Setting Up a Dado Blade – Whisper Mini

March 22, 2009 by thewoodwhisperer
Filed under: Whisper Minis 

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A quick way to set up a dado blade with no measuring! All it takes is a flat surface and your fingers. Most folks don’t realize that your finger tips can detected differences down to thousandths of an inch!


Comments

11 Responses to “Setting Up a Dado Blade – Whisper Mini”
  1. John C says:

    Great tip Marc, gave me one those ‘why didn’t I think of that’ moments. Always enjoy the intro music too!

  2. Duh, why didn’t I think of that? Thanks for the great tip. This looks much easier than making test cut after test cut and will save me a lot of time and hassle in the future.

  3. EmtFFKev says:

    Great Tip! Now all I need to do is get a Dado Stack to try it with :)

  4. Bruce Somers says:

    “Thus Spake Zarathustra” is so fitting for that video clip. This isn’t Monkey Business. Nice tip too.

  5. BarryO says:

    Another thing you can try is that, when you get close, use a feeler gauge (with your fingertip) to determine how far you’re off. Then use that to pick the correct shim thickness. ‘might be a little faster.

  6. Matt V says:

    Great tip Marc. I agree, “why didn’t any of us think of that”. This tip will save me a ton of time the next time around.

  7. Blair Glenn says:

    Only comment I have is I try not to lay my sawblades down on a metal surface. Too easy to damage the sharp points. Other than that, good tip.

    Blair

  8. Bob Shepard says:

    Great tip Marc! Only question is where to get the shims like that? My freud 8″ set didn’t come with such precision shims. Thank for the tip.

    • thewoodwhisperer says:

      They just came with my blade. You should still be able to dial in with the Freud shims, even if they aren’t that precise. I hear some folks used playing cards as shims! lol

  9. Ray Witmer says:

    The question I have is: The carbide teeth don’t touch each other but the bottom one in the stack sits on the table with all the teeth touching the surface. Don’t the teeth setting “proud” of the blade cause the measure to be off?

    • thewoodwhisperer says:

      The teeth sitting proud is exactly what makes the measurement accurate. We are looking for a true tooth to tooth measurement. So being able to reference the carbide teeth off the same surface as the wood works out quite nicely.

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