Craftsman Radial Arm Saw - $50

[b75025]

Not mine - -

http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/tls/1289853784.html

[Hoover]

Looks to be in ok condition, for $50.00 seems as if it is a good deal. Check it out in person.
thats not a bad price.

[unknown poster]

I have a RAS just like that one. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. One of these days I'm going to send the motor back to Emerson for my $100 recall check and toss the rest of it in a dumpster.

It is impossible to get mine to consistently cut straight/true. The cheap aluminum arm has way too much flex in it. I put in a few weekends into trying to fix it, thinking that it would be a gem when I finished, but I gave up a long time ago.

[b75025]

Radial Arm Saw Tuning

There is an excellent book on aligning and maintaining radial arm
saws, called "Fine Tuning your Radial Arm Saw" by Jon Eakes (publ. by
Lee Valley Tools, 1080 Morrison Dr., Ottawa K2H 8K7, Canada, ISBN
0-921335-04-0, distributed by Firefly books, 3520 Pharmacy Ave. Scarborough, Ont.
M1W 2T8).

He has a lot of elegant tricks for getting your beast square and
straight and true. His methods are usually simpler and better than
those recommended by the manufacturer.

I've used this in the past, and have made an extremely accurate saw.

[unknown poster]

Please do not misinterpret my rant as being against all RAS, there are good ones that can be aligned to give good repeatable cuts. I'm only opposed to that specific model, or any other with a tin foil arm.

[BrazosJake]

I have a RAS just like that one. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. One of these days I'm going to send the motor back to Emerson for my $100 recall check and toss the rest of it in a dumpster.

It is impossible to get mine to consistently cut straight/true. The cheap aluminum arm has way too much flex in it. I put in a few weekends into trying to fix it, thinking that it would be a gem when I finished, but I gave up a long time ago.

Ditto UP. The cman saws are notoriously bad.

If you want a RAS, seek out an old DeWalt (preferably an old cast iron round top), or a Delta. Crafstman saws with a 900 or 901 model# prefix were made by DeWalt, but I've never seen one.