Been wood working since highschool.Early 70s.i own a table saw,radial arm saw,miter saw,and band saw. The only one that sent me to the ER was radial arm saw . But was my fault. Removed the blade guard to put a bigger blade on. Lesson learned. Respect all of your saws ! Safety first !
As a long time cabinet maker I found that the saw replaced the need for a shaper table for cutting rabbet cuts. Used a thin curf 10” 40 tooth and set the blade horizontal with the width of the rabbet extended through the fence. Then mounted a small trim router with a spline blade on the right side on the same fence. The two blades bisected and removed a piece of material that with a shaper table would make it all into sawdust. The set up made no chipping on the material because the router blade cut into the material rather than cutting out of the material. I ran a lot of finished particle board thru it and finally changed the blades after nearly 6 months of continual usage. It was very economical versus a shaper table and it’s blades and their resharpening frequency and cost.
@@markjohnson8864 no pic. The set up is the arm saw blade being horizontal with blade rotating into/ towards the right side of the saw, that being the infeed side. The fence that the blade projects into and thru is set up at a distance up from the saw table that is what the remaining tongue thickness of the rabbet cut. Like 1/4 “ remaining. The router with a 1/16” x2” spline blade,the type used for cutting groove for insert of rubber t-nosing used on commercial cabinets. The router base is attached to the saw fence on the right side at about 12” from the saws blade in the vertical orientation of perpendicular to the saw table and saw blade. The spline blade is extended forward from the fence to a distance of its outer tooth edge to a point equal to the thickness of the component piece of the cabinet that fits into the cabinet and off the table equal to bisect the saws blade facilitating a clean intersect of the two blades cut. That piece could be like 3/4” prefinished particle board or what ever the actual dimension of the piece to be fitted. The spline blade rotation ends up clockwise as viewed from operators standing. This clockwise rotation cuts into the work piece from the top and down thereby eliminating chipping. Keep in mind that the accuracy of the set up and the blades orientation is paramount with no lead out of blade into the finish side of workpiece. Lead in is acceptable but no lead out or it will chip the work piece as the tooth exits the work. The router MUST be set up with enough structured rigidity that it’s position is always at right angle to the table and fence. Now as to keeping the work piece onto the table so it doesn’t ride up and cause over cutting. I used spring loaded wheels that mounted on the table behind the fence and fabricated their sewing arms to extend out and over the fence to land within 1” of the finished rabbit cut. This hold down DEVISES, at least two of them one indeed and one out feed. The distance of a work piece at the fence is the operators job to insure that the piece maintains contact with fence. The hold down spring loaded where can be angle so the feed into the fence helping keep it tight. The saws table has your be long enough and wide enough,at alignments to the blades, to allow no effort from the operator to keep the work place stable. Chip removal was done with vacuum connected directly at and before the saw blade with a boot with mounted frame that picked up the material as it was being removed. The mounting of the router requires a hole through the fence that is large enough to allow the router spindle to pass through. I used a alternate base of material similar to the resin type of original base. The base was more or les rectangle with the end on the router being rounded. The base was more ore less 6 inches wider than the router mount area. This allowed for the base to be attached with a single mount on the base between the base and the saw blade. The extended portion of the base on the right side was used as a fulcrum elevation control to swing up or down to the bisect elevation the mounted. Fitting with a fine threaded elevation screw can also be done, just that when the desired position is met the mount is held ridged by means of clamping or whatever you choose to do. This same procedure can also be done on a table saw with everything just upside down.
@@magicone9327 Thanks for the very detailed description. Hope it helps someone. If you haven't seen it, this reminded me of th-cam.com/video/GFmVD3bef2o/w-d-xo.html which is a RAS dedicated to a production jig (though not as fancy as yours)
One of my uncles was a cabinet maker. His go to saw was a Radial arm saw. The one he had and used for years, he got back in the 70s. He loved that saw. I have two chop saws, One cost a bit more then the one you have. It is a 12in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw, the other one is a 7 1/4in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw. Yet they can not do all that a Radial arm saw can do. I do have old Table saw, but do not really use it that much now days. I use to be a contractor, back in the day. Now I'm semi retired, and mostly do home projects, or something now and then for a friend or family. I will stand behind the need of a Radial arm saw. My last jop was building a new deck for my brother, and I needed to rip some lumber length was. it came in handy for that. My Table saw is is big and the way it set set up, it would have of been a pain to take to his place to use, as where the Radial arm saw. was easy to move. I love the way it can be a chop saw or table like saw all in one.
Same thing that happened to the station wagon. Something new ( suv/ sliding miter saw) comes along and all the cool kids start buying them. All of a sudden the old staple of the wood shop is no longer wanted.
So funny you should mention the station wagon! I drew that parallel myself when I walked through the parking garage and saw a "small SUV/Crossover" which I finally realized they'd worked their way back to the station wagon! I drive a GMC Acadia, which is already on a unibody and the model after mine they lowered and narrowed for people, because no one was driving these things down a creek bed. So they've basically rebranded the station wagon, and except for the rear facing seat, many people are now driving a station wagon by a different name. When I saw that Festool had added a stop to cut dados on their sliding compound miter saw, I felt they'd work back to the features of the RAS.
Had my Sears Radial Arm Saw since I bought it new from Sears in 1977. Still use it, it's like new. Built some great things using this versatile power tool. Never had any problems with it.
I’m 65 and have literally used both tablesaws and RAS for 50 yrs- even a little longer, since I was a kid working in family production shops. Both platforms are INCREDIBLY dangerous and deserve the utmost respect. Period end of story. The ONLY reason there are more tablesaw injuries is because there are exponentially more tablesaws in use. 😮 Some of the wacky horizontal set-ups advocated by both DeWalt and Sears in the 50’s-70’s are extremely dangerous even with good hold-downs and etc . With a RAS every crosscut is a climb cut. If that carriage grabs the hand holding it won’t stop it, if a shard shatters off it can take out an eye…and your holding hand and arm are always vulnerable. You can work safely with either of these and with all power tools but you need to stay vigilant 100% of the time when using them.
My RAS is circa 1970, and still running strong. I prefer it over my sliding chop saw because it can reach just a little further, and it has the ripping capability that often works better than my table saw. The only difficulty with it is how I burn through fences. That's because it's a great saw for other than 90 degree cuts, in multiple directions, at once. Even the blades were good back then, as I still have a couple of them, in their original packaging (1970).
It seems like an annual PM to replace the fence. On my (new) fences I plow out a groove (dado) along the bottom and incorporate a yardstick, set such that zero is exactly where the blade touches it.. makes repeat cuts easy, just clamp a block @ XX inches and cut away.
From what I have read, to prevent the blade from digging in and running forward you need a blade with a rake angle as close to 0degrees as possible. This would push the work against the backstop and table, opposite what you'd want on a table saw. I've had a RAS in my home shop for the last 35 yrs, used to use it alot but my miter saw seems to be more accurate, so it gets much of the use now.
Aside from the danger of using a (table saw) blade with aggressive hook angles, a serious problem happens when the plane of the sawblade is not parallel to the trackarm. in that circumstance, one side of the leading teeth attempt to climb the workpiece in an arc while the trailing teeth on the other side try to lift the board off the table.
I used a RAS for decades building houses, still my favourite saw for construction. It is harder (heavier) to setup on site but so useful when cutting large lumber. I tried to give one to my son and he responded with “NO They’re far too dangerous. Where has this urban legend come from, all power tools are dangerous, use them with respect and training.
I bought a Craftsman RAS in 1994 when remodeling a house. I needed to build a kitchen floor cabinet to match the existing ones, and it had odd angles. I could only afford one tool, and viewed this as a multiple use tool. I built the cabinet, and many other things with it since. I did learn my lesson early on trying to handhold a blocky piece of wood for a small angle cut. The saw ripped it right out of my hand and tore a big chunk out of the block. Never did that again. The RAS is very good at ripping wood, and of course a quick cross cut on a wide plank.
My dad always had a radial arm saw. Now that he is 92, he is ready to pass it on to me. I have always looked forward to the day he does. He made some amazing things.
Cool. Glad to hear it's finding a good home. If you haven't already found it, check out @brianweekley5700 videos on the RAS. I find them the best I've found on youtube.
I am a retired MD. When I worked in the ER as a resident, I saw many patients who injured themselves with a table saw. Lost fingers, hands. I never, ever saw an injury from a RAS, and so I bought one in the mid-80's and have been using it ever since with no problems at all.
My HS shop teacher cut off 3 of his finger on the table-saw a few years after I graduated. Another guy I went to HS with partially cut into his thumb. I was just talking with a family friend who I mentioned a neighbor who had cut his fingertips on one. Because of these early knowledge, I feel like I've been perhaps more careful/respectful of the table saw---but I've had a few kick-back incidents, and one time when I didn't take the time to put the old splitter on the saw for a cut, and the plywood rode up on the blade and over. I can't think of any scary incident on my RAS. I do like my table saw (mostly rip on the table saw, crosscut on the RAS), but those who think safety is the reason people tend to the table-saw over a RAS are wrongheaded.
I am a retired general surgeon and saw many table saw injuries also. I never saw a RAS injury but I suspect this is due to the much greater use of one over the other and proximity of the fingers to a table saw blade (most of what I saw).
@@gyamlj Thanks for your perspective. Do you think the table saw was more heavily used than the RAS even before the rise of the chop saw? I would have thought that at one time, the RAS would have been the crosscut saw and would have had similar dominance over the table saw as the chop saw does today---at least for homeowners and carpentry.
The plural of anecdote is not data, unfortunately. Not to discount your experience in the least. It's no doubt valid. But it doesn't generalize well. We'd need a more statistically valid sampling methodology if we want to work forward from injury stats to causal conditions. I have learned to respect both my radial arm saw and my table saw because neither is entirely safe. The massively exposed travelling armature on the RAS calls attention to itself as something that could do great harm to anything whose blade in its path. I've now put in a blade with a negative hook angle in order to reduce the risk of the blade climbing toward the workpiece, and not incidentally the operator. Still, that's what it will tend to do in a crosscut. Ripping is a whole other set of parameters waiting to surprise the operator. And sideways operations, while fascinatingly versatile, add new risk factors. I haven't hurt myself yet on this saw. But I'd be a fool not to see how injury could come about, and it would be an injury of the ballistic carbide blade kind. On the table saw, we see a rather different application of cutting forces. Kickback is the best known failure mode, and generally it's only the workpiece, not the blade, which becomes a projectile. But I can attest to the extreme violence of flying teeth if they should break off during a kickback. Fortunately, I was standing out of line of the blade, so those teeth embedded into the wall behind me. It all happened because a fragment of offcut became drawn into the path of the blade. I saw the incident developing, and then BANG, it was over. I should add that the workpiece was broken into two pieces, one of which flew up and struck me in the face despite my standing out of line. Fortunately, almost all of the damage was to my safety goggles.
I started using my dad's RAS when I was 12 (with supervision) and had only 2 close calls in 10 years of use. We eventually switched it out for a Dewalt compound sliding miter saw 6 yrs ago. I have found it to be more versatile than the RAS. The overwhelming factor, I think, is how compact and portable it is compared to a RAS. The only functionality difference that I found was that you aren't able to do rip cuts on the miter saw.
I have a Craftsman RAS that I purchased in 1977 and still find it the best. Over the years I have stripped it down and re-aligned the runners to keep it running true and always check to ensure that the Blade is running trues in all 3 axis. I have ripped 4 x 8 sheets of 3/4 ply with it and made cabinet doors with the molding head blade. Best investment I made.
Craftsnan had a recall on all of their Radial Arm saws. The danger of these saws was using them for ripping. The recall was 1. a buy back of the saw, 2. upgrade kit for the guards on the saw I received the Upgraded guard kit, this was 2014 I believe these offers expired in 2015. Owned the saw since 1983 good machine when used properly
@@Wes-x9p The upgraded guard, was (is) a good upgrade, I still have the old guard hanging on pegboard. The new (upgraded guard) is a little more cumbersome to get it on & off to change the blad e, but works to prevent kickback better than what it came with. My wife got me mine (Sears Craftsman RAS) for Christmas 1980... been a workhorse ever since. Since I got a table saw, ripping with the RAS is a rare event, but because my RAS is built into the center of my shop.. ripping something really long (and if I'm alone) is easier on the RAS.
Totally agree. That's why I own one. Also, it's a lot easier to keep true. If you're not wanting to cut dados, rabbits, and tenons, the miter saw is the way to go. But I love the ability of the RAS to cut parallel to the tabletop for joinery.
