TW

"Tony Weikert"

03/10/2004 11:47 AM

Freud Dial-a-Width Dado

I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
Thanks in advance.
Tony


This topic has 9 replies

ll

loutent

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 1:32 PM

FWIW, I have a Sears "excalibur" adjustable dado (about 10 years
now). I don't know how the Freud works, but trying to "adjust" this
dado is a very inexact science. It is difficult to see the measurements
and if you do get it lined up, it still may not be exactly what you set
it to. Still, for about $75 it has & still serves well.

A few months ago, I decided to upgrade to a Freud 508 stacker
set which I got at Amazon for $150 or so (on sale). I find it
better/easier etc to simply stack up the size you want and go
with it instead of dialing it in. It is a very good set and is light
years better than what I was using.

I'm sure the Freud Dial dado is a much better product than the Sears,
but I don't see a big advantage to this type of system.

Just my 2ç.

Lou

In article <[email protected]>, John
Moorhead <[email protected]> wrote:

> Tony -
>
> Whooo-eeeee! YES! I purchased the set about 4 months ago - I've only had
> the occasion to use it a few times, but boy-oh-boy.... Click, click...
> BOOM! No shims, no foolin' around and deadly clean cuts.
>
> Go for it!
>
> John
>
>
> "Tony Weikert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
> > considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
> > Thanks in advance.
> > Tony
> >
> >
>
>

jj

jo4hn

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 5:45 PM

Tony Weikert wrote:

> I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
> considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
> Thanks in advance.
> Tony
>
>
I have the Freud and like it. Clean cuts and those last minute
adjustments are a lot easier than juggling shims.
mahalo,
jo4hn

md

mac davis

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

04/10/2004 3:07 PM

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 18:41:56 GMT, "NoOne N Particular"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>"Tony Weikert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
>> considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
>> Thanks in advance.
>> Tony
>>
>I do not have the SD608, but I have read about it, and read what other
>people have had to say about it. Two things come to mind.
>
>1. The "adjustability" is only a few thousandths of an inch. IIRC, each
>click of the adjuster moves the outer blade .004". I don't remember right
>off hand just how much total adjustablility there is, but it isn't much.
>Something along the lines of 1/64". The purpose, of couse, is to get the
>perfect fit. If you have stock that is exactly 3/4 inch thick, and your
>dado is exactly 3/4" wide, the two pieces will be too tight and there will
>be no room for glue. Just loosen the arbor nut a little, give the dado a
>click or two, and you have widened the dado enough to accomodate glue. Oh
>yeah, retighten the nut. :-)
>
>2. The second thing that I have heard a few people mention is that their
>arbor wasn't long enough to accomodate the blade at maximum width. The
>adjusting collar is fairly wide and on some saws it doesn't leave enough
>threads to tighten the nut.
>
>Other than that it seems to be an excellant blade set and as soon as I can
>save enough pennies I will be getting one myself. My SD208 is still doing a
>good job, but who can pass up buying bigger better tools. :-)
>
>Wayne
>
>
not sure if it's the same as my trusty old Craftsman adjustable dado,
but I find that the wider the dado, the more the bottom of the cut is
rounded..
I know that this is because of the "wobble blade" design as opposed to
stacking chippers, but it's usually not a big deal..

On a recent project with 3/4 dados on a set of shelves, I ended up
cleaning them up with a 3/4' straight router bit.. just a few extra
minutes that were probably as time efficient as setting up a stack...

For cuts of less than 1/2", it cuts a pretty flat bottomed groove...
not bad for a 20+ year old setup that's never been sharpened..


Mac

GG

Greg G.

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 5:47 PM

jditto <> said:

>I got the SD608 dial-a-width and have used it on 3 projects. All I can
>say is it is worth every penny! The adjustment is nothing like the
>Sears POS, you stack to the required size and use the adjustment to
>get exactly the right width dado. Very clean cuts and FLAT bottom.

The Sears POS is probably a wobble dado - not even close to the
quality of the stacked Freud set.


Greg G.

WK

"Wayne K."

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 7:02 PM

Great set. I'm surprised it took this long for someone to come up with the
idea.
I love mine.
"Tony Weikert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
> considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
> Thanks in advance.
> Tony
>
>

NN

"NoOne N Particular"

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 6:41 PM

"Tony Weikert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
> considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
> Thanks in advance.
> Tony
>
I do not have the SD608, but I have read about it, and read what other
people have had to say about it. Two things come to mind.

1. The "adjustability" is only a few thousandths of an inch. IIRC, each
click of the adjuster moves the outer blade .004". I don't remember right
off hand just how much total adjustablility there is, but it isn't much.
Something along the lines of 1/64". The purpose, of couse, is to get the
perfect fit. If you have stock that is exactly 3/4 inch thick, and your
dado is exactly 3/4" wide, the two pieces will be too tight and there will
be no room for glue. Just loosen the arbor nut a little, give the dado a
click or two, and you have widened the dado enough to accomodate glue. Oh
yeah, retighten the nut. :-)

2. The second thing that I have heard a few people mention is that their
arbor wasn't long enough to accomodate the blade at maximum width. The
adjusting collar is fairly wide and on some saws it doesn't leave enough
threads to tighten the nut.

Other than that it seems to be an excellant blade set and as soon as I can
save enough pennies I will be getting one myself. My SD208 is still doing a
good job, but who can pass up buying bigger better tools. :-)

Wayne


pp

patriarch <[email protected]>

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

04/10/2004 9:43 PM

I have no experience with this product, HOWEVER:

Today's mail brought a flyer for the Woodworking Shows' annual visit to our
area. One of the vendors has this setup advertised for $249 w/coupon.

JM

"John Moorhead"

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 3:26 PM

Tony -

Whooo-eeeee! YES! I purchased the set about 4 months ago - I've only had
the occasion to use it a few times, but boy-oh-boy.... Click, click...
BOOM! No shims, no foolin' around and deadly clean cuts.

Go for it!

John


"Tony Weikert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
> considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
> Thanks in advance.
> Tony
>
>

j

jditto <>

in reply to "Tony Weikert" on 03/10/2004 11:47 AM

03/10/2004 4:20 PM

I got the SD608 dial-a-width and have used it on 3 projects. All I can
say is it is worth every penny! The adjustment is nothing like the
Sears POS, you stack to the required size and use the adjustment to
get exactly the right width dado. Very clean cuts and FLAT bottom.

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 11:47:26 GMT, "Tony Weikert"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I'm looking at purchasing a dado set in the near future and am seriously
>considering the Freud Dial-a-Width dado set. Is this set worth the money?
>Thanks in advance.
>Tony
>


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