I gave away a wobbly to someone I wasn't too fond of at the time. think about the motion, and think wear and tear on thesaw. It doesn't even pretend to be smooth.
Dan.
"Harvey Levin" wrote in news:sIGac.7701$pM1.526@lakeread06:
I have been pretty pleased with the Freud SD208 Super Dado (8") from the Orange BORG, for less than $99. For occasional use, and kept clean, I have no complaints.
Bought it when my main saw was a Shopsmith. See no immediate reason to upgrade now that the Unisaw holds the place of honor in the shop. Were I to do more production runs, or different styles, then maybe....
Patriarch
The 8" carbide tipped Freud has worked for me the last 5 years.
Any of the good Italian stuff will get the job done nicely.
Seems the Italians have concentrated on cutting tools the last few years.
HTH
I have the Feud Super Dado too on my 1.5hp Grizzly and it performs extremely well with almost no tear out even on plywood. I seem to recall that I got mine for about $125 but it didn't come with a case so I had to make one.
"Harvey Levin" wrote in news:sIGac.7701$pM1.526@lakeread06:
I have used the Forrest Dado King a handful of times on a Unisaw, and while it does perform flawlessly, I certainly would not trade in my Systimatic Fine Dado set for the Forrest.. Note that the Systimatic retails at less than half the price, too. With the Systimatic set I get smooth, flat cuts with no chipout. Not much else to ask for, is there? And by the way, I've also heard first hand from two friends who own and love the Freud Pro Dado set, which runs even less at about $85, that it does a great job. However, I've never actually seen it in action with my own two eyes....
FWIW.
Brian.
Funny, my father and I were discussing dado sets last night. Does anyone know what the difference is between the Freud 508 and the 208? Other then the obvious price difference.
SteveP.
Steven P asks:
What the price difference pays for. Quality. Check
Quickly, IME, the 508 cuts more cleanly and does so after more sharpenings.
Charlie Self "The function of posterity is to look after itself." Dylan Thomas
For an occasional user like myself (maybe 25 dadoes a year), I think the Harbor Freight one, especially when it goes on sale, is really quite adequate.
This was exactly my thinking. Does it cut significantly better? Can it go longer between sharpening? Can it take more sharpening? And to what degree? If the only difference is that the better one is meant to last for
10 years in a production shop and the cheaper one cuts well and lasts reasonably well in a home shop, great. However, if its a POS, well then I will save for the better one.SteveP.
sharpenings.
Steve P asks:
OK. I can't give you figures on sharpening possibilities, but I'd guess 3-5 times as many over the lifetime of the dado set. I think it cuts significantly better, but you'll find people who believe differently...another poster on here says the Harbor Freight set is "adequate" which to me is not quite enough. The
208 cuts and last pretty well, but my experience is more with the 508. The 208 is not a POS.Best bet might be to contact Freud and ask for details on sharpening, durability of edge, type of carbide used in tips, what grit used on the final grind and so forth. Failing that, make sure you buy your set from a company with a liberal return policy, bring it home, set it up, and run cuts in 3-4 different hardwoods, 2-3 different plywoods, melamine, particle board and MDF. The cuts don't have to be long, 2' is probably plenty to check for cleanness of cut, flatness of bottom, etc.
Enjoy.
Charlie Self "The function of posterity is to look after itself." Dylan Thomas
I have the 208 and it is great unless you have to exit a board and do not have a sacrifical board at the exit of the cut. I was puzzled at the blowout problem I was seeing until Freud said that the negative hook was not the way to go in that case. The Harbor Freight dados look like they are positive hook. What have you-all found out about a positive hook dado vs a negative hook dado? I saw one message that indicated that the Harbor Freight $49.99 dado did about as good as his Forrest?!? The dado does look like a positive hook dado, so it would be interesting to see its performance. So far, not a lot of traffic on this one.
snipped-for-privacy@aol.comnotforme (Charlie Self) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m04.aol.com:
SD508 - 4 wing chippers
SD208 - 2 wing chippers
there may be (probably are) other differences as well.
Patriarch
When I contacted Freud, they pointed out that their dados use a negative hook (which he indicated is why my 208 blew out the back of a board when making a dado without a sacrificial backer board). He pointed out that a positive hook (Forrest has positive hook) tends not do do that. Now. Has anyone used the higher end (44566) Harbor Freight blade? It appears to have a positive hook. I have gotten a couple of very positive responses about it in a few messages here on the rec. Is there anyone else that has bought this blade and is brave enough to expound on it? Here is a URL to that blade. It is not stocked in their retail stores, so I can't just go and look at it.
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