What do you use for Dado's?

[bonesbr549]

I was moving some stuff around in the shop last night and noticed my Forrest stack dado set with a lot of dust on it and started thinking that its been a very long time since I've used it and probably should just sell it.  Just curious what everybody uses when they need the dado!

 

[Jesse Cloud]

My goto dado setup is the 1400 on a guide rail, especially for stopped dadoes.

If I had to cut a few dozen and the quality of cut, consistency of depth didn't matter that much, I would probably reach for the dado stack, but mine is pretty dusty, too.  For higher end work, I always find myself cleaning up a dado stack cut with hand tools, so the time/labor savings is nil.

After attending the router class, it occurs to me that the 2200 might be able to hog out a pretty substantial dado with a single pass, which would be sweet....

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

When we say "dado" are we technically talking about a cross grain removal of wood leaving wood remaining on either side of the cut?  That is how I would define dado as opposed to a "groove" which would run the length of the grain and have wood on both sides.  Of course rabbits are another matter completely from the dado and groove.

For dado I would mostly use my forest dado blades or secondly a router with guide...sized depending on the diameter of the bit and width of the dado.  For the groove I might go 50/50 between the dado and the router.  Longer cuts would likely favor the router as it is easier to cut a consistent depth on a slightly less than perfectly flat board with the rounters smaller base.

Rabbits I would often go first with a shaper, second a router and last a dado stack.  The dado stack is nice for cross grained rabbits though.

The sharpness of the cutters is another factor.  I feel the dado and shaper cutters will stay sharper much longer than most any router bit.

Best,
Todd

 

[AlexThePalex]

Always a router. I have never even seen a dado set here in Holland, I am not entirely sure they're even legal here.

 

[GreenGA]

Would it help if this poll allowed:

Option 1                                            Option 2                                            Option 3

OF1400                                              OF1400                                              OF1400
OF2200                                              OF2200                                              OF2200
Other Router                                      Other Router                                      Other Router
Stack Dado Blade                              Stack Dado Blade                                Stack Dado Blade
Adjustable Dado Blade                      Adjustable Dado Blade                      Adjustable Dado Blade

 

[joiner1970]

I use the OF1010 and rail and we call them Housings joints or trenches here.

 

[Mac]

I use the OF1010 too.

 

[GPowers]

OF1400,  have not purchased a adjustable Dado blade for the table saw yet. May be I should just take it off the list?

 

[Neill]

Keith,

I have a Freud 6" stackable dado set I bought about 10 years ago.  It includes undersize chippers for plywood and lots of various size shims.

The setup is actually very straight forward.  It makes great flat bottom dadoes and rabbets on my tablesaw that generally don't require any fine tuning.  I use a sacrificial fence when cutting the rabbets but it's not really required if you cut them on the opposite side from the fence.

Neill

 

[ScotF]

I use my dado stack more for rabbets than for dados as you do not need to worry about grain direction with a dado stack.  That said, dados with a guiderail works extremely well and my preferred choice when cutting dados for shelves or stopped dados.

Scot

 

[Brice Burrell]

I use the Domino.  Since I bought my Domino I don't use dado joints anymore. 

 

[Wim]

@Alex, it is illegal in Holland (and I believe also in the rest of Europe) to use a dado blade. Consequently, you will not find a table saw where you can install such a blade.

 

[junk731]

Like others, I use either a table saw or router. My main reason for postings is to show the European Dado set that I use with my Felder K700S. These images were copied from the Felder Austria site. Don't know if they are legal, but they are available.  Hope it turns out OK.

John

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[Loren Hedahl]

I got rid of my table saw a couple of years ago, but I still have a beautiful old turret style Delta radial arm saw.

For dado's, rabbits and grooves, I stack up a dado set somewhat narrower than the final cut, and usually first hog out the bulk of the cut with my trusty old radial arm saw.

Then I clean up the edges with either a TS55 on a rail or a router.  That way the router just needs to clean things up a little which is much easier on the router as well as causes much less wear and tear on those expensive bits. 