Craftsnan had a recall on all of their Radial Arm saws. The danger of these saws was using them for ripping. The recall was 1. a buy back of the saw, 2. upgrade kit for the guards on the saw I received the Upgraded guard kit, this was 2014 I believe these offers expired in 2015. Owned the saw since 1983 good machine when used properly
I got my Craftsman RAS in the late-80s. It is good for dados and cuts longer than my non-sliding miter saw will make. I almost sold it before I moved houses 6 years ago. I'm glad I didn't.
I bought a De Walt RAS in about 1983. The two things I don't like about it are rip cutting/grooving short lengths (I've learnt to feed through a tunnel), and the fact that it's imperial rather than metric, which meant I couldn't get accessories. The latter is a minor problem, as I don't use it all that much any more.
One of the best upgrades to a RAS is to add a negative rake blade. I have a Freud -5 degree rake blade on my saw and it cuts like butter with no kickback effort.
I didn't know Freud makes a -5 degree blade for a RAS. The problem I've had with negative hook blades like those found on chop saws is that they are designed for fine crosscutting and have 60-80 teeth with small gullets that won't clear out the wood unless you pull the motor extremely slow. Too fast and the blade grabs. Most guys I know with RAS use a Freud 50 tooth LU84R011 combination blade with a 10 degree positive hook. The "Mr. Sawdust" blade from Forrest is also 10 degrees. Books on RAS from the 50's and 60's say blades with hooks under 15 degrees are acceptable for crosscutting. Anything larger, especially on saws with motors over 17 amps, can cause dangerous self feeding.
My dad wanted to hove me his ras saw when i got married. My career required moving, and ot was so big and heavy, it was too heavy to pack around. I felt it was limited to specific tasks.😊
The biggest problem for the radial arm saw is that it is misunderstood and few people realize the versatility of the saw. I've had a table saw and a radial arm saw in my shop for 40 years and only acquired a miter/shop saw about 12 years ago. The radial arm may need calibration a little more often than other saws, but also performs functions easier or functions that others don't. I've always considered the radial arm saw to be much safer to operate than the table saw. My son operated the radial arm saw at 12 years old and I kept him away from the table saw until he was in his late teens. I laugh when people think you can't rip sheet goods on a radial arm saw.
My son has been using the table saw since he was 8, he refuses to use the radial arm saw or even the miter saw, everything he does is on the table saw.
The only limit I've found with my radial arm saw is crosscuting sheet goods but that's easily done with a straightedge and circular saw. I bought mine about thirty years ago for $100. One day I was using it out front on my driveway and someone stopped to tell me there was a safety recall out on the blade guard. He gave me the contact info and they sent me a whole new blade guard system. Use it all the time!
@tajon5394 , just barely able to see over the table. Probably had a better chance of ducking out of the way from a kickback. Better to be lucky than good, right....
I _prefer_ the radial saw for ripping sheets of plywood (all the way to the center) and cutting dadoes and rabbets in large panels like bookcases. MUCH easier than trying to do it on my table saw.
I'm not trained at all in carpentry and live in a city apartment. A friend of mine bought a house and was working on it and built a little shop and I would go there and help and use the table saw. A couple of times I got hit by flying pieces of wood from the saw, but they didn't do any damage. I feel lucky that that's the worst that happened to me, considering my lack of knowledge and training.
I bought my Sears RAS in 1973. The motor failed a couple of years ago, because it got clogged up with dust. I never blew air through it because I didn't know I needed to. I got the motor repaired, almost good as new (the quick stop feature seems weaker). I attached a laser to the blade to show the cut line. Spiffy. Accuracy is an issue, since it is easy to nudge things out of true, but it is close enough for most work.
Only the turrethead rockwell/delta RAS is worth owning. The table can be adjusted to allow crosccut dados that are accurate. The sears saw is so valuable that people in my area often give them away. FREE. One on FB market. this morning for $ 50/offer.
I inherited my Father's 1960 era Craftsman RAS. He used it for YEARS and kept it in great shape. He still had the manuals and all his original paperwork. We replaced the motor bearings about 5 years ago since they were noisy, and it is like brand new now!
My Dad bought one back then for building a 14' Sea Skiff sailboat. Not sure about yours but on his the motor ran parallel to the blade and used a worm gear set up between back of motor and blade. He had to get the motor rewound twice as it overheated cutting white oak. I think my brother ended up with it and he passed a few years ago. Glad you kept your Dads.
I have a 10 inch Craftsman radial arm saw that I bought used from a friend in 2002. I seldom use it largely due to the fact that there is too much clutter in my garage and it's a pain to get out but like the things you mentioned the radial saw does things better than other saws. I find it unbeatable for dado cuts and also cross cutting large pieces of solid stock up to 20 inches. I also have a cast iron 10-inch Craftsman table saw that I have used extensively but like the radial saw it sits next to it is boxed in by clutter which really needs to go. For ripping the table saw has no equals but it is very heavy and even though it sits on a mobile base it requires a lot of room. I also have a 12-inch DeWalt compound sliding miter saw which, although obnoxiously heavy, is great for cutting deck boards and other large 2X stock away from your garage. I can cut 5 5/4 deck boards at a time with that saw. 4x4s and 4x6 beams are no problem either. Aside from large sheet material it is always better to push the saw through the stock than the stock through the saw. I only regret not going with battery miter saws but their cost outweighs the convenience to an extent. For light trim and stock up to 2x6 I use my compound Metabo (Hitachi) miter saw. Very compact, light and best of all cost less than $100. I've tried selling the RAS several times with no interest.
Like your point, "Aside from large sheet material it is always better to push the saw through the stock than the stock through the saw," as I do think how to make a cut does depend on consideration of the cut. I'd argue that cutting large items is better to move the cutter than the lumber---but I've never had my table saw with a bunch of feed tables around it, which would make this a lot more manageable. I've got my RAS table set at a height that it makes a pretty good outfeed table, but I typically will cut-down plywood with a rough cut on my hand-held radial saw to make them more manageable on the table saw. I don't own a track saw, but seems that might be a better choice than going to the table-saw to cut large sheet goods.
My dad had a Craftsman RAS he bought in the late 60's until the late 90's when he bought a new one. I've had that one for 20 years. There is a learning curve to properly set up and safely use a RAS. I carefully studied the manual many years ago. The only time it scared me was when I was ripping with it.
agreed. while we have many fond memories with our radial arm saw, our sliding compound miter saw does the job of virtually every type of crosscut better, and the table saw is much better for ripping sheet goods. We had stopped using the radial arm saw for so long, we eventually sold it. There are a few cuts we would prefer to make with the RAS, but its sheer size makes it impractical to keep in the shop for the few times we want to use it and we can still make those cuts with a combination of other more useful tools.
I watched someone lay over the top of his saw pushing wood through The floor under his feet was covered in slippery saw dust. He was so close to catching clothing in the blade. Love my RAS . I have a small shop and dont have room for all the tools i would need to replace my old craftsman RAS
The RAS can be a nice piece of kit. However, the RAS was not killed by the basic miter saw (chop saw), which co-existed with the RAS for decades. A one-two punch killed the RAS. First was the increasing liability exposure makers of RAS faced. Whether real or imagined, the saw had a reputation for being unsafe -- even if used correctly. Worse, manufacturers were being held liable for injuries sustained even when their products were used inappropriately. (This wasn't just a problem with saws. Recall the lawnmower manufacturer who was sued when someone used it's product to trim a hedge!) The issue became not could a RAS be used safely, but could the maker prevent it from being used unsafely. Second, the great advantage of a RAS was it's cross cut capability. Many woodworking shops had a RAS for cross cuts and a tablesaw for rip cuts. Sliding miter saws could replace the cross cut capability of the RAS, while taking up less room and costing less. As a consequence of this one-two punch, makers faced a shinking market and increased liability for RAS.
I got my saw back in 1990. Still have it and use it all the time. I agree the table saw is dangerous. I only use mine when the RAC or hand saw will not get the job done.
Good question. They are great! I have one I bought in the early 1990's. The main disadvantage of the saw is that it takes a lot of space in the shop, demanding a full wall to take advantage of it's abilities. It is also not easily portable like a sliding compound miter saw (which I also have and use). The main advantage of the radial saw arm saw is its crosscut capacity (better than my 12" sliding miter saw) and it's ability to rip to the center of a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, which is much easier to do than on a table saw. But again, this requires a minimum 8' work table on each side of the saw...a 16' table. AND the table must be able to support a full sheet of 3/4" plywood...on both sides of the saw. It is also capable of dadoing, rabbeting and other molding work, which cannot be done on a miter saw. When building bookcases and shelving units, I much prefer cutting the dadoes and rabbets on the radial arm saw. It is simply much easier to lay a large panel on the table and move the saw over it, rather than trying to move a large panel over a table saw blade. I wouldn't want to operate my shop without all three...a radial arm saw, table saw and sliding compound miter saw. I do not consider it any more (or less) dangerous than any other saw. They will ALL amputate your fingers and hands if not operated properly!
Hard to generalize. My father in law cut off 3 fingers on a radial arm saw. RAS was always said (50 years ago) to be a big safety problem. But I think that has changed in perspective. Yes, the kick back is virtually gone. But some, (including myself many years ago) who didn't have a table saw, used it to rip and of course that is NOT so safe. Chop saws have replaced most RAS as the footprint is so much smaller, and, unless you tune your RAS well, it is less accurate. The table saw is so much more accurate (potentially) than a RAS that most folks use the RAS basically for rough cutting or replacing the chop saw. I have had cheap RAS s and big Dewalts. But I've also had about 10 Table saws, and still use 3 of them, (a unisaw, pm 66 and an big Oliver. feel pretty safe with using an RAS but I finally got rid of mine, just for space reasons. There really is very little I can't do with a table saw and a chop saw, that I could do with a RAS. The RAS WAS a huge step forward for construction back when it was invented by DeWalt in the 20's, but after the chop saw came into use, and the pop up saw in production, RAS use definitely declined. I'd agree that the use of the radial arm saw is fairly intuitive, pull with one hand, hold with the other, and that the table saw on the other hand is not. There is a lot of knowledge about the table saw that only comes with experience. Of course there are a lot more things that can be safely done on the table saw too.
I believe you are sadly mistaken thinking that the sliding compound miter saw replaced the R.A.S. The slider is meant for portability and the R.A.S. is for the most part a shop tool. The R.A.S. as you mentioned can run dado blades whereas the slider can’t. Our shop has two R.A.S. on a 48’ bench/wall with 20’ between them. We do a lot of pre-fabbing home builds here in our shop, hence such a long bench. Most of the time one of the R.A.S. is set up with a 3/4” dado. The dado set up can be rotated so that the blade cuts horizontally as well to make cutting mortice & tenons easier.
My argument is that the compound miter saw was "good enough" for most consumers and cheaper, so it chased the RAS out of the consumer market. I love the joinery that I can do with my RAS---but most home owners just crosscut structural lumber. I only mentioned the sliding miter saw, in that it's an evolution back to some of the advantages the RAS has. I want those features and why I still use my RAS, so I don't think I was dismissing the unique features you get with the RAS---but rather trying to say, hey, these are still nice saws and don't dismiss them because they've fallen out of fashion.
@@markjohnson8864 The sliding compound miter saw won acceptance of those who felt that an ok miter joint was acceptable. That is what wood fillers are for.
The most dangerous tool in the shop is whichever one a person happens to be using. That being said, I loved my father's RAS which he bought in the 60s and eventually became mine. The workbench in my shop was 18 ft long with the RAS mounted in the center. Ripping long stock was a breeze with the guides I put on the bench. When I sold that house to a neighbor he wanted me to leave the RAS and since I would not have a shop in my new home I said ok. I kind of regret it, but am happy it continued to be put to good use. I wish I still had it,...
I own/use a 30-yr old Craftsman radial arm and it is sooooooo smooth. Love using it. Will never get rid of it. (Yes, I have shot a 2x4 across the garage, but lesson learned. lol)
It seems like the people who condemn the RAS have no problem using a sliding miter saw . I find my RAS a much more versatile tool , and as with any tool it’s only as safe as the training , experience, and knowledge that’s between the ears .
I have a 10" 1960 Craftsman rasial arm saw that is built like a tank. But I have not used it in hears because my Hitachi 8-1/4 sliding compound saw does 85% of what the old sear s saw does and it's portable. That old saw is a better saw but the new one is just much more usable.
What happened to the radial arm saw? My Wards radial arm saw is out in the garage. I use it all the time. I have been using it since we got it in the late 1970s. I have made all sorts of cabinets and furniture with it. I have a a dado blade. It has a planing adapter. It has a router bit adapter. I have a blade that cuts ceramic tile very accurately. What's not to like.
Cross cut is NOT the safety/kick-back issue on Radial. THE problem was Rip cut ! Down a long board. It threw a board for me, and I got scared. The real reason I got rid of mine (replaced by table) was too much work changing between cutting and dado blades. I would get another radial, solely for dado / rabbet. But, I now know that today's miter saws have a depth set. To allow for cutting "troughs", instead of "through"
I had one and it was very good at every thing except staying in calibratiln but that could easily have been fixed. The main reason for accidents and injury comes down to people failing to read instructions. Most people dont adjust the splitter or shroud for depth of cut and many dont understand the differance between in rip and out rip. Cant or wont read instructions? Then you will be at risk with most tools.
I have a 1972 Delta Rockwell RAS (Built like a tank) and a 1967 Craftsman 10 in table saw that's solid cast iron and weighs a ton. I would never part with either saw. I use the table saw the most but when I'm needing super accurate cuts I go to the RAS. To be honest both saws can be very dangerous. I've had close calls in the past with both saws. You just have to be careful using any power tool!
Some might know this but the radial arm saw was really a multi-tool in one. Case in point you could turn the head sideways and put a router bit on it and use it as a router. I assume you could also use it that way to make your own tongue and groove wood parts as well.
I have my Dad's Craftsman radial arm saw that was purchased in the '60s. It still works great and the biggest issue with it is the old table that is made out of compressed wood fiber similar to MDF. I think if I replaced that with something that wouldn't swell and shrink with moisture change it would be really accurate. It took some learning to use it safely since neither my Dad or my self had used a table saw even. First cut we didn't read any instructions and fed the board in from the wrong side and it became a missile. A few years later I was using a daddo blade and we had a really close by lightning strike and it startled me so bad I jammed my thumb in and had to make a trip to the emergency room and a highly skilled orthopedic surgeon saved my thumb and I have much respect for the saw and still use it often.
Your story really illustrates how accidents don't occur when things are regular. A lightning strike illustrates a low probability but possible event that does occur. Glad to hear your thumb was saved.
My Dad bought a Craftsman Radial Arm Saw in 1973 in there hay day. We used it built a few houses and it worked well. It be could work like a table saw in reverse, so I think folks now use a table and compound miter saws to replace it. The cuts were not always accurate and it did take a bit to learn how to use it. It was a great saw that outlived its usefulness.
I think the reason there were so few injuries from the radial arm saw was because so many people heard how dangerous they were and they became more careful around them. They paid attention during cuts simply out of fear leading to a safer work environment.
There may be a lot of truth to that. I remember, decades ago, reading a study that indicated that the stationary power tool that was involved with the most accidents was the bandsaw. They reasoned that the reason for this was that many homeowners purchased a small bandsaw as their first stationary tool, the moving blade has small teeth and appears innocuous to the untrained user, and it is often used to cut small pieces, tempting the user to position their fingers close to the blade. Finally, many users get careless about adjusting the upper blade guide height. Table saws were in fewer home shops at the time and the noise and spinning blade engender a lot more respect. My grandfather owned a meat cutting plant and the experiences I had as a kid watching big men run a cow's leg through a bandsaw that hardly slowed down left me with a very healthy respect for the tool.
@@racekar80 The most dangerous thing about the radial arm saw were the rumors of it being so much more deadly than the table saw. The table saws blade was for the most part buried beneath the table. The radial arm saw had the full blade exposed. This alone would act as a warning because let’s face it, an exposed blade spinning at around 4000 rpm can look intimidating so people instinctively and actively tried to be careful when using them. Kind of like standing on the roof of a building near the edge, you tend to be more careful. Whereas if there’s a railing or a window between you and a 30 story fall you are a little less careful. As you become complacent you let your guard down. Plus the table saw is stationary but the blade on a radial arm saw can and does move and if you haven’t leveled it it will roll toward your hand sitting on its table while you are looking somewhere else.
Power compound miter saw, in particular the sliding version is by far the biggest reason. Smaller, lighter, easier to keep adjusted, portable and cheaper. The Radial arm saw is large, heavy, hard to adjust and keep adjusted and that makes out of control climb cutting more likely. The ways on the arm and the bearings wear out making the saw very sloppy, again, making out of control climb cutting more likely. Cheaper saws were less robust and rigid so they were more sloppy to begin with and wore out faster. Those old Dewalt radial arms were beasts and the gold standard for quality. Original Saw Company still makes them but they are super expensive so out of reach of most people. Just about the only thing a radial arm saw can do that most sliding compound miter saws can't is dados and rabbets. I still have a Craftsman radial arm saw that I haven't used for years, but if I do set it up again, it would be for that single purpose. Emerson, the OEM of most Craftsman radial arm saws has had a recall running for years. Probably 15 years ago, I got a retrofit kit for free that included a new guard, new table top and fence and all the parts required to upgrade the saw. Now they don't even do that. They want you to cut the cord off flush at the motor and the arm and send them a picture documenting it and they will send you $50. Older radial arm saws had little to no protection from the blade so there was always more exposed blade than a table saw adjusted to have a tiny bit of the blade above the work piece, at least while cutting. Later saws had much better guarding. I suspect the INJURY RATES would be similar, at least on a radial arm saw with modern blade guarding, to table saws, but table saws outnumber radial arms greatly, and they can be had for very little money, and many people just buy one and start using them without a clue on how to safely use one. It takes no time to find people using table saws incorrectly on youtube, and it is just as easy to find videos of people injuring themselves or talking about how they inured themselves on a table saw. You can find Tommy Silva and Norm Abram free hand cutting on table saws, people using the fence and miter gauge together, people reaching over the blade, using no push sticks, getting finger far too close to the blade with no problem. I had a very good shop teacher who spent a lot of time teaching us how to safely use each tool in the shop before we were allowed to use anything. He even went into checking the alignment on the table saw and radial arm saw. Someone who buys a saw at the big box store never gets that so they so they use the saw incorrectly and many injure themselves.
Hate to tell you but back in the day all these fancy guards weren't needed because people used to have a brain. Sure an accident would happen here and there but for the most part men worked smart. Not like the idiots today. Watched 2 grandfather's, uncle and my father wield a Craftsman 12" RAS back in the 70' and 80's like it was mere child's play. Don't blame the equipment. Most of the time just like anything else it's the operator.
@@Phil-pq4ks So intelligence prevents all accidents? Gotta be one of the most off base theories I have ever heard. A sample size of exactly 4 people doesn't tell you anything other than give you a heaping serving of confirmation bias.
I purchased a RAS back in the mid 80's to construct a deck. Not a typical deck mind you, but a set of geometric squares each reduced down in proportion. Anyway the interesting thing about my $350 saw is the wife bitching at me about the cost of the saw and totally ignoring my explanation of how much it would cost to have a contractor come in and do the work for a straight up "square and a stair" deck much less my geometric wonder. She just never could grasp the savings and investment part. None the less I let the saw go years later having not much need for it. How I wish today that I could have it back.
I'm guessing most watchers of this video have used the, "it'll pay for itself," line---but kudos to you for getting a high-price item like a RAS through your domestic purchasing department---though with some grief. :-)
I like you fence! I bought my RAS new in 1972 for $149.95 CAD. I never could get it accurate until I replaced the table base. That was when I found a curve in the edge that clamped the fence. The new base with a dead straight edge ment that I could adjust the saw and make perfect cuts. ONE VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE NO ONE SEEMS TO MENTION IS THE HOOK OF THE TEETH. I have found that 5° or less works best. I found this the hard way! I bought a new blade and did not check the hook. I was not aware of the hook effect on cutting. I put it on the saw and tried to rip a board. It was a disaster. The blade caught the board and lifted it into the guard. Then after a lot of searching on the internet I finally found the cause of disaster. IT WAS THE HOOK. What is hook? It is the angle of the tooth relative to the spindle of the motor. The larger the angle the more it digs into the wood being cut. The worst is when the blade climbs on top of what you cutting. When this happens you will have a 2 to 4 hour job of readjusting the whole saw. I went in search of a new blade that has less then 5°. Many manufactures do not list the angle of the hook. DO NOT BUY ANY BLADES FOR A RAS UNLESS YOU KNOW THIS ANGLE.
The great thing about youtube is that you can get a lot more information than you used to. It's a shame that the RAS went out of fashion before the youtube boom, as being a complex saw, it would have benefited from more information. I have seen a few people talk about the proper saw blade for the RAS. I discussed it a bit at the end of th-cam.com/video/vaB3Hb0gS-Y/w-d-xo.html though I was mostly wanted to discuss why you want to get the vertical play out of your arm, because I hadn't seen anything on that particular hazard. If you've got some tips, I encourage you to share them via a video. I think there's a small audience of RAS owners, like me, who would be interested.
i've been using a RAS for 28 yrs. & never had even a slight problem. I used a dado set to make dados, made 45* cuts & never had a problem. What always ruins everything are the idiots who do not know what they are doing & when they have an accident, they tell the whole world it is the tool's fault! Know the tool - then, respect the tool & you will never have a problem. Working any tool takes just a dose of common sense. have fun - be safe.
When my table went out of commission, I use my RAS for ripping. That was an adventurer. Anyways the RAS could do a hundred things the sliding miter saw couldn't. The danger is when you lost respect on the equipment you're using.
A Chop Saw, even a Slide Compound Miter Type can't replace a Radial Saw. You can't Rip Full Length Boards, make Molding, Shape Banister Rails, Disc Sand, Cross Cut as Long, Angle or Dado Cut Full Length Boards and even Mortise with a Slide Compound Chop Saw. But You can with a Fully Accessorized Radial Saw. Radial Saws mostly belong as a fixture in a Shop or Lumber Yard, preferable on Locking Casters and Centered between two long table for run in and run out of Full Length Boards.. Chop Type Saws are much more Portable designed mostly for the Work Site. A Radial Saw needs a little more Maintenance / TLC because to achieve it's Accuracy Potential it must have a well crafted, Flat and Square Quality Wood Table Top and Sealed from Moisture that would make it warp. But any moderately Skilled Craftsman could easily handle that and should not be without a Good Radial Saw fully kitted out. It give You a lot of extra capability and productivity potential if You have the room. But what do I know, I could be wrong. I only read that off a Gift Shop's Rest Room Stall Wall during a tour of the Worlds Biggest Tooth Pick while driving thru Oklahoma once.
EVERY saw is dangerous. Along with every router, lathe, drill....well, you see what I'm getting at. Nice video, and I'm glad that you brought up the sliding miter saws.
I inherited a RAS from my grandpa after he passed away but was never trained on how to use it. TH-cam wasn't around back then either, so I tried to figure it out on my own. I'm sure they're great, but I prefer a track saw and compound miter saw.
My Dad bought one in 1970, and he & I built a house with it. I cut almost every piece of sub-flooring, flooring, framing, & cedar closet liner with it. He did all of the measuring & most of the nailing. It was particularly good for the sub-flooring because we set it up to quickly & safely cut ship-lap at a repeatable angle that resulted in a rock-solid floor with no squeaks. I'm sure a miter saw would have worked better, but I don't remember seeing those then.
I BUILT ALL MY CABINETS AND FURNITURE WITH MY CAST IRON CRAFTSMAN RADIAL ARM SAW. FLAWLESS AND ACCURATE SINCE PURCHASED IN 1972! Saftey first and sharp and quality accessories the key!
With so many of these unloved saws still out there in circulation, if you have the space, and the little bit of money that it takes to buy one, then there's no reason not to have one in the shop. Even if you already have the Cadillac 12" sliding dual bevel compound miter saw, the RAS can still do some operations the miter saw cannot. My favorite is the Powr Kraft model that was sold by Montgomery Ward back in the day. In addition to the main saw arbor, it has two auxiliary 1/2" arbors. One turns at 3450 rpm for drilling, sanding, and polishing attachments. I imagine, with a little bit of ingenuity, a belt pulley could be attached to this arbor to drive other vintage small belt-driven benchtop machines that would be temporarily mounted to the saw's table when used. The other shaft turns at 20,000 rpm for routing and shaping if you have the adapters to put your bits on it. I have used this feature to make cross cut decorative features in a posts that were much too long for a router table, and without the fuss of setting up a straight edge guide on each face of each post for handheld router operation. I have not tried using shaper cutters. I imagine that if the shaper cutter isn't much bigger than a router bit, then there shouldn't be much problem, however I have my doubts for larger cutters. With those, safety issues are obvious and the motor would likely stall quickly due to the the 3450 rpm motor being geared up to 20,000 rpm at the arbor.
