I have a question about using only the outer blades from my dado stack to make a 3/8" groove. The plans I'm using indicate I only need the outside 2 blades (which total about 1/4") and then flipping and running once more for 3/8". In some dado stacks I've seen, the teeth of the outer blades are pretty far apart; mine are almost like a normal 40T blade but with only two big gaps for the chippers. In everything I've read, when using the chippers, the teeth should be oriented to be in the gullet of the outer blades (or in my case in those big gaps). But if I only need the outer blades, there isn't a setup I can do where the cutters of one blade aren't sitting against the side of the other. Is this safe?
Burgoo
I wouldn't do it.
Is there a spacer washer you can use to separate them just a little bit? My dado stack came with about 1/8" of spacers I can use in between blades and chippers.
Can't you set it up with a chipper and just cut the 3/8 width in one pass?
Is there a spacer washer you can use to separate them just a little bit? My dado stack came with about 1/8" of spacers I can use in between blades and chippers.
Can't you set it up with a chipper and just cut the 3/8 width in one pass?
Unless I'm missing something.
Some times plans just get int way. If I need a 3/8 grove or dado I'd just stack the 2 outside blades and one 1/8 chipper or what ever you set has.
Some times plans just get int way. If I need a 3/8 grove or dado I'd just stack the 2 outside blades and one 1/8 chipper or what ever you set has.
+1. My Amana stack has two 1/8" outer blades, each with a raised area on the inside face that's about 4 1/2" in diameter, to keep the teeth from touching. I still have to arrange the teeth so they aren't aligned with each other, but with that setup, the kerf is exactly 1/4". If I want 3/8", I add the 1/8" chipper. It came with some washers in four thicknesses ranging from 0.002" to 0.02" to fine-tune the kerf. They're not intended to add 1/8" though, just to get odd widths when needed.
Attachments
Thanks for the replies and info everybody. This is essentially what I did. I just put the spacers in to separate the teeth slightly. This put the whole thing just about at 1/4".
I didn't want to/couldn't just put in a 3/8" stack right off because the dadoes I was cutting needed to be sized for some hand-planed loose tenons, which were not necessarily exactly 3/8". And, as was also mentioned above, I'm a big fan of flipping the piece as a centering trick. There's a lot of trial and error to get exactly the right fit, and if I were trying to get the full width with a exact dado stack, it would involve not only taking extreme care to draw the waste outline based on me finding the center (which would then change slightly with every adjustment) but then also removing the throat plate and taking the stack out and putting in/taking out a spacer for every trial, rather than just bumping the fence a touch until it's just right.
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