How to Set Up and Use a Dado Stack - Full Tutorial and Examples

hey folks welcome back to pony box woodshop and this episode is all about dado stacks I'm gonna teach you how to install them use them and what cuts you can make with them so stay tuned so once it's broken down a dado stack is actually a pretty simple tool but it brings a lot to any woodshop it's mainly used to make three-sided dedos and cabinetry and for dividers in a wide variety of different woodworking projects but also use mods to make Tenon's when I'm making mortise and Tenon's I use it with making box joints or finger joints and also use it with making rabbits and I'll show you an example just about all of those different ways to use this later on in the video first I'm gonna introduce you to the dado stack and show you exactly how to install it into the table saw so in every dado stack you're gonna find two outer blades and these two outer blades are we're gonna sandwich the chippers and spacers to make the width of your cut basically on almost all of them your writing is gonna go towards the outside of the stack so next up in your dado stack pack you're gonna find chipperz chipperz you usually have two to four blades depending on the manufacturer and my set that comes with five and they're in different widths and these are gonna stack up in between your two outer blades to make up for your final width also in your dado stack kit you're probably gonna find these little spacers any little spacers go between your chippers and your outer blades and that's for fine tune in that width when you just need a little bit more or a little bit less you can take these in and out so when it comes to figuring out the width of cut that you're gonna need the best way that I know how to do that is to lay the piece down that you're gonna cut the dado to fit I like to use my table saw bed for this because I know that it's nice and flat and there's no imperfections I can lay that piece directly down on it and I know that I'm getting a true measurement next I'm gonna lay one of my outside blades down and then I'm gonna start stacking some chippers now when you're stacking these chippers just make sure that your blade teeth are alternating and they're not touching I'm gonna put one more on there and then check my width these things are sharp by the way never hurt anybody alright to check my final width I'm gonna lay my other outside piece down again making sure that the teeth are alternating and not touching and then slide the piece up next to it now this is still a little less than the piece that I'm going to and I'm gonna add a shim still needs a little bit more one important thing to remember is when you're putting multiple shims in spread the mount in between different chippers don't stack them all in one place because that could lead to some imperfect cuts so I'm gonna remove this chipper place that shim down and then put this chip of back all right now we can put our other blade back down when I slide that up run my finger across and that looks pretty good that's gonna be a nice tight data all right as you see here I have the table saw insert out I have the regular blade off and have my writhing knife out something note when you're installing dado stacks is never go thick enough to where there isn't at least two or three threads sticking out at the end you want this not to have a good bite so that the blades are nice and tight you don't necessarily have to use a washer with a dado stack but you definitely want to have this nut thread it on two to three threads and tighten really well and now we're going to put our saw blades on and the orientation that we tested them out first one up is one of the outer blades and again the writing goes on the outside shim chippers and again here is where we need to start paying attention that our teeth are alternating and they're not touching we're goin' others shin no chipper and lastly the second outer blade and make sure that the orientation of the blade is correct with the designated side to the outside now that they're all on seam to make sure that none of your teeth are touching and that looks pretty good alright we're gonna see if I have enough room to use the washer and it looks like I do I have three threads sticking out so I can use the washer and the nut get that snug one that looks pretty good now although muscle has this little button here that I can stop the arbor from spinning to tighten it down any time I'm installing a dado stack I like to use a board on the back side to prom oblate from moving because even though when you depress this sometimes your blades in the middle one a twist and turn and start to touch each other there we go now it's nice and tight and I didn't have to worry about the blades moving at all none of the teeth are touching and this is a properly installed dado stack and now I'm gonna change out my zero clearance table salt insert for the one that I use for my dado stacks the ones that I get my buddy Matt from got wood workshop and makes these on a CNC and I purchased them from them I'll tag him down in the description section in case you I want to check those out now that its installed properly into our table saw I'll show you three different ways that I use it on projects on a regular basis the first thing we're gonna need is your miter gauge and on that miter gauge attach a backer to it this backer is going to help us in two different ways one is going to help us push the piece through the dado stack safely with our fingers away from the blades and it's going to help prevent any blow out of the backside of our workpiece now when it comes to cutting dedos that's about a good of a fit as you can ask for next up I'll show you how I use my table saw fence to make dedos lengthwise down the long edge of the board this is a pretty basic and straightforward cut you're just cutting a dado down the long edge of the board using your table saw fence as a guide it whatever distance you want it off of this edge now one thing I want to mention is too many times I see people using their hands to push this piece through because they think they're safe since this blade is underneath the top edge of the board they're still way too many things that could go wrong so make sure you're using a good push block keep your hand safely away from the board when using it I use these micro jig ones I really like them because they have these little drop down tabs so you put them on the back side it drops down catches the back side of the board and helps you push it through [Applause] so next up I'm going to show you how I make rabbits and Tenon's with my dado stack now the first thing you do is make a sacrificial fence for your table salt fence this is just a 3/4 inch MDF board that I cut to the same length and height as my table saw fence and then using my router table I made a few dovetail slots on the sides because when I place it up against the fence I can use these handy little dovetail clamps just to slide straight in and attach it now I'd like to use these dovetail clamps on these table saw fences because they stay completely out of the way and it gives you the entire surface of the board to use so I'm going to slide this fence over into place and I'm going to lower the table saw blade all the way down alright so the next thing I'm going to do is mark the height that I want the blade to come up I'm gonna mark it at about a half inch because that's about as high as I'll ever need this so I'm gonna mark this at a half inch then I'm gonna slide this on over now one thing to watch out for is don't slide it too far over so when you raise the blade it gets into your regular fence I know that my dado stack is a half-inch wide right now and this is a 3/4 inch piece of MDF so I'm just gonna not cover the dado stack completely just to be a hundred percent sure then I'm going to turn on my table saw and raise the blade up to that 1/2 inch mark now that the table saw blade has been cut out I can move my fence over to cut the width of rabbits that I want which I must set that up right about there and now I'm ready to run my boards through there you have it perfect rabbits all the way around and you can see how the sacrificial fence lets us go all the way up against the piece and cut all the way towards the end [Music] now of course if this was for a project I want to use different measurements for my tenon but I wanted to show you what the current setup that I had how you could easily make Tenon's with a dado stack and how useful a dado stack is in a workshop alright folks that does it for us today and as always if you liked the video let me know by hitting that thumbs up leaving me a comment if you have any questions put them in the comment section below I'll get to all of them also I throw some affiliate links down in the description section below on the dado stack that I was using as well as the little dovetail clamps and all the other good stuff including the table saw anytime you use those links that supports the channel and I really appreciate it we'll see you next week [Music]

Channel: Penalty Box Woodshop

Views: 539,496

Keywords: dado stack, how to use a dado stack, how to set up a dado stack, setting up a dado stack, how to use a dado, dado blades, how to use dado blades, how to install dado blades, how to cut dado with table saw, how to cut dados, how to cut mortise and tenon joints, how to cut tenons on a table saw, penalty box woodshop, dado stack recommendations, how to cut rabbits on the table saw, how to cut easy dados, safely install a dado stack, how can i use a dado stack

Id: SrRGLCWBf4w

Length: 10min 18sec (618 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 13 2019