TS55/ TS75 Stack dado

[patprice]

Hi,
First Post. I was banging out some large cabinet boxes today on my trusty TS55 and was thinking ahead to cutting the dados with my shopmade jig for a router to run on the Festool guide rail. In any case I was lamenting that I never get a perfect fitting dado with my router jig(odd size plywood) and it hit me! Why not make a TS55 or TS75 set up for a stack dado with a micro adjustable depth stop? With that you could turn out really nice cabinet boxes in the field on a pair of sawhorses. And it would be really fast!
Regards,
Pat

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Not sure the idea of running a dado stack in a handheld saw is a safe idea. Using our routers and guide rail makes dadoes quite fast, easy and safe.

 

[semenza]

Hi Pat,

Welcome to the FOG !  [smile]

What Shane said, I think even a narrow stack dado in a hand held saw would be pretty dangerous, and the TS55 is certainly not designed to accept one. It would be nice feature if it could be made to work though. Then agian I have just about quit using dados since the Domino came along.

I have actually cut dados with the TS55 and just the single blade, by making multiple passes next to each other. The rails are accurate enough to do this. It is not fast though.

I'd stick with the router and track down some specific plywood bits.
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The other option is a wood thickener that JMB has a line on.  [big grin] (joke from another thread) You could use one of those to make the plywood fit the dado. ;D

Seth

 

[Wood_Junkie]

This here is what you need (and a Festool router), not some nambly-jambly spinning dado-of doom in the TS55!

Perfect fitting dado jig:
http://www.woodsmithshop.com/download/204/adjustabledadojig.pdf

Basically, you will make two overlapping passes, using the jig as the guide on each side and a bit that is slightly less than your full dado.  The width of the dado is set by your material, so it always fits perfectly.
Please see the picture on page three of the document.

You could do much the same using the Festool guide rails and a homemade connector jig and/or the micro adjustment (just fiddle 'til you know how many incements you need to expand the dado properly).

Or you could get so-called plywood sized bits (they're not always right on, either).

 

[Tezzer]

Not sure the idea of running a dado stack in a handheld saw is a safe idea. Using our routers and guide rail makes dadoes quite fast, easy and safe.

Mafell have a portable that grooves 26.5mm. Would be great if Festool followed suit.

 

[AlexThePalex]

That Mafell NFU 32 may look like a circular saw, but it isn't, they call it a router, mortiser or groove cutter. Doesn't take normal saw blades but a special cutter similar to those you find in shapers. Check it out at this link. Totally different beast.

 

[VictorL]

Freud makes and sells plywood sized router bits throught HD.

VictorL

 

[zapdafish]

imo, plywood sized router bits are a waste of money since plywood widths vary so much. I've already been down this route.

 

[semenza]

Not sure the idea of running a dado stack in a handheld saw is a safe idea. Using our routers and guide rail makes dadoes quite fast, easy and safe.

Mafell have a portable that grooves 26.5mm. Would be great if Festool followed suit.

Hey, I like that ! 

Seth

 

[jmbfestool]

Hi Pat,

Welcome to the FOG !  [smile]

What Shane said, I think even a narrow stack dado in a hand held saw would be pretty dangerous, and the TS55 is certainly not designed to accept one. It would be nice feature if it could be made to work though. Then agian I have just about quit using dados since the Domino came along.

I have actually cut dados with the TS55 and just the single blade, by making multiple passes next to each other. The rails are accurate enough to do this. It is not fast though.

I'd stick with the router and track down some specific plywood bits.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other option is a wood thickener that JMB has a line on.  [big grin] (joke from another thread) You could use one of those to make the plywood fit the dado. ;D

Seth

ITs working well!  I tell ya!  Best invention yet!  [tongue] [tongue] [tongue]

 

[rdesigns]

Hi,
First Post. I was banging out some large cabinet boxes today on my trusty TS55 and was thinking ahead to cutting the dados with my shopmade jig for a router to run on the Festool guide rail. In any case I was lamenting that I never get a perfect fitting dado with my router jig(odd size plywood) and it hit me! Why not make a TS55 or TS75 set up for a stack dado with a micro adjustable depth stop? With that you could turn out really nice cabinet boxes in the field on a pair of sawhorses. And it would be really fast!
Regards,
Pat

You can also make perfectly-sized dados using a router bit under-sized from what the final size needs to be, along with a spacer strip that is the exact thickness equal to the kerf of the router bit.

Example: for use with a 3/8 router bit, make a strip of wood 3/8 thick, and about 8" longer than the dado's length; place it between the fence and the router base, and make your first pass with the bit right on the inside line of the dado (the line closest to the fence); then remove the spacer strip and replace it with an offcut strip of the material that must fit in the dado; the far side of the router bit will now cut exactly the width you need--anything from just over 3/8 up to 3/4.