# Stopped Dado



## Kahlua (Dec 6, 2012)

I was planning out a dvd rack to free up some room in the house, and thought about making the sides of the rack come out a bit further than the shelves. I wanted to simply use a dado and slide the shelves into the dado for the joint, but in my vision of the unit I don't want there to be a dado cut the entire length of the side of the box, since the shelves would be ~4'' back from the front. (I have no idea if this makes sense to anyone)

So, I had 2 thoughts. 

1. Use a marking on my table saw ( I don't have a router, that's why this is an issue) and start from the back and have the marker tell me where to stop the cut, and then use a chisel to clear the little ramp that would be left from the saw.

or - super crazy beware

2. Rip the ~4'' piece off of the sides, dado the larger piece, and then join the two pieces back together. This way I could just run the dado through the whole board and not have to worry about chiseling out any pieces, and still have my few inches of clean non-dado'd board sticking out.


Should I just beg/borrow/steal a router from someone to make these dado's, or is this something I can semi-easily do on the table saw + chisel or rip/glue?

Or should I just use dowels?


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

You could also dado the whole length and glue back in a filler. It would need to be pretty close fit to keep from having a gap, but could be a little thicker so you can sand it flush after.









Kinda like I did here.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

To glue them on the face of the board use cauls and clamps.


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## wooddude (Jun 14, 2011)

i would stay with the stopped dado concept,and notch the front of your shelves to run past the ramp u wre talking about


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## Kahlua (Dec 6, 2012)

wooddude said:


> i would stay with the stopped dado concept,and notch the front of your shelves to run past the ramp u wre talking about


That sounds smart. Thanks!


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## wooddude (Jun 14, 2011)

this is what i call relishing


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## Lola Ranch (Mar 22, 2010)

Kahlua said:


> I was planning out a dvd rack to free up some room in the house, and thought about making the sides of the rack come out a bit further than the shelves. I wanted to simply use a dado and slide the shelves into the dado for the joint, but in my vision of the unit I don't want there to be a dado cut the entire length of the side of the box, since the shelves would be ~4'' back from the front. (I have no idea if this makes sense to anyone)
> 
> So, I had 2 thoughts.
> 
> ...


I would use the stop dado method on the table saw. With a stacking dado and some shims you can get the dado width set for an exact fit to your shelf material. Usually, I just notch the shelf back far enough to clear the dado slope or if the shelves are not very deep then you could take out the slope with a chisel. The router method is a good one also if you have the right router bit to match the thickness of the shelves.

I wouldn't use dowels.

Bret


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

You could mark a line on the saw fence and drop cut the dado. Do it very slow and be very careful. It has the real potential of kicking back so don't have your hands in line with the blade.


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## Kahlua (Dec 6, 2012)

Steve Neul said:


> You could mark a line on the saw fence and drop cut the dado. Do it very slow and be very careful. It has the real potential of kicking back so don't have your hands in line with the blade.


Well, if the dado goes all the way to the back of the piece, it's not a problem, since I'm going to put a back over the whole shelf. I just don't want there to be notches all the way to the front since the individual shelves won't be going all the way to the front of the whole thing.

It's either that or use some gangsta blocks on the side and screw the shelves into them instead of using any actual joinery.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Kahlua said:


> Well, if the dado goes all the way to the back of the piece, it's not a problem, since I'm going to put a back over the whole shelf. I just don't want there to be notches all the way to the front since the individual shelves won't be going all the way to the front of the whole thing.
> 
> It's either that or use some gangsta blocks on the side and screw the shelves into them instead of using any actual joinery.


That would be easier. You could make two different setups for left and right side and run the dado up to your stopping point and just shut the saw off to pick the side. Then the shelves you could cut one end with a radius to match the cut of the saw.


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