I love my RAS’s. The 12” is way more useful than a 10”. I did witness an accident on a RAS while working once. A friend was 3 months from retiring from a pre fab home company. There were 7-1/2 hp Dewalt saws there. He crosscut a board end, to square it, slid the wood over to align the next cut with his left hand, and pulled the saw. He lost most of three fingers that day. He just had his mind on something else. Not the saw being dangerous.
Bottom line: a sliding compound miter saw does what probably 99% of the population needs, and it's vastly more compact and transportable/moveable. I can't give my RAS away. No one wants it mostly due to how bulky it is.
I have used a Sears radial arm was for over 30 years. It does it all for a small home shop and can be set up against a wall and does not waist space. Properly adjusted, accuracy is not a problem. I use it primarily on furniture projects.
The RAS has its uses, I have one in storage at the farm and I’ll probably set it up some day. But they take up a lot of space and are heavy. Plus they can be kinda scary to use. It’s the rare shop tool that I’d prefer to be underpowered. Some I’ve used in the past in shops had a cable and weights set up so they couldn’t climb on their own. The good news is it you want one you can now get them for under $100 or even for free when people want them out of a garage or basement
I inherited one and ended up giving it away for some of the same reasons. Mine was kinda sloppy so making precision angle cuts was a pain. It was always a degree or two off.
Cost is almost always the big issue. Many folks can spend $200 but $700-$1000 is much harder to do. Same with table saws. Saw Stop has a great saw and it is the safest saw out there but at a cost of approx $2000 many people won't buy it. Sure replacing a finger costs more but people don't think that way.....I love the info you provided.
I've been using all kinds of saws for 40 yrs. I'm a career carpenter. I've never liked radial arm saws. They're heavy and awkward and the climb cut makes it super dangerous in my opinion. A sliding miter is far superior because you can begin the cut close to you and push it in a conventional cut method. I had a radial arm saw that my father had and I gave it away to somebody. No thanks.
I have worked in Millworks most of my life. From high production to one of a kind custom production. Radial arm saws are tedious and time consuming to keep aligned accurately, if you move the tower a lot. Also most hobbyist RAS are underpowered and the towers tend to flex while under heavy loads. Don't get me wrong, they have their place in woodworking. The RAS I have in my shop is a OMGA 5 hp 3 phase and is night and day different from the hobbyist saws. From reading a few posts here do not think that underpowered would be a good thing. Having the additional power in your hand will 9 times out of 10 be better than underpowered. The older saws 70's and earlier were by far better than the newer versions. The posts are very strong and the carriages and towers were by far stiffer as well resulting is less flex and more accurate cuts overall. Later models ended up cheapening a fine product design. My RAS stays locked in place for doing perfect 90 degree cuts from 4/4 to 12/4. For anything else I use a sliding compound saw that can be changed degree wise fast and accurately. Nice video Mark and thanks.
Your saw can also be a router it's an amazing tool I have one just like it. I got mine for 400 dollars because they cancelled the product almost as soon as it came out . To complicated for most and subject to people steeling the Lazer parts. I still have not finished setting mine up. I will at some point just no room for it yet.
Had my Craftsman RAS since 1976. Ripped miles of stock with it. Kickbacks? Yes, I've had a few in the early days before I became more experienced. Can't deny that. True that my mitre saw has become the tool of choice for virtually all crosscuts though other than for wide cuts. I don't see the RAS as being inherently more dangerous than the TS. Of course YT is full of videos showing stupidity with a RAS and they were over-marketed in the day. Example? Moulding heads. Sears sold them. I bought them. Tried them precisely once and thought "Whoa! This is a mighty poor and dangerous wood shaper! The controversy will never end I suppose, but the marketplace has spoken. Only regret is that my RAS was not a top of the Craftsman line. Not appreciating just how many years I was to live with that saw, in retrospect, I would have bought their best.
Bought a used Craftsman 10" RAS at an estate auction in 1992 for $125. Like new, with manual and over a dozen nice blades. Been a workhorse for me all these years.
They look most wicked with more danger area to we are more careful I'm guessing... If your wood is heaver that the tool, this is the tool we use 1st. Longer cut than a miter/chop saw. Lots of accessories are cheap.
Weekend warriers never have enough space in their work room, so I like my chop saw because I can put it away, and I can move it closer to the place I'm working. I suppose one could do that with a radial arm, too. I'll throw out a guess that reassembling it each time would be a pain.
I think the best answer is for the RAS to be built into a benchtop. With that, you can just turn the arm 90 degrees when not in use and have your workbench for other things. But yeah, nothing bets the chop saw for portability. It's the primary reason I own one.
RAS’s are awesome, I have a delta I bought used that came from a HS shop. Extremely well engineered and accurate. I paid $75 for it. I wish I had one like yours as well. In fact, if I catch one for the right price near me I probably will snag it too.
I really like the control cut safety feature, which avoids the climb cut hazard---which is the main reason I haven't tried to get hold of an older cast iron RAS.
Despite my never owning one, but having used one - it is my favorite saw. Having said that, I find the sliding compound miter saw as being more practical, especially when it comes to footprint, weight and portability.
I worked for Sears, late 60's-mid 70's. I've had two Craftsman RAS's over my lifetime, and can't be without it. I'd love to have one of those miter saws, but so far I really have no need for it, other than satisfying a "tool fetish". I have tools I have collected, and never used, and some I can't even pronounce.
For me the question is compound miter & job site table saw or RAS For most people the decision is pretty easy: Get the compound miter and a job site table saw. They are much more portable than an RAS. Each of the saws is better for the purposes they specialize in than an RAS. The RAS is much more difficult to put away on a shelf or cabinet than a job site saw and compound miter saw if you don't want to have dedicated stations for your saws. My dad had an RAS and I tried to cut some dadoes with saw head turned parallel to the table. I found it scary and awkward. I've seen videos on line by RAS advocates that suggest if you know what you are doing that kind of cut can be done, but the farther you get a way from the back of the saw the more things move around and the scarier it gets. For most people, I think there is no reason to own an RAS.
I owned a Craftsman RAS for 30 years and at the end the alignment was just wrong. Try as I might, I could not get it to run true. So I scrapped it and bought a Sawstop and an chop saw.. No more alignment issues with the table saw. I would not recommend a RAS anymore.
I just don’t have the room and can do anything I need to on the table saw. Once I got a good one and built a fold down outfeed table, cross slide, and some jigs. My miter saw fits under my workbench and I only use it when I need to do something away from my house. A 2 car garage gets tight with a classic car in it as well.
It was my experience that the RA saw was not as accurate as my table saw. So, when the motor burned out on my RA saw, I gave it away. I do cabinet work. !
I’ve had one for 40 years. I love it. It is safer than my table saw. Especially for cutting dados. It can also be used for drilling into the end of long stock.
I think you are right on the mark. My grandfather was a table saw guy, he did most things on it. My father was a RAS guy. He had a Craftsman RAS that was almost as old as me up until he passed just prior to Covid pandemic. His was in great shape. I have a RAS almost as old as his, ( I believe 1967 Craftsman)but almost traded it out with his, mine I bought used, his was older but much better shape. Even though I have both Table saw and RAS I tend to use a 12" sliding Miter Saw the most, so I would agree with your theory. But there is one thing that RAS is best for Better than Miter saw and table saw, that is cutting slots. And I think its nice to be able to align the cuts by sliding over work than lowering and cutting.
I totally agree about "cutting slots". It probably doesn't matter for people doing general carpentry, but if you build furniture, a large number of joints fit the description: half-lap, dados, rabbets, tenons, bridle, box---and just a week ago I was cutting cross-halve joints for jewelry box dividers. These you can't do with the typically miter saw.
A friend of mine gave me his Dad's RAS as he had no use for it. I have a 12'' HF miter saw I bought many years ago that I mounted on the top of a 9 drawer dresser. It works great there, but I am going to put the RAS in its place. Using an old dresser works very well for a saw table as I put in/out feed rollers on each side, plus I have all the drawers for storage.
I agreed with your comments in your movie about the 3 types of saws. I also have a Dewalt chop saw, a sears table saw and my go to most of the time my Dewalt radial arm saw. I learned at a young age by my father the way to use power tools safely. The only table saw i ever used as a young man was my dad's Shop Smith. He had just about all of the attachments that were available.
fwiw, I've had classic DeWalt 10" RAS since 1980 and have used (and still use) the heck out of it. Lots of cabinets, windows, framing, decking projects to list a handful. Its weakness is dealing with full 8x4' panels - my dad's table saw deals with those much better, while I use a clamp-down saw guide and a Skill saw :) I did manage to nick the nail bed on the middle finger of my left hand on the back side of the blade one day 20-something years ago. Stupid impatient act on my part. Bifurcated the nail but it isn't something easily noticed. Cheers!
I prefer ripping with the RAS over the TS. It is safer. The RAS is particularly useful for working at the end of long pieces. The RAS is safe with educated caution and setup. Take advantage of the fact that the table is made of wood so that you can install safety devices. Your hand can be kept very far away from the blade so that there is no chance of cutting yourself. I prefer crosscutting with a sled on a TS. It is more accurate. Nothing beats the cabinet TS for ease of dust collection. Nothing beats the utility of the RAS. To shape with molding head, dado, sand and horizontal drilling with a chuck at the other end. The annoyance is always the cleanup afterward. Ripping with either the TS or the RAS is dangerous to the reckless. A bandsaw for ripping is better for these people: no kickback just know where your hands are. Nothing beats the portability and ease of use (crosscut) for less accurate carpentry jobs of a miter saw. Very much more limited functions vs the RAS and TS; bad dust collection but matters less in open space--the wind blows away the dust. I have all three and find them all useful.
these things are dangerous AF. im happy to have all of my fingers because my dad didnt like table saws. IMO, if you have more close calls on a table saw, you might be doing it wrong.
Regarding your original statement that RAS aren't legally resold in the US, I'm not sure why you said that, but glad you corrected it. This is the disinformation that drives me nuts about the RAS. Note, the RAS is still built and sold in the US---just not consumer models. Every Home Depot around me has one in use in the lumber department, and you can buy one at originalsaw.com/product/12-contractor-duty-radial-arm-saw/. If you do everything right you should be OK on a table saw, but most don't. How many people always keep their blade-guard and splitter with anti-kickback paws on their table-saw for through cuts? If not, all you need to do is feed the lumber less than straight to create a kick-back situation.
The number one rule with any saw is make sure your hand is nowhere near the blade and check before you turn it on. It’s when we get lazy that bad things happen.
For me the RAS got booted from my shop because of inaccuracy. It was a Craftsman. Not high quality. Simple hobbyist saw. The further the motor was from the pivot the worse it was. Safety was for me an issue as well because I found myself pushing the envelope of safety to achieve the cut. Inpatient, young and inexperienced when I started also had a lot to do with it. I now have two RASs. An old DeWalt when DeWalt was the bomb and another old brand (can't remember name). Don't use either one. Powermatic tablesaw is my go to saw. DeWalt I picked up for a song and have as a conversation piece. There is a TH-cam video that all reading this must view. It is a promotional film on the DeWalt RAS. Black and white video depicting 21 RASs onsite building I believe were Army Barracks back in the day. It is a must see. th-cam.com/video/HiGH0Qsu3ak/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the video. I have a DeWALT Black & Decker RAS. 1964. I still have the BE-A-PRO owners manual with then star Quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, Johnny Unitas on the front cover ; $1.25 !. Great machine.
Been wood working since highschool.Early 70s.i own a table saw,radial arm saw,miter saw,and band saw. The only one that sent me to the ER was radial arm saw . But was my fault. Removed the blade guard to put a bigger blade on. Lesson learned. Respect all of your saws ! Safety first !
As a long time cabinet maker I found that the saw replaced the need for a shaper table for cutting rabbet cuts. Used a thin curf 10” 40 tooth and set the blade horizontal with the width of the rabbet extended through the fence. Then mounted a small trim router with a spline blade on the right side on the same fence. The two blades bisected and removed a piece of material that with a shaper table would make it all into sawdust. The set up made no chipping on the material because the router blade cut into the material rather than cutting out of the material. I ran a lot of finished particle board thru it and finally changed the blades after nearly 6 months of continual usage. It was very economical versus a shaper table and it’s blades and their resharpening frequency and cost.
This setup seems very interesting, but I'm not following the trim router setup. Would you have a photo of this setup?
