Craftsman dado

[tplank]

Recently purchased a Craftsman thin rim stacked dado. It cuts well with no tear out, but the cutters are cutting .018" deeper than the chippers leaving a noticeable ridge in the middle of the cut. Is this normal? I paid approx. $56 for the dado and didn't expect it to work as well as the most expensive one, but I didn't want to see two parallel lines down the middle of the cut, either.

[Ridgid_rocks]

It could be the type of tip on the blades. I think there is about 3 different kinds of blades. I know one is like a "V" groove and one is a flat groove and I'm not sure about the third but it sounds like you have the "V" groove. I bought mine from Lowes made by American woodcraft. I think, and it's flat groove. You may have to take it back and trade it out for another one. Hope this little info helps........ Donny

[tplank]

I reread the instruction pamphlet. It said that the outside cutters cut that much deeper to avoid tear out on the edges. I don't mind so much as long as the dados are not exposed, but how do I smooth out a dado that will be visible?

[RRitch]

tplank,

What you can do is cust a piece of scrap a little smaller than the dado, wrap it with sand paper and sand it flat. Just remember that if you do this, the dado will be that much deeper so you will need to compensate for this.

-Rob

[Hergy]

Tplank, most stack dados will do this. I have a Freud Super dado and it exhibits this characteristic also, but not to the extent that it bothers me or is visually ugly.

On most dados this will be a non issue. If as you mention, you want the dado to show, you may have to consider using a router or sand as someone else suggested.

Given a choice between tearout and ridges, I would settle for the ridges. Also this may sound stupid, but make sure you have the chippers installed correctly.