chipped-up chippers on my dado set

[milanuk]

Hello,

My Freud SD206 dado set hasn't been cutting all that well as of late... cuts not as smooth, etc. I figured it might be due to pitch build-up as I've cut mostly sugar pine and plywood, and had some gunk caked up. Well, as I cleaned off the chippers, I found several had teeth that were no longer flat and/or square. Pretty sure I didn't get into any metal with this blade, but something sure got to it.

What are my options? Can a saw sharpener shop fix this up, or do I just have to buy a new set (ouch)?

Monte

[LCHIEN]

I think Freud sells replacement chippers so yo don't have to buy a whole new set; even if you need more than one they are much cheaper than the outer blades.

yeah, do a google search for "Freud SD206C16" - the 1/16th chippers and "Freud SD206C18" the 1/8" chippers.
http://www.google.com/search?q=freud...e7&rlz=1I7ADBF

OK - Amazon has the 1/8 chippers for $7.47, 1/16th are $7.08
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...freud+SD206C18

I suspect if you let the arbor nut get untight, the chippers could spin on the arbor striking each other and the outer blades, as the carbide generally overlap a bit (wider than the blade or chipper bodies).

[milanuk]

Wow. For some reason it never occured to me that they'd sell those chippers as individual replacement parts. That helps a bunch, as I do believe most of the nicks and dings are on the chippers. Unfortunately, at least one of the outside blades has some pretty healthy nicks on it on one or two teeth as well. Those are a little more spendy ($24) but not too bad.

I hadn't considered that the damage could be coming from the chippers hitting one another. Normally I'm pretty sure that the arbor nut is snugged up securely - what else do I need to do to keep from having a repeat occurence?

TIA,

Monte

[Andrew Benedetto]

A local sharpening shop can replace the tips for less. The ply from China, esp from HD has a lot of junk, rocks, glass , metal etc. in it. I do not buy any of that type.

[Knottscott]

A local sharpening shop can replace the tips for less. The ply from China, esp from HD has a lot of junk, rocks, glass , metal etc. in it. I do not buy any of that type.

Yeah, I think I'd check with a reputable sharpener.

[Kristofor]

Well, I guess I learned something.

I managed to do a number (destroy) the older 6" Freud dado set I had when I ran into a large ( >~1/4" ) screw burried entirely inside a board.

Scary, noisy, moving wood and sparks!

This was on a piece of 6/4 QS white oak about ~10" wide from a regular wood supplier and there wasn't even any real grain disruption to clue me in on any of the 6 sides. Now I use a cheapy metal detector even with supposedly clean wood. It might not catch a small nail burried deeply, but I don't ever want to find another lag bolt like that again!

I took out one of the blades, and all, or all but one, of the chippers, so it probably wouldn't have made sense to buy piecemeal anyhow, but still nice too know.


Kristofor.

[cwithboat]

A local sharpening shop can replace the tips for less. The ply from China, esp from HD has a lot of junk, rocks, glass , metal etc. in it. I do not buy any of that type.

I had my whole set sharpened a couple of weeks ago...cuts like a dream now. Cost about $20.

[LCHIEN]

Are the chippers teeth chipped on the outer corners or all over? Outer corners I'd suspect contacting the other blades, all over I'd suspect hitting something harder than wood.

Since carbide is so brittle, just letting them blades hit into each other would be enough to chip them. When assembling the stack I always carefully align them to where I want the teeth to land before sliding on the arbor and not spinning them around to position after installing on the arbor and risking hitting teeth against each other.

You don't have to crank down too hard... I don't tighten a dado stack any more than a single blade and I don't tighten those too much more than just snug and a bit.

well if it were my set, I'd have a sharpening shop repair the one or two teeth on the outer blades. And I think since they charge around 3-4 dollars per chipped tooth for repair... I'd probably replace with a new chipper if both teeth were chipped on a chipper and consider repair if one were chipped. If only the very corner of a couple of chippers was chipped, I might even try to live with it since there is overlap between chippers.

I always treat sawblades as if they were a piece of broken glass.
1. because if you nick something with them it'll get cut or gouged from the sharp carbide tips.
2. because if you bump it into something hard, you may end up with more than one broken piece of glass (by breaking off carbide teeth which are about as fragile as glass).
3. Drop it on the concrete floor and you can pretty much kiss it goodbye.

[Andrew Benedetto]

3. Drop it on the concrete floor and you can pretty much kiss it goodbye

Not really. I had a hi quality blade that was 25 yo. and did that , a very heavy plate so it did not warp, TCB for laminate and a local shop brazed on some tips. Figures, I just had it sharpened. They have a lazer to set the tips in place. Great job. That blade has the biggest teeth and weighs more than any blade I have ever seen. I am sure they can repair the chippers. much simpler job. Call a good cab shop for a referral.