@@markjohnson8864 no pic. The set up is the arm saw blade being horizontal with blade rotating into/ towards the right side of the saw, that being the infeed side. The fence that the blade projects into and thru is set up at a distance up from the saw table that is what the remaining tongue thickness of the rabbet cut. Like 1/4 “ remaining. The router with a 1/16” x2” spline blade,the type used for cutting groove for insert of rubber t-nosing used on commercial cabinets. The router base is attached to the saw fence on the right side at about 12” from the saws blade in the vertical orientation of perpendicular to the saw table and saw blade. The spline blade is extended forward from the fence to a distance of its outer tooth edge to a point equal to the thickness of the component piece of the cabinet that fits into the cabinet and off the table equal to bisect the saws blade facilitating a clean intersect of the two blades cut. That piece could be like 3/4” prefinished particle board or what ever the actual dimension of the piece to be fitted. The spline blade rotation ends up clockwise as viewed from operators standing. This clockwise rotation cuts into the work piece from the top and down thereby eliminating chipping. Keep in mind that the accuracy of the set up and the blades orientation is paramount with no lead out of blade into the finish side of workpiece. Lead in is acceptable but no lead out or it will chip the work piece as the tooth exits the work. The router MUST be set up with enough structured rigidity that it’s position is always at right angle to the table and fence. Now as to keeping the work piece onto the table so it doesn’t ride up and cause over cutting. I used spring loaded wheels that mounted on the table behind the fence and fabricated their sewing arms to extend out and over the fence to land within 1” of the finished rabbit cut. This hold down DEVISES, at least two of them one indeed and one out feed. The distance of a work piece at the fence is the operators job to insure that the piece maintains contact with fence. The hold down spring loaded where can be angle so the feed into the fence helping keep it tight. The saws table has your be long enough and wide enough,at alignments to the blades, to allow no effort from the operator to keep the work place stable. Chip removal was done with vacuum connected directly at and before the saw blade with a boot with mounted frame that picked up the material as it was being removed.
The mounting of the router requires a hole through the fence that is large enough to allow the router spindle to pass through. I used a alternate base of material similar to the resin type of original base. The base was more or les rectangle with the end on the router being rounded. The base was more ore less 6 inches wider than the router mount area. This allowed for the base to be attached with a single mount on the base between the base and the saw blade. The extended portion of the base on the right side was used as a fulcrum elevation control to swing up or down to the bisect elevation the mounted. Fitting with a fine threaded elevation screw can also be done, just that when the desired position is met the mount is held ridged by means of clamping or whatever you choose to do.
This same procedure can also be done on a table saw with everything just upside down.
@@magicone9327 Thanks for the very detailed description. Hope it helps someone. If you haven't seen it, this reminded me of th-cam.com/video/GFmVD3bef2o/w-d-xo.html which is a RAS dedicated to a production jig (though not as fancy as yours)
@@markjohnson8864 thanks. This setup can be done very easily with two routers in the same basic configuration.
One of my uncles was a cabinet maker. His go to saw was a Radial arm saw. The one he had and used for years, he got back in the 70s. He loved that saw. I have two chop saws, One cost a bit more then the one you have. It is a 12in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw, the other one is a 7 1/4in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw. Yet they can not do all that a Radial arm saw can do. I do have old Table saw, but do not really use it that much now days. I use to be a contractor, back in the day. Now I'm semi retired, and mostly do home projects, or something now and then for a friend or family. I will stand behind the need of a Radial arm saw. My last jop was building a new deck for my brother, and I needed to rip some lumber length was. it came in handy for that. My Table saw is is big and the way it set set up, it would have of been a pain to take to his place to use, as where the Radial arm saw. was easy to move. I love the way it can be a chop saw or table like saw all in one.
Same thing that happened to the station wagon. Something new ( suv/ sliding miter saw) comes along and all the cool kids start buying them. All of a sudden the old staple of the wood shop is no longer wanted.
So funny you should mention the station wagon! I drew that parallel myself when I walked through the parking garage and saw a "small SUV/Crossover" which I finally realized they'd worked their way back to the station wagon! I drive a GMC Acadia, which is already on a unibody and the model after mine they lowered and narrowed for people, because no one was driving these things down a creek bed. So they've basically rebranded the station wagon, and except for the rear facing seat, many people are now driving a station wagon by a different name. When I saw that Festool had added a stop to cut dados on their sliding compound miter saw, I felt they'd work back to the features of the RAS.
Had my Sears Radial Arm Saw since I bought it new from Sears in 1977. Still use it, it's like new. Built some great things using this versatile power tool. Never had any problems with it.
I’m 65 and have literally used both tablesaws and RAS for 50 yrs- even a little longer, since I was a kid working in family production shops. Both platforms are INCREDIBLY dangerous and deserve the utmost respect. Period end of story. The ONLY reason there are more tablesaw injuries is because there are exponentially more tablesaws in use. 😮
Some of the wacky horizontal set-ups advocated by both DeWalt and Sears in the 50’s-70’s are extremely dangerous even with good hold-downs and etc . With a RAS every crosscut is a climb cut. If that carriage grabs the hand holding it won’t stop it, if a shard shatters off it can take out an eye…and your holding hand and arm are always vulnerable.
You can work safely with either of these and with all power tools but you need to stay vigilant 100% of the time when using them.
Have you been this hysterical your entire life? Are you on heart and BP meds yet?
My Mother gave me my Father’s Dewalt RAS when he died. I never felt the need to have a table saw since I got it. 25 years now in my workshop.
My RAS is circa 1970, and still running strong. I prefer it over my sliding chop saw because it can reach just a little further, and it has the ripping capability that often works better than my table saw. The only difficulty with it is how I burn through fences. That's because it's a great saw for other than 90 degree cuts, in multiple directions, at once. Even the blades were good back then, as I still have a couple of them, in their original packaging (1970).
It seems like an annual PM to replace the fence. On my (new) fences I plow out a groove (dado) along the bottom and incorporate a yardstick, set such that zero is exactly where the blade touches it.. makes repeat cuts easy, just clamp a block @ XX inches and cut away.
From what I have read, to prevent the blade from digging in and running forward you need a blade with a rake angle as close to 0degrees as possible. This would push the work against the backstop and table, opposite what you'd want on a table saw. I've had a RAS in my home shop for the last 35 yrs, used to use it alot but my miter saw seems to be more accurate, so it gets much of the use now.
Aside from the danger of using a (table saw) blade with aggressive hook angles, a serious problem happens when the plane of the sawblade is not parallel to the trackarm. in that circumstance, one side of the leading teeth attempt to climb the workpiece in an arc while the trailing teeth on the other side try to lift the board off the table.
I used a RAS for decades building houses, still my favourite saw for construction. It is harder (heavier) to setup on site but so useful when cutting large lumber. I tried to give one to my son and he responded with “NO They’re far too dangerous. Where has this urban legend come from, all power tools are dangerous, use them with respect and training.
I bought a Craftsman RAS in 1994 when remodeling a house. I needed to build a kitchen floor cabinet to match the existing ones, and it had odd angles. I could only afford one tool, and viewed this as a multiple use tool. I built the cabinet, and many other things with it since. I did learn my lesson early on trying to handhold a blocky piece of wood for a small angle cut. The saw ripped it right out of my hand and tore a big chunk out of the block. Never did that again. The RAS is very good at ripping wood, and of course a quick cross cut on a wide plank.
My dad always had a radial arm saw. Now that he is 92, he is ready to pass it on to me. I have always looked forward to the day he does. He made some amazing things.
Cool. Glad to hear it's finding a good home. If you haven't already found it, check out @brianweekley5700 videos on the RAS. I find them the best I've found on youtube.
I have been using them since the 1970s. Yes, they do a whole lot. You can even use it as a metal milling machine with a little care.
@@oldfarthacks wow, that’s a new one on me.
I am a retired MD. When I worked in the ER as a resident, I saw many patients who injured themselves with a table saw. Lost fingers, hands. I never, ever saw an injury from a RAS, and so I bought one in the mid-80's and have been using it ever since with no problems at all.
My HS shop teacher cut off 3 of his finger on the table-saw a few years after I graduated. Another guy I went to HS with partially cut into his thumb. I was just talking with a family friend who I mentioned a neighbor who had cut his fingertips on one. Because of these early knowledge, I feel like I've been perhaps more careful/respectful of the table saw---but I've had a few kick-back incidents, and one time when I didn't take the time to put the old splitter on the saw for a cut, and the plywood rode up on the blade and over. I can't think of any scary incident on my RAS. I do like my table saw (mostly rip on the table saw, crosscut on the RAS), but those who think safety is the reason people tend to the table-saw over a RAS are wrongheaded.
True. My dad had a radial arm saw and never injured himself.
Table saws are much more dangerous and cause vicious injuries.
I am a retired general surgeon and saw many table saw injuries also. I never saw a RAS injury but I suspect this is due to the much greater use of one over the other and proximity of the fingers to a table saw blade (most of what I saw).
@@gyamlj Thanks for your perspective. Do you think the table saw was more heavily used than the RAS even before the rise of the chop saw? I would have thought that at one time, the RAS would have been the crosscut saw and would have had similar dominance over the table saw as the chop saw does today---at least for homeowners and carpentry.
The plural of anecdote is not data, unfortunately.
Not to discount your experience in the least. It's no doubt valid. But it doesn't generalize well. We'd need a more statistically valid sampling methodology if we want to work forward from injury stats to causal conditions.
I have learned to respect both my radial arm saw and my table saw because neither is entirely safe.
The massively exposed travelling armature on the RAS calls attention to itself as something that could do great harm to anything whose blade in its path. I've now put in a blade with a negative hook angle in order to reduce the risk of the blade climbing toward the workpiece, and not incidentally the operator. Still, that's what it will tend to do in a crosscut. Ripping is a whole other set of parameters waiting to surprise the operator. And sideways operations, while fascinatingly versatile, add new risk factors. I haven't hurt myself yet on this saw. But I'd be a fool not to see how injury could come about, and it would be an injury of the ballistic carbide blade kind.
On the table saw, we see a rather different application of cutting forces. Kickback is the best known failure mode, and generally it's only the workpiece, not the blade, which becomes a projectile. But I can attest to the extreme violence of flying teeth if they should break off during a kickback. Fortunately, I was standing out of line of the blade, so those teeth embedded into the wall behind me. It all happened because a fragment of offcut became drawn into the path of the blade. I saw the incident developing, and then BANG, it was over.
I should add that the workpiece was broken into two pieces, one of which flew up and struck me in the face despite my standing out of line. Fortunately, almost all of the damage was to my safety goggles.
I started using my dad's RAS when I was 12 (with supervision) and had only 2 close calls in 10 years of use. We eventually switched it out for a Dewalt compound sliding miter saw 6 yrs ago. I have found it to be more versatile than the RAS. The overwhelming factor, I think, is how compact and portable it is compared to a RAS. The only functionality difference that I found was that you aren't able to do rip cuts on the miter saw.
I have a Craftsman RAS that I purchased in 1977 and still find it the best. Over the years I have stripped it down and re-aligned the runners to keep it running true and always check to ensure that the Blade is running trues in all 3 axis. I have ripped 4 x 8 sheets of 3/4 ply with it and made cabinet doors with the molding head blade. Best investment I made.
Same time frame and same saw...Works like a charm but have to treat it with respect
Ditto all of that.
Totally agree the 1877 Craftsman RAS is a workhorse
Craftsnan had a recall on all of their Radial Arm saws. The danger of these saws was using them for ripping.
The recall was
1. a buy back of the saw,
2. upgrade kit for the guards on the saw
I received the Upgraded guard kit, this was 2014
I believe these offers expired in 2015.
Owned the saw since 1983 good machine when used properly
@@Wes-x9p The upgraded guard, was (is) a good upgrade, I still have the old guard hanging on pegboard. The new (upgraded guard) is a little more cumbersome to get it on & off to change the blad e, but works to prevent kickback better than what it came with. My wife got me mine (Sears Craftsman RAS) for Christmas 1980... been a workhorse ever since. Since I got a table saw, ripping with the RAS is a rare event, but because my RAS is built into the center of my shop.. ripping something really long (and if I'm alone) is easier on the RAS.
Very good comparison. Cost & portability are two major considerations for many craftsman.
The miter saw is more portable, too. So you will be more likely to see them on job sites. They are lighter-weight and more compact.
Totally agree. That's why I own one. Also, it's a lot easier to keep true. If you're not wanting to cut dados, rabbits, and tenons, the miter saw is the way to go. But I love the ability of the RAS to cut parallel to the tabletop for joinery.
Craftsnan had a recall on all of their Radial Arm saws. The danger of these saws was using them for ripping.
The recall was
1. a buy back of the saw,
2. upgrade kit for the guards on the saw
I received the Upgraded guard kit, this was 2014
I believe these offers expired in 2015.
Owned the saw since 1983 good machine when used properly
Thanks for sharing your experience, as there's not a lot of information still out there on the craftsman recall.
