dado blade or router for dados?

[RickT]

I'm curious what your preference is for cutting dados: dado blade or router. What do you use and why?
Thanks,
Rick

[LCHIEN]

stopped dados - router
continuous dados - dado blade in table saw

[drumpriest]

I use both. As Loring said, stopped dado on the router table, but there are other reasons to use a router instead of a dado blade.

For instance, it's difficult to cut a dado on a bookcase or floor to ceiling shelving unit on the table saw. The piece is just too big to wrestle onto the saw safely. I've done it with a 5' x 12" piece, and I won't again. If the workpiece is too big, take the tool to the workpiece (ie router with a guide).

The TS with a dado blade is much much faster, can cut in 1 pass, so if I can use it, I will. Also dust collection is far better using the table saw.

[jbalders]

Ditto everything that Keith said.

Another benefit of using the router is that you can gang-cut the dados. Say you're making a book case, and you need to cut through dados for the shelves. Line them up, clamp them together, and cut dados across both bookcase sides at once. You could also do this with stopped dados, just put the two backs together.

Doing it this way, you're also more likely to get the dado closer to square with the sides. A 1/16" mis-measurement over 12" makes a lot more difference than a 1/16" mis-measurement over 24".

Jeff

[monte]

quote:Originally posted by LCHIEN

stopped dados - router
continuous dados - dado blade in table saw

Ditto what Loring said.

[LarryG]

Ditto ditto ditto ditto.

That said (and said, and said, and said), I use the TS whenever I can because it allows me to precisely dial in the width using the shims in the dado set. With a router, the bit diameter will virtually never match the workpiece thickness, especially if you're working with plywood.

[scorrpio]

Do not forget that it is also a lot less hassle to chuck a bit into the router than to swap a dado stack into your TS, remove blade guard, check for square, and on delicate woods - setting up a ZCTP.

Maybe, one day when I have a larger workshop so I can set up a dedicated table saw just for dados/rabbets, I'll mostly use that saw. But for now, several progressively deeper passes with a router work better for me.

[RickT]

Thanks, guys, for the excellent comments. I now have a much clearer idea of when to use what and why.
Thanks again,
Rick

[Tequila]

Ditto what everybody else said. I recently used the saw to gang cut grooves for wine rack lattice, and the router to cut grooves for mounting shelf track.

It all depends on the project.

[LCHIEN]

I'll add that I find the saw made dados to be much, much faster and cleaner for long lengths (and as Keith pointed out, better dust collection).
For some crosscuts (i.e. bookshelf side examples given) the router is often neater (moving tool, stationary workpiece)
For one or two short crosscut dados, I'll just make multiple passes withthe standard blade rather than change blades out.

[Whaler]

To me it is a PIA to change out the blade on the BT so I use the router for dados. One of these days I will set the RAS up as a dado station.

[drumpriest]

I agree with all of you guys that setting up the dado blade can be a bit of a hassle. I tend to bulk cut my work as best as I can, so I am often cutting quite a few dado's at once. For for 1 or 2, I agree that setting up the dado blade is a bit tedious.

I have used the holbren undersized plywood bits, and they work great. The only real issue is with BORG plywood not being consistant.

[mstol]

I'm a newbie here myself, just recently purchasing a BT3100. Changing out blades on a table saw does seem like a hassle. Are there any sliding miter saws that are compatible with dado blades. It seems for smaller crosscuts, that might be easier than a table saw blade swap out and less expensive than a radial arm saw.

[LarryG]

quote:Originally posted by mstol

Are there any sliding miter saws that are compatible with dado blades.

There are some on which the pivoting head can be locked partway down, so dados can be cut using the nibble method. The Porter-Cable 3807 is one such, and this very feature is one reason I had this saw on my short list before eventually buying a non-sliding Delta.

But I don't know of any models that have an arbor long enough to accept a dado set. I suspect the corporate lawyers would faint dead away at the mere suggestion of this idea, and the engineers would likely have some clearance problems with the blade guard, too.

[drumpriest]

My makita does that. You can't put a dado on it, but you can lock the head to only drop so far. My dad's Bosch also does that.