derbow

shaneymack, These are not raised panels in the traditional sense. The router bit set that you linked to is not what I'm looking for. I think I'm leaning toward the dado stack. My router table is homemade. It has served me well, but I think I'm at the place now where my skills are more developed than my tool. Not bragging, just saying that my homemade unit does not give me the precision that I have come to expect / demand. I have found that it's expensive to outgrow my tools. I've learned to just go ahead and spend the extra money on the right tool first rather than buying 2

Okay, so is the Freud Pro at around $100 a good choice? Any recommendations for a good dado stack? Should I get a box joint stack instead? What's the difference?

Eric, maybe I'm not using the right terminology. I use tongue and groove joints (at least I call them that) for rails and styles. The last major project was the boxes in the picture that I attached. The groove runs the full length of the styles to accept the panel and the rails, but there is also a tongue and groove holding the sides to each other to hold the box together without any mechanical fasteners. Does that make sense?

I have made several projects using tongue and groove joints and floating panels. My question is about what purchase would be more practical for me. I have a Harbor Freight dado stack, but it does not make very good or consistent flat bottom cuts no matter how I adjust the blades. There is always a groove in the bottom of the groove and grooves on both sides of my tongues. I have also used a 1/4 router bit to make grooves and a 3/4 router bit to make the tongues with a pass on each side. I do not have a dedicated tongue and groove router bit. So, what purchase for me would be the most pra