Needed to cut groove in front/back/sides for captive drawer bottoms - outfitting van... using 3/16" masonite for drawer bottom.
Tried my Sears dado set - used 1 regular blade (1/8") and the 1/16 chipper plus one cardboard spacer. Worked, but lots of smoke - chipper side of sandwich just burned wood!
Never tried for a groove narrower than 1/4" (both blades) - what did I do wrong? Better way?
Thanks for comments and suggestions...
Grov
Something that narrow can be done with multiple passes of a regular saw blade. Make sure your fence is adjusted carefully for each cut. And make certain of this by making your first cuts each time on scrap.
There are lots of things done with multiple passes on the radial arm saw. It can easily be done on the table saw as well.
Dado jigs for the router often define the outer edges. You cut the two edges and then clean out the middle. Again, multiple passes.
Maybe you could find a 3/16" router bit and use that to cut your dados.
Wow - quick response! Up pretty early! (I'm in Maine). Thanks!
I thought about the multiple pass approach, but my saw - delta fence with 3-point support - forget it's formal name - doesn't have any provision for a micro adjust, and have had poor luck with accurate positioning.
I do have an older Incra fence thingy, but a PITA to set up, and I'm only building 6 drawers for work van storage, not a piano! I was looking for "quick and dirty", but sometimes there is no Q&D solution.
Thought about a 3/16" router bit, but don't have one, and in reality, I need a scoch more than 3/16"......
Grov
Actually, I am up late.
Go to a router solution then. Get a router bit that is narrower than what you need. Set up the jig to give you the exact width required. Clamp on the jig and cut the dados.
Now I have to get to bed.
Nope.
Nope. Stack was 1/8" blade - sharp, cardboard washer, and 1/16" chipper.
Grov
I would not expect that to work. Dado sets are intended to use both outside blades plus chippers as needed between.
Either use a router or multiple passes on the table saw.
When I need to do this I do two passes on the tablesaw - the first with the distance from the fence to the *outside edge* of the blade set to the top edge of the groove, then the second with a thin piece of wood/ melamine/whatever between the piece and the fence to make the distance from fence to *inside edge* of the blade set right for the bottom edge of the groove.
The trick is finding the right thickness piece of something to go in the gap.... but in this case it sounds like you need something a shade over
1/16", so that shouldn't be too hard. Stiff cardboard?If you have a decent fence, just adjust it. For short runs or where you don't want to do all of one side then all of the other, my way is a lot quicker...
The chippers just don't have enough teeth to cut properly on their own.
Sounds like you need a wobble-type dado cutter, not the stack-type.
Thanks PC (and all the others who responded)
Strip is a great idea - have done it before - differrent aplication.....
Grov
Unless you're using a thin kerf blade, your blade should cut just a wee bit over 1/8". Put a 1/16" spacer (thick veneer) on the fence for the first cuts and remove it for the second cus.
Don't you need a "regular blade" on each side of the chipper? Just a thought.
WayneS
Pretty much, so to speak.
If I had just a few to do I'd use multiple passes on the TS. If I had a bunch to do I'd try stacking the 2 thin kerf blades I have(they're the same make/model). Art
Micro adjust for a fence like that is, leave it almost locked down then tap it gently a few times with a finger. You'd be amazed at how good you can get things with that method.
So wood working is often needing the feel and touch approach. With time and experience you will earn to hang on to scraps for test fits. You can get fine cuts by moving the fence a touch once or twice to get the width of cut perfect. This sounds like a lot of trouble but there are those that think that measuring the stock to fit the grove, measure the resulting grove, calculating the difference and then using some kind of dial indicator to move the fence that distance and then making the cut, is faster. NOT!
The chippers in a dado set aren't made for outside cuts. They can burn and kick back. Actually, I'm surprised that a blade plus the one chipper gave you a 3/16" cut - the cutting edge on the chipper is wider than 1/16", and your dado should have been too wide even before the cardboard spacer.
Others have mentioned moving the fence, a wobble dado and router bits
- all of which will work.
Another option is a set of wobble washers. These are sets of four tapered washers - tow on each side of your saw blade. You can adjust the wobble from none at all up to a 3/4" or so dado. I wouldn't use them for a wide dado, as you get a rounded bottom, but for 3/16" you wouldn't notice. I'm not sure who sells them today, but think Sears carried them at least in the past. They're cheap, by the way.
You could always widen the 1/8" kerf from your regular saw blade with a side rabbet plane. I wouldn't use a single dado saw blade - they are ground to cut cleanly on one side only.
John Martin
3/16" might be possible by taking the 2 outer blades and rotating them so the teeth of one line up with the spaces in between on the other, reducing the effective width of each blade.
Otherwise, make a pass with 1 blade and move the fence for a 2nd pass.
Or, make a pass with a shim between the work piece and the fence, then make a 2nd pass without the shim.
Harvey
Rip a spacer strip, 1.500" by 1.437", and place or clamp it beside the rip fence. Run the board through, rotate the spacer 90 degrees, run the board through again.
Router is a poor choice, it's going to make ragged sidewalls. A 7" saw blade, full kerf, will work better than a 10" or narrow kerf blade for this kind of thing.
Rip a spacer strip, 1.500" by 1.437", and place or clamp it beside the rip fence. Run the board through, rotate the spacer 90 degrees, run the board through again.
No matter how many times I try, I come up 1.436" or 1.438"
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.