All Replies on First Time User of Dado Blade

did you install the blade in reverse?

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

That would be my guess too. All 3 blades need to point in the right direction!

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

Hi Purplev. Interesting question. Both outside blades are marked “this side out”. I took that to mean that side goes away from the chippers in between. Does it instead mean that both should face “out”?

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI

Lenny, if you put both blades with the “this side out” you can still put the left blade on the right side… and vice versa, meaning that they are in the wrong direction.

I always look at the teeth… teeth should face the front of the tablesaw on the top of the blade. make sure that also the chipper is facing in the same direction like fredf mentioned.

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

The teeth on the blade need to point in the direction of rotation with the out sides of the blade outside . . .
I (ahem) would never (ahem) admit to putting a blade on backwards. amazing the amount of smoke you get . . .

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

I don’t think this set has a left and right blade. Rather, they are interchangable. However, I think (and hope) both of you have found the problem. Seems like “outside” means away from the inside for BOTH blades, and I know I didn’t even check the orientation of the chipper. Thanks loads. Ineresting that a guy from RI gets a response from two MA folks! lol

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI

I just brought the set in here to take a look and I do think that at least one of the outside blades was in the wrong orientation. Since I get up really early, it’s past my bedtime so I will try it tomorrow. Thanks again fredf and Purplev.

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI

Lenny,
I just bought the same exact set on sale at Woodcraft and intend to make my inserts on my day off.
Talk about good timing. Thanks.
You & fredf & purplev have me watching more carefully when I do it.

-- Eric

Lenny,
I have this same dado set…very good set. I bet you had a chipper in backwards.

-- Don S.E. OK

I’m impressed with the quick action of getting on lumberjocks and posting the question instead of just taking a few seconds and rotating the blades. LOL. Another reason to be thankfull for the site I guess. Be safe with those. I watched a guy install a brand new set on the saw and he didn’t line the tips up correctly. I believe he put a carbide to a carbide instead of making sure they were spaced between so the carbides didn’t touch anything. When he turned the saw on the blades loosened and spun recklessly breaking off several of the tips. They shot off in several directions. He’s lucky he wasn’t hurt.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

I’ve agree with the rest, check to see if the dado blade is install right.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Lenny – It’s important that the teeth face the proper direction….there’s a steel shoulder that physically supports each tooth. If installed backwards, you’re relying 100% on the binders to hold the carbide. You’ll also find that the teeth of the outside cutters on dado blades have a disproportionate “overhang” on the edges. The outside edge has a bit more overhang that the inside edge. All of the Freud sets are good quality, so you should be fine once installed properly unless there’s some defect.

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

when it comes to dado blades and shaper heads that go on a table saw…you gotta know what your doing…ive seen problems like this scar an older wood worker into not ever using the shaper head again…..and i must say me inheriting it was such a pleasure…...the more metal you have turning on these table saws…the more you have to be careful…...and like Kevin said…make sure the blade tips are offset with the one beside it…...get that down and have fun with your new blade…...

-- GRIZZMAN ...[''''']

Woodwrecker, yeah, that 15% off was a great deal, huh? Hi Don. It appears to have been at least a chipper. It may have been one of the blades too. Thanks. kolwdwrkr, it was getting late (for me) so I thought it best to leave the situation and try again the next day. Then I thought, why not throw it out to the LJ community. Voila, an immediate resolution to the problem. That situation you described is very scary. Glad to hear he wasn’t hurt. Hi Charles. Thanks for checking in on me. Knottscott, thanks for the information. BTW, I found the review I was looking for on the EB-3 and you were right…it wasn’t you! LOL. Grizzman, thank you. I guess I got off pretty easy regarding this error. I openly admit to not reading the “guide” carefully. I have re-read it and I am going to quote a bit of it: 1. Work Safely followed by valuable and appropriate safety information. 2. Use Both Outside Blades 3. Clean Well 4. Setup: “Use the chart on the next page to select the components needed for width of dado. After cleaning, place the first outside blade on the arbor, being sure rotation is correct. If chippers are being used, place them on next with the teeth of the chippers in the gullet of the outside blade. If more than one chipper is used, rotate every other chipper 45 degrees. Install other outside blade being sure that the teeth of the last chipper are in the gullet of the outside blade.” Had I read this carefully I would have picked up on the words being sure rotation is correct. Instead, I relied on my interpretation of what “outside” meant and never thought about rotation. While I take full responsibility for my error I do think the guide could be far clearer and, in fact, I think they should have a separate page labeled, “Installation”. They could highlight words in bold or red lettering. I plan to write to Freud to suggest this. Again, my error but they could do more to help customers avoid such a mistake with warnings, cautions, etc. The box or the front of the guide could say, “DO NOT OPERATE UNTIL ALL INSTALLATION STEPS HAVE BEEN LEARNED.” Thanks again everyone!

