In an attempt to make a plant stand I was cutting some dados in some shelving wood bought from a big box store. I am using 7" dado craftsman dado blade that my grandfather gave me. I have no idea how old it is, nor really any idea of how sharp dado blades should be. I am using a craftsman contractor saw. When making the passes smoke starts come up from inside the saw. I assume that I am burning out my motor when this happens. Question is, is the saw not powerful enough for this kind of cut (cut depth was 1/4 inch) or is the blade not sharp?
Dados on a table saw
- Thread starter AlexSwansboro
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Takes more power to spin a dado set through the wood than a single blade, so maybe the belt is slipping?
What does the smoke smell like?
Burning wood = dull blade
Burning rubber = slipping belt
Burning plastic = motor windings/wiring/etc.
Listen to the motor as you make the cut. If the blade is dull or the saw is underpowered for the job, you will hear the saw motor bogging down.
Burning wood = dull blade
Burning rubber = slipping belt
Burning plastic = motor windings/wiring/etc.
Listen to the motor as you make the cut. If the blade is dull or the saw is underpowered for the job, you will hear the saw motor bogging down.
I don't think that I heard the motor bogging down and I did notice some burn marks on the wood, especially when cutting through a knot in the wood. However, I have a hard time that the small amount a burn made all the smoke I saw. This saw is less than a year old.
What species of wood are you cutting?
If the saw has 1-1/2 hp motor it should be able to make a 1/4" deep x 3/4" wide (you didn't say how wide the dado cut was) cut with a 7" dado set with little difficulty. Hard woods would require a slower feed rate, but the saw should be able to handle it with a sharp blade.
I would say that either the dado set is dull or the belt is slipping. If you can borrow another dado set you can try to eliminate that possibility.
And, as Mark2 mentioned, make sure the blade is not on backward. If it is a stacked dado, make sure all the blades are correctly oriented.
If the saw has 1-1/2 hp motor it should be able to make a 1/4" deep x 3/4" wide (you didn't say how wide the dado cut was) cut with a 7" dado set with little difficulty. Hard woods would require a slower feed rate, but the saw should be able to handle it with a sharp blade.
I would say that either the dado set is dull or the belt is slipping. If you can borrow another dado set you can try to eliminate that possibility.
And, as Mark2 mentioned, make sure the blade is not on backward. If it is a stacked dado, make sure all the blades are correctly oriented.
Perhaps you may have installed the dado set backwards? - that sure would create a lot of smoke.
Unplug the saw and look at the drive belt (assuming the saw uses one). It should be obvious if the belt seems glazed (shiny).
My guess - based on nothing other than *I* have a Craftsman steel dado blade ("Krome-edge") from *my grandfather* is that the blade is extremely dull
-Mark
My guess - based on nothing other than *I* have a Craftsman steel dado blade ("Krome-edge") from *my grandfather* is that the blade is extremely dull
-Mark
So I finished the dados today, and still had some smoke when cutting through a fairly large knot in one of the pieces of wood. I didn't hear any whirring, or the motor bogging down, but do think I smelled rubber or plastic burning. Maybe I can burn the motor out and get a bigger better saw:gar-Bi
I am totally frustrated by this problem but I guess I can do dados with a router in the future.
I am totally frustrated by this problem but I guess I can do dados with a router in the future.
Allex - one last question: how much feed-pressure did you need to get the saw to cut ? Did it require light force or e.g. did you need to really exert yourself to push the wood through the blade ?
My bet is still on a dull blade.
I'd like to see you try a known good (sharp) dado before abandoning the saw for dados....
-Mark
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