Festool PT3K561287 User Manual

 

WARNING! Never attempt to install or use a 

dado blade in the Kapex saw. Using either a 
stacked-dado or wobble-dado blade will exceed 

the capacity of the arbor, and the blade may 

impact the saw’s guards, resulting in personal 

injury and damage to the saw. 

A dado is a special type of cut where the depth of the cut 

does not go all the way through the workpiece. One 

common example of this type of cut is for making half-
lapped joints, which is shown to the right and described 

below. In a half-lap joint, material is removed from the 

intersection of both workpieces comprising the joint. When 
the joint is assembled, the pieces overlap, creating a 

strong joint, but unlike a full-lap joint, the thickness of the 

joint is equal to just the thickness of the workpieces. 

Supplemental User’s Manual 

19 

For making a half-lap joint, it is necessary to set the saw’s 

cutting depth to be exactly in the center of the workpiece 

thickness. The most accurate way of finding the center of a 
board is to trim from both sides until the two cuts meet. 

Use a piece of scrap wood that is the same thickness as 

the actual workpiece. Starting with a depth setting that 
you know to be less than half the workpiece thickness, 

make a cut from the top side, and then flip the piece over 

and make a second cut, as shown below by the Red color. 

Gradually lower the depth of cut and repeat these two cuts 
until the two cuts meet, and the spine reaches a zero-

thickness. This is exactly the center of the workpiece. 

 

The center of the sawblade is 50 mm (2”) forward of the 

saw’s fence, which results in the curved ramp at the rear 

of the cut shown in the image below. To account for this 
and remove the radius at the end of the cut, add a 50mm 

(2”) spacer in front of the fence, and clamp it in place with 

the Kapex hold down clamp as shown to the right. 

 

 

It is important that both the fence spacer and workpiece 

are securely clamped to the saw for cutting. Use the Kapex 
Hold Down Clamp (see page 12) to clamp the fence 

spacer, and use an auxiliary clamp, such as a Festool 

Quick Clamp or Screw clamp (see page 16) to secure the 

workpiece. 

 

Before cutting the dado, mark the right and left sides of 
the cut to indicate how wide the dado needs to be. Then 

make successive kerf-cuts between the lines until all the 

material between the lines is removed. The closer together 

each of these successive cuts are, the smoother the 
bottom of the dado will be. For best results, clean the 

bottom of the dado with a sharp chisel.