Hi Dale,
 
Good points.  I will see if I can implement some of your suggestions.  
Thank you,
 
Keith
 

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 8:25 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Cutting Dados



Hi Keith,

A router plane is a sort of plane with a blade which sticks out of the 
middle and which you can extend. It is drawn toward you usually using a 
board or other straight edge as a guide and it scrapes the waste out
from 
between two parallel saw cuts. You just keep protruding the blade a
little 
deeper every few passes until you hit the required depth.

When cutting dados with a router and this is probably the very best way
to 
do it because of the absolutely flat bottom and crisp edges there are
many 
ways to do it. The way I have most usually done it is to clamp a
straight 
edge to the work, not usually anything as thick as a 2 by 4 but maybe
the 
factory edge of a length of three quarters inch plywood or even half
inch 
plywood stock and following that with the edge of the router base plate.

This is a little tricky to get an accurate measure because it is so far
from 
the edge of the router bit.

A better way to do this is to make a special purpose guide specific to
the 
router and bit to be used. You take something thin like tempered
hardboard 
or Masonite or quality thin quarter inch plywood wide enough to include
over 
half the width of the router base plus the width of thicker straight
edge 
material. Usually this would be about 4 inches for half the base plus
two or 
more inches for the width of the straight edge. Glue and clamp maybe pin
if 
you have some really small brads but what ever, you stick the straight
edge 
over the thin wood along one edge and when secure run your router along
the 
straight edge with the desired router bit to cut away any excess off
from 
the thin board. Now you can measure easily, conveniently and accurately
to 
the edge of the thin board to very accurately locate where the dado will
get 
cut.

You can sophisticate this further by fixing a right angle fence to the 
bottom edge to align it more easily at 90 degrees to the work you are 
cutting or other angles come to that.

Depending on the power of the router, the size of the shaft of the bit
and 
the width and depth of the cut you may select full depth cut and I often
do 
so. Usually you want to go a little slower but if you are cutting a half

inch wide dado to a quarter inch depth in anything but really hard wood 
should be no problem.

Stacked dado head cutters in a saw leave a good flat bottom cut and
slightly 
deeper blade cuts at each edge. Some believe this is superior providing
some 
place for glue to be forced, others disagree. I have no opinion but a
router 
is unlikely to cause any chipping which cutting blades will.

To prevent chip-out at the end of router cuts you can clamp or otherwise

force a bit of scrap material where the bit leaves the work piece so the
cut 
is continued into the scrap.

Not quite so reliable but which usually works well for me is to approach

each end first. Work into it slowly then go to the other end and cut on 
through. In this way you never exit directly cutting through the edge. A
bit 
of care entering with the direction of the turning cutter is required 
because the cutter will tend to pull the router away from the guiding
edge 
but once you are into the cut a little more than the width of the cutter
you 
can back out then begin your cut from the opposite end and that should
avoid 
tear-out. It usually does for me.

I think I covered all I know about your questions. Your router can be a 
wonderful tool and can even be used in place of a circular saw or table
saw 
for accurately cutting and forming wonderful clean cuts using a guide as
I 
described and cutting right on through the work. It is slower but no 
chipping and razor sharp crisp edges.

Have fun.

Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:DLeavens%40puc.net> net
Skype DaleLeavens
Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith Christian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:kchristian%40surfside.net> .net>
To: <blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 5:25 PM
Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Cutting Dados

> Hi Dale,
>
> Thanks for your reply. I have a few questions.
>
> That makes sense. What is a router plane? Is that a straight bit that
> cleans up edges?
>
> so, if I want to use a router, would I clamp a 2x4 on both sides of
the
> dado and just make multiple passes until the dado is cut? Also, do I
> need to cut less than a quarter inch deep with each pass? I must admit
> that I usually set the router to the depth that I am wanting and doing
> it with one pass. That is not a good idea is it?
>
> Can you recommend how I can keep from messing up the ends of wood with
a
> router? I heard that it is possible to attach scraps of wood at the
> ends to keep from messing it up. But I don't know how this is done.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Keith
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 8:56 PM
> To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Cutting Dados
>
>
>
> Don't know specifically about that model but there certainly are many
> models
> these days where the depth of cut can be fixed. I don't believe though
> that
> the arbor is designed to accept a dado cutting set but you could cut
> each
> side then plow out the middle either by repeated passes of the saw
> shifting
> the board slightly between passes or by making a few passes and
cleaning
> out
> the middle with a chisel or router plane.
>
> When I need only one dado I commonly cut it this way with my table
saw.
> The
> main limitation though is the width of cut, probably not more than 12
> inches
> on a miter saw.
>
> Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:DLeavens%40puc.net> net
> Skype DaleLeavens
> Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Keith Christian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> <mailto:kchristian%40surfside.net> .net>
> To: <blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
> yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 6:26 PM
> Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Cutting Dados
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Is it possible to set a Dwalt sliding miter saw to cut dados? I see
on
>> the right hand side of the saw a bolt with a wing nut that may do it.
>> It looks like the bolt could be adjusted to control the height of the
>> saw blade.
>>
>> Just wondering!
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Keith
>>
>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>> To listen to the show archives go to link
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<http://acbradio.org/handyman.html> org/handyman.html> org/handyman.html
>> or
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> <ftp://ftp.acbradio.
<ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/>
org/acbradio-archives/handyman/>
> org/acbradio-archives/handyman/
>>
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>>
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<http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml>
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>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> To listen to the show archives go to link
> http://acbradio. <http://acbradio.org/handyman.html> org/handyman.html
> or
> ftp://ftp.acbradio.
<ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/>
org/acbradio-archives/handyman/
>
> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is.
> http://www.acbradio
<http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday>
.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday
>
> The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is.
> http://www.gcast. <http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml>
com/u/cookingindark/main.xml
>
> Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From
Various 
> List Members At The Following address:
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users.com/handyman/
>
> Visit the new archives page at the following address
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>
> 



 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



To listen to the show archives go to link
 http://acbradio.org/handyman.html
or
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The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is.
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Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List 
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