Adjustment on OLD RAS

[ted van halen]

My neighbor GAVE me a 48 YO Craftsman Radial 100 RAS. It's got the original manual & a 1/2" thick book on how to use it. I'm cool with setting it up except for one thing. The crosscut traverse rides on ball bearings & seems as if there is too much play up & down in the bearings. Nothing appears to be badly worn & the saw doesn't appear to have been abused. Is there any known adjustment for this excess play? I'm sure there is something I'm missing if anybody has a clue I'd sure appreciate it.


TIA
Ted

[LCHIEN]

My neighbor GAVE me a 48 YO Craftsman Radial 100 RAS. It's got the original manual & a 1/2" thick book on how to use it. I'm cool with setting it up except for one thing. The crosscut traverse rides on ball bearings & seems as if there is too much play up & down in the bearings. Nothing appears to be badly worn & the saw doesn't appear to have been abused. Is there any known adjustment for this excess play? I'm sure there is something I'm missing if anybody has a clue I'd sure appreciate it.


TIA
Ted

Almost all craftsman radial arm saws made since 1958 have been recalled for safety issues. you may want to go to this site and see your options. Or at least find out the dangers.

http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/index2.asp

Sorry can't help on the adjustments/tuning.

[ted van halen]

Almost all craftsman radial arm saws made since 1958 have been recalled for safety issues. you may want to go to this site and see your options. Or at least find out the dangers.

http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/index2.asp

Sorry can't help on the adjustments/tuning.

Figures. My gloat is in actuality a potential dangerous tool.

FWIW, I found the set screws to adjust the carriage play. It's smooth as eel snot now w/ no play at all.

I wonder if I should just keep it as there is no retrofit for it.

Thanks for the info anyway.


Ted

[BigguyZ]

I have a model that has the retrofit, and I've actually recieved the kit. I'm going to get the RAS set up with teh kit installed as soon as I finish my current project. However, I wouldn't be afraid of using the saw without the kit. I've known a lot of people who've used the RAS w/o any problems. In fact, my saw was a hand-me-down from my grandfather. My dad has a RAS which he's had since I can remember. Neither has ever had any issues.

Only thing to worry about with a RAS is the possibility that a blade with a high hook angle will self feed. If your hand is in front of the blade when that happens- well, don't put your hand in front of the blade!

[LCHIEN]

Figures. My gloat is in actuality a potential dangerous tool.

FWIW, I found the set screws to adjust the carriage play. It's smooth as eel snot now w/ no play at all.

I wonder if I should just keep it as there is no retrofit for it.

Thanks for the info anyway.


Ted

Lots of people have and love the saws. If you feel safe using it, so be it.
I'd recommend getting a zero or slightly negative hook blade to avoid the problem BigguyZ talks about. Also will eliminate the tendencey of the workpiece to lift at the back end of the cut. And forget ripping.

[whitecobra]

Wouldn't rip with it but there is no doubt that RAS's make great cross cuts
We have the 20A 3HP Sears saw and like it allot
We have the retrofit guard which is quite neat
A squeeze of the handle the guard lifts up and then release the handle it drops and you make the cut
NICE unit
As for the rollers it sounds like you found the solution
The beauty of the Sears saw is that you can adjust the rollers on the rails AND even reverse the rails as needed when they wear

Use the saw with sensibility and it will serve you well
Dr D

[cwsmith]

I have a 1974 Craftsman 10-inch RAS. I'm also familiar with the recall. Personally I feel the RAS is as safe as a table saw, if not more so, due to the fact that you can always see the blade, what it's doing, and it's a lot easier to control the carraige, than it is a awkward size piece of wood... at least on crosscuts. Ripping however, still provides certain anxieties, even on a table saw! (I also admit to being a bit biased, after watching my Dad loose three fingers to a table saw, but that's another story!)

The recall is based on the fact that earlier models of the Craftsman RAS were not fitted with a lower safety guard on the blade. For awhile, a guard ring was available on some models, but a full plastic enclosure was not. Either way, this lower guard was NOT standard equipment in those early years. So when the saw was running, it was all too easy to stick your fingers into the blade (like with a table saw).

However, this situation was compounded by the fact that the RAS has a tendency to self feed into the wood. That is to say that with the blade behind the fence, you needed to pull the carriage into the wood to do the cross cut. The clockwise rotation would bring the teeth down into the top of the wood, forcing it down onto the table and back against the fence. While this is a design advantage on cross cutting, it also leads to a tendency to feed itself into the cut and, if the moveable carriage is not properly controlled by the operator, the blade will advance by itself and cut anything in it's path, including your fingers. Because the carriage will often advance faster than the blade will cut, the blade can "climb", stalling the motor and scaring the heck out of the operator.

Because of this, many users "reasoned" that the saw should be pulled forward, the wood moved behind the saw, and the saw then should be pushed back through the wood to do the cutting. While I've yet to see any owner's manual, including DeWalt's (the original designer), do anything except warn against this practice, there are many who swear by it. As one can quite imagine, moving the wood behind a spinning blade that is in the forward position, is an accident that needs no wait.

While Sears and others emphatically state that the saw should be started with the carriage in the rear position, and then returned to the rear position and turned off after the cut is completed, that is not always the practice. The manuals also warn that the saw needs to be properly leveled to keep the carriage from riding forward on its own. There were even models that were fitted with an automatic return cable to aid the safe return of the carriage to its position behind the fence. However, nothing beats a proper lower guard for those not paying attention.

So between poor control, bad habits, and a missing guard you don't have to guess who got the blame. Hence the recall. I should mention that Emerson Electric (Ridgid's parent company) was the manufacturer of most, if not all of these RAS's. A retrofit is offered free, but it does not fit earlier models, like my 1974.

So, is your RAS too dangerous to use? If nothing is loose, the column, carriage and arm are all very stable and can lock down with no play, there's no play in the arbor, and all the adjustments can be made, and securely locked in whatever positions you require, then the answer would most likely be "Yes". But be aware of how the RAS works, the forces that it creates and what can happen when you don't pay attention to details. The same applies to any tool, of course!

I hope this helps,

CWS