If you’re interested in making a coin rack, then stopped dados are your ticket in assembly. Let’s take a look at how I made these dados below:

First job is to set the fence in place and lock it down. Mine is set 3/8″ from the back of the bit. Then, mark the width of your bit on your router fence. I do this by pushing a board up to each side of the bit and marking with a mechanical pencil.

Now, let’s mark where we want the dado to start and stop on our board. I’m going to set my adjustable square 1/4″ mark the ends:

Here comes the important and sometimes scary part if you’ve never done this before: plunge cutting with your router bit. I’m using the 1/4″ plywood bit from Rockler on this project since I already owned the bit and didn’t want to buy an additional piece just for this.

Before you start up your router, line up the starting line with the left mark on your fence. This dry run will help with accuracy if this is your first attempt. The right mark on your fence is your stopping point on the other side of the board.

Once you’re finished, it might look like this. Just use your shop vac to clean out the dado.

Check out the accuracy in maintaining that 1/4″ from the edge!

Here’s a video of it all in action:

Check out some other of our projects.