I got my Craftsman RAS in the late-80s. It is good for dados and cuts longer than my non-sliding miter saw will make. I almost sold it before I moved houses 6 years ago. I'm glad I didn't.
I bought a De Walt RAS in about 1983. The two things I don't like about it are rip cutting/grooving short lengths (I've learnt to feed through a tunnel), and the fact that it's imperial rather than metric, which meant I couldn't get accessories. The latter is a minor problem, as I don't use it all that much any more.
One of the best upgrades to a RAS is to add a negative rake blade. I have a Freud -5 degree rake blade on my saw and it cuts like butter with no kickback effort.
I didn't know Freud makes a -5 degree blade for a RAS. The problem I've had with negative hook blades like those found on chop saws is that they are designed for fine crosscutting and have 60-80 teeth with small gullets that won't clear out the wood unless you pull the motor extremely slow. Too fast and the blade grabs.
Most guys I know with RAS use a Freud 50 tooth LU84R011 combination blade with a 10 degree positive hook. The "Mr. Sawdust" blade from Forrest is also 10 degrees. Books on RAS from the 50's and 60's say blades with hooks under 15 degrees are acceptable for crosscutting. Anything larger, especially on saws with motors over 17 amps, can cause dangerous self feeding.
My dad wanted to hove me his ras saw when i got married. My career required moving, and ot was so big and heavy, it was too heavy to pack around. I felt it was limited to specific tasks.😊
The biggest problem for the radial arm saw is that it is misunderstood and few people realize the versatility of the saw. I've had a table saw and a radial arm saw in my shop for 40 years and only acquired a miter/shop saw about 12 years ago. The radial arm may need calibration a little more often than other saws, but also performs functions easier or functions that others don't. I've always considered the radial arm saw to be much safer to operate than the table saw. My son operated the radial arm saw at 12 years old and I kept him away from the table saw until he was in his late teens. I laugh when people think you can't rip sheet goods on a radial arm saw.
My son has been using the table saw since he was 8, he refuses to use the radial arm saw or even the miter saw, everything he does is on the table saw.
The only limit I've found with my radial arm saw is crosscuting sheet goods but that's easily done with a straightedge and circular saw. I bought mine about thirty years ago for $100. One day I was using it out front on my driveway and someone stopped to tell me there was a safety recall out on the blade guard. He gave me the contact info and they sent me a whole new blade guard system. Use it all the time!
@tajon5394 , just barely able to see over the table. Probably had a better chance of ducking out of the way from a kickback. Better to be lucky than good, right....
I _prefer_ the radial saw for ripping sheets of plywood (all the way to the center) and cutting dadoes and rabbets in large panels like bookcases. MUCH easier than trying to do it on my table saw.
@@garyK.45ACP You can see what you're doing!
I'm not trained at all in carpentry and live in a city apartment. A friend of mine bought a house and was working on it and built a little shop and I would go there and help and use the table saw. A couple of times I got hit by flying pieces of wood from the saw, but they didn't do any damage. I feel lucky that that's the worst that happened to me, considering my lack of knowledge and training.
Many of those in good shape are showing up at my H4H ReStore. I recently acquired a shop, so I might pick one up.
I bought my Sears RAS in 1973. The motor failed a couple of years ago, because it got clogged up with dust. I never blew air through it because I didn't know I needed to. I got the motor repaired, almost good as new (the quick stop feature seems weaker). I attached a laser to the blade to show the cut line. Spiffy. Accuracy is an issue, since it is easy to nudge things out of true, but it is close enough for most work.
Only the turrethead rockwell/delta RAS is worth owning. The table can be adjusted to allow crosccut dados that are accurate. The sears saw is so valuable that people in my area often give them away. FREE. One on FB market. this morning for $ 50/offer.
I inherited my Father's 1960 era Craftsman RAS. He used it for YEARS and kept it in great shape.
He still had the manuals and all his original paperwork.
We replaced the motor bearings about 5 years ago since they were noisy, and it is like brand new now!
My Dad bought one back then for building a 14' Sea Skiff sailboat. Not sure about yours but on his the motor ran parallel to the blade and used a worm gear set up between back of motor and blade. He had to get the motor rewound twice as it overheated cutting white oak. I think my brother ended up with it and he passed a few years ago. Glad you kept your Dads.
I have a 10 inch Craftsman radial arm saw that I bought used from a friend in 2002. I seldom use it largely due to the fact that there is too much clutter in my garage and it's a pain to get out but like the things you mentioned the radial saw does things better than other saws. I find it unbeatable for dado cuts and also cross cutting large pieces of solid stock up to 20 inches. I also have a cast iron 10-inch Craftsman table saw that I have used extensively but like the radial saw it sits next to it is boxed in by clutter which really needs to go. For ripping the table saw has no equals but it is very heavy and even though it sits on a mobile base it requires a lot of room. I also have a 12-inch DeWalt compound sliding miter saw which, although obnoxiously heavy, is great for cutting deck boards and other large 2X stock away from your garage. I can cut 5 5/4 deck boards at a time with that saw. 4x4s and 4x6 beams are no problem either. Aside from large sheet material it is always better to push the saw through the stock than the stock through the saw. I only regret not going with battery miter saws but their cost outweighs the convenience to an extent. For light trim and stock up to 2x6 I use my compound Metabo (Hitachi) miter saw. Very compact, light and best of all cost less than $100. I've tried selling the RAS several times with no interest.
Like your point, "Aside from large sheet material it is always better to push the saw through the stock than the stock through the saw," as I do think how to make a cut does depend on consideration of the cut. I'd argue that cutting large items is better to move the cutter than the lumber---but I've never had my table saw with a bunch of feed tables around it, which would make this a lot more manageable. I've got my RAS table set at a height that it makes a pretty good outfeed table, but I typically will cut-down plywood with a rough cut on my hand-held radial saw to make them more manageable on the table saw. I don't own a track saw, but seems that might be a better choice than going to the table-saw to cut large sheet goods.
My dad had a Craftsman RAS he bought in the late 60's until the late 90's when he bought a new one. I've had that one for 20 years. There is a learning curve to properly set up and safely use a RAS. I carefully studied the manual many years ago. The only time it scared me was when I was ripping with it.
agreed. while we have many fond memories with our radial arm saw, our sliding compound miter saw does the job of virtually every type of crosscut better, and the table saw is much better for ripping sheet goods. We had stopped using the radial arm saw for so long, we eventually sold it. There are a few cuts we would prefer to make with the RAS, but its sheer size makes it impractical to keep in the shop for the few times we want to use it and we can still make those cuts with a combination of other more useful tools.
I watched someone lay over the top of his saw pushing wood through The floor under his feet was covered in slippery saw dust. He was so close to catching clothing in the blade. Love my RAS . I have a small shop and dont have room for all the tools i would need to replace my old craftsman RAS
I've had my Craftsman RAS for over 25 years. No problems; still going strong. Love it!
The RAS can be a nice piece of kit. However, the RAS was not killed by the basic miter saw (chop saw), which co-existed with the RAS for decades. A one-two punch killed the RAS. First was the increasing liability exposure makers of RAS faced. Whether real or imagined, the saw had a reputation for being unsafe -- even if used correctly. Worse, manufacturers were being held liable for injuries sustained even when their products were used inappropriately. (This wasn't just a problem with saws. Recall the lawnmower manufacturer who was sued when someone used it's product to trim a hedge!) The issue became not could a RAS be used safely, but could the maker prevent it from being used unsafely.
Second, the great advantage of a RAS was it's cross cut capability. Many woodworking shops had a RAS for cross cuts and a tablesaw for rip cuts. Sliding miter saws could replace the cross cut capability of the RAS, while taking up less room and costing less. As a consequence of this one-two punch, makers faced a shinking market and increased liability for RAS.
I've had one for many years. Rarely a furniture project where it doesn't see use.
I got my saw back in 1990. Still have it and use it all the time. I agree the table saw is dangerous. I only use mine when the RAC or hand saw will not get the job done.
Good question. They are great!
I have one I bought in the early 1990's. The main disadvantage of the saw is that it takes a lot of space in the shop, demanding a full wall to take advantage of it's abilities. It is also not easily portable like a sliding compound miter saw (which I also have and use).
The main advantage of the radial saw arm saw is its crosscut capacity (better than my 12" sliding miter saw) and it's ability to rip to the center of a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, which is much easier to do than on a table saw. But again, this requires a minimum 8' work table on each side of the saw...a 16' table. AND the table must be able to support a full sheet of 3/4" plywood...on both sides of the saw.
It is also capable of dadoing, rabbeting and other molding work, which cannot be done on a miter saw. When building bookcases and shelving units, I much prefer cutting the dadoes and rabbets on the radial arm saw. It is simply much easier to lay a large panel on the table and move the saw over it, rather than trying to move a large panel over a table saw blade.
I wouldn't want to operate my shop without all three...a radial arm saw, table saw and sliding compound miter saw.
I do not consider it any more (or less) dangerous than any other saw. They will ALL amputate your fingers and hands if not operated properly!
Hard to generalize. My father in law cut off 3 fingers on a radial arm saw. RAS was always said (50 years ago) to be a big safety problem. But I think that has changed in perspective. Yes, the kick back is virtually gone. But some, (including myself many years ago) who didn't have a table saw, used it to rip and of course that is NOT so safe. Chop saws have replaced most RAS as the footprint is so much smaller, and, unless you tune your RAS well, it is less accurate. The table saw is so much more accurate (potentially) than a RAS that most folks use the RAS basically for rough cutting or replacing the chop saw. I have had cheap RAS s and big Dewalts. But I've also had about 10 Table saws, and still use 3 of them, (a unisaw, pm 66 and an big Oliver. feel pretty safe with using an RAS but I finally got rid of mine, just for space reasons. There really is very little I can't do with a table saw and a chop saw, that I could do with a RAS. The RAS WAS a huge step forward for construction back when it was invented by DeWalt in the 20's, but after the chop saw came into use, and the pop up saw in production, RAS use definitely declined. I'd agree that the use of the radial arm saw is fairly intuitive, pull with one hand, hold with the other, and that the table saw on the other hand is not. There is a lot of knowledge about the table saw that only comes with experience. Of course there are a lot more things that can be safely done on the table saw too.
I believe you are sadly mistaken thinking that the sliding compound miter saw replaced the R.A.S. The slider is meant for portability and the R.A.S. is for the most part a shop tool. The R.A.S. as you mentioned can run dado blades whereas the slider can’t. Our shop has two R.A.S. on a 48’ bench/wall with 20’ between them. We do a lot of pre-fabbing home builds here in our shop, hence such a long bench. Most of the time one of the R.A.S. is set up with a 3/4” dado. The dado set up can be rotated so that the blade cuts horizontally as well to make cutting mortice & tenons easier.
My argument is that the compound miter saw was "good enough" for most consumers and cheaper, so it chased the RAS out of the consumer market. I love the joinery that I can do with my RAS---but most home owners just crosscut structural lumber. I only mentioned the sliding miter saw, in that it's an evolution back to some of the advantages the RAS has. I want those features and why I still use my RAS, so I don't think I was dismissing the unique features you get with the RAS---but rather trying to say, hey, these are still nice saws and don't dismiss them because they've fallen out of fashion.
@@markjohnson8864
The sliding compound miter saw won acceptance of those who felt that an ok miter joint was acceptable. That is what wood fillers are for.
The most dangerous tool in the shop is whichever one a person happens to be using. That being said, I loved my father's RAS which he bought in the 60s and eventually became mine. The workbench in my shop was 18 ft long with the RAS mounted in the center. Ripping long stock was a breeze with the guides I put on the bench. When I sold that house to a neighbor he wanted me to leave the RAS and since I would not have a shop in my new home I said ok. I kind of regret it, but am happy it continued to be put to good use. I wish I still had it,...
I own/use a 30-yr old Craftsman radial arm and it is sooooooo smooth. Love using it. Will never get rid of it. (Yes, I have shot a 2x4 across the garage, but lesson learned. lol)
It seems like the people who condemn the RAS have no problem using a sliding miter saw . I find my RAS a much more versatile tool , and as with any tool it’s only as safe as the training , experience, and knowledge that’s between the ears .
I have a 10" 1960 Craftsman rasial arm saw that is built like a tank. But I have not used it in hears because my Hitachi 8-1/4 sliding compound saw does 85% of what the old sear s saw does and it's portable. That old saw is a better saw but the new one is just much more usable.
What happened to the radial arm saw? My Wards radial arm saw is out in the garage. I use it all the time. I have been using it since we got it in the late 1970s. I have made all sorts of cabinets and furniture with it. I have a a dado blade. It has a planing adapter. It has a router bit adapter. I have a blade that cuts ceramic tile very accurately. What's not to like.
