Freud SD208 dado set instructions

Craig Johnson

Member
Messages
113
Location
The Couv, Washington
Hi everyone.
I have a new Freud SD208 dado set that I bought from Lowes a couple days ago.
I made a couple zero clearance inserts and would like to get it set up.
My problem is it did not come with instructions. The people at Lowes dont have a clue and the US website for Freud is not very helpful either.
Does anyone have any info on the dado set instructions or who could either take pics of the manual or let me borrow it?
This is my first dado set and it comes with shims but Im sure the manual has lots of info in it. Or do I need it at all?
Help me Family Woodworking.............your my only hope................:p
 
I have that set. It came with no instructions, just a poster showing which blades to use for a specific thickness. Like Vaughn said, it's pretty straight forward. Just make sure you have the main blades on the outside and all the teeth oriented forward. One note, the dado installed on my contractors saw has a tendency to climb in height if the arbor height adjustment wheel isnt locked down. I screwed up some nice wood before I figured this out.:(
 
Hi everyone.
I have a new Freud SD208 dado set that I bought from Lowes a couple days ago.
I made a couple zero clearance inserts and would like to get it set up.
My problem is it did not come with instructions. The people at Lowes dont have a clue and the US website for Freud is not very helpful either.
Does anyone have any info on the dado set instructions or who could either take pics of the manual or let me borrow it?
This is my first dado set and it comes with shims but Im sure the manual has lots of info in it. Or do I need it at all?
Help me Family Woodworking.............your my only hope................:p

Craig,

Email me through my profile and I will be happy to email a pdf file of the instructions.
 
also another tip.. mark your pieces with a engraver so you have a easy to identify size on them the shims too.. its easier for old eye's to see 1/8" etched in the side larger than the the letter they have..
 
One question I do have is are all the shims the same size?
I haven't looked at them very closely and am wondering.

Craig,

There are 4 different sizes:
0.1mm (0.004")
0.2mm (0.008")
0.3mm (0.012")
0.5mm (0.020")

The difference in flexibility will help you determine which is which. Sometimes they will stick together so be sure you separate them carefully. The chart in the instructions that I sent to you shows the necessary shims for nominal widths such as 11/32" which requires one each of the 0.3mm and 0.5mm. There are enough shims included to shim up to 1/16".
 
A PUBLISHED TIP

....... in one of the recent WW Mags showed a neat method for setting the "fit" of ANY Dado set to compensate for the variance in today's plywoods from their advertised thickness and the ACTUAL thickness of the piece.

The tip showed setting up a dado stack to cut a somewhat wider dado in a piece of scrap that is wider than the advertised thickness of the wood that will be fitted into the dado. Next, you place the piece that will go into the dado into the test dado and then take various shims that you used in the stack to fit into the gap between the wood in the dado and the edge of the "Wider" dado in the scrap. When you find the exact shims to fill that gap, put them back in the box and restack the dado blades and the remaining shims that were used to make the original stack, and you should have a perfect fit when you make a new trial dado.

(I hope I described this so it makes sense like the pictures and the article did).
 
....... in one of the recent WW Mags showed a neat method for setting the "fit" of ANY Dado set to compensate for the variance in today's plywoods from their advertised thickness and the ACTUAL thickness of the piece.

The tip showed setting up a dado stack to cut a somewhat wider dado in a piece of scrap that is wider than the advertised thickness of the wood that will be fitted into the dado. Next, you place the piece that will go into the dado into the test dado and then take various shims that you used in the stack to fit into the gap between the wood in the dado and the edge of the "Wider" dado in the scrap. When you find the exact shims to fill that gap, put them back in the box and restack the dado blades and the remaining shims that were used to make the original stack, and you should have a perfect fit when you make a new trial dado.

(I hope I described this so it makes sense like the pictures and the article did).

Thanks Norman. I have that mag!! Will check that out.
 
Top