I have to cut 1″ dado slots in the planks of a maple workbench top I am getting ready to glue-up (Lon Schleining’s Essential Workbench, FW #167). Do you think it’s OK to cut them in one pass on my cross-cut sled, otherwise I’d have to reset the blade depth for each cut (there’s 36) and then the depths would not be exactly the same. Also, I have to check, but I’m not certain my dado set will stack up to 1″.
On another question: I also have to make four square dado holes in the vise fronts and they are 6 5/8″ deep x 1″ square. There’s not enough clearance in my benchtop drill press after I install a bit to hog out the hole, and then I cannot imagine how I could chisel out a square hole that deep?? What would Sam Maloof do?
Sometimes I just feel clueless!
Replies
I'm pretty sure that I don't quite understand your question regarding your dadoes.
However, for your second question re the benchtop drill press, what I did when I had one was to clamp the base at the edge of the benchtop, rotate the drill head 180 degrees, so that it hangs over the side. Now I had 36"+ of clearance - i.e. bench top height to the floor.
Then, I would stack stuff up on the floor (saw horses, actually) until I had a support for my workpiece that just cleared the mounted drill bit. Voilla! instant floor mount drill press with rube goldberg drilling platform - works like a charm.
Enjoy.
Mike D
P.S. Don't feel clueless - there's LOTS of stuff we all don't know. That's why we have Knots. :)
Hey, Mike, thanks a bunch! Didn't know I could rotate the drill press head and chuck. It's a Sears 7" drill press, but now I'm wondering about the "throw" distance, as I'm sure it's not 6 5/8", maybe 3" at best .... perhaps a long bit and raising the drilling platform after the first hole, but then there's alignment to consider .... hmmmm .... not sure on this ....
Well,
Re drilling, I can think of several ways to get around this including making a simple, effective jig for freehanding the hole. I think I'll wait for older, wiser heads to put their ideas forth. If no one bites, I'll offer some more suggestions.Re the dado, I don't know how to widen the blade stack another full 1/8". Possibly doable, but that seems like a lot. Usually what is done is to cut the dado in two passes. Cut all the pieces at 7/8" with one setup and then adjust your setup and run them all again to complete the width. One thing to watch for with dado's this wide and deep is that the board wants to rise up off the saw table from the force of the blade. Defeat this tendency by rigging a hold down over the blade that allows reasonably easy passage of the workpiece, but prevents any rising of said workpiece off the blade.Have you considered doing this with a router?
Hope this helps.
Mike
P.S. Practice on scrap wood that's the same dimension of the workpiece before committing yourself to your workpiece.
Edited 8/9/2009 4:03 pm ET by Mike_D
Much obliged Mike for your input. Would like to hear about that free-hand drilling jig idea. Keeping the dog hole straight and true is obviously the objective here. In the FW article they make no mention of how to do this, in fact I believe they skipped it completely when the plans I bought clearly show four square dogholes in the end vise and two in the front vise. AND, since I laminated two pieces of 6/4 walnut to make the front vise jaws, I could have cut the dadoes ahead of time!As for the dadoes, yes, I received a very thorough explanation from a contributor including a diagram to make a sliding "parallelogram" jig for routing the dadoes (they need to be at 2 degrees to the work). This is beginning to look like the way to go since I would always opt for moving the cutter rather than the work, especially since the boards are over 75" long, and1 3/4" x 2 1/2" dimension!So lets hear that idea on drilling ... thanks -- LouisEdited 8/10/2009 8:13 am ET by MilfordWoods
Edited 8/10/2009 8:13 am ET by MilfordWoods
Hi again,
When I need to freehand a really accurate 90 degree hole I make an appropriately sized "L" guide, set it sideways on the surface to be drilled, and nestle the drill bit in the corner of the "L". A 3" wide jig with legs 3" or 4" long should do the trick for this. It's not always possible, but it really helps if you can rig a clamp to hold the jig exactly in place while you drill.
You have to use a long smooth sided bit that engages both the corner and the side of the hole for the entire depth of the hole for this to work well. This proscribes the use of spade or forstner bits. For a 1" diameter hole, I use one of the 12" long house wiring bits used by electricians and plumbers. Mine has a screw on the end that helps self feed the bit, but I have seen bits like this in twist-bit format as well. Another advantage of this format is that the drill sides have no side cutting edge and don't tend to wander, once deep enough in the hole.If you use the twist bit format, instead, I would recommend purchasing two bits - one a 1/4" bit to drill a full depth pilot hole, followed by the 1" bit. Makes things just a bit easier.MikeEdited 8/10/2009 11:53 am ET by Mike_D
Edited 8/10/2009 11:54 am ET by Mike_D
It sounds to me like you are making square mortises for bench dogs by dadoing the strips of your benchtop before you glue them up. Unless your saw is drastically underpowered, you should have no problem with a 1" cut. Just go slowly. Your table saw arbor will likely only accomodate a 13/16" wide dado, so you will need two passes.
Edit: For the deep holes, you could (carefully) use a hand drill with an auger bit, then square up with a chisel. I prefer round dogs by the way. They're easier to install too!
Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com
and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Edited 8/9/2009 12:36 pm by flairwoodworks
For those deep mortises, use a hand drill and start the hole. Then, leave the drill bit in the hole, move to the drill press, chuck in the bit in the drill press, and finish the hole. A router, with TWO guide strips ( one on each side of the dado) will allow you to cut those 1" wide dados. And, you would only need a 1/2" bit to cut them.
Thanks, but I just checked my dado blade assembly and I see it's rated to go to 7/8" using all the spacers. Is there an issue with adding spacers to bring it to 1" wide?
Most dado blades go up to 7/8" and you could add shims to widen he kerf and the "set" of the teeth would still remove all the waste, so not to leave you with "fingers" sticking out. However, the issue is the length of the arbour.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
regarding the deep dog holes in the tail vice... what I did (many years ago) was to undersize the vice part, dado the "holes" (after all you actually want them to go all the way through) then add a face piece to bring it to the correct width. Of course you can do this by creating 1/2 in dados in two parts to result in the 1" square holes.
Jeff
Thanks Jeff. Of course the vise jaws are already made to size. It would have been nice if the FW article made that suggestion which would have been almost a snap to do before lamination! Of course being the smart guy that I am not, I could have thought of it ahead of time!!
Edited 8/10/2009 12:31 pm ET by MilfordWoods
bummer... sorry I was too late. I believe I got the idea from the "old" Taunton Press workbench book (Scott Landis's version- in the 80's)... oh well now you have a much harder task.
Take the piece back out of the vise, resaw to "split" the piece, cut the dados, glue back up and re-install.
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