interesting RAS find

[toolguy1000]

i happened upon an older (mid-1960s) RAS for a very low price. when the radial arm wouldn't pivot, the seller let me have it for an even better price. i broke down the radial arm and freed up the arm lock pin this afternoon. now all works like new but the real surprise was waiting on the table.

as the pics show, there are some cuts in what turned out to be a sacrificial table that is attached the the main table . i removed the sacrificial table to see how badly cut up the main table was. i found a completely untouched original table with not a mark on it. i found it interesting that someone, around 50 years ago, thought enough of this tool to take an important step to mazimize it's useful life.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Appears to be in wonderful shape - hope it calibrates and cuts and nice as it looks. Great find.

[chopnhack]

Another you suck to Toolguy, congrats!

[twistsol]

Nice find.

Mine is going to take days of work, but that will be a winter time project.

[cwsmith]

Very nice find indeed. Now there's a RAS that has been well taken care of. You were very fortunate to find this, rather new looking, RAS.

My 74' Craftsman RAS table would have been that way, as I put a sacrificial cover on it, from day one. When I put it away in storage many years ago, I removed the table, coated the column and rails with rust preventative, and removed the carriage assembly and bagged it.

Back in 2003, when I pulled it out of storage for cleaning and reassembly, I discoved the table had been moved from the shelf where I had placed it, and it was sitting on the basement floor, where one edge was completely destroyed. So, I had to buy a new table which, thankfully, Sears still stocked.

I saw a fairly new RAS (Ridgid) a month or so ago in Home Depot, where some guy had brought it in for service. The RAS was probably only about five years old (the last of the Ridgid series), but it was a total mess with the table all hacked up and saw dust clogging every crevice and port. The Service Center had sent it back, marked unserviceable. I presume the motor was burned out, but nobody knew.

CWS

[Turaj]

Nice find!! It looks a lot cleaner than the one I bought two weeks ago (price was right)! If I am not mistaken, this a Craftsman RAS. Have you checked to see if your saw is eligible for a new blade guard (RAS Recall)? I ordered it online and should get it in the next 10 days. I understand it is worth the effort (and it is free)!

[dbhost]

Okay I have to ask. And please pardon my ignorance, but I have never used an RAS. What advantage is there to one of these to, say a sliding compound miter saw?

[footprintsinconc]

Okay I have to ask. And please pardon my ignorance, but I have never used an RAS. What advantage is there to one of these to, say a sliding compound miter saw?

i was going to ask the same question

[natausch]

Okay I have to ask. And please pardon my ignorance, but I have never used an RAS. What advantage is there to one of these to, say a sliding compound miter saw?

Much wider capacity, ability to plough a dado, shaper heads, better dust collection and ability to rip as well.

Not saying that I'll own another RAS in the near or distant future, but they are a combination track, miter, shaper and table saw so they have their place in a shop with enough space.

[sscherin]

Okay I have to ask. And please pardon my ignorance, but I have never used an RAS. What advantage is there to one of these to, say a sliding compound miter saw?

Depth of cut is one thing..
a 12" SCMS can do around 12" wide..

The 12" RAS I had could do about 16" wide in a single pass....

You can also do Dado and non through cross cuts on a RAS..

It's also really awesome at throwing wood through walls and doors when setup for ripping.

[twistsol]

Okay I have to ask. And please pardon my ignorance, but I have never used an RAS. What advantage is there to one of these to, say a sliding compound miter saw?

You can also do this if you're completely insane.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=50931

Seriously though, Capacity is one advantage. My 9" RAS can do a 13" crosscut. They are great for dados because you can see the cut as you're making it vs a table saw where it is a blind cut. In the fifties and sixties they were marketed to compete with the ShopSmith so there are all kinds of attachments for them, jigsaws, moulding heads, sanders etc. that all work to varying degrees.

As long s you apply common sense and set it up correctly for the operation, an RAS no more dangerous than a table saw.

[toolguy1000]

thanks to all for the kind comments. this my second RAS. both are c-man saws and are one model number apart. the one in this post is a 113.29402 and my original is a 113.29401. both are emersons with CI colums and the movement along the radial arm on this recent purchase is even smoother than my original saw shown in the first 2 pics below.

turaj....if your saw is of a similar vintage to my 2 saws, the recall kit is a bit of a bust. the blade guard will not fit my saws, as the mounting connections are inconsistent with the motor carriages of these saws. the table can be made useful, as shown in the first 2 pics below. however, because the table supports are for more recent vintage saws, it pushes the fence further back than the original fence and table which are shown in the third pic below.

this means that the max crosscut with the original fence is approx. 13" where the new table provides a max c-cut of around 16" for 3/4" material. the downside is that for material thicker than 3/4", like 2x4 stock, the blade protrudes into the table area. for that, i place a spacer between the material and the fence to move the material "further" from the fence, reducing the max c-cut for 2X material to around 14". it takes a little patience to set these saws up, but i believe it is worth the effort. it provides accuracy like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8In_nKqW1DA

(before the protests start, my hands weren't nearly as close to the blade as they appear to be in the video.)

dbhost...the posts just before me have summed up most of the reasons for RASs in shops. i find that the level of crosscutting accuracy is pretty impressive. in a 10" c-cut, i've measured a difference of under .0010". i'm not sure there are many instances in WWing when a greater degree of accuracy is needed. and its not a "woodshop in a box". but it does crosscut very well and has fewer moving components than a SCMS, where the blade comes down and then moves either in or out across the stock. each of those motions on a SCMS is an area of potential inaccuracy.

i've noted in the past that my first RAS was a neighbor's castoff that i found at the curb and looked at more out of curiousity than anything else. they can be tempermental and take patience to set up correctly. and they don't like to be moved much. i pretty much set it up and don't move it or swing the arm. for 45* work, i've built a table that sits atop the existing table, but any large, accurate triangle will suffice for moving the workpiece instead of the arm to facilitate cuts such as that shown in the fourth pic, compliments of CWSmith (who is probably the real RAS authority).

for $15, it probably wasn't a bad purchase. if i can find another one, i may revamp the garage and create a 3 RAS cutting station along one wall with one as a dedicated 90* crosscut flanked on each side by another RAS dedicated to alternating 45* crosscuts. or am i getting just a little too carried away here?

[LCHIEN]

Some of the advantages of a RAS are
Unlike a TS, the wood is fixed and the saw moves so you can crosscut large items conveniently
The unit can be pushed back all the way to the wall and still work well, unlike a TS, and even unlike a Miter saw and esp a SCMS which need more space behind the saw. So you can leave it set up, all the way pushed against the wall so you lose no space behind it.

When doing dadoes, you can see exactly where the dado is cutting unlike a TS where the dado is blind. You can't even do dados on a CMS and probably with great difficulty on a SCMS since there's usually no depth control.

In terms of usage, a TS and a Miter saw is a pair that covers most cutting jobs, but a TS and A RAS will also be complementary in that same way.
A RAS can be set up to rip, but a lot of people are uncomfortable doing that on a RAS.
But a CMS and a RAS won't be complementary.

[toolguy1000]

The unit can be pushed back all the way to the wall and still work well, unlike a TS, and even unlike a Miter saw and esp a SCMS which need more space behind the saw. So you can leave it set up, all the way pushed against the wall so you lose no space behind it.

great point. you'd think i'd have mentioned that as mine sits smack against the wall. senior moments, gotta love 'em.

[jbrain]

I sold my Craftsman RAS several years back. I miss it.

They seem to show up on Craigslist often and cheap. I've got more space in the shop now so I might have to grab another one.

BTW I never ripped with it. Heard too many scary stories!!