# Dado Blade width?



## sdracer12 (Apr 17, 2009)

I would like to make a box jig and cut out my own boxes, but I want them to match the purchased deeps which I already have. The deeps I now have have a 7/8" wide finger joint, in the standard 9 5/8 deep body. I have access to a table saw, but it will only fit a 1/2" to 5/8" wide Dado set on the arbor. Is there any way to cut a wider dado with this saw, like a two pass system on each notch? Or, do I need to look for a more expensive saw setup which will take a 7/8" Dado set? Thanks for any help.


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## bees1st (May 2, 2006)

you might try a "wobble" dado blade which you dial the width you need.Doesn't leave as clean a cut though.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

I've owned several different "wobble" blades and every one of them cut angled dadoes when set to large widths. Not good for the box joints!


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## bennybee (Jul 10, 2008)

First of all, Fish Sticks is right, a wobble blade won't do the job. You need a stacked dado set and all of them I've found only go to 13/16". Cutting a box joint to make a hive body or super is very complicated, I've cut thousands of them. there are many tricks you need to learn for instance the last cut on the sides (on top) is only 3/8" deep not 3/4" in order to make it fit the end where the frames rest. You also need to make a jig because the ones on the market only go up to 1/2". I just want you to know that it is a major undertaking. I used to make all of my stuff but now I buy it. Good Luck


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## FishmanMike (Sep 13, 2008)

IF you cut a grove instead of a pin at the frame rest edge you can make all 3/4 deep cuts. This is the opposite of a dandet box but works just fine with no additional changing your sett up.Your pin deepth has to match the thickness of your boards. Grizzley makes a cheap stack dado that is pretty good without breaking the bank.


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## jbford (Apr 17, 2009)

Make them using rabbetted edges like Rossman does. A lot easier to do either with a table saw or with a router. The short sides are the only ones to get the rabbet cuts, the long ones are left plain.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

http://www.beesource.com/files/boxjoint.pdf


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## sdracer12 (Apr 17, 2009)

I have a stacked Dado set already, and the wobble blade won't do a good job. Is my only alternative going to be making a one-off box design with 3/4" fingers? How do the commercial guys cut the 7/8" Dado's then? I have a supply of wood, time, and patience, lol, I just want to duplicate the boxes I have already bought in the past. Thanks to everyone anyway.


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## Fuzzy (Aug 4, 2005)

SDracer12,

While it is nice that you would like to match the original, I highly doubt that you would ever try to mix a piece that you made with other pieces from some other source. So then it is not necessary to match the cuts at all. They just have to match the other components that you make. They won't even look funny, just a bit different. 
As for the commercial guys, they have custom jigs, armors, and cutters and also BIGGER motors.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

sdracer12 said:


> I have a stacked Dado set already, and the wobble blade won't do a good job.
> 
> Is my only alternative going to be making a one-off box design with 3/4" fingers?
> 
> ...


I cant understand why the 7/8" us so important to you just make the boxes the same outside demsions of the boxes you have from the "beesource" plans. Isn`t your limber 3/4" thick so don`t worry about the 7/8" and bee happy


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## ACBEES (Mar 13, 2009)

If I'm reading your post correctly, you are saying you can't get your dado to fit through the saw blade opening in the deck. The slotted metal piece where the saw blade comes through should be removable. At least it is on my Craftsman table saw. There is one or two screws holding it in place. I made a new slotted piece out of 1/4 inch plywood using the metal one as a pattern and used the dado blade to cut the slot by raising the blade while the saw was running. Problem solved.


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## sdracer12 (Apr 17, 2009)

OK, sometimes I'm a little slow, lol. I read through all these posts again, and I now understand why you make the fingers 3/4" wide. I'll setup my jig that way and all will be good, lol. Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.


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## sdracer12 (Apr 17, 2009)

ACBEES said:


> If I'm reading your post correctly, you are saying you can't get your dado to fit through the saw blade opening in the deck. The slotted metal piece where the saw blade comes through should be removable. At least it is on my Craftsman table saw. There is one or two screws holding it in place. I made a new slotted piece out of 1/4 inch plywood using the metal one as a pattern and used the dado blade to cut the slot by raising the blade while the saw was running. Problem solved.


Yes that was my first problem, but I made a wooden cutout to fix that. My problem is the arbor of the drive motor where the blade actually mounts is too short for a wider Dado blade set. But, after doing some research about tablesaws, it sounds like the manufacturers of the saws do that on purpose. A Dado blade pulls harder, especially in harder wood, so they don't want people to put a wide Dado set on the motor and overload it. Thats why I can only find a longer arbor on a bigger HP saw.


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

When setting up my jigs to cut box joints I noticed that the hive bodies I got from Betterbee were made from 7/8" stock and thus, had 7/8" joints. The stock I'm using to build new bodies is the typical 3/4" thickness and so will be the box joints.

Doesn't help SDRacer though. I had the same problem of a too short arbor on my 99 buck Delta table saw from Lowes. Some time spent on Craigslist and $75 later I had a used Craftsman 2 HP saw that should last me many years and do all I ask of it

Wayne


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## jhs494 (May 6, 2009)

The width that you cut the slotted part of the box joint shouldn't matter as long as the leave a tongue that is the same as the groove. You will just have more slots on the sides than you get with a commercial hive body. the depth should always be the thickness of the board you are using.


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