What dado blade for RAS tenons?

[Hank Knight]

For you guys who cut tenons on your RAS, what kind of dado blade do you use? I have an old Delta Rockwell 900 turrett RAS set up for crosscuts only. I love it for crosscutting, but it is scary for dados and tenons. I have a Forest Dado King 8" dado blade that self-feeds badly. It's grabby, scary and dangerous, even with shallow cuts. The cutters appear to have a negative hook angle, but the tooth geometry isn't conducive to this operation on the RAS. I would like to know what blade you use, or what technique you use to prevent self-feeding,
Thanks.

[jteneyck]

For you guys who cut tenons on your RAS, what kind of dado blade do you use? I have an old Delta Rockwell 900 turrett RAS set up for crosscuts only. I love it for crosscutting, but it is scary for dados and tenons. I have a Forest Dado King 8" dado blade that self-feeds badly. It's grabby, scary and dangerous, even with shallow cuts. The cutters appear to have a negative hook angle, but the tooth geometry isn't conducive to this operation on the RAS. I would like to know what blade you use, or what technique you use to prevent self-feeding,
Thanks.

I use the same Delta 8" dado set on both my RAS and TS.  Never noticed any tendency of it to want to climb when using it on the RAS but I only use it to cut tenons so the width isn't all that much; never more than maybe 4 or 5".  Maybe it would be more of a problem trying to cut a deep dado in something wide; just don't know.

A smaller diameter blade has less tendency to climb because the angle of attack is steeper.  Maybe a 6" dado set would solve the problem for you.  

John

[fredhargis]

I think the self feeding being worse with dado blades is just not a problem that can easily solved. You have to consider how much wood is being removed (versus a regular blade) and the purchase that gives the blade(s) on the workpiece. I've used my Freud Super Dado (4 tooth chippers) as well as 2 sets that have fewer teeth (2) on the chippers (one is a CMT set) as well as fewer teeth on the outer blades. While the fewer teeth do seem to reduce it ever so sightly, it's still takes a steady hand to control it.

[AgGEM]

For you guys who cut tenons on your RAS, what kind of dado blade do you use? I have an old Delta Rockwell 900 turrett RAS set up for crosscuts only. I love it for crosscutting, but it is scary for dados and tenons. I have a Forest Dado King 8" dado blade that self-feeds badly. It's grabby, scary and dangerous, even with shallow cuts. The cutters appear to have a negative hook angle, but the tooth geometry isn't conducive to this operation on the RAS. I would like to know what blade you use, or what technique you use to prevent self-feeding,
Thanks.

I have and enjoy the same saw as you, and use the Diablo dado set that Home Depot sells for $100. Forget the part number.
It has never caused me pause, but of course all due caution.
Often I just use the normal blade and make multiple cuts. That works too.
HtH's
Ag

Edit: It is a DD208

[Hank Knight]

I appreciate the feedback. I may try a 6"dado blade.

agGEM, I've done the multiple cut method with a single blade and it works, but I pretty much stick with my table saw for tenons. The RAS is nice, though, for cutting tenons on long boards.
Thanks all for your responses.

Hank

[Cecil]

For you guys who cut tenons on your RAS, what kind of dado blade do you use? I have an old Delta Rockwell 900 turrett RAS set up for crosscuts only. I love it for crosscutting, but it is scary for dados and tenons. I have a Forest Dado King 8" dado blade that self-feeds badly. It's grabby, scary and dangerous, even with shallow cuts. The cutters appear to have a negative hook angle, but the tooth geometry isn't conducive to this operation on the RAS. I would like to know what blade you use, or what technique you use to prevent self-feeding,
Thanks.

Shoulder cut on the RAS, which requires nothing other than the standard blade, face and edge cheeks on the bandsaw, generally.  I use the Freud Diablo dado, which I have used on the RAS.

[Alan S]

I use the 8" Dewalt dado set (which is exactly the same except for the label as the Delta mentioned above), also on both tablesaw and on the ancestor of your radial arm saw, the 3/4 HP Red Star Multiplex.  The Dewalt has a negative rake as recommended for the RAS, and is easy to control.  You simply cut slowly, but make sure to avoid the blade path.  Yes, it's limited in power, but works fine with a slow cut.

One interesting feature of the RAS is that the reference surface is on the bottom, while the cut is on the top of the stock.  This means if you want to, you can use the handwork approach of a single reference face by cutting one cheek on the TS and the other on the RAS.

[Pirate]

When cutting deep dados on the ras, I do it in steps.
Needed about 8, 1" wide x 1 1/2" deep dados in each of 2, 2x4's
Ganged together on the ras, it took only a few minuted to cut them.
I use a stop collar clamped around the elevation post (a hose clamp would work)
I cut the 1st dado to full depth in 3 passes.
Then clamped the stop collar around the ras post, to set depth.
Following cuts: 
Made a 1/2" +/- cut.
Lower blade a turn or 2. Make second cut.
Lower blade until it hits stop, and make third cut.

When not using for dados, I use it as a stop to keep blade just below table surface.

[Pirate]

For you guys who cut tenons on your RAS, what kind of dado blade do you use? I have an old Delta Rockwell 900 turrett RAS set up for crosscuts only. I love it for crosscutting, but it is scary for dados and tenons. I have a Forest Dado King 8" dado blade that self-feeds badly. It's grabby, scary and dangerous, even with shallow cuts. The cutters appear to have a negative hook angle, but the tooth geometry isn't conducive to this operation on the RAS. I would like to know what blade you use, or what technique you use to prevent self-feeding,
Thanks.

Also, if you rig a bungi cord, or a weight on a rope and pulley, to return the carriage, it helps a lot to prevent self feeding. I used a bungi on a CM ras, I had. Latest higher hp ras (Dewalt 7790) doesn't self feed much at all.

[Cecil]

I use a stop collar clamped around the elevation post (a hose clamp would work)

on my Craftsmane RAS, 1 full turn of the elevation crank is 1/16".  1/8 turn = 1/128", or ~8 thousandths .  I tend to zero the blade, take the lash out of the screw and then count the turns.