To set up dados in a frameless cabinet in Mozaik, open the cabinet in the Product Editor, go to the Parameters tab and select your product parameters, then pull in the parameters from the Dados category. From there you control exactly where each part is dadoed (seated into a groove) instead of butt-jointed — tops and bottoms into the ends, the back into the ends/top/bottom, fixed shelves, partitions, drawer stretchers, blind dados, and qualified tenons — and you watch every change update live in the 2D/3D product viewer.
This guide follows Mozaik's official walkthrough. Watch the original on Mozaik's channel:
Before you start: understand the parameter hierarchy
Dado settings live in your library parameters, job parameters, and product override parameters, and they cascade in that order. Before you change anything here, make sure you understand how that hierarchy works — a value you set as a one-off override on a single product behaves differently from one you change at the job or library level. Mozaik covers this in its separate parameter-hierarchy video and recommends watching it first.
In this walkthrough we work at the product override level: we open one cabinet and tweak its parameters in isolation, so we can see what each one does without changing every cabinet in the job.
Step 1: Open the product and put the viewer beside it
- Double-click the cabinet in your job. This opens the Product Editor.
- Open the product viewer (the 2D/3D view) and move it aside so it sits next to the editor. If you have two or three monitors, put the viewer on one screen and the editor on another — then as you change a parameter you can immediately see how it affects the part.
- In the viewer's upper right you have a Current View control (perspective and other views) plus view styles you can switch between while you inspect the model.
Tip: many of the dado parameters are interchangeable across base, tall, and wall cabinets — a lot of them behave the same between the three — so you can learn them on a base cabinet and apply the same logic to the others.
Step 2: Open the Dados category
In the Product Editor, open the Parameters tab, select your product parameters, then find the Dados category in the left column of parameter categories.
A couple of navigation notes:
- Click the plus sign to the left of a category or parameter to expand it.
- When two related parameters show combined under one plus sign, it means they currently share the same value. If you give them different values, they split out and display separately.
- Select any parameter and click the blue question mark on the right to open Mozaik's help doc for that exact parameter — use this whenever you want the official definition.
Whatever you pull in, the values come from your job parameters first; the override just lets you change them on this one product.
Step 3: Dado the top and bottom into the ends
Pull in the dado top and dado bottom parameters (the dados that cut the top and bottom into the cabinet ends).
- In the demo the dado-top-into-ends is set to 1/4". Setting it to 0 removes that dado.
- The same applies to the bottom: at 1/4" you get a dado; at 0 the bottom becomes a butt joint into the ends. Put it back to 1/4" and the dado returns.
On a base cabinet, the dado where the front and back top stretchers meet the ends counts as the “top” for this parameter — setting dado top to 0 removes that stretcher dado too. (The separate front blind dado you may also see on those stretchers is controlled by a different parameter, covered in Step 6.)
Two helpers for inspecting this:
- The explode control (an icon below the part) breaks the cabinet apart so you can see inside. On the CNC version you'll also see operations (dados, system holes); without CNC you see the parts but not the machining operations.
- High Detail (a checkbox near the layers control) adds depth to the dados and operations so they're easier to read in the viewer.
To remove any override and snap back to your job-parameter defaults, select the parameter in the far-left column and click Delete.
Step 4: Fixed shelf and partition dados
Pull in the fixed shelf dado and the partition dado.
- Partition dado depth controls how a partition is dadoed into the bottom and top. Important: this one applies to both the bottom and the top at once. At 1/4" you get the dado top and bottom; at 0 it's removed from both. To test it, add a partition: in the Interior tab, select the interior opening and split it vertically.
- Fixed shelf dado: split an interior opening horizontally — that comes in as an adjustable shelf by default, so change it to a fixed shelf to see this parameter take effect. It's set around 1/4" in the demo and has a blind on the front and back of the shelf (that blind setting is adjusted elsewhere — see Step 6).
Adjust the values, watch the viewer, then delete the overrides to return to your originals.
Step 5: Dado the back into the ends, top, and bottom
The back has its own set of dado parameters, and they only affect the surfaces they're named for.
- Back dado into ends: this dados the back into both ends. At 1/4" the three-quarter back is grooved into each end; at 0 the back simply butt-joins the ends. This parameter affects the ends only — it has nothing to do with the top or bottom back dados.
- Back into top and back into bottom: these dado the back into the top and bottom.
A critical dependency for the back-into-top: it only does anything if the back's top joint is actually a dado. In the demo the base cabinet has a plant-on top (the back sits on top of the part), so changing the back-into-top value does nothing. Go to the Backs category, change the back top joint from plant-on to Case Depth, and then the back-into-top parameter grooves the back into the top stretcher. The back-into-bottom works the same way — at 1/4" it dados the back into the bottom, at 0 it's removed.
Lesson: how the back joint is configured (plant-on vs. dado) determines whether the back dado parameters have any effect.
Step 6: Stretcher dados and blind dados
Pull in the drawer stretcher dado depth, the front blind dado setback, and the rear blind dado setback.
- Drawer stretcher dado depth applies to your drawer stretchers — not the top stretcher and not the rear stretcher. If you have one stretcher under a top drawer, or a set of stretchers on a three- or four-drawer cabinet, this controls their dado. Set it to 0 and the dado is removed from those drawer stretchers; it does not touch the top or rear stretcher. To see this, split a face into multiple drawers, run Automate Interior to add the stretchers, then explode the cabinet.
- Front blind dado setback / rear blind dado setback control where the blind dado stops short of the front/rear edge. But whether you get a blind on the front, the rear, or both is governed by a separate parameter in the Interior category — the stretcher tenon setting (e.g., “blind front” vs. “blind front and back”). If that setting is “blind front,” a rear-blind setback value has no visible effect until you switch the joint to include the rear. So set the blind-dado setbacks here, but confirm the front/back blind behavior under the Interior category's stretcher-tenon setting.
