How to Install a Dado Stack on a Table Saw - A Free Video from the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship

A dado stack is a blade or several blades that can be stacked together to produce a wider kerf than a normal table saw blade. They can be run as a pair or stacked with smaller blades called chippers that can be inserted between the two outside plates to create dadoes or grooves of very specific sizes. This video shows specifically how to change the blades with a Sawstop table saw but is applicable to most dadoes in table saws.

How to Install a Dado Stack on a Table Saw with Tim Rousseau

In this video, Tim Rousseau, an instructor at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, demonstrates how to install a dado stack in a SawStop table saw. The set up at CFC uses 8" blades and can stack between 1/4" to 7/8". The two outside blades are 1/8" blades, and chippers and shims come in different thicknesses to dial in to the exact size of dado or groove.

The first thing one must always do when changing a set up with a power tool is to unplug it. Next is to disassemble the existing set up; take off the zero clearance insert or throat plate, remove the riving knife, remove the washer and nut to take out the present blade and place it down carefully. With a Sawstop an additional step is to change out the brake cartridge.

Start to load the dado stack into the machine. Many blade sets have an outside and an inside, so be sure to stack them in the correct order, as well as having the teeth face in the correct direction. Depending on the desired dado size add chippers and/or shims in between the two outside blades and make sure no teeth are overlapping. Put the washer and nut back on and tighten, but not overly, as the nut will self-tighten with the spin of the saw. Finally add the zero clearance insert.

Check out the video above for a step-by-step walk through of how we install a dado stack on a table saw at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship.