Dust Collection for Table Saw Dado's?

[Bugsysiegals]

I'm ready to make many dado cuts in the bottoms of panels for drawer boxes but with the fence close to the blade I cannot attach my overhead dust collection arm.  I'm not sure how to solve this other than to rip a piece of stock and attach a small stop block to the end of it, like a "L", and then lay the stock with the stop block on the front edge of the table saw.  This would create distance between the fence and blade guard and I'd run the panels against the "L" strip ... it seems like it would work as long as the stock is parallel but it makes me wonder ... is this the only solution ... is this how you'd do it or do you not use the guard and just let the dust fly?

 

[ChuckM]

Dado cuts are not through cuts, meaning most sawdust is extracted by the dust collection under the table. Some will escape in the front as you finish the dadoes. Are you talking about collecting the last bit of dust using the overhead dust collection?

My overhead dust collection is anchored as part of the riving knife, and so it must be removed before any non-through cuts can be made.

I haven't done any dadoes since I started using domino joinery seven years ago. I believe edge cuts (even with the overhead dust collection in place) generate more sawdust than dado cuts.

 

[Bugsysiegals]

I made a test dado yesterday and had a bunch of dust shoot out the front as I started the cut and at least until the board was past the blade if not further. Luckily, I had a sample drawer standing up on the outfeed table which blocked the dust from going all over the room. Maybe this is the best approach to best contain the dust ... I’ll post a pic tomorrow of the dust and you can judge if it’s normal to expect what I thought was more than normal.

About the overhead arm, mine is the same default one that came with the SawStop, since it’s my first time making a dado, I hadn’t even thought that the stock wouldn’t make it through the riving knife piece of the arm!! Lol

 

[ChuckM]

Snip....the stock wouldn’t make it through the riving knife piece of the arm!! Lol

RLOL [big grin]

Mine is a SawStop, too.

P.S. Don't forget to change to a dado cartridge before using the dado cutter.

 

[Bugsysiegals]

I did swap the cartridge and couldn’t figure out why the blade wasn’t turning well until I noticed it rubbing on the plastic film of the cartridge. I ended up backing out the adjustment screw all the way and it still just catches the plastic gauge the Allen key sits in ... but I guess that’s how it goes? 

I have the Cauliflower zero clearance and added a new insert ... I’m hoping I can write the blades needed and 3/8” BB in permanent marker to the bottom and simply swap it in next time I do drawer bottoms!

Oh and for the cuts which barely shave the edge, I got a magnetic dust shoot from Lee Valley and it captures a good deal of that dust which shoots off to the Left but now I wonder about a better overhead collection with a Stache and if it would help ...

 

[Bugsysiegals]

Here's the dust running one side panel board made ... is this normal?  It's not a huge pile but I can imagine it would become one when batching out a stack of drawers.

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