Radial arm saw ????

[gettools]

just wondering how many of you have a radial arm saw and actually use it. I have ran across one that I can pick up cheap, but with the smt on my bt3100 I dont know if I will use it enough to justify even a cheap price. What are your thoughts ??

[ars_lurker]

I have an old Dewalt 9" cast iron RAS that I use for most crosscuts on stock over 3-4' long. Set it up following the directions in the book from http://mrsawdust.com/. Once setup, it has worked great.

[JimD]

I have an old Ryobi that I use regularly. My 12 inch CMS is more accurate but will only crosscut about 7 1/2 inch. For wider cuts, I use the RAS. I used it a bunch over the weekend to cut tenons in a bed frame for my son. It is a queen size bed so the cross pieces for the headboard and footboard are 60 inches long plus the tenons which are 1 1/2 inches so a total of 63 inches. 5/4 oak. All but one are 7 inches wide. Easiest way to cut the tenons was to clamp a stop on the fence of the RAS, put a 1/2 inch dado stack on the arbor, and cut from both sides using my shoulder plane to fine tune the tenons. My only issue was the stock wasn't perfectly flat so I had to be careful holding it to not change the thickness of the tenon.

I could cut tenons in long stock other ways - you can setup a router arrangement for it, for instance, but the RAS was the easiest and did the job surprisingly accurately. I thought I'd have to clean up the shoulders a bit to get tight joints but they were fine. My BT3100 would have been bad due to the length and weight of the pieces regardless of whether I used the sliding table or my homemade sled. Wood this long and heavy does not want to slide smoothly through a sawblade. Moving the cutter past the wood works much better.

Sliding CMS's will crosscut more accurately than at least my RAS but they won't cut tenons like this.

Jim

[Popeye]

I've been using my $50 Craftsman RAS for the last 5 years as my main cross cut saw. I don't know what I'd do without it. Does a great job making cross cuts and dados less than 12" wide. Put a good negative hook blade on it and tune it up. Here is mine. Pat

[bthorne]

Pat,
That's a real nice looking table / fence setup you've got there. How well does that dust collection box work?

On the thread's topic, I have a middle-aged (not fully cast iron) Dewalt that I've finally finished repairing and got dialed in. I've used it for crosscutting longer stock, and it worked great for angled dadoes in a set of splayed legs for a shop stand I was making.

Bryan

[leehljp]

I have an old DeWalt RAS back in the States and use it on occasion when back there. The first WWking saw that I personally owned (not shared with my dad) was a Sears RAS. I did a lot of projects with it and it taught me to plan ahead for cuts and I still do that today.

My RAS is relegated to specialty cuts and long board cross cuts. I haven't put a dado on it yet but that is in the future.

On my old Sears, I did a lot of rips and bevel cuts. The RAS made it easier to handle oversize wood to the point that I just don't use the TS for certain cuts (Dados and cross cuts of long boards) like some people do. The RAS was accurate and it was easer to handle the sliding cut than a long board on a TS.

[Uncle Cracker]

I have an old Craftsman RAS (one of the digital readout models) that has worked flawlessly for years. It is reliable, and the digital stuff is amazingly durable and accurate (something I'm told is not the norm). I use it mostly for crosscutting, but will put a dado set in it from time to time to wallow something out when I don't want to do it blind on the TS.

I think the best advice I can give regarding the RAS is not to use it to do much of that fancy stuff (planing, molding and the like) that the sales propaganda used to tout. Ripping on a RAS is not fun, and the TS is much better suited for it. Also, you must learn to do any cut safely, and at the proper "feed rate" to control the saw's tendency to crawl toward you. It is also much better if you make sure you are using a blade with the proper specs for a RAS (they're different from a TS blade).

Bottom line is that, at what they can be had for used these days, if I didn't have one, I'd get one.

[cabinetman]

I've always had a RAS, mostly 10". Had a 12" DeWalt turret arm for a while, and a 14" Atlas. I went through several 10" saws as I would pick up one to eventually make a radial arm router by removing the motor and installing a router, but never got around to it. So, the extra RAS sat around and I'd sell it. Then I'd get the bug again, and buy again. Average cost used was about $75. I kept one set up just for 90 deg cross cuts and another for various cuts.

IMO, the RAS is one of the most complex tools as there are more types of adjustments due to all the different moving parts. Properly set up it's an invaluable tool.

This one below is one getting "prepped" for a giveaway to a friend of mine.
.

.

[Bill in Buena Park]

I own a small RAS (CM 8.25in), and it pretty much stays set to 90dg crosscutting. I use it to crosscut all my stock down close to finish dimensions, then use the SMT on my 21829 to do the finish work. If you can get one cheap in good shape, they're a time saver.

[LCHIEN]

I turned down a free one last year. I just didn't have the space and couldn't see how it would help that much - I have a BT3000 and a 10" CMS.

[LinuxRandal]

I've always had a RAS, mostly 10". Had a 12" DeWalt turret arm for a while, and a 14" Atlas.
.

The turret arm style, would have been a Delta, or maybe a Red Star (I remember star in the name, the company Delta acquired them from).

I have an older 1350 that I will be selling off. I recently acquired a GWI (one of the most sought after models) and then in the last few days, was tempted by a 925 for $50 (in wonderful shape). But I have been using my guide system more, and the recent video on what he is doing with it, is SO much closer to my needs (think of a portable RAS), that I may sell them in the spring when house fever starts. (if it does next year)

[Popeye]

Pat,
That's a real nice looking table / fence setup you've got there. How well does that dust collection box work?

Bryan

It works reasonably well but it's not perfect. It picks up maybe 80-85% of the dust. If you make the opening larger it cuts back on the pickup. Can't move it closer and still get the full saw travel. It's a compromise. Pat

[poolhound]

I dont have a RAS and there is definatley no room in my shop for one. My cross cuts are done on either the TS or CMS depending on the width.

I would like to swap my CMS for an SCMS one day. For those that have used both RAS and SCMS are there limitations on the SCMS. I would guess that reach of the slide may be one and doubt that you can fit a dadoe blade on a SCMS.

One issue I suppose is that used RASs can be picked up cheap whereas even a used SCMS will be several hundred dollas.

Any thoughts?

[LinuxRandal]

I dont have a RAS and there is definatley no room in my shop for one. My cross cuts are done on either the TS or CMS depending on the width.

I would like to swap my CMS for an SCMS one day. For those that have used both RAS and SCMS are there limitations on the SCMS. I would guess that reach of the slide may be one and doubt that you can fit a dadoe blade on a SCMS.

One issue I suppose is that used RASs can be picked up cheap whereas even a used SCMS will be several hundred dollas.

Any thoughts?

You pretty much nailed it. The GWI I picked up for $100, where as the best bargain I ever saw on my local CL was a Bosch 12" slider Tuesday for $275. I had the space for the RAS, and it is MUCH harder to loan out then the slider (one other benefit in my case).
Besides the dado blade (which I believe there is one saw, maybe the Kapex, that can do), there were other accessories that are useful with them (sanding disc, some people like the shaper blade setups, etc).
Still not everyones needs are equal, nor are all the saws equal.

[thiggy]

I have an old pre-digital Craftsman 10" RAS, bought new about 30 years. I built an 8' support bench on both sides of the saw. For many years it was my primary shop saw until I purchased a 10" contractor's saw. I now rarely use it. I would probably use it more frequently for cross cuts if I didn't let the benches get so full of other tools and misc. items.