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TIL I was cutting my dadoes 1/16 in too deep for 3 years and a scrap pile tipped me off
I always set my stacked dado to the blade height marked on my table saw gauge and never checked it with a scrap first. Last month I was cleaning out the shop and noticed my offcut bin was full of test pieces with grooves cut way deeper than the 3/4 in ply I use for cabinet boxes. I grabbed my calipers and measured 12 drawer bottoms I had already cut. Every single one was 13/16 to 7/8 deep. The gauge on my old Unisaw has been off by about a 1/16 since I bought it used 3 years ago. I switched to setting depth with an actual scrap of plywood and a feeler gauge, and my drawer fronts sit flush now. Anyone else skip the test cut because they trust the gauge, or is that just me?
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stella27918d ago
Used to figure the gauge was good enough and test cuts were a waste of plywood. Then I built a batch of shop cabinets and every shelf sat proud of the sides by about the same amount. Turned out my depth stop was creeping on me too, not just the gauge. Now I keep a scrap of the exact ply I'm using taped to the fence and set depth off that every single time. It takes ten seconds and saves me from tearing apart a whole box later. Guessing off a number on a sticker is how you end up with 12 bad drawer bottoms like you did.
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