saw if it leaves you enough for the kind of work you want to do. If you need deeper then you would have to go to an 8"/200mm set. Keep in mind that is a bigger ask for the small saw like you have. The saw's arbour is probably not long enough for a wobble type as the two angled washers and blade take up a little more space with than the stack of individual blades do. Look for chip limiting blades as they are less likely to self feed compared to the older styles without. Same applies to the regular blades. Ironically I have to replace my 8" dado set or have the chip limiters ground off because they slow down the blade brake action on my SawStop and it won't take my 10" blades from my other saw. :roll:

If you are very careful and think out a cutting operation a radial arm saw is a very capable machine. It is very unforgiving if you are not.

Pete

thanks for that, with this additional information I think I'll settle on the moulding cutters, they look more like what I'm after. The dado stacks look ferocious :?

 

[Trevanion]

Not the Moulding cutters but I do have photos of an adjustable groover fitted to a Wadkin BRA RAS I used where I used to work:

We used to use this to trench out cills for boxed sash windows until the business closed down. Not because of lack of health and safety may I add. I think the Wadkin machines varied in horsepower, I've seen some of the 12" ones as 3HP, 4HP and 5HP motor and the 14" models as 4HP and 5HP.

Daltons Wadkin have some good old archive footage from 60's(I think) on the use of the Wadkin Radial Arm as a selling point for the machine:
[youtube]Ykr7dTHNMk0[/youtube]
[youtube]rjPCyttzrPc[/youtube]

 

[Geoff_S]

The Wadkin video :shock:

Does the blade actually spin constantly?

 

[MikeG.]

You couldn't pay me enough to try that set-up. I'm not risk averse. I'd happily use a dado stack in a table saw, or the wobble blade/ angled washers my dad used to use, but no way on this planet am I playing about with them on a RAS.

If you told me I had to rip out housings like that, I'd get out a square, a knife, a chisel, a mallet, and a router plane and work for a pound an hour.

 

[peterdewolf]

Not the Moulding cutters but I do have photos of an adjustable groover fitted to a Wadkin BRA RAS I used where I used to work:

We used to use this to trench out cills for boxed sash windows until the business closed down. Not because of lack of health and safety may I add. I think the Wadkin machines varied in horsepower, I've seen some of the 12" ones as 3HP, 4HP and 5HP motor and the 14" models as 4HP and 5HP.

Daltons Wadkin have some good old archive footage from 60's(I think) on the use of the Wadkin Radial Arm as a selling point for the machine:
[youtube]Ykr7dTHNMk0[/youtube]
[youtube]rjPCyttzrPc[/youtube]

I watched those videos, what an awesome machine but OH the torrent of sawdust and no safety glasses or mask in sight. Thanks for posting those

 

[Trevanion]

Does the blade actually spin constantly?

Once you press the ON button it does not stop until you press OFF. Good for saving electric as you're not constantly starting the motor, great for repetitive cuts too.

You couldn't pay me enough to try that set-up. I'm not risk averse. I'd happily use a dado stack in a table saw, or the wobble blade/ angled washers my dad used to use, but no way on this planet am I playing about with them on a RAS.

If you told me I had to rip out housings like that, I'd get out a square, a knife, a chisel, a mallet, and a router plane and work for a pound an hour.

I find them easier to use on a RAS, So long as you're limiting your chips and not pulling the stack through at full steam it's pretty easy going. Don't get me wrong though, it will pull through the timber if you let it and you need a strong right arm to push back when that happens. Worst thing I was doing was the face casing cuts on the cills for the box sash; because the 150mm cill was beveled, only the bottom-most part of the cill (Which was about 20mm of timber) was touching the bottom of the fence and the rest wasn't so it had a tendency to pull the timber over towards the fence if you weren't holding onto it for dear life. So you were trying to prevent the timber going into the machine and the machine from pulling into the timber at the same time which was a right stain, to be honest. Other than that, if you were just doing housings it was great, much faster than a table saw. You should've seen the way we used to do horn mouldings for the sashes themselves!

I watched those videos, what an awesome machine but OH the torrent of sawdust and no safety glasses or mask in sight. Thanks for posting those

There wasn't really anything like the HSE back in the 60s so you could get away with doing stuff like that. You didn't technically need dust extraction on a machine unless it was being used more than 8 hours a week until 1998.

 

[CustomC]

Hi all,

Newbie here and just came across this post while browsing the topics.

I'm 90% sure that my dad has a Dewalt Cutter Head Set in his workshop that I bought him as a Christmas present probably about 20 years ago.

From what I can remember it had a winged central head that you attached two or three shaping blades for doing beadings etc. The set had about 4 different sets of cutters. I'll ask him to dig it out and take some photos if this is still of any interest. I honestly don't think that he ever used it, and probably never will.

Cheers