Replies

1. 
   ring | Jun 07, 2008 06:50am | #1

   In general, sliders don't take dado blades very happily; that is, they're quite limited in the width of the blades you can stack on the arbor before it collides with the sliding carriage. But within those limitations you can cut rabbets or dados easily and accurately.

   Regarding the fence it can be done either way in my experience. Your regular rip fence on the right of the blade would need to be just grazing the outer edge of the dado blade. So you can (1) set it just in back of the blade and use it only to position the workpiece, then hold to the crosscut fence and slide, or (2) add a sacrificial board onto the rip fence, by simply clamping some piece of ply or MDF to the fence. The workpiece can usually just pass under the clamps. In this case you don't use the crosscut fence at all.

   Cardinal rule - you do not use both fences at the same time.

   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

1. 
   Moosewood | Jun 07, 2008 03:56pm | #2

   Dear David,Thank you very much for your suggestions. I was hoping that someone would have had experience using the rip fence as a stop to position the work piece against the sliding cross cut fence, while cutting rabbits. The design of the rip fence itself does not lend itself to attaching a sacrificial fence. I am using one of The MiniMax saws, which was modified, by the manufacturer to accept a 3/4" dado stack. As a matter preference, I would rather cut my dados and rabbits on a table saw, than with a router. With the ability to clamp the work piece to the slider in several places, I can flatten the wood while cutting the joint, thereby minimizing variations in depth caused by wood movement.I greatly appreciate your input.Rick