| Review by LittleBlackDuck | posted 12-12-2019 06:17 AM | 1866 views | 0 times favorited | 9 comments |  |
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- Woodpeckers Dado Set-Up Fixture (DSF)
- Brand: Woodpeckers | Category: Other
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Boys and Girls,
I have recently reviewed my Freud 8” Dial-a-Width Dado set and vented my spleen about the crappy box packaging in my Freud Dial-a-Width Dado box insert.
Tied up with those articles is my purchase of the Woodpecker Dado Set-Up Fixture 
packaged with two different sizes of their Gap Gauges,
I would like to emphasise that as well as being a techno/gadgets freak, I am an avid fan of the Woodpecker’s aluminium tools. It’s like I picture Yankee $1 and $100… the both may look and feel the same but I’d rather hold the $100.
On a whim (typically with minimal LBD reading) I purchase the offering. Personally, I love it, however, my lowly 3 star score is solely on the cost, based on the fact that one could “easily” make something similar from common workshop hardware and timber. Nevertheless, I would like to add that I can posthumously make such comment as I now poses one, however, before that insight I had little idea of how it was constructed and fabricate a shop made facsimile.
The thing I do like is that it integrates with my 20mm Fe$tool MFT clone worktop and is ideal to use the gauge (good set of callipers would be a simple substitute) on my Freud dialer dado set.
The way it works is to mount the base on the workbench,
or vise,
and stack up your dado,
Take a measurement of your intended dodo insertion stock using the Gap guage (locked in) 
and compare it with the dado stack. Adjust the stack until you get the right dimension 
and only then transfer that configuration to your tablesaw,
Now this does highlight a short coming of my Freud dado as opposed to this jig. The presence of the bushings on the outer two blades, 
will not permit the maximum range mounting on the jig.
... After drafting the above statement and prior to publishing, I found that the brass spindle sleeve (on the jig) 
is threaded and can be screwed up to compensate for the lower blade’s bushing… but I was too lazy to change it (the typing… not the jig).
This is not an issue on “traditional” dado set. Here I have all the blades of my CMT set mounted on the jig with room for more blades,
Bottom line, if you have some spare shekels, like the feel of aluminium (other than rubber) and are mesmerised by the Woodpecker red they are well constructed and offer a practical solution over the trial and error direct spindle mount.
On the other hand, a similar functional shop-made jig could easily be fabricated. I will emphasise that at times, when one undertakes such alternatives and put a monetary value on time spent on the project, the cost saving may not be anywhere as appealing as that same one might first imagine.
Final problem was that I now had a swag of loose workshop pieces that need to be boxed… next project.
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
9 comments so far
Dutchy
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3941 posts in 3137 days
#1 posted 12-12-2019 07:58 AM
Setup of your dado can be done very well without this fixture, isn’t it?
-- https://dutchypatterns.com/
LittleBlackDuck
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6171 posts in 1789 days
#2 posted 12-12-2019 09:07 AM
Very true Dutchy, however, back in the past when I always used to add shims to my dado stack (on the spindle), I never thought about setting up off the table saw’s spindle. I guess I got in the habit, and this old dog doesn’t learn new tricks and didn’t think of it. Being a tight spindle fit, when read about the jig, I snapped it up.
It was only AFTER I bought this jig that I realised how I should have done it.
Now that I have it, I do find it easier to use than other manual ways… however, at a cost!
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
pottz
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13686 posts in 1952 days
#3 posted 12-12-2019 11:02 PM
i looked at this jig and for the cost i kinda made my own out of scraps and a cheap bolt.sorry ducks but there’s no commission for you this time.
-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
LittleBlackDuck
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6171 posts in 1789 days
#4 posted 12-13-2019 01:12 PM
Wise move… I will admit that the action is smooth as a twist of the weighted “fly wheel” will virtually screw down all the way and lets face it, most people complain about lengthy screws
It is well presented and a pleasure to use…
Without this jig I wouldn’t have had the excuse to make the box… actually, I could have made the box but nothing to put in it…
Like you (after I bought it and saw the design… remember I hate reading and did not do my due diligence) I could have fabricated something similar in the workshop… but hell pottzy that shop-made would never fit snugly in the box!
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
ShopCat
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121 posts in 4547 days
#5 posted 12-27-2019 07:06 PM
WP one times are always a monkey-see monkey-want emotional roller coaster. I have two in the queue right now. I know I don’t absolutely need them, I also know that with them what was a time consuming and maybe error prone activity will be pretty much now bomb-proof. I have a bunch of projects in plan that call for tapered components, and with the WP yesterday and the last micro-jig thing the geometry will be much, much easier.
I rationalize it by the board foot price of the Walnut I won’t trash, except that scrap Walnut always gets used on something else. Many of my MDF jigs have Oak and Baltic Birch components that raise the quality considerably, and they all came out of the scrap bin. But, WP scored on me again.
-- ShopCat
sansoo22
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1415 posts in 623 days
#6 posted 12-27-2019 07:21 PM
I have a love hate relationship with all Woodpecker items. The first time I got a try square I was hooked on their stuff. Something about that red velvety soft aluminum. Oh and the fact its accurate didn’t hurt either. I love all their products I have but hate how much I paid for them. Sometimes I wish i could go back to when I was ignorant of the brand all together.
If this things is LBD approved I will just add it to the queue and the wish list. My woodpecker wish list is looking like a gift registry but hey my family appreciates having easy gift ideas.
LittleBlackDuck
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6171 posts in 1789 days
#7 posted 12-27-2019 09:17 PM
I also get brainwashed by their red aircraft grade aluminium propoganda… it’s the closest I’ll ever get to flying.
Most of their tools that I’ve bought I love and use extensively and even the ones I “don’t like”, I sit back and admire their looks from a distance.
It’s a long story, but since I surrendered to my dark side and started buying Fe$tool, all other workshop paraphernalia seems cheap in comparison and used to be my justification… however, I do feel that Woodpeckers are trying to bridge that gap and seeking that top leader board position. But then again good tools and supplements are never cheap… look at Viagra!
What really annoys the crap out of me is that of all the one-time-tool repeats, they never repeated the one I dearly want, their Joiner/Carvers Mallet...
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
ShopCat
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121 posts in 4547 days
#8 posted 12-27-2019 09:39 PM
Hunt out used and refurb Festools, those don’t count. Only full retail FsT are evil. The local Craigslist has many surprises, even Amazon Warehouse (rarely).
-- ShopCat
LittleBlackDuck
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6171 posts in 1789 days
#9 posted 12-28-2019 03:32 AM
Yep SCat, those don’t count… Unless one feels the full weight of the Fe$tool cost, the orgasm is purely faked.
-- If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
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