# Angle cuts with dado blade



## harrywho (Jul 20, 2009)

This may be a stupid question but, can you safely cut an angled groove, say 15 degrees, with a dado blade?


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

I have made these types ot cuts. Use feather bosrds to keep everything held securely. My dado set is only 8" so it could somewhat limit the depth of the dado but so far I've only had to make 3/8 to 1/2" deep cuts. If you have a metal blade insert, be careful the blade doesn't hit it.


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## harrywho (Jul 20, 2009)

Thanks, the depth of the cut would only have to be 1/4" or even a little less on the shallow end. I have a Delta contractors saw and was considering a Freud 6" dado blade. The trouble is it may need to be 1" or more in width. I want to make a display stand that would hold the bottom edge of some trays that I am makeing so they could lean against the wall and not slide. Maybe I could just make a flat groove. Think it would work?


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## KentS (May 27, 2009)

Use a table saw sled. You can do angles easily that way. My sled has an adjustable angled fence which makes it very easy and safe to do this.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

Be carefull, sounds like their could be some risk of kick back. I have built a latter for a bunk one time and had to cut angled dados to hold the treads secure, not the way you are describing though.


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## CutNRun (Nov 14, 2007)

Cut the dado using a router and pattern cutting bit. Clamp two boards on either side of the trays or board that define the width of the desired dado. The bearing of the pattern cutting bit rides against these straight edged boards. The bit doesn't need to be full width of the dado and you can make multiple passes if necessary to reach the desired depth of cut.


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## damianpenney (Jun 22, 2007)

I don't see why you couldn't do that.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

You should be able to cut angled dados on a TS without any problems. I have done this many times. There is a limit on how deep you can cut depending on the blade diameter, but it works fine.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

The 6" dado stack would probably be OK, but I'm not sure you can get 1" width … every dado set I have ever seen maxes out at 13/16".

There is a huge risk of kickback which you can reduce with featherboards or a sled on the TS, but if you have a router table I would go the way CutNRun suggested.


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## davidpettinger (Aug 21, 2009)

I do it with my RAS all the time, even 45 degrees. No problem. All I have done on a table saw is 7 and 22 degree with out a hitch. Good miter fence will keep everything steady. Clamp a stop block to the opposite end of the fence, this will steady the work piece and makes the cut repeatable with out having to realign.


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## davidpettinger (Aug 21, 2009)

I can fudge 1" with my dado stack, but I have to use my shim set and then there is some cleanup in the bottom, but all in all not too bad.


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## harrywho (Jul 20, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys. Maybe I will just get a 6" dado and ease into it. If nothing else it gives me an excuse to buy a dado blade.


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## bendisplays (Feb 2, 2009)

You would use dado blades typically if you were making a deep cut. It is very easy to make the cuts this way. If you are cutting at a 15 degree angle, and the deepest depth is 1/4 of an inch, then one side of the cut will be at or close to the surface. (a little trigonometry on 1 inch cut)

Now depending on the wood, you are going to get some surface chipping by cutting this way with the dado blade. At angles your blade has more chances of kicking and this becomes worse with a dado. A small depth like you have probably wont be any problem.

I concur with TheDane & CutNRun. Using a router is going to be the safest and will also give you the best results.

Cheers,

Ben


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