Unfortunately I already had several nice routers of varying sizes before I became acquainted with Festool as well as a nice radial arm saw that I couldn't get a dime on a dollar for now as nobody wants one any more. 

 

[ccarrolladams]

This is my first post on FOG, a site I find most useful.

Thinking back to 1948 I do not remember ever owning a dado set. I know I owned a router before I had space for a table saw. Then in January 2006 I decided to visit the store of a long time friend. This is Eagle Tool of Los Angeles. There I came face to face with Festools. I was actually shopping for a new table saw, but realized the TS55 consistently made glue-ready cuts. The guide-rails eliminated the space required for a table saw when reducing sheet goods, and with improved dust collection. I bought 2 extra 1400 rails and a CT22. A few days later I bought an OF1400 and a 36mm hose, with the attachment so it worked with guide-rails.

I also own and love the OF2200, but have yet to need its power for 19mm dados or rabbits. Since the Domino I make fewer dados.

My OF1010 is nearly always attached to the device spacing 5mm holes on 32mm centers. I am sure it would also work fine for dados up to 19mm, but perhaps not in a single pass. The MFK700 trim router also works very well for me.

When I started to equip my new shop, I asked about dado sets for use on large slider saws. The rep for the brand I selected has not sold the dado set in his entire career. I did buy a table router a few years ago, which is a decent way to make routine fairly short dados and rabbits. These days in my shop I normally do as much routing and boring as possible on my CNC nested router. Thus the OF1400 and OF1010 get their chance out in the field.

Even in the shop I still find it convenient to make some cuts reducing sheet material with Festool guide-rails and the TS55, especially when my slider is set up for solid wood. Oh yes, my new beam saw gives me near-Festool quality glue ready edges. Think of guide-rails below the work, with a scoring blade as well as main blade. My slider also has a scoring blade.

 

[peter halle]

Great first post and  [welcome] to the FOG!  Is it fair to assume that you are cabinetmaker based on your equipment described?

 

[ccarrolladams]

Thank you for the warm welcome to FOG, Peter. I have been an avid reader here for months, since another Festool fan I met at Eagle Tool gave me this URL.

Yes, I have been building cabinets since I was child helping my grandfather. He was a retired executive who took up furniture making without any power equipment when he was nearing 65, back in the late 1930's. He always told me to "let the saw do the work" until I started a cut in a 2x4 and left that saw in place over night, expecting the saw would complete the cut! Seriously Granpa had little interest in making shelves and cabinets my folks needed. So those tasks fell to me.

Over the years I did build many desks and similar things which use the same techniques and materials as cabinets for all the houses and businesses I have owned. After I retired I found the activity I enjoy the most is making custom-quality cabinets from really quality materials. All the Festools I own do their part performing quality results.

The downside to doing everything manually is that replicating transfer of measurements is not always exact. When a part does not fit as expected it can take forever to find out if it was a design fault or a bad measurement. After 3 years of confidence in my Festools, I decided what I needed was a building large enough to effective use a beam saw, a nested router and a big slider saw, as well as an automatic edge bander. With those the measurements come from the computer assisted working drawings. I know if a part does not fit it is because I designed it incorrectly. There is little chance when I correct a part I will accidentally change other parts. It is like perfecting a document on the computer instead of the old way of manually re-typing. In the old days often the re-typing increased the errors. This has not proven to be the case with the CNC assisted capitol machines.

Of course the downside is it is hardly practical to toss a beam saw or nested router on the truck to take it to the site. That is why I will never give up my 3 1400 guide-rails and the coupler set. I have a truck with enough length to transport my 3000mm rail, but moving it from the truck to where it will be used on-site is a royal pain. Besides I am used to coupling a pair of 1400s

 

[grobin]

I have an old beat up Skill router in a table with a INCRA fence.  I know this is silly as the fence cost 2x more than the table and router together.  I have a TS55 and don't see any need for a table saw.