Customer Reviews

Freud SD608 8-Inch Dial-A-Width Stacked Dado Set 5/8-Inch Arbor

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I got this dado blade for Christmas, and WOW! is it fantastic.
The fit and finish of the blades is wonderful, although the case seems a bit flimsy. The plastic is pretty thin and hard. It think it would crack pretty easily. I think I'll make myself a wooden carrier in the next few weeks...
I started out by testing it out on some scrap 1/2" Baltic birch plywood. I used the included guide for sizing a 1/2" dado and went to town cutting. Unfortunately, the dado was a bit undersized. BUT, instead of having to remove the outer blade and start adding shims, I just measured the size difference between the dado and the plywood. Each click of the dial is .004" so I divided the difference by .004 and came to 5.5 clicks. I rounded that up to 6 clicks, loosened the nut on the blade, clicked 6 times, tightened and cut. The dado fit perfectly, and it took less than 5 minutes from installing the plates to final cut! This system really works!

As a carpenter who cuts a lot of plywood, I was interested in upgrading from a 'wobbly' dado to this system. In general I was impressed with this set. The plates and chippers are all substantial. They are manufactured out of nice thick, flat stock, with large carbide teeth and a nice clean black finish.

I do my work on a Craftsman Professional 10" tablesaw with a 1-1/8" long threaded arbor.

The first thing I had to do was reassemble the outer plates to change the setup from a right-tilt, to a left-tilt configuration. Before making dado cuts the user must consult the manual and determine the appropriate type and number of chippers to install between the outer plates. A little color coding or some stenciled part numbers on the components would simplify the process, but if a person can read, they should be able to figure this out.

I found slipping the assembly over the arbor threads to be a little bit of a challenge due to the thickness of the components. There is no 'slop' in the 5/8" arbor hole so you need to have room to slide them on square with the arbor threads.

Practical Feedback:
This system works nice. Pretty quiet for a dado and very clean, flat cuts. I found the dial settings recommended in the manual to be only approximations. Adjust your settings and make notes for future reference.
On the negative (and its a significant point) I found I could not safely utilize the wider settings on this dado. When I installed the components required for a 3/4" dado I found I couldn't even get a full turn of the arbor nut when tightening up everything. ...and that still leaves one chipper in the box. So, using this set for wider dados will require me to make two separate passes at different settings. (Seems like it kind of defeats the purpose of a dado, doesn't it?)

I don't know whether to place responsibility for this problem with Craftsman or Freud, but as a buyer it seems like a little more up front information would be helpful.

In summary, this is a great product if your tablesaw arbor threads are long enough to accept the unit(1-3/8" or over). If not, keep looking.

Just a followup note: One of the primary benefits of these reviews is to alert other potential customers to salient issues. Based upon the number of forum comments, it would seem that buying one of these, only to find they aren't fully functional on a specific table saw is not an uncommon issue. When, as I did, customers consult point of purchase materials, Amazon promotional write-ups, and tablesaw manuals without finding any illumination on the topic, its probably a point others would like to know. That said, I still think this Dado is excellent for those with the appropriate platform.

This dado does fit a Delta Uniasaw (I understand there are some problems fitting some saws). I've tested the dado and it performs as advertised, very nice. The reason I didn't give it a five star review is the manual and assembly from the factory wasn't quite right. The manual needs to be brought up to date. To convert the dado to left tilt it is necessary to switch parts on the outside blades. The instructions talk about 2 silver screws (there are 3 and on one blade they are black. As shipped the ball bearing and spring had fallen out of place in the adjustment hub. The two shoulder screws (which could have accidently been removed when converting to left tilt saws because of the poor manual) that hold the adjustment dial together wouldn't tighten all the way. I had to remove filings that stopped the screws from seating properly. The filings were never removed after the threads were tapped in the mating piece.
If you have some time to figure out the manual, cleanup and reassemble the unit, it works very well.