Cross cut is NOT the safety/kick-back issue on Radial. THE problem was Rip cut ! Down a long board.
It threw a board for me, and I got scared.
The real reason I got rid of mine (replaced by table) was too much work changing between cutting and dado blades.
I would get another radial, solely for dado / rabbet. But, I now know that today's miter saws have a depth set. To allow for cutting "troughs", instead of "through"
Radial saws must have the correct blade to rip. If you use a 12 degree table saw blade you may lose you teeth.
I had one and it was very good at every thing except staying in calibratiln but that could easily have been fixed.
The main reason for accidents and injury comes down to people failing to read instructions. Most people dont adjust the splitter or shroud for depth of cut and many dont understand the differance between in rip and out rip.
Cant or wont read instructions? Then you will be at risk with most tools.
First saw I bought back in 1985 still have and use it!
I have a 1972 Delta Rockwell RAS (Built like a tank) and a 1967 Craftsman 10 in table saw that's solid cast iron and weighs a ton. I would never part with either saw. I use the table saw the most but when I'm needing super accurate cuts I go to the RAS. To be honest both saws can be very dangerous. I've had close calls in the past with both saws. You just have to be careful using any power tool!
Some might know this but the radial arm saw was really a multi-tool in one. Case in point you could turn the head sideways and put a router bit on it and use it as a router. I assume you could also use it that way to make your own tongue and groove wood parts as well.
I’ve had a Craftsman RAS for decades. Use it all the time.
I still have three radial arms and will not part with them. Don't like table saws.
I have my Dad's Craftsman radial arm saw that was purchased in the '60s. It still works great and the biggest issue with it is the old table that is made out of compressed wood fiber similar to MDF. I think if I replaced that with something that wouldn't swell and shrink with moisture change it would be really accurate. It took some learning to use it safely since neither my Dad or my self had used a table saw even. First cut we didn't read any instructions and fed the board in from the wrong side and it became a missile. A few years later I was using a daddo blade and we had a really close by lightning strike and it startled me so bad I jammed my thumb in and had to make a trip to the emergency room and a highly skilled orthopedic surgeon saved my thumb and I have much respect for the saw and still use it often.
Your story really illustrates how accidents don't occur when things are regular. A lightning strike illustrates a low probability but possible event that does occur. Glad to hear your thumb was saved.
My Dad bought a Craftsman Radial Arm Saw in 1973 in there hay day. We used it built a few houses and it worked well. It be could work like a table saw in reverse, so I think folks now use a table and compound miter saws to replace it. The cuts were not always accurate and it did take a bit to learn how to use it. It was a great saw that outlived its usefulness.
I think the reason there were so few injuries from the radial arm saw was because so many people heard how dangerous they were and they became more careful around them. They paid attention during cuts simply out of fear leading to a safer work environment.
There may be a lot of truth to that. I remember, decades ago, reading a study that indicated that the stationary power tool that was involved with the most accidents was the bandsaw. They reasoned that the reason for this was that many homeowners purchased a small bandsaw as their first stationary tool, the moving blade has small teeth and appears innocuous to the untrained user, and it is often used to cut small pieces, tempting the user to position their fingers close to the blade. Finally, many users get careless about adjusting the upper blade guide height. Table saws were in fewer home shops at the time and the noise and spinning blade engender a lot more respect. My grandfather owned a meat cutting plant and the experiences I had as a kid watching big men run a cow's leg through a bandsaw that hardly slowed down left me with a very healthy respect for the tool.
And why wouldn’t the same apply to a table saw, since they were invented even before the RAS?
@@racekar80 The most dangerous thing about the radial arm saw were the rumors of it being so much more deadly than the table saw. The table saws blade was for the most part buried beneath the table. The radial arm saw had the full blade exposed. This alone would act as a warning because let’s face it, an exposed blade spinning at around 4000 rpm can look intimidating so people instinctively and actively tried to be careful when using them. Kind of like standing on the roof of a building near the edge, you tend to be more careful. Whereas if there’s a railing or a window between you and a 30 story fall you are a little less careful. As you become complacent you let your guard down. Plus the table saw is stationary but the blade on a radial arm saw can and does move and if you haven’t leveled it it will roll toward your hand sitting on its table while you are looking somewhere else.
RAS's also take up a large amount of room and generally are harder to move. That said I love mine.
Power compound miter saw, in particular the sliding version is by far the biggest reason. Smaller, lighter, easier to keep adjusted, portable and cheaper. The Radial arm saw is large, heavy, hard to adjust and keep adjusted and that makes out of control climb cutting more likely. The ways on the arm and the bearings wear out making the saw very sloppy, again, making out of control climb cutting more likely. Cheaper saws were less robust and rigid so they were more sloppy to begin with and wore out faster. Those old Dewalt radial arms were beasts and the gold standard for quality. Original Saw Company still makes them but they are super expensive so out of reach of most people. Just about the only thing a radial arm saw can do that most sliding compound miter saws can't is dados and rabbets. I still have a Craftsman radial arm saw that I haven't used for years, but if I do set it up again, it would be for that single purpose. Emerson, the OEM of most Craftsman radial arm saws has had a recall running for years. Probably 15 years ago, I got a retrofit kit for free that included a new guard, new table top and fence and all the parts required to upgrade the saw. Now they don't even do that. They want you to cut the cord off flush at the motor and the arm and send them a picture documenting it and they will send you $50.
Older radial arm saws had little to no protection from the blade so there was always more exposed blade than a table saw adjusted to have a tiny bit of the blade above the work piece, at least while cutting. Later saws had much better guarding. I suspect the INJURY RATES would be similar, at least on a radial arm saw with modern blade guarding, to table saws, but table saws outnumber radial arms greatly, and they can be had for very little money, and many people just buy one and start using them without a clue on how to safely use one. It takes no time to find people using table saws incorrectly on youtube, and it is just as easy to find videos of people injuring themselves or talking about how they inured themselves on a table saw. You can find Tommy Silva and Norm Abram free hand cutting on table saws, people using the fence and miter gauge together, people reaching over the blade, using no push sticks, getting finger far too close to the blade with no problem.
I had a very good shop teacher who spent a lot of time teaching us how to safely use each tool in the shop before we were allowed to use anything. He even went into checking the alignment on the table saw and radial arm saw. Someone who buys a saw at the big box store never gets that so they so they use the saw incorrectly and many injure themselves.
Hate to tell you but back in the day all these fancy guards weren't needed because people used to have a brain. Sure an accident would happen here and there but for the most part men worked smart. Not like the idiots today. Watched 2 grandfather's, uncle and my father wield a Craftsman 12" RAS back in the 70' and 80's like it was mere child's play. Don't blame the equipment. Most of the time just like anything else it's the operator.
@@Phil-pq4ks So intelligence prevents all accidents? Gotta be one of the most off base theories I have ever heard. A sample size of exactly 4 people doesn't tell you anything other than give you a heaping serving of confirmation bias.
I purchased a RAS back in the mid 80's to construct a deck. Not a typical deck mind you, but a set of geometric squares each reduced down in proportion. Anyway the interesting thing about my $350 saw is the wife bitching at me about the cost of the saw and totally ignoring my explanation of how much it would cost to have a contractor come in and do the work for a straight up "square and a stair" deck much less my geometric wonder. She just never could grasp the savings and investment part. None the less I let the saw go years later having not much need for it. How I wish today that I could have it back.
I'm guessing most watchers of this video have used the, "it'll pay for itself," line---but kudos to you for getting a high-price item like a RAS through your domestic purchasing department---though with some grief. :-)
I like you fence! I bought my RAS new in 1972 for $149.95 CAD. I never could get it accurate until I replaced the table base. That was when I found a curve in the edge that clamped the fence. The new base with a dead straight edge ment that I could adjust the saw and make perfect cuts.
ONE VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE NO ONE SEEMS TO MENTION IS THE HOOK OF THE TEETH. I have found that 5° or less works best. I found this the hard way! I bought a new blade and did not check the hook. I was not aware of the hook effect on cutting. I put it on the saw and tried to rip a board. It was a disaster. The blade caught the board and lifted it into the guard. Then after a lot of searching on the internet I finally found the cause of disaster. IT WAS THE HOOK. What is hook? It is the angle of the tooth relative to the spindle of the motor. The larger the angle the more it digs into the wood being cut. The worst is when the blade climbs on top of what you cutting. When this happens you will have a 2 to 4 hour job of readjusting the whole saw. I went in search of a new blade that has less then 5°. Many manufactures do not list the angle of the hook. DO NOT BUY ANY BLADES FOR A RAS UNLESS YOU KNOW THIS ANGLE.
The great thing about youtube is that you can get a lot more information than you used to. It's a shame that the RAS went out of fashion before the youtube boom, as being a complex saw, it would have benefited from more information. I have seen a few people talk about the proper saw blade for the RAS. I discussed it a bit at the end of th-cam.com/video/vaB3Hb0gS-Y/w-d-xo.html though I was mostly wanted to discuss why you want to get the vertical play out of your arm, because I hadn't seen anything on that particular hazard. If you've got some tips, I encourage you to share them via a video. I think there's a small audience of RAS owners, like me, who would be interested.
i've been using a RAS for 28 yrs. & never had even a slight problem. I used a dado set to make dados, made 45* cuts & never had a problem. What always ruins everything are the idiots who do not know what they are doing & when they have an accident, they tell the whole world it is the tool's fault! Know the tool - then, respect the tool & you will never have a problem. Working any tool takes just a dose of common sense. have fun - be safe.
When my table went out of commission, I use my RAS for ripping. That was an adventurer. Anyways the RAS could do a hundred things the sliding miter saw couldn't. The danger is when you lost respect on the equipment you're using.
A Chop Saw, even a Slide Compound Miter Type can't replace a Radial Saw. You can't Rip Full Length Boards, make Molding, Shape Banister Rails, Disc Sand, Cross Cut as Long, Angle or Dado Cut Full Length Boards and even Mortise with a Slide Compound Chop Saw. But You can with a Fully Accessorized Radial Saw. Radial Saws mostly belong as a fixture in a Shop or Lumber Yard, preferable on Locking Casters and Centered between two long table for run in and run out of Full Length Boards.. Chop Type Saws are much more Portable designed mostly for the Work Site. A Radial Saw needs a little more Maintenance / TLC because to achieve it's Accuracy Potential it must have a well crafted, Flat and Square Quality Wood Table Top and Sealed from Moisture that would make it warp. But any moderately Skilled Craftsman could easily handle that and should not be without a Good Radial Saw fully kitted out. It give You a lot of extra capability and productivity potential if You have the room. But what do I know, I could be wrong. I only read that off a Gift Shop's Rest Room Stall Wall during a tour of the Worlds Biggest Tooth Pick while driving thru Oklahoma once.
EVERY saw is dangerous. Along with every router, lathe, drill....well, you see what I'm getting at.
Nice video, and I'm glad that you brought up the sliding miter saws.
I inherited a RAS from my grandpa after he passed away but was never trained on how to use it. TH-cam wasn't around back then either, so I tried to figure it out on my own. I'm sure they're great, but I prefer a track saw and compound miter saw.
My Dad bought one in 1970, and he & I built a house with it. I cut almost every piece of sub-flooring, flooring, framing, & cedar closet liner with it. He did all of the measuring & most of the nailing. It was particularly good for the sub-flooring because we set it up to quickly & safely cut ship-lap at a repeatable angle that resulted in a rock-solid floor with no squeaks. I'm sure a miter saw would have worked better, but I don't remember seeing those then.
I BUILT ALL MY CABINETS AND FURNITURE WITH MY CAST IRON CRAFTSMAN RADIAL ARM SAW. FLAWLESS AND ACCURATE SINCE PURCHASED IN 1972! Saftey first and sharp and quality accessories the key!
With so many of these unloved saws still out there in circulation, if you have the space, and the little bit of money that it takes to buy one, then there's no reason not to have one in the shop. Even if you already have the Cadillac 12" sliding dual bevel compound miter saw, the RAS can still do some operations the miter saw cannot. My favorite is the Powr Kraft model that was sold by Montgomery Ward back in the day. In addition to the main saw arbor, it has two auxiliary 1/2" arbors. One turns at 3450 rpm for drilling, sanding, and polishing attachments. I imagine, with a little bit of ingenuity, a belt pulley could be attached to this arbor to drive other vintage small belt-driven benchtop machines that would be temporarily mounted to the saw's table when used. The other shaft turns at 20,000 rpm for routing and shaping if you have the adapters to put your bits on it. I have used this feature to make cross cut decorative features in a posts that were much too long for a router table, and without the fuss of setting up a straight edge guide on each face of each post for handheld router operation. I have not tried using shaper cutters. I imagine that if the shaper cutter isn't much bigger than a router bit, then there shouldn't be much problem, however I have my doubts for larger cutters. With those, safety issues are obvious and the motor would likely stall quickly due to the the 3450 rpm motor being geared up to 20,000 rpm at the arbor.
