On 1/21/17 11:50 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/21/2017 11:05 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/21/17 10:03 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/20/2017 10:59 PM, Doug Miller wrote:
-MIKE- wrote in
news
On 1/20/17 7:31 AM, Doug Miller wrote:
-MIKE- wrote in
news
[...]
Maybe one day I'll spend the cash for an excellent set
of dado blade that do, in fact, produce a perfectly
straight and square bottom withOUT bat ears and I won't
feel the need to clean the cut up with the router.
Check out the Northwoods Dado-Master from Ridge Carbide
Tools
http://ridgecarbidetool.com/dado-set...do-master.html
I've had mine for about 15 years now, and have been
completely satisfied with it. I
bought it
at the Woodworking Show when both Forrest and Ridge were
exhibiting, and compared test cuts from the two
side-by-side. I couldn't see any point in the Forrest Dado
King: why pay more money for lesser results? The Ridge dado
set is two-thirds the price of the Forrest, and gives
better cuts. The bottom is dead flat, and the bat ears are
almost imperceptible without a magnifying glass, whereas
the Forrest leaves tiny but still readily visible bat
ears.
That's one I have bookmarked. I've hear great things about
that set. Have to admit I'm not very happy to hear even those
leave bat ears, though.
*All* dado saws leave bat ears. The best you can do is to
minimize the size. And the Ridge Carbide set leaves the
smallest ones I've ever seen.
The dial-a-dado is the other set on my list. I think the
convenience would be worth the extra money.
Swingman has the Dial's Dado and I think he is pleased with it.
I use the shims with the Forrest. If you have a set of calipers
the shim style dado sets are easy to adjust with out much guess
work. I can typically be ready to cut dado's after one test cut.
I do not think that Swingman always gets away with out a test
cut.
I place the approximate set of dado cutters on the saw and
finger tighten the arbor nut. I measure, with a digital caliper,
the distance between the outer teeth and subtract that from the
width of the material to be fitted into the dado. The difference
is the size shim you need.
I don't see a clear advantage to either style, and I have seen
him make multiple adjustments before cutting, mostly personal
preference. I do wonder how and or if you have to return the Dial
a Dado set to Freud to have it sharpened.
Having said that, if you could count on material being consistent
in thickness from one job to the next the Dial A Dado could be
consistently dialed in before mounting on the saw. But plywood
is seldom consistent in thickness so the setting that worked on
one sheet this week probably will not work on a sheet in a month.
You are still going to have to do the math to get it right.
I guess the only difference is not having to remove the arbor nut
to adjust it.
It has been a while but IIRC he, on occasions, removed the outer
blade to adjust it. I may just be easier to remove the blade. You
do not have to tighten the blade on regular dado blades, finger tight
is good enough to measure the cutting width.
I think that's probably reason enough to buy one, all other things
being equal. The final arbiter for me would be the bat-ears thing
and evenness of the bottom cut.
I thought the dial a dado was a pretty cool idea but I would not
grade my Forrest set for that feature.
The Freud dado set I have now is slightly stair-stepped and Freud
never did take responsibility for it. They tried to blame
everything short of the Russians for it. They brought up every
excuse in the book except, "Hey, maybe you got a bad chipper."
Either the blade tips were not all ground to the same distance from
the center of the blade or the holes are not a good fit, or both.
:~)
And visiting the bat wings again, I'm pretty particular and would
never consider the ones left by my Forrest set an issue to hide.
There are far worse situations that some sets do not address.
Freud's customer service and poor quality control just left a bad taste
in my mouth.
While overall, I've been very pleased with the quality and performance
of their products, to get the shaft the one time I have an issue really
makes me hesitant to pull the trigger on a higher priced item.
I've heard great things about the Forrest and Ridge sets. The fact that
they are both US companies and offer their own sharpening service makes
me lean in their direction.
--
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com
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