As one reviewer has already noted, the dial a width dado by Freud is a bit of a challenge to tighten on the Dewalt 746 hybrid saw. But it is worth the hassel. You cannot use the supplied wrench, and your saw wrench will not fit either. I found that a big ol craftsman combo wrench works just fine to tighten the nut. The "box" end grips just enough to allow you to tighten the nut perfectly. It is worth the extra effort. This is absolutely the best dado I have ever used. Even cuts across grain in veneer plywood are clean and have no tearout, and dadoes cut in hardwoods are things of beauty. Adjustment of the cut is fast and easy, and if you keep a "log" of settings, you can return to a particular cut with confidence that it will duplicate the last cut. Hard to do with shims.
I haven't had the problem getting it sharpened as one reviewer has. I routinely take all new blades, bits, and cutters in to my local saw shop before I use them. I learned the hard way, new doesn't mean sharp. Their only comment was that it was a nicely balanced unit and has a good amount of carbide. Of course this shop has been in the same location for over 75 years, so they have probably seen it all.
I gave this unit 4 stars instead of 5, because of the wrench problem. But as I said before the end product is really nice, so it is worth the little extra effort. Highly recommend this one.

I have been building custom furniture for 30 year. I have four different dado sets in my shop. The Freud SD608 Dial-A-Dado is by far the cleanest cutting dado I have ever used. The finished dado appears that it was cut with a straight router bit. The bottom of the dado is so clean it requires no claen up. The adjustment for narrowing or widening your cut slightly is a real time saver. It works just as advertized. If I only had one dado set to pick from the SD608, 8" would be the one I would buy.

I bought the SD608 dado set a couple months ago for use with a Delta 36-717 hybrid saw. As someone else mentioned here, it's very difficult to determine before you buy whether it'll fit your saw, so I contacted Freud. I received the following from a company rep:

"Check to see what the specifications are for dados on your machine. Many manufacturers limit the diameter of the dado to 6" while others allow 8" but may limit the width of cut. If your machine is rated for a 6" or 8" stacked dado, then there is the consideration of the arbor nut size, inside flange diameter, and arbor length. Unfortunately there are too many saws for us to keep a list of what these specifications are for every machine and be able to keep it up to date with changes made by the manufacturers, but with some quick measurements you can determine if your saw is capable of running the Dial-A-Width.

1. Arbor Nut Size - The arbor nut wrench size can not be larger than 1 3/16" (30 mm). The set includes a 7/8" wrench. If your arbor nut uses a wrench other than 7/8" (22 mm), you will need to use a wrench other than the one that comes in the Dial-A-Width.
2. Inside Arbor Flange Diameter - If the inside arbor flange is under 2-1/2" diameter you are OK. If it is over that, the Dial-A-Width will not work on your machine.
3. Arbor Length - Measure the length of the arbor on your machine and subtract the thickness of the arbor nut from that measurement. If what you have left is at least 1 3/32" then you can cut up to a 3/4" dado with your saw. If you have 1 3/16" or more then you can stack all the components on the arbor at one time. Still keep in mind that you must comply with maximums that the manufacturer of saw has for dadoes.

We have also heard of a few saws on the market that have an interference problem with the inside blade. To check this disconnect power to the saw, and with a blade on the saw look down inside the saw beside the blade. If there is anything like belts or structural members closer than 1/2" from the sides of the blade then this could be a problem. If there is any question after this visual inspection the take an old saw blade (can be a 10" or a 7 1/4" as long as they have the same arbor as the saw) and on the side opposite the arbor nut hot glue 6 US Pennies in a stack about 1 1/2" from the center of the arbor. Put the blade on the saw (still with the saw disconnected) and rotate the blade using the arbor wrench. If the pennies do not contact anything then you should not have an interference problem."

On the Delta 36-717 hybrid saw, the arbor is just long enough to use the full set of dado blades. I worry about getting the arbor nut on incorrectly and stripping the arbor, so I'm really careful about it. It's a pain to arrange the blades so that the teeth of one blade don't interfere with others, but that's not unique to this dado set.

However, I was most concerned about whether a hybrid saw could push an 8-inch dado; some recommend at least a 3-HP saw with this diameter. But it worked great with the 36-717, a 1-3/4-HP model. To be safe, I still make deep cuts in a couple passes, but I've never had a problem.

The dialing mechanism requires some trial and error to figure out. I was dialing it in, dialing it out, and having trouble figuring out which way I was supposed to be dialing, because I could only see a difference after I'd made a cut. Then I figured out that by watching the threads on the inside of the dialing mechanism, I could get a better idea of whether I was increasing or decreasing the width of cut.

