RAS recommendation

[jussi]

What do you think of this? Seller says it's a Dewalt model 925E, 8.25" blade. I don't need one but kinda nice to have for dados. He's asking $40

[LinuxRandal]

What do you think of this? Seller says it's a Dewalt model 925E, 8.25" blade. I don't need one but kinda nice to have for dados. He's asking $40

You don't list where you are, but that is considered one of the better models, Jump, because it's probably gone.

[LinuxRandal]

Cleaned up a little more, closer to what they go for:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/tls/366385162.html

[bmyers]

Those are nice! They have a full cast iron top, not open and covered with plastic. They say these oldies are more rigid. It's a semi-updated version of the real old Dewally's. If he still has it you should get it.

Bill

[jussi]

And $25 later it's in my garage

All the levers stick and it doesn't glide very smoothly but the motor runs sweeeeet. Alot less quiet than my CMS. I've got alot of cleaning to do but am pretty happy.

Anyone know a good way to clean the rust off. It's a painted surface. I'd normally use Rust Free but the directions say not to use it on painted areas. Will WD-40 and steel mess up the paint as well?

[bmyers]

OMG ! $25 ? Did anyone see you do it? For that price you're gonna love it. I'd say you just got yourself a "You Suck!", the highest of all bargin gloat responses.

Hit it up with some GOOD steel wool and light oil were the metal is bare and the rollers roll. The roller bearings are prolly stainless but might have some gunk on there. Clean out the inside tracks of all the old gunk and steel wool/oil those too. Then lube those up with some fresh stuff.

Go to an used office furniture store, garage sailing, or your favorite dumpster and find yourself a nice flat laminate 1 1/2" thick suitable top. Cut it to size, trim it with some overlap on the top to stick down some 1/8" hard board. Makes a real nice table top.

Check the wiring and make sure there are no problems there with broken insulation or messed up switches.

The levers should free up with a little light oil and use. They are "stout" even when everything is working fine.

Now you're ready to setup it up. There are only 20 or so points to check for level, plumb, sqaure, etc

Have fun!

Bill

P.S. Ditch that blade! Get a nice high-tooth cross-cut blade. You're not using it to rip or combo.

[jussi]

OMG ! $25 ? Did anyone see you do it? For that price you're gonna love it. I'd say you just got yourself a "You Suck!", the highest of all bargin gloat responses.

Hit it up with some GOOD steel wool and light oil were the metal is bare and the rollers roll. The roller bearings are prolly stainless but might have some gunk on there. Clean out the inside tracks of all the old gunk and steel wool/oil those too. Then lube those up with some fresh stuff.

Go to an used office furniture store, garage sailing, or your favorite dumpster and find yourself a nice flat laminate 1 1/2" thick suitable top. Cut it to size, trim it with some overlap on the top to stick down some 1/8" hard board. Makes a real nice table top.

Check the wiring and make sure there are no problems there with broken insulation or messed up switches.

The levers should free up with a little light oil and use. They are "stout" even when everything is working fine.

Now you're ready to setup it up. There are only 20 or so points to check for level, plumb, sqaure, etc

Have fun!

Bill

P.S. Ditch that blade! Get a nice high-tooth cross-cut blade. You're not using it to rip or combo.

thanks for the tips. I'm really looking forward to restoration process. Looks extremely solid. Alot of iron. Really made tools to last back then. Everything seems to work but just has so much gunk, so levers, bearings, and other moving parts is as you say 'stout'. The rollers have some gunk but from what I can see it's mostly the track that's dirty. Can I dip some of the smaller parts in some sort of soln or maybe just kerosene? Any recommendations? Any special type of grease I need to use. Will regular old white Lithium? Should I put some on the track itself.

I'll be using it pretty much with a dado stack. But if I do get a blade any brand/model you suggest? I've read that a negative hook is a must for a RAS.

Lastly, do you think the steel wool will hurt the paint any. I know it won't hamper the performance but I want to keep her purty.

[bmyers]

Scotchbright and a light touch might be better to remove rust from painted areas. Really I would worry about those issues too much. Knock of the bigger chunks of rust and with use it'll look just fine..

A negative tooth blade reduces the likelyhood of the blade/motor assembly wanting to grab the wood and come at you when cutting. If you really get interested in RAS's, check out the Mr. Sawdust book. It's considered the definitive book on Dewalt RAS's. It shows how to do all that great stuff with a RAS safely, set it up, adjustments, history of, etc.

I think a Forrest WWI blade would do nicely on there as recommended in the Mr Sawdust book. Of course, thats 4x the price of what you paid for the saw but you can afford it. I have a Freud 60T on mine, works very well.

I'd use some brake cleaner on a rag to bulk clean the tracks. Then some scotchbrite and oil, clean it again and then oil it again. You don't want to make it too sticky in there or else the sawdust will goop up and be a problem.

If the bearings spin free, don't wobble and aren't pitted badly, just put some oil in there re-install and call it good. As you can see those RAS's are made to military specs. I doubt you'll be the last owner of that saw if it's taken care of.

Bill

[Uncle Cracker]

A phosphoric acid preparation, such as Ospho, will neutralize and stabilize any cosmetic rust. You can paint over it after it dries, if you wish.

That's a great score. It would indeed make a great dedicated dado machine

[LinuxRandal]

Get signed up to the newsgroup over at : http://people.delphiforums.com/snotzalot/sawdust/

Any problems disassembling it for cleaning and rehab, and they have the knowledge. On the non painted surfaces, I would use the green scratch pads (start lightly to see where you need more work), and a chemical agent (WD40, kerosene, etc). I'd think of something like simple green/krub cutter on the painted areas (see if it is just surface or goes throught the paint).
Regular blades
The Mr. Sawdust blade is available through Forrest ONLY by contacting Charles, it is a Forrest WWI TCG, 60 tooth, 5 degree positive hook angle. All the regular WWI's are ATB grind. The secondary blade recommendation is the LU83 series. On your size saw, it would have been a 9" if I remember right (factory) although they recommend getting/using an 8" (in case of LU series LU83R008).
Quote from the site:
"I spoke with Charles at Forrest yesterday about ordering blades. He now has the following email address:
thesawguy@hotmail.com
He suggests sending him an email, include your name, location and best "local" time for him to call you, he will call you to discuss blades/ordering. This way should prevent the phone tag some of you folks have been having.
His direct number is 800 733 7111 ext 314.

Mention you want the WW1 TCP blade recommended by Mr. Sawdust and discussed here on the forum"
Dado blades
As for the dado blades, I posted a question on that, since I haven't seen anything listed in the FAQ's, but from what I've read over there, since most of them have the Forrest WWI, the few posts I've seen said they were using Forrests dado blades, and were extremely happy with them.
I would fully expect Ridge Carbide (Holbren) and Freud to be accepted answers too.

Another person to ask (don't know how often he hits the forums is Mr. Sawdusts son, he has a couple of videos over on You Tube and the Mr. Sawdust site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUnZpUDvzgs&NR=1

[jussi]

Man I love the info I get on this site. Thanks guys.

[gary]

$25 is a nice find but you get a nice big "you suck".

[LinuxRandal]

Go to Wolfe machinery to get the antikickback pawls. For the dust port, I remembered and found the post, go to your local autoparts store:


The elbow hose is Gates #22006. You'll get 3 elbow's out of it. It's a radiator hose for a Dodge Caravan.