ZCTPs- how many?

[wreckwriter]

How many pre-made zero clearance plates do you guys keep around for different situations? I was thinking a regular one, a 45 degree one, and one for dado blade. Does that make sense? I guess one would need the same setup for each blade, right?

I assume the ones from T-nuts are good quality? they seem to be the only ones I can find so I hope so

How about the dado plate that comes with the accessory kit? Decent, poor, useless?

Thanks for all the help to a newbie!

Tom

[LarryG]

When I get one more, I'll have two.

Just one, for blade-vertical cuts. I don't make all that many bevel cuts and those I do I typically done either on the band saw (rips) or CMS (crosscuts).

ZCTPs for dados are only practical if you cut most or all of your dados the same size, or some limited range of sizes. For those, I use the steel plate from the accessory kit and apply blue painter's tape along the cut line.

[wreckwriter]

Interesting. I don't plan to use the bevel too often either but my first project for this saw is going to involve cutting 45 degree bevels across a whole stack (30 or so) of 1x6 pickets and then cutting them to length. I could do them on the CMS but this saw is brand new.....

[DonHo]

The ones from T nuts are good quality. I do use one for regular cuts and a different one for dados. My rip bleade is standard kirf while my other blades a think kirf but I use the same plate for both and I use just one plate for dados. I precut it for 1/2" but use it for 3/8" also. I use the ryobi plate for 3/4" dados. I think one for 45 degree cuts would be good but so far I've made all my miter cuts (for boxes and picture frames) using a sled that works as a zctp.l
DonHo

[Tom Miller]

Larry's got a pretty good point about ZCTPs for dados. If that approach fails you, though, it doesn't take too many ZCTPs to run the full range of dados. That's if you get double duty out of them by flipping them front-to-back, like so:



Even if you have a different throat for each 1/16" increment, it only takes 5 ZCTPs to cover from 1/4" to 3/4". In reality, you'll probably only need two or three.

On the other hand, since I rarely change the bevel angle, when I do I just put on the stock TP.

Regards,
Tom

[mschrank]

...it doesn't take too many ZCTPs to run the full range of dados. That's if you get double duty out of them by flipping them front-to-back

DOH! How come I never thought of that!

Thanks Tom!

[JimD]

Interesting thought about flipping them.

I have half a dozen or more. I use both regular and thin kerf blades, I like to have a dado throat plate the width of the dado I am cutting, and I sometimes make shallow angle cuts and I now use a zero clearance throat plate for them. I lost my belts making a shallow angle cut on some drawer fronts to give them a raised panel type look. Now I seldom cut without a ZCTP. I keep old worn thin kerf ones to use with regular thickness blades.

Jim