New Product Review   —  "CMT Pro Dado Set"

So this is how the jig works. You place the stock that will be fitting into the dado next to the blade on the jig.  The measurement that is on the stock isn't necessary to use. We use our very sensitive finger tips to do our fine tuning.
	Elena adds the outside blade onto the jig first. She will be placing the components in reverse order. This way she can transfer from the jig to the saw in the right sequence.
She adds the first wider chipper.  She rotates it so  that the chippers are free from the teeth of the outside blade.
	She adds the fatter chippers setting them so the chippers are free from adjacent chippers. This is real easy to do when you are sitting at the work table.
She brings the stock up close to the stack and she sees that some spacers will be required to bring the blade up to the stock level. She is within thousandths but with this set up, making minute changes is very easy.
	Elena has added a couple of spacers. With her left hand, she is keeping the stack firmly down. She could have added the nut to do this function. Her right hand is adding spacers at the side so that she can feel the level next to the stock. The Pro Set comes with a set of very nice metal spacers. They are marked for their thickness, but we really arent using any of those "assists." She is feeling and changing until the stack with spacers is exacrtly at the stock width.      She has it to where she thinks it is exact.
I take the jig and the stack and spacers to the saw.  I keep the spacers out. I use to think that if there were three spacers, then I would place one between each of the chippers. Don't do this. The spacers are thin and once on the shaft can fall into one of the saws threads and be a devil to move. I will place them on the shaft right before the outside blade.
	As I place each chipper on the shaft, I move it against the prior blade and locate the chipper so that it is between the teeth of the blade. At that point, the blade can fit snuggly against the prior blade.
After the last chipper is added, I add the three spacers (arrow).  I don't know what thickness spacers they are. I don't need to. Elena set them to her touch using this jig.
	As I tighten the nut in place, I jiggle each of the chippers and the blades to make sure that they are all snug in the stack.  When the nut is tightened, try to move each of the chippers and blades. If there is any movement, jiggle some more.    By the way, yes, I did un-plug the table saw before I started this change. Can you imagine what would happen if it turned on at this point — yikes.
This is the very first cut made from Elena's use of our new pro dado setting jig. It is perfect from all perspectives: 1) perfect fit; 2) perfect sides and bottom; and 3) perfect for not killing my back.     I think that during this next week, I will play the game "Making The Perfect Dado." The challenge to me and Elena will be to take three different thicknesses of stock and see if all three setups using our jig will net perfect dados. I will use one base board so that you can see all the cuts — even the trial and errors, if there are any.

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