Hi James
I realise that being a moderator is a difficult and time consuming responsibility. I am very grateful that you, Charley and Alf give up your time so freely. For this reason I thought long and hard before deciding to make this thread public and again now, on whether to continue it.
Please believe that the last thing I want to do is to upset the apple cart, but IMHO I feel that this is too important an issue to let things ride without discussing them fully and freely.
Cheers
Neil
sawdustalley":143vsl2b said:
2 things we are going to do:
1. Creation of a small website, informing UK woodworkers about the facts, and the general common sense. This website will not be linked to any woodworking forums and will operate independantly - it will be hosted by one of the members of the forums.
I'm sorry, but IMHO I don't understand why it needs a separate site. Surely it could be covered quite simply on this site. I have long felt that it would be a welcome addition for newcomers to have an FAQ that they can be pointed to which covers a lot of the commonly asked questions.
You would only need to have a few paragraphs, such as this, to cover dado heads: -
If you are reading this it is probably as a result of watching Norm Abram or David Free using a dado blade cutter in a table saw. The law regarding woodworking safety in the EU and US is very different. As this is a UK site we will only cover EU safety issues.
There is not one manufacturer in the EU who sells new table saws where the arbor is long enough to fit a dado head cutter. All table saws in the EU have an electric brake with a maximum stopping time of ten seconds. It is this electric brake that probably precludes the manufacturers from lengthening the arbor enough to take a dado head cutter. It is also quite probable that manufacturers would not be able to get insurance cover if they tried to manufacture table saws with a longer arbor.
As you are probably new to woodworking we are trying to make you aware that it is inherently dangerous when the only way to perform a cut is by removing the safety guards.
The Great British Woodshop (David free)
http://www.greatbritishwoodshop.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=170 have investigated the dado head issue with the BSI. As pointed out there are no table saws sold in the EU with an arbor of the requisite length to support a dado head cutter of up to 15.5mm.
Neither Norm Abram nor David Free have an electric brake on their table saws. There is no requirement in the US and David Free imported his from Australia. It is perfectly legal to import such a saw for use in a home workshop. It should be pointed out that the Delta Unisaw used by both Norm and David is not a cheap sub one thousand pound saw, it is made of cast iron, and would probably cost you in the region of three to four thousand pounds to import into the UK (after carriage, duty, vat etc).
This is one description of what might possibly happen "A dado set fitted in a tablesaw with an electric brake would be like watching those kung fu blades flying around. It is believed that after repeated stopping and starting of the saw, when a heavy dado head is fitted, it could cause the locking mechanism to work loose."
Dado heads on RASs are still legal providing they are adequately guarded and you don't need a motor brake so long as the saw has an auto-return (coil spring) mechanism and the blade is returned to a guarded home position - which would be your chip catcher at the back of the saw. In January 2004 the DW720 (smallest model) allows a dado head cutter to be attached.
Because of the design of the "wobble type" dado cutter it will not produce true right angle cuts. The "chipper type" will cut a square bottom but it leaves two grooves on the edge of the dado, which some people say is a benefit when glueing up.
But, at the end of the day, why bother with a dado head cutter? Why not make a simple jig and USE YOUR ROUTER. IT IS MUCH CHEAPER than a dado set, A LOT SAFER and also cuts the perfect dado.
Disclaimer - It is your responsibility to ensure that you are using your tools safely. This site does not recommend the use of a dado head cutter.
sawdustalley":143vsl2b said:
2. I'm going to talk to charley about this matter, we may choose to revise the forum rules, as some topics become silly and out of hand. It is un-interesting and pointless for many of the members - however as it is an important issue - we will post a link to the website informing our users on the matter.
Again, I'm sorry but IMHO I have to disagree. If a thread is boring then people don't have to read it and if it is really boring it will soon move off the first screen of topics.
Surely, the reason that the two threads stayed on the first topic page for so long was that people were interested in them. The statistics show that they had nearly two thousand views between them.
Cheers
Neil
