Cutting Dado's in Small Pieces

[JackLeg]

OK, I'll admit it! I'm not real sharp in the "think and design" department.:dontknow: I did think I was pretty good at working from plans---BUT--! :icon_scra

OzzieX was kind enough to send me the plans for making Chinese puzzles. I envisioned myself making a BUNCH of these for Christmas presents to hand out at a family gathering in two weeks, and I still want to do just that.

Here's where I need your assistance. The puzzle pieces are 3/4 X 3/4 X 4" long. They have multiple dado's in them which makes the puzzle work. Each puzzle consists of 6 pieces.

I ripped a bunch of scrap into the dimensioned pieces, set up my dado blades for 3/4", set my table saw fence for the prescribed distance and got ready to cut some dado's. HMMMM! That dado blade is awfully close to my fingers for my liking!! :eusa_thin And small pieces are hard to control! Sooooo, what's your suggestions for cutting these things? :help:

I would like to finish will all me digits intact! :gar-La;

 

[ptt49er]

Use a crosscut sled built just for dado's. Then you can mount clamps to hold the pieces to the sled.

Got it?

 

[Canuck]

Reggie.

Could you make a small cradle that would capture the 3/4"x3/4" stock and then cut the dado's at the recommended increments?

(Cut all of the dado's on one long piece of 3/4 x 3/4 stock and then crosscut the six pieces as required?:dontknow

I usually backup my dado cuts with a sacrificial fence on my miter gauge as well. :icon_thum No tearout that way.

Wayne

 

[FredP]

router table with fence and feather boards with push pads. gets ya a cleaner cut and IMO safer.:icon_thum

 

[JackLeg]

router table with fence and feather boards with push pads. gets ya a cleaner cut and IMO safer.:icon_thum

Been thinking that same thing, Fred. Think I've got the right bits to do the job.

 

[JackLeg]

Reggie.

Could you make a small cradle that would capture the 3/4"x3/4" stock and then cut the dado's at the recommended increments?

(Cut all of the dado's on one long piece of 3/4 x 3/4 stock and then crosscut the six pieces as required?:dontknow

I usually backup my dado cuts with a sacrificial fence on my miter gauge as well. :icon_thum No tearout that way.

Wayne

Wayne, I've been thinking about just cutting some pieces about 26" long, cutting the appropriate dado's, and then cutting them to length. If I could make ONE this way, and use if for a story stick, it might make sense? :icon_scra

 

[JackLeg]

DADGUMMIT! I HATE it when I'm this dumb!! :BangHead:

Found the solution in Mike Davis' post!!
:tinysmile_tongue_t:

 

[BrianBDH]

When I made a bunch of these puzzles, I used 1 x 4 boards.

I cut the boards into 4 inch long sections which I could run over the dado blade for the grooves. This also put the grain in the direction I wanted so the pieces wouldn't be short-grained and break where the dado's would make them thin.

Then I made a sled that went up against my fence so I could safely rip the 3-1/2 inch wide boards into the 4 pieces at 3/4 each. (My sled just had a notch to hold the pieces, they didn't actually ride on the sled, they still ride directly on the table. I adjusted my fence to get the proper width of rip.) I didn't use a clamp to hold the pieces on the sled; I used a technique that I learned from David Marks... I use a brand new yellow pencil with a good eraser to hold the piece in the notch on my sled. It keeps your fingers a safe distance away from the blade, but you still need to go slowly and carefully.

Even using this approach, some of the pieces require a second dado. Since I had to make 64 of these pieces, it wasn't practical to clamp them one at a time to my miter gauge and push them through the cutting area. It would have taken longer than I wanted to spend. I also couldn't come up with a way to clamp multiple pieces together that would make it any safer. So I wound up running them through one at a time. I used one hand to hold the piece to my miter gauge and my pencil to hold the "fence" side down to the table.

If I had to do it over again, I would probably use a sacrificial fence on my miter gauge. Using 2 stop-blocks to make a 4 inch wide "notch" for the piece to sit in and push it through the cutting area. It is difficult to get a featherboard into such a close area to hold the piece down to the table, so I would probably still use my pencil.

Hopes this helps.

Brian

 

[Joe Scharle]

If these are what you're making, I suggest you make a jig carrier for use on your RT or TS. I didn't take a pic, but my jig was for a Woodrat anyway. Many of the parts have 2 or more cutouts, so keeping registration is very important.

 

[JackLeg]

If these are what you're making, I suggest you make a jig carrier for use on your RT or tablesaw. I didn't take a pic, but my jig was for a Woodrat anyway. Many of the parts have 2 or more cutouts, so keeping registration is very important.

That's it, Joe! NOW, do you have a pic or plans for a table saw or router jig? Thanx.

 

[Mike Davis]

DADGUMMIT! I HATE it when I'm this dumb!! :BangHead:

Found the solution in Mike Davis' post!!
:tinysmile_tongue_t:

Please tell me then cause I forgot. :rotflm:

 

[JackLeg]

Please tell me then cause I forgot. :rotflm:

Forgot what? You're asking ME to remember something?
:rotflm:

 

[Joe Scharle]

First is the jig for a Woodrat just to give you some ideas. Woodrat's clamps cause a squeezing action on the parts held, that's why the kerf in the holder.

Look closely and you can see the carriage stop blocks that limit the cutting range.

Take that idea to your old fashioned dado set :5sigh:, and spend a while shimming :BangHead:, and using your new carrier jig :icon_thum(couldn't lay hands on an unused toggle clamp for the pic), push the piece through, retract, reload, repeat. Of course you would use a bigger piece of ply for your sled. Have fun!

 

[JackLeg]

Thanks Joe! Think I can prolly come up with something to save my fingers!
:rotflm:

 

[CrealBilly]

First is the jig for a Woodrat just to give you some ideas. Woodrat's clamps cause a squeezing action on the parts held, that's why the kerf in the holder.

Look closely and you can see the carriage stop blocks that limit the cutting range.

Take that idea to your old fashioned dado set :5sigh:, and spend a while shimming :BangHead:, and using your new carrier jig :icon_thum(couldn't lay hands on an unused toggle clamp for the pic), push the piece through, retract, reload, repeat. Of course you would use a bigger piece of ply for your sled. Have fun!

We need a Jigs Forum and I suggest Joe to be moderator. Joe that is so cool - how you come up with these jigs?

 

[Joe Scharle]

Jeff, engineers reaaaallllllly hate doing anything the hard way more than once. Although some people say it's laziness!:gar-La;

Forgot to add; I agree that a jigs forum would be handy. Things get lost in the How To !