Wobble Dado

I've got a Craftsman Wobble Dado blade (set), and have been having trouble getting an accurate adjustment. If I try to set it to a specific width, and then properly tighten the blade bolt, the pressure causes it to expand. Is there anything I can do to keep it the proper size while tightening it down?

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper
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Try holding it by the hub instead of the blade...

Reply to
Morris Dovey

If there is room try using a large spring clamp to hold both the front and back hubs from in place.

Keep in mind that accuracy in other areas is impossible to accomplish. The exact depth of the dado is impossible to achieve as the bottom of the dado is rounded. Because of this the sides of the dado will establish the full depth that a mating panel or board can be inserted. The center of the dado will be lower and the wider the dado the more this becomes a problem.

Reply to
Leon

To answer your question: No, there is nothing you can do. To resolve your need for an accurate dado:Buy a stack dado.

Reply to
Larry Kraus

Well, if we're going to spend Puckdropper's hard-earned cash, then I think he should be using a high-precision CNC router, which'll produce flat-bottomed (or profile-bottomed) dados, stopped-dados, curvy dados, zig-zag dados, circular and elliptical dados,...

...as well as mortises, tenons, finger joints, half-blind dovetails, normal dovetails, bear's ears, double-helix balusters, and sink cutouts.

I have and use both. :)

Reply to
Morris Dovey

You and the guy pushing on a rope have a lot in common.

You can't get there from here.

Time to start saving for a stacked dado.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I always find the "you can't do it" aspects of this forum quite helpful. Coupled with the "you must buy more tools", it must be encouraging to those without limitless funds to find their situation has been declared hopeless by the experts. Certainly, giving up is an option as well, right?

Puck - when I couldn't afford a stacker when I was starting in the trades, we used a wobbler due to its speed of cutting. And while you could get carbide tipped dado wobblers, you couldn't get carbide tipped router bits that were any good. So we were stuck with wobblers for making site built cabinets. This wasn't the problem some would make it.

Set the old wobbly up as close as you can, then use a pencil to make reference marks on the hubs (both side) and blade (both sides). Test. Open up or close as needed to get the perfect thickness you want. Granted, it takes patience, but you have a tool that works well within it means. That translates that all precision must come from you.

After you get the width cut to you satisfaction, take an awl or sharpened ramset nail and scratch into the metal your personal reference points. (BTW, the ones on the hub are accurate within about

1/8" or so, give or take 1/4", so I would use them too much!).

I have an old one in my shop that was from +/- 1975 that has scratches for 3/8", 1/2", and 3/4" plywood for shelves.

My complaint with the wobbler end product was that the same as Leon's above, that bottoms weren't really smooth and flat once you got to the wider limits of cutting capacity. However, an ultra sharp 1/2" butt chisel cleans up the cuts in seconds. However, unlike Leon, I didn't have depth cut problems; the brand of dado I used could easily be set for depth, but it cut the correct depth on the outsides of the dado leaving little tracks inside the cut itself. The difference could be different makers or models from the same makers. Leon's point addressed the only downside I saw in the field.

While I heard of wobblers going out of adjustment while in use, mine (all 3-4 of them were purchased at Sears somewhere between '75 - '80) never did. I don't think the boys tightened them properly, as in not enough.

If you want to use what you have, that tool will serve you fine with the proper setup. While it certainly isn't as elegant or as easy a solution as the $150 sets, you can get it where you want to go with some patience.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Well said (see my initial response) and with more patience than I could muster. I'm still using the Sears wobbler I bought back in the 70's to use with my RAS, mostly for straight tenons - and I still like it for that job.

I had a small tongue-in-cheek sign in my lab office back then that applied to my woodworking as well:

"We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now qualified to build absolutely /anything/ with nothing."

I'd still rather puzzle out how to get the job done with a tool I already have or build a new tool using the old ones than go out and buy another.

Reply to
Morris Dovey

*sound of sarcasm meter hitting the pin* LOL [snipped for brevity]

Absolutely. A wobbler isn't a topofthefrickinline tool, but it does the job. They only get a bit sloppy when used wide open and a bit grabby when cutting rough stuff like oak cross-grain.

