3/4″ Dado in a 1/2″ Table Saw ???
69STINGRAY
| Posted in Tools for Home Building on
Hello All –
I have a Craftsmanship table saw. I am in the planning stages of building a entertainment center but I just realized my table saw only accepts dados up to 1/2″. Is there an adaptor I can buy to allow my table to accept a 3/4″ dado? It looks like I have clearance through the top of the table, the arbor on the motor is too short.
-Zach.
Replies
I think the flange thickness on a wobble dado blade is thin enough to fit your saw. A stack dado blade will be too thick.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Naturally, I have a stack dado blade.
Years ago I had cheapo crapsman and use a wobble dado by leaving off the otside washer. Course the run out on the arbor was so bad I always had to make sveral adjustment to get any dado right.
Zack, you can make the 3/4" dado in multipil passes as suggested. Don't use you dado throat insert. Either make one from 1/2 mdf or purchase one of the zeroe clearance blanks and raise the dado though it while the saw is running. Gives you a perfect set up with a 1/4" spacer agianst the fence. Easy set up every time for either 1/2" or 3/4' dados.
Dave
I like the 1/4" spacer idea....I have done multiply passes before and the dados never come out the same from dado to dado, the spacer should work great, THANKS!!!!
Router.....thought of that, the problem is, I have a small router table (you guessed it, crapsman). I will be using some good sized sheets of MFD.
"Router.....thought of that, the problem is, I have a small router table (you guessed it, crapsman). I will be using some good sized sheets of MFD."
Fkip the router table upside down and move it over the sheets.
Serious use a straight edge and hand hold the rounter.
You easily do pieces that are too big to easly run across the TS.
Thanks for all of the great replies.
"Flip the router table upside down and move it over the sheets. "
:-)
"Serious use a straight edge and hand hold the rounter. "
Do those guide systems that you can buy for a router really work? Are they repeatable enough to make several passes on several different sheets of MDF?
That depends on how accurately you set them up.
What you can do is to place the two side, side by side. Then one straight edge across both of them. It does not matter as much how exact you have them. The 2 side will be in perfect alignment.
You really don't need a guide "system" with a router, just a straight-edge. Especially in something like MDF (which lacks any knots or other density variations) the router will stay snug against the straight-edge so long as you keep the straight-edge to the left as you feed away from you (or on the far side of the router if you feed left to right, etc), so that the rotation of the router pushes it against the straight-edge.
The one thing you do need, though, is a piece of scrap clamped against the edge of the workpiece at the end of the cut, so that you don't get tear-out.
Also note that there are special router bits that are slightly undersized so that they can slot for plywood that's been sanded undersize. And I would imagine that you can get a router bit any size you want if you're willing to pay $$ for it.
But if you want to do the dado on your saw, the spacer against the fence is the way to go. Hardboard is good for this in that it comes in fairly precise thicknesses and will hold it's shape well when cut into a long, narrow piece to fit against the fence. To make minor adjustments, glue posterboard to the back of the hardboard.
Hi Zach.
One of http://eurekazone.com/products/ezsmartrouter2.htm this may do. Use it and if you dont like it they (me) take it back.
YCF Dino If this link don"t work go to http://www.eurekazone.com and look for the smart router page.
YCF Dino
Edited 8/1/2004 8:45 pm ET by YCFriend
I have done multiply passes before and the dados never come out the same from dado to dado
That's a fence problem. Solvable with an aftermarket fence, like a Biesemeyer. Don't laugh, I've had extremely grateful HO's after doing that for Sears' saws. Turns them into something almost decent. And transferrable to a better saw someday.
One problem with a router is the difficult of adjusting the dado width to exactly the thickness of your sheet goods. Two passes will work, just a PITA.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
"One problem with a router is the difficult of adjusting the dado width to exactly the thickness of your sheet goods. Two passes will work, just a PITA."
There are a couple of differnt jigs to do this simplely and automatically.
One is to use a top bearing bit and that is significantly smaller than the dado. For example 1/2 for a 3/4 nominal plywood dado.
use 2 1by straight edges. Clamp the first one where you want one edge of the dado. Then using the plywood shelve as a spacer clamp the 2nd straight edge.
Then using the bearing just plow everything inbetween.
use 2 1by straight edges. Clamp the first one where you want one edge of the dado. Then using the plywood shelve as a spacer clamp the 2nd straight edge.
I have a few of that version hanging on my shop walls. Fortunately unused for a very long time.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Zach
If your not going to need it all the time and cant justify the new saw, just do it in multiple passes. Only requires one additional pass, easier than buying a new saw. I have never heard of some kind of extension for an arbor, dont know if I would trust it if there was one available.
Doug
Router...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming....
WOW!!! What a Ride!