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI

Since I run a woodshop that is used by people who aren’t as experienced with some of the tools, I took a Sharpie and wrote “this blade first” and “this blade last” on the outside blade of the dado set used here. Helps to eliminate the confusion.

-- "At its best, life is completely unpredictable." - Christopher Walken

Chris Wright, that’s a good idea. I think I will follow your lead. Thank you. Here is an update: tonight I remounted the blades/chipper in the correct orientation and no smoke! It appears to be working just fine now. This has been a good learning experience.

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! Lenny, East Providence, RI

Hey Lennie….Glad you got that straightened out. Make sure the tooth of the chipper is between the teeth of the outside cutters. And yes…..they sure do smoke when you get it wrong!

-- Don, Pittsburgh

Are you sure that you can’t make it to Purplev’s party in September , Lenny ?
I bet that you’re a real fun guy to be hanging around with : )
Peace , my friend and stay safe !
Len

-- When you arrive at my front door, please knock softly but firmly. I like soft , firm, knockers : )

It can happen to anybody.

Several years ago I went to visit a guy that was fabricating acrylic plastic cutting boards in a shop in his back yard. He showed me samples of the cuts and they were extremely rough, melted in fact. He must have had 20 saw blades hanging on the wall and said none of them could make a smooth cut.

One look at the saw blade on his radial arm saw and it was obvious, the blade was on backwards. I told him and he said he had been cutting them that way for two years. He would not believe me. I grabbed a wrench, swapped the blade around and made the smoothest cut you ever saw. He was totally shocked.

Two years later, he was running his own plastic fab shop. Guess I should have charged him a consulting fee.

-- Bill - Mesquite, TX --- "Everything with a power cord eventually winds up in the trash.” John Sarge , timber framer and blacksmith instructor at Tillers International school

Like Chirs I wrote Arbor side on the proper blade and Nut side on the other. I have not had my orginal problem since. My dado set the blades are TB and score the outside edges of the dado. If you put then on in reverese. The outside edges have 45 degee slopes….good luck!

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

12/28/2013: I just had a lot of smoke from my Freud dado blades also. First time user. I immediately checked here. LOL. Yes, my blades were installed in reverse. They do have arrows on each blade but I was looking at the “This side out” and the blade edge line up (I did read the instructions). Thanks for this thread everyone. I have reinstalled the blades and tuned up my finger jig. First cuts tomorrow as it is late.

I always just eyeball my blades some have rabbit ears some don’t, I always take plent of time when setting up the dado blade making sure the blades are outside and such and also making sure that chippers are spaced evenly and the chipper teeth are not riding to close to a outside blade or too close to a tooth, checking for rotation, make sure the blades are clean, when stacking this can cause a little wobble if they have dirt or dust on the plate, also jog the saw a couple times and check for bein loose, always make a couple test cuts and recheck for bein loose, if you feel safe then start sawing

-- 2+2 is 9

never be in a hurry setting up your dado blade it’s important you take your time, this will insure good clean cuts

-- 2+2 is 9

Lenny does it look like this.

I laughed out loud at the radial arm saw with the backwards blade story. Good stuff!

You have to ask yourself how much money that guy spent on blades, how much time he spent using that machine, and how he never noticed which way the blade rotates and which way the teeth are oriented. Amazing.