[again snipferized to accomplish that ever-sough-after- brevitization]

The Voice-Of-Reason=99 strikes again

Reply to
Robatoy

*Patience*, a virtue I often find in far too short a supply.

Tried a wobbler, thing scared the devil out of me, so resorted to nibbling with a standard blade until I bit the bullet and got a stacked dado.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I have a nice $$ Freud dado but I find that 80 - 90% of the time I use a router for dadoes. Quicker set-up. Cleaner dadoes.

Max

Reply to
Max

The next time you need to cut 8-10 dadoes, 16"-20" long, for one job, you may look at things a little differently.

Router cut dadoes are nice for small jobs, but not for serious work IMHO.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

It helps that I have several routers and a jig for dadoes. (Shop Notes issue

76)

Max (and more router bits than I need)

Reply to
Max

I don't agree with all of that. My experience last summer cutting a number of dados for the picnic table I built put the tablesaw with dado blade at about a quarter of the time needed to set up the router and then set it again for a different depth. This was especially evident when I was sneaking up on a particular depth. The hand held router also made for much finer dust that went everywhere. Might have been different with a table mounted, vacuum assisted router, but I don't have one.

Cleaner dados? Ok, can't argue with that, but definitely not quicker.

Reply to
Upscale

I got the Freud I believe - has the new metric and super fine 1/32 specs.

Pain to shim but does a beautiful cut. Saved my bucket when using OPEC (oil cartel) plywood from Chile I got from a Big Box store....

Mart>

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I have a double wobble and it depends on the orientation on how wide the dado will be. It takes some fussing to get it right, but not enough fuss to purchase a new stacked dado set. With ANY dado set, you still need to run a test scrap piece.

Reply to
Phisherman

Sorry, Puck, but I'm coming out on Lew's side as well. I have neither, but I do have an assortment of tools that require me to fiddle and fart and f*ck around til they work - sorta. These cheapie tools have butchered more projects than I care to list.

In some ways that sounds like an excuse. "Honey I can't make good stuff out of wood until I have XYZ from Lee Valley or (insert any other high end stuff here)." And there is an element of truth to the fact that a lousy craftsman still won't know how to use a decent tool. However, a medium-skilled DIYer like me has enough internal boogahs haunting the shop without having to rely on quirky tools.

What I do have is a router in a half way decent table that allows me to do most of the things a dado would do for me, albeit with less flexibility.

A dado is certainly on my list of 'must buy soon' items, but I will save my pennies til I can get a stacked set because of all the issues I've heard with wobblers.

That may or may not help the problem that you're having now. Or maybe it will.

Tanus

Reply to
Tanus

Yep! The tree huggers would be at the gates with torches, if they knew.

Perzactly! Besides, I'm to the point in life where I can afford better toys. Can't justify Festool, but don't see what the hubbub is, either (looked at them again at WoodCraft this morning).

I've used a table for several years. I added a lift a couple of years ago and it's been sweet (bought the Wixey gauge during the above trip to WoodCraft ;).

Cheap dado sets aren't too pricey. Yes, they're still cheap, but better than a wobbler, IMO. The local Lowes has stacked sets as low as $50, with a Freud set for $100. I bought the Freud set and will backfill with a better set later (SWMBO always needs ideas for gifts). Yes, I also have a wobbler I used with my Crapsman RAS. It hasn't been used in at least 20 years.

More toys will always help. ;-)

Reply to
krw

It amazes me that some are willing to fiddle-f*ck with a cheap ass, poor excuse for a dado, but will spend large amounts for another tool such as a drill, a miter gauge, etc.

Guess it is a matter of priorities.

A good stacked dado is a large investment in a speciality tool, and maybe can't be justified by some; however, as Max as suggested, there is an alternate solution which is within reach of most, namely a router /W/ a straight bit, a slab of 3/4 MDF, and a couple of saw horses.

I just have a problem with a wobble dado, IMHO, it is strictly a POS.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in news:n49%l.214$NF6.82 @nwrddc02.gnilink.net:

He says... after encouraging me to look at a box joint a few weeks ago. ;-) I'm just poking fun, Lew.

I've been looking at my stacked dado options, but will have to save up for it. Until then, I'll keep trying to work with the tool I have.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

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