I love my RAS’s. The 12” is way more useful than a 10”. I did witness an accident on a RAS while working once. A friend was 3 months from retiring from a pre fab home company. There were 7-1/2 hp Dewalt saws there. He crosscut a board end, to square it, slid the wood over to align the next cut with his left hand, and pulled the saw. He lost most of three fingers that day. He just had his mind on something else. Not the saw being dangerous.
Bottom line: a sliding compound miter saw does what probably 99% of the population needs, and it's vastly more compact and transportable/moveable. I can't give my RAS away. No one wants it mostly due to how bulky it is.
I have used a Sears radial arm was for over 30 years. It does it all for a small home shop and can be set up against a wall and does not waist space. Properly adjusted, accuracy is not a problem. I use it primarily on furniture projects.
Ras is a versatile tool. Bought mine in 70's and still running
The RAS has its uses, I have one in storage at the farm and I’ll probably set it up some day. But they take up a lot of space and are heavy. Plus they can be kinda scary to use. It’s the rare shop tool that I’d prefer to be underpowered. Some I’ve used in the past in shops had a cable and weights set up so they couldn’t climb on their own. The good news is it you want one you can now get them for under $100 or even for free when people want them out of a garage or basement
I inherited one and ended up giving it away for some of the same reasons. Mine was kinda sloppy so making precision angle cuts was a pain. It was always a degree or two off.
Cost is almost always the big issue. Many folks can spend $200 but $700-$1000 is much harder to do. Same with table saws. Saw Stop has a great saw and it is the safest saw out there but at a cost of approx $2000 many people won't buy it. Sure replacing a finger costs more but people don't think that way.....I love the info you provided.
I've been using all kinds of saws for 40 yrs. I'm a career carpenter. I've never liked radial arm saws. They're heavy and awkward and the climb cut makes it super dangerous in my opinion. A sliding miter is far superior because you can begin the cut close to you and push it in a conventional cut method. I had a radial arm saw that my father had and I gave it away to somebody. No thanks.
I have worked in Millworks most of my life. From high production to one of a kind custom production. Radial arm saws are tedious and time consuming to keep aligned accurately, if you move the tower a lot. Also most hobbyist RAS are underpowered and the towers tend to flex while under heavy loads. Don't get me wrong, they have their place in woodworking.
The RAS I have in my shop is a OMGA 5 hp 3 phase and is night and day different from the hobbyist saws. From reading a few posts here do not think that underpowered would be a good thing. Having the additional power in your hand will 9 times out of 10 be better than underpowered. The older saws 70's and earlier were by far better than the newer versions. The posts are very strong and the carriages and towers were by far stiffer as well resulting is less flex and more accurate cuts overall. Later models ended up cheapening a fine product design. My RAS stays locked in place for doing perfect 90 degree cuts from 4/4 to 12/4. For anything else I use a sliding compound saw that can be changed degree wise fast and accurately. Nice video Mark and thanks.
Your saw can also be a router it's an amazing tool I have one just like it. I got mine for 400 dollars because they cancelled the product almost as soon as it came out . To complicated for most and subject to people steeling the Lazer parts. I still have not finished setting mine up.
I will at some point just no room for it yet.
Had my Craftsman RAS since 1976. Ripped miles of stock with it. Kickbacks? Yes, I've had a few in the early days before I became more experienced. Can't deny that. True that my mitre saw has become the tool of choice for virtually all crosscuts though other than for wide cuts.
I don't see the RAS as being inherently more dangerous than the TS.
Of course YT is full of videos showing stupidity with a RAS and they were over-marketed in the day. Example? Moulding heads. Sears sold them. I bought them. Tried them precisely once and thought "Whoa! This is a mighty poor and dangerous wood shaper!
The controversy will never end I suppose, but the marketplace has spoken. Only regret is that my RAS was not a top of the Craftsman line. Not appreciating just how many years I was to live with that saw, in retrospect, I would have bought their best.
Bought a used Craftsman 10" RAS at an estate auction in 1992 for $125. Like new, with manual and over a dozen nice blades. Been a workhorse for me all these years.
They look most wicked with more danger area to we are more careful I'm guessing...
If your wood is heaver that the tool, this is the tool we use 1st.
Longer cut than a miter/chop saw.
Lots of accessories are cheap.
Weekend warriers never have enough space in their work room, so I like my chop saw because I can put it away, and I can move it closer to the place I'm working. I suppose one could do that with a radial arm, too. I'll throw out a guess that reassembling it each time would be a pain.
I think the best answer is for the RAS to be built into a benchtop. With that, you can just turn the arm 90 degrees when not in use and have your workbench for other things. But yeah, nothing bets the chop saw for portability. It's the primary reason I own one.
RAS’s are awesome, I have a delta I bought used that came from a HS shop. Extremely well engineered and accurate. I paid $75 for it. I wish I had one like yours as well. In fact, if I catch one for the right price near me I probably will snag it too.
I really like the control cut safety feature, which avoids the climb cut hazard---which is the main reason I haven't tried to get hold of an older cast iron RAS.
Despite my never owning one, but having used one - it is my favorite saw. Having said that, I find the sliding compound miter saw as being more practical, especially when it comes to footprint, weight and portability.
It’s funny, some people call them “ radio arm saw”
I worked for Sears, late 60's-mid 70's. I've had two Craftsman RAS's over my lifetime, and can't be without it. I'd love to have one of those miter saws, but so far I really have no need for it, other than satisfying a "tool fetish". I have tools I have collected, and never used, and some I can't even pronounce.
I spent many enjoyable hours watching Norm Abram using his radial arm saw.
He knew how to use every aspect of that saw.
For me the question is compound miter & job site table saw or RAS
For most people the decision is pretty easy: Get the compound miter and a job site table saw. They are much more portable than an RAS. Each of the saws is better for the purposes they specialize in than an RAS. The RAS is much more difficult to put away on a shelf or cabinet than a job site saw and compound miter saw if you don't want to have dedicated stations for your saws.
My dad had an RAS and I tried to cut some dadoes with saw head turned parallel to the table. I found it scary and awkward. I've seen videos on line by RAS advocates that suggest if you know what you are doing that kind of cut can be done, but the farther you get a way from the back of the saw the more things move around and the scarier it gets. For most people, I think there is no reason to own an RAS.
I owned a Craftsman RAS for 30 years and at the end the alignment was just wrong. Try as I might, I could not get it to run true. So I scrapped it and bought a Sawstop and an chop saw.. No more alignment issues with the table saw. I would not recommend a RAS anymore.
I still use mine.
I just don’t have the room and can do anything I need to on the table saw. Once I got a good one and built a fold down outfeed table, cross slide, and some jigs. My miter saw fits under my workbench and I only use it when I need to do something away from my house. A 2 car garage gets tight with a classic car in it as well.
I agree I have both also when I purchased my RAS there wasn’t compound miter saws other than a very small one that barely cut a 2x6 Great video
I used my 60s model DeWalt/B&D for 20 years and liked it a lot more than a table saw. Super versatile tool. I miss it
It was my experience that the RA saw was not as accurate as my table saw.
So, when the motor burned out on my RA saw, I gave it away. I do cabinet work.
!
I’ve had one for 40 years. I love it. It is safer than my table saw. Especially for cutting dados. It can also be used for drilling into the end of long stock.
I think you are right on the mark. My grandfather was a table saw guy, he did most things on it. My father was a RAS guy. He had a Craftsman RAS that was almost as old as me up until he passed just prior to Covid pandemic. His was in great shape. I have a RAS almost as old as his, ( I believe 1967 Craftsman)but almost traded it out with his, mine I bought used, his was older but much better shape. Even though I have both Table saw and RAS I tend to use a 12" sliding Miter Saw the most, so I would agree with your theory. But there is one thing that RAS is best for Better than Miter saw and table saw, that is cutting slots. And I think its nice to be able to align the cuts by sliding over work than lowering and cutting.
I totally agree about "cutting slots". It probably doesn't matter for people doing general carpentry, but if you build furniture, a large number of joints fit the description: half-lap, dados, rabbets, tenons, bridle, box---and just a week ago I was cutting cross-halve joints for jewelry box dividers. These you can't do with the typically miter saw.
A friend of mine gave me his Dad's RAS as he had no use for it. I have a 12'' HF miter saw I bought many years ago that I mounted on the top of a 9 drawer dresser. It works great there, but I am going to put the RAS in its place.
Using an old dresser works very well for a saw table as I put in/out feed rollers on each side, plus I have all the drawers for storage.
I agreed with your comments in your movie about the 3 types of saws. I also have a Dewalt chop saw, a sears table saw and my go to most of the time my Dewalt radial arm saw. I learned at a young age by my father the way to use power tools safely. The only table saw i ever used as a young man was my dad's Shop Smith. He had just about all of the attachments that were available.
fwiw, I've had classic DeWalt 10" RAS since 1980 and have used (and still use) the heck out of it. Lots of cabinets, windows, framing, decking projects to list a handful. Its weakness is dealing with full 8x4' panels - my dad's table saw deals with those much better, while I use a clamp-down saw guide and a Skill saw :)
I did manage to nick the nail bed on the middle finger of my left hand on the back side of the blade one day 20-something years ago. Stupid impatient act on my part. Bifurcated the nail but it isn't something easily noticed.
Cheers!
I prefer ripping with the RAS over the TS. It is safer. The RAS is particularly useful for working at the end of long pieces. The RAS is safe with educated caution and setup. Take advantage of the fact that the table is made of wood so that you can install safety devices. Your hand can be kept very far away from the blade so that there is no chance of cutting yourself.
I prefer crosscutting with a sled on a TS. It is more accurate.
Nothing beats the cabinet TS for ease of dust collection.
Nothing beats the utility of the RAS. To shape with molding head, dado, sand and horizontal drilling with a chuck at the other end. The annoyance is always the cleanup afterward.
Ripping with either the TS or the RAS is dangerous to the reckless. A bandsaw for ripping is better for these people: no kickback just know where your hands are.
Nothing beats the portability and ease of use (crosscut) for less accurate carpentry jobs of a miter saw. Very much more limited functions vs the RAS and TS; bad dust collection but matters less in open space--the wind blows away the dust.
I have all three and find them all useful.
these things are dangerous AF. im happy to have all of my fingers because my dad didnt like table saws.
IMO, if you have more close calls on a table saw, you might be doing it wrong.
Regarding your original statement that RAS aren't legally resold in the US, I'm not sure why you said that, but glad you corrected it. This is the disinformation that drives me nuts about the RAS. Note, the RAS is still built and sold in the US---just not consumer models. Every Home Depot around me has one in use in the lumber department, and you can buy one at originalsaw.com/product/12-contractor-duty-radial-arm-saw/. If you do everything right you should be OK on a table saw, but most don't. How many people always keep their blade-guard and splitter with anti-kickback paws on their table-saw for through cuts? If not, all you need to do is feed the lumber less than straight to create a kick-back situation.
The number one rule with any saw is make sure your hand is nowhere near the blade and check before you turn it on. It’s when we get lazy that bad things happen.
For me the RAS got booted from my shop because of inaccuracy. It was a Craftsman. Not high quality. Simple hobbyist saw. The further the motor was from the pivot the worse it was. Safety was for me an issue as well because I found myself pushing the envelope of safety to achieve the cut. Inpatient, young and inexperienced when I started also had a lot to do with it. I now have two RASs. An old DeWalt when DeWalt was the bomb and another old brand (can't remember name). Don't use either one. Powermatic tablesaw is my go to saw. DeWalt I picked up for a song and have as a conversation piece. There is a TH-cam video that all reading this must view. It is a promotional film on the DeWalt RAS. Black and white video depicting 21 RASs onsite building I believe were Army Barracks back in the day. It is a must see. th-cam.com/video/HiGH0Qsu3ak/w-d-xo.html
Had mine for over 40 years. Wish it didn't take up so much space in the garage. No way to fold it up when not in use.
Thank you for the video. I have a DeWALT Black & Decker RAS. 1964. I still have the BE-A-PRO owners manual with then star Quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, Johnny Unitas on the front cover ; $1.25 !. Great machine.
That's funny! I just used mine last night! And it's my dad's 1975 Craftsman! Sometimes you need it.