The quality of cut is excellent--flat bottoms, smooth cutting, and minimal tear-out. I'm quite happy with the purchase, especially at the price I got it for: $175 on Amazon in March 2006.

I have an old G0444 and this blade set works great. The dado cuts are the cleanest I have ever seen, although I have only used about 6 different dado sets before - and never a Forrest. The groove bottoms are very flat - with slightly deeper cuts at the outer edges. I think they do this to score the wood to prevent / reduce splintering. Speaking of splintering, I have used this set to cut dados in 3/4" birch plywood and never had any splintering.

My one complaint: the included wrench doesn't fit my arbor nut (it's metric). I had to go to Kragens and get a 23 mm socket - works great!

The case is fine - but then I would always rather that the manufacturer spend more on the tool than the supplemental stuff.

I feel for those poor souls whose saw won't handle this blade - they are truely missing out!

Super-easy to use. Makes shims a thing of the past. Freud makes excellent router bits and saw blades. If you're willing to pay the premium, Forrest is another fine company for blades. Not having to deal with shims was the biggest selling point for me, well worth the cost of admission.

I have had this dado set for almost two years now and I couldn't be happier. There are a few tricks that I have learned over these past two years that have made me this happy when using this dado set. Here goes:

1.) One way to zero out the dial-a-width shim is to hold the blade so that it is horizontal (like a dinner plate) with the dial on the underside. Put a small 6" combination square on the dial and crank is back to zero. When the combo square stops spinning the "shim" is now flush with the body of the blade.

2.) After getting good at doing the above, you will realize that there is no need. Once it is flush, grab a Sharpie and draw a line accross the blade and the dial-a-width shim. Now you can quickly dial it back to zero.

3.) There are ten 'clicks' to the dial-a-width shim to make one revolution. Using the line above, you can quickly get to where you want to go. Need 16 clicks for the width you want? Spin the first revolution quickly and start counting at 10...

4.) Use that same Sharpie to label the Chippers. The markings don't rub off because all of the blades and chippers are turning on the arbor together. (Sometimes you have to angle the light a little to see the writing, but it isn't hard.)

5.) Make a test strip: Get two 2-foot long strips of 3/4" plywood that are about 6" wide. Every time you cut a dado for a project, cut one in this test strip. Then adjust the dial-a-width shim a couple of clicks and cut another dado. Label how many clicks & shims are for each cut. (With a little pre-emptive labelling you can have all of the 3/4" dados grouped together.) This way, when you are looking for a tight fit for the dado, you can test if the standard 3/4" set up recommended by Freud is the best fit, or the one with 2 clicks less/more. It really, really speeds up set up time. I drilled a hole on the end of the test strip and have it hanging near my table saw.

5A.) Because plywood is smaller than the actual size it sells at, I have a second test strip specifically for plywood dados. I actually use this test strip more than the other.


Last note on this dado set. The wrench it comes with fits the Delta size arbor nuts. I have a General Cabinet Saw from Canada and the nut is metric, so it won't fit. This is a big problem because the nut recesses into the dial of the dial-a-width blade and your standard wrenches can't get a good angle on it. To avoid stripping the nut even more, I bought a 23 mm socket a Lowes and had a friend weld a 10" handle to the _middle_ of the socket. Problem solved. Should have done it ages ago. (Don't weld it to the end of the socket because with a thick dado stack on the arbor you won't have room in the throat plate opening for handle...)

I hope this review helped. I can't tell you how much better this is than messing with shims!

~Peter

I've used this extensively on my Grizzly 1023 table saw with great results. I would highly recommend this blade set to anyone. My advice on using it:
* when you unbox the blades, measure the chipper thicknesses and label them "A", "B", "C", etc., according to the manual. There one that's thinner than the others, and it is required for certain thickness combinations; identifying it by sight is almost impossible. I wrote on them in silver Sharpie and it solved that problem.
* mark the "zero" on the thickness adjusting dial. Turn it until the back of the dial is perfectly flush with the back of the blade and write a "0" above that tick mark (again, silver Sharpie works great). That way, when the manual says "a 1/2 inch dado is these three blades plus four clicks" you'll know that you're really at four and not, say, three or five.