I had to take the table off of my radial arm to get it through a doorway into its new home. Rearranged the basement, and cleared a 20'x22' spot for my workshop. I was afraid I'd need a total realignment, but after re-leveling the table, the arm and bevel were still dead on. This thing is a precision instrument even after 55 years. Figured I'd take a break from the splitting and stacking for a few days. Did nearly a full cord hand split this weekend, and my right shoulder and elbow are feeling it. Good time to head inside the workshop and build myself a labor saving device. Building myself a folding sawbuck - pics of that coming this week.
Sweet Looking forward to the Sawbuck build! ! Maybe you would be inclined to make two lol... Just ribbin bud.
Sure - I'll trade ya for one of those extra dream-sickles ya got there! Ill even build it from some redwood or something that holds up good outdoors!
Raymond DeWalt invented the radial arm saw. They only made RAS's at first. They got bought out by Black and Decker, who didn't revive the brand name until they started to lose market share in the late 80's early 90's. This was a very popular saw in its day - and they never die. I guarantee there's one for sale in your local Craigslist. They still fetch about $300 for model like mine, even in worse condition. The Original Saw Company still produces RAS's from the original DeWalt castings. I'd actually like to get one of the old 10" or 12" models, but this was originally my grandfather's saw, and I'm not parting with it. Don't really need two of them in my little 500sqft shop.
I never took a liking to them. I always thought they were dangerous because of the blades spin and that you drew the arm towards you as the blade cut, sometimes it would take off on you. I'll stick to my dewalt chop saw. I'm so used to it now, not sure I would change
"Climbing" in the cut can be reduced or eliminated by choosing the right blade. You want one with a zero or negative rake ("hook" angle) when crosscutting. It's actually quite safe in a crosscut setup in terms of kickback danger - the blade spins "down and away" from you, so if it ever gets bound up in the cut, the workpiece gets slammed down on the table and stalls the saw. On a table saw, the blade is spinning towards you; and if it binds it wants to throw the workpiece in operator's direction. I use mine basically like a sliding compound miter. Most chop saws don't bevel very accurately. I don't like to use it for ripping though - I do all of that on the table saw.
Nice Shawn... I need to go after more vintage tools. Lately I'm getting a lot from my Dad and its making me wish I hadn't bought so many new tools over the years when I see how much better some of the old stuff is built. The RAS is a nice piece of work... I grew up hanging around my Dads show and he has a Craftsman RAS he bought new in 1962 that's still in his garage. He mostly uses his chop saw now and was considering selling it but I'm trying to convince him not too.
Careful - it can become an addiction! Old Arn Acquisition Disorder, or OAAD - as bad or worse than C.A.D.!
Looks like its in good condition too. You'll probably need to replace the motor bearings, but its a pretty simple job. If nothing else you could take it apart and sell the parts individually on eBay. The knobs alone could probably fetch $50. Snag it!
Gotta love those old machines, they really did make them well. Nice RAS. I have a few old machines, a Craftsman 8 1/4 RAS, Delta bench top drill press and a restored Buffalo #15 floor drill press, older than I am, and likely will outlive me.
A bit of a hi-jack but what do you guys think of making an old RAS ('70's monkey-wards) into a limb bucker? I happen to have one that I can't sell on CL for nothing (was asking $50 with no table) that's just sitting because I have a decent compound sliding miter box. I was going to make a 6' table with a 2x4 for a backstop and a all weather cover and set it out next to the shop for chunking up limbs, too-longs (hard to find good help these days!), and slab-wood. Sorry for the hi-jack. I wouldn't even consider doing this it was a de-walt like yours!
Make sure the arm is aligned to the fence - if it drags the blade through diagonally, it will "kick". You'll want to stick to doing one piece at a time - if the workpiece shifts at all, it can kick too. Though due to the rotation of the blade (down and away), it won't throw the workpiece at you, like a table saw would want to - just slams it down on the table and stalls the saw. I have a 9" blade on mine, so there's really only about 4" of cutting depth, so that would be a consideration. You should fix up the table and fence, and use it to build a sawbuck instead! Much better limb bucking tool. http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/sawbuck-build.5730/
