Especially in the way of blade guards. I use the blade guards that came with the saw for every cut. The more recent models had such restrictive blade guards that the saws were almost unusable. I have personally sold my mm bladed RAS as I have saved up and replaced my table saw with a Felder which has a very accurate and long mitre arm.
I do have a mm Compound Mitre Saw and I agree that the saw has its place in the modern workshop for its varied capabilities and safety record. Thanks for sharing your experience with the RAS, Alan. I guess it all falls down to a matter of personal preference, just like I wrote in the article.
Did I miss it? But did you address stacked dado and depth of cuts. Our very old Craftsman RAS does both and is a lot easier than doing this with a table saw.
I did mention that RASs can be used for making dado cuts, which means they accept dado blades. You can only make through cuts all the way through your stock or through part of it, depending on how thick the wood is. Some miters saws however come with a flip stop which you can use to adjust the depth of cut. Most new sliding compound miter saws have a stop lever that can control the depth of cut; just used one last week to clean the shoulders on set of tenons.
That is a function I kept my RAS for but now the uses for the old radial saw are dwindling. Is that correct? Also, I am more comfortable cutting dadoes and rabbets with a guard on. And, after making the mistake of trying to rip from the wrong direction once — a long time ago , I have not had any problems using my saw with the blade guards and splitter in place to rip boards or sheet goods.
A substantial part of the general opinion about radial arm saws is fear-based and irrational. People who have actually used the RAS regularly for more than a few days tend to be much more rational about them than people who have rarely or never used one because they are frightened of the blade. It is silly to listen to people with little or no experience in any subject. I am old, so quite a few of the woodworkers I know either have or did have an RAS at some point in their amateur or professional lives.
I have heard about much more damage due to table saw kickbacks than from RASs. I know one person who cut off the tip of his middle finger on a table saw and one person who made an angled cut across all of the fingers of his left hand with a table saw. I know of no injuries from a RAS. Yes, of course there must have been injuries somewhere, but I bet if you compared injuries per work hours between the two tools you would find more injuries from table saws. Why is this? But I think the biggest reason is that the RAS blade hanging above the table and moving around while it is running just tends to keep your mind very focused on safety.
It was exciting, but the saw bound up in the wood and no injury occurred. I remember that every time I use the saw now, and am quite safe. Keep your weight over your feet. If the blade grabs, nothing will happen to you. There are numerous key factors you need to consider before making the purchase, depending on your own needs and requirements.
Want to know what those factors are? Here are a few things you should always consider before buying the best radial arm saw in There is nothing too technical or difficult, just some basic stuff related to your preferences and requirements. Just like every other tool, power is the most important factor of a radial arm saw as well.
Also, power is the only thing that determines how efficient your radial saw is going to be. Now, how to determine the right one? Well, if you are using small blades, then a motor with 7 amps of power would work. However, if you are using large blades, the ideal power should be 10 to 12 amps. Speed can be determined by telling how many turns the blades of your radial saw will turn in a minute. The faster the speed and revolution time, the good your cutting would be. If you are working with hardwood, you will need high speed.
If not, then any speed would work for you! The attached working table is what makes a radial arm saw different from other saws, right? That is why the working table should be comfortable, sturdy, and of high quality. Radial saws come with different sizