# dado blade size



## lonnie (Aug 2, 2009)

ok new guy to wood working here. scary when a mechanic picks up a saw. lol! I just bought a laguana 10 inch platnum table saw. I work with plywood always and soft woods like Pine and fur (sorry on a budget) I am building some dressers and cabinets in my house and need to cut some dadoes but i am confused on what size of dado blade would be best? The saw is a 10 inch saw so should i stay with the 10 inch size? I have found a few 10 inch dado blades sets with a 5/8 arbor I would like to stay in the range of $100 or less if I could. What would you recomend? :boat:


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## Fbranco (Jan 30, 2009)

Freud 8" set. $95.00 from amazon.
or
The Freud SD206. $85.00 from amazon. I have no experience with the first one, but own the second. Works fine.


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## triplechip (Jun 8, 2009)

8" diameter dado sets seem to be the more popular size among my customers. Bill


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

Your 10" table saw will cut a little over 3" thick. When cutting a dado in 3/4" plywood you usually cut a depth of about 3/8". So, unless you are cutting very deep dado you do not need a 10' dado blade.
Tom


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## jraksdhs (Oct 19, 2008)

*HD*

I have a few sets including a $100 one from home depot and a forrest 8 inch that cost 3 times as much. For typical work i use the cheaper freud, and if i need something of super high quality then i use my forrest or a CMT i have. Dont spend tons of money on one.


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## scribbles (Mar 2, 2009)

I am verry happy with my 8" freud.


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## lonnie (Aug 2, 2009)

*thank you for the info*

Thank you for the information, I really do like the sounds of the freud blades, they sound like they are a good clean cutting blade. Again thank you.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Lonnie - A 6" or 8" make the most sense. A 6" is a tad easier for smaller saws to spin, but an 8" has greater depth of cut. You're not likely to need the capacity of the 8" often, but if you were to use a crosscut sled, you'll loose some depth so it could come in handy. Most saws don't have much issue spinning the 8".

I've had 4 very good sets, starting with the Freud SD208, the DeWalt/Delta 7670, the Systimatic 42SFine, and the Infinity Dadonator. 

The SD208 is a good starter set at ~ $85, but it only has 12 teeth for the outside cutters and 2 teeth for the inside chippers. Their next step up, the SD508 has twice as many teeth and makes a cleaner cut. (if all else is equal, more teeth will leave a cleaner cut) Epinions review

The DeWalt/Delta 7670 set is on sale from Grizzly for $90 plus s/h (~ $104 to your door). This set has 24T cutters and 4T chippers, similar to the more expensive Freud and Forrest sets, and does leave a bit smoother cut than the SD208. It also has a great carrying case and very nice shim stock. Epinions review The Freud 208 is very popular because it's available everywhere, but having owned both, I highly recommend this set in this price range.

The Dadonator is the cat's meow but is ~ $200.

Now that you know what dado set to get, can you clue me in as to how to change the timing belt on our '98 Civic LX? :laughing:


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## lonnie (Aug 2, 2009)

Thank you scott for the info, so the more teeth the blade has the better the cut which is understandable, I have seen on some blades they list different hook angles does it really matter for a novice like me? I am looking at my grizzly catalog they have a stack dado set model h7777 I think i might try it see what happens, bad thing with plywood is it likes to chip as you all know. By the way the cars I stay away from, If it isnt big green and has john deere on it run away!! lol!! wish i could get my wife to start driven a tractor to work. Lol!!:no:


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Lonnie,
You will want a dado that cuts a CLEAN and FLAT bottom with NO CHIPOUT. Buy the best you can afford. It only hurts once.
Gene


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

gene howe said:


> lonnie,
> you will want a dado that cuts a clean and flat bottom with no chipout. Buy the best you can afford. It only hurts once.
> Gene


AMEN!!!

Actually there is one additional option...

If you are going to make a specific size dado continously (e.g. always 3/4" or close) buy a wobbler dado

AND

Take it to a good sharpening shop and have it sharpened for a flat bottom cut AT the 3/4" size.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Lonnie - More teeth is a biggie, but there are several other parameters involved in addition to more teeth, and it starts getting a lot more confusing from there. Precision, sharpness, and tooth geometry have quite an impact too. 

More hook tends to mean a slightly lower feed resistance but with slightly more tearout, but ease of feeding/resistance is also dependent on the tooth grind, mass of the blades, etc. Tearout is also dependent on tooth grind, feedrate, blade height, material, etc. 

Precision is much harder to determine, but I'd assume that more expensive sets made in the US, Germany, Italy, Israel, Japan, etc., will tend to have better precision than a cheap set made in China. My $200 Infinity is made in Italy and has fewer teeth than my $300 American made Systimatic, yet the Infinity is a little cleaner cutting with less tearout, so I assume it's performance advantage is due to tooth configuration and precision, though both are excellent. A $150 to $300 set will tend to have a better cut than a $40 set, but you don't necessarily need to spend $200 to get an acceptable cut. You can get what you pay for if you're careful. 

The H7777 is a copy of the Systimatic 42SFine design, which was excellent but was a $300 set made with high precision in the USA, the Grizzly set is made in China with a softer less desirable grade of carbide, and likely less precision. It might still perform well for you, but I haven't used it so I can't say from personal experience. You'll see even cheaper sets from Harbor Freight. Oshlun offers a set of the same design that uses a harder grade of carbide for ~ $80 (Holbren.com has it). But if $80+ is going to be spent, I'd rather spend $104 on the 7670 set and know what I'm getting. BTW, the DW set is closer in design to the Forrest Dado King.

Forrest:









DeWalt/Delta 7670:









Systimatic S42Fine dado / (also see pic of Oshlun & Grizzly dado 8"):

















SD208:









SD508:


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Here is a link to a really nice 8" set. I've used it in all types of wood, plywood, MDF, and HMW. Meets my needs for an absolutely flat bottom with no chip out. 
My saw is what is known as "under powered" but, even so, this set performs superbly. I looked for a 6" in this line but, they don't seem to make one. At least, I couldn't find one when I needed to buy.
And, as I said earlier, it only hurts once. In fact the pain goes away after the first cut.

http://www.toolking.com/tenryu_gmd-20340.aspx


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## Pirate (Jul 23, 2009)

I would recommend the DW7670 8" I have it and am very pleased with it. $90 for a quality set like this is a deal. Read the review, then buy it! You will like it.


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## Rich Aldrich (Apr 26, 2008)

scribbles said:


> I am verry happy with my 8" freud.


Dado.... I mean ditto. I have this one also and it works well. I paid about $90 for it.


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## Charles M (Dec 10, 2007)

Lonnie,

Most every 10" table made is designed for an 8" or smaller dado set and many will accept no larger than 6". So start by consulting the user's manual for the saw to find the maximum recommended size. An 8" dado will cut 1" less depth than you get with a 10" blade and a 6" will cut 2" less. So for a 10" saw that cuts 3" you would get 2" depth with an 8" dado or 1" depth with a 6". Keep in mind also that even if you can use an 8" set, it takes 25% less torque to drive a 6".


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Lonnie - Still deciding?


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## lonnie (Aug 2, 2009)

Hey guys not nice to confuse a novice.lol. sorry been a touch busy. Wow what alota good info. I looked in my saws operators manual and you are right it has a maximum capacity of a 8 inch dado blade. I tried out a buddies delta 6 inch wobble blade this weekend. I put together a jig for making finger joints (box joints) i set it up to make a 1/4 finger on a 2 1/2 inch wide peice of pine. It worked good my first cut but then my second and third cuts I got a varryation of about a 1/32 or more in width of cut. After alota toying around with the set up the owner of the blade stopped by and was nice enough to tell me after a couple hours of frustration that he had the same trouble with the blade. Think I am stayin away from a wobble blade. I like the dewalt set up. Has a good price and good case it looks like. Got enough loose parts around dont need any more. lol. I get home tonight think im goin to search for the dewalt. I have bought some stuff through grizzly and its ok. I can see the quality difference and agree a little more money spent is worth it. Thank you all for the info.


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