- There's also a rear blind dado on the bottom of the base cabinet. Setting it to 0 removes the blind; setting it to a value (e.g., 2") measures that distance up from the back of the part for the blind dado.
Step 7: Blind tenon dado relief (blind dado minus)
This parameter adds a little relief to a blind dado so the part seats into the dado on your ends.
- It works by taking half the value you enter off the setback as clearance. With the blind dado setback at 1" in the job parameters, entering 1" here removes about half an inch and gives it back as depth — so the part still effectively lands at the 1" setback while picking up clearance.
- The recommended way to set it: use the diameter of your cutout tool. Mozaik takes half that diameter as clearance. So with a 3/8" compression bit you'd set the blind dado minus to 3/8", which adds about 3/16" of room at the interior dado if it's running tight.
Set the value to match your tool, verify in the top view, then delete the override to return to defaults.
Step 8: Qualified tenons
A qualified tenon creates a defined tenon thickness on the part where it meets the dado.
- Pull in the qualified dado tenon thickness and enter a value (e.g., 1/4", or half your material thickness like 3/8"). The viewer shows the tenon at that thickness and adjusts the matching dados in the ends to suit.
- Your blind dado setbacks, dado depths, and other parameters still apply — this one parameter just establishes the qualified tenon itself.
The flip-side warning: if you use a qualified tenon on a top or bottom and you're dadoing the back into that same top or bottom, you'll create a flip-side (double-sided) operation — there's an operation on both faces, so the part has to be flipped. Plan for this before committing to qualified tenons in your catalog.
Controlling the flip: the qualified tenon flip parameter (set to Yes by default) moves the qualified tenon from one side to the other on the top and bottom parts.
- Yes: you get the flip-side operation (the bottom of the tenon is cut, then the back dado on the other face).
- No: the tenon moves so everything is on the top side — but note it does not automatically re-cut the dados on the sides, so you'll have to make those part adjustments yourself.
Qualified tenon locations: a separate location parameter works in sync with the thickness parameter. Options are none, bottom only, top only, bottom and top, and bottom + top + shelf:
- None removes all qualified tenons and the parts go back to regular dados.
- Bottom only applies the tenon to the bottom and prompts that it requires double-sided machining.
- Top only applies it to the top stretchers — and to a full top if the cabinet has one.
- Bottom + top puts the tenon on both; add shelf to extend it to stretchers/shelves so all the relevant parts carry the tenon into the ends.
Back qualified tenon: if you want a qualified tenon on the back, that is not set here — it's configured in the Backs category.
Step 9: Dado slop (clearance)
Dado slop adds a little extra to the width and/or depth of every dado for clearance.
If your material library says a part is exactly 3/4" thick, Mozaik cuts the dado exactly 3/4" wide — which can be too tight to assemble. Slop adds a touch to the width/depth (based on your material thickness) so the part isn't impossible to seat. Because slop is calculated off your material thickness, it's essential that your material library has the correct, real thickness for each material, or the slop math will be off. The category includes a dado-width slop, a back-specific width slop, and a depth slop.
Step 10: Face-frame dado parameters (only for face-frame cabinets)
Several parameters in the Dados category apply only when you're using face-frame construction, where you dado carcass parts into the face frame:
- Frame dado / frame dado depth — selects which carcass parts get dadoed into the face frame.
- Frame notch adjustment — adjusts the inset of the frame dado notch (e.g., for tops, bottoms, and fixed shelves dadoed into the face frame).
- Frame qualified dado / frame qualified tenon thickness — qualified tenons for dadoing the ends into a face frame.
- Frame tenon flip (default none) — flips the tenon when you're tenoning parts into a face frame.
These don't apply to a frameless cabinet; Mozaik covers them in its face-frame parameter material.
Clean up when you're done
These overrides are just for studying or one-off tuning. To revert any single product back to its job-parameter defaults, select each parameter in the far-left column and Delete it. If you opened a cabinet only to experiment, Cancel out without saving so the original product is untouched. Best practice: turn all your product layers back on before you finish so the cabinet displays normally.
Get it done-for-you
You can set this up yourself using the steps above. If you'd rather skip the setup, PAC's Mozaik training and done-for-you services can help — phillanton.com.
Full disclosure: this guide is published by Phill Anton Consulting.
FAQ
What's the difference between a dado and a butt joint here?
A dado seats one part into a groove cut in another; a butt joint just sets the parts face-to-face. In Mozaik you toggle between them per location by setting that dado parameter to a value (dado) or to 0 (butt joint).
Why does changing the “back into top” dado do nothing on my base cabinet?
Because that back has a plant-on top joint. The back dado parameters only take effect when the relevant joint is actually a dado. Change the back top joint in the Backs category to Case Depth first, then the back-into-top dado will work.
How do I avoid the flip-side (double-sided) operation with qualified tenons?
It happens when a qualified tenon on a top/bottom combines with a back dado into that same part. Use the qualified tenon flip parameter to move the tenon to the other side — but remember that switching it does not auto-adjust the side dados, so you may need to fix those parts manually. The cleanest fix is to decide up front whether your catalog should use qualified tenons in that location at all.
Why won't my dados assemble — they're too tight?
Add dado slop, which widens/deepens the dado slightly for clearance, and make sure your material library lists the true thickness of each material, since slop is calculated from that thickness.
Do these dado settings work the same on wall and tall cabinets?
Mostly — a lot of the dado parameters are interchangeable across base, tall, and wall cabinets. Learn them on one product and the same logic carries over; just bring the parameters into each product type to confirm how they apply.