Dado Blades, Maximum Size

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:05 pm

Can any size dado blades other than 6" be used safely on the Shopsmith?

Is 555120 the only insert intended to be used with a dado blade?

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:20 pm

I use an 8" carbide blade from Infinity you just need to be careful not to hit the insert or use a zero clearance insert and cut your own hole.

I don't need the extra 2" for more depth but this blade had many more teeth and chippers.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:47 pm

Hi Dusty,

ShopSmith seems to always be conservative. I think that the only reason that they only offer 6" dado blades, is that you should really never need more then that. What is the deepest dado that you will ever cut?

Like Paul said, the only real restriction would be hitting your table insert. By making your own insert, you can safely use a larger dado blade.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:39 am

[quote="a1gutterman"]Hi Dusty,

ShopSmith seems to always be conservative. I think that the only reason that they only offer 6" dado blades, is that you should really never need more then that. What is the deepest dado that you will ever cut?

Like Paul said, the only real restriction would be hitting your table insert. By making your own insert, you can safely use a larger dado blade.]

You are correct. I will almost never want to cut a dado deeper than what a 6" blade will do. Almost never!

But then there are cases like rdewinter's difficult cut situation (in a General Woodworking thread) shows up.

I have the Shopsmith Adjustable Dado and a Freud 6" stacked dado set. The deepest cut that I can make with a 6" blade is 1 1/2". Yup, deep enough for nearly all dadoing requirements.

By the way, both do a nice square bottomed dado. Someone commented earlier (another thread) about a wobble dado not being square bottomed/sides. The Shopsmith adjustable dado does not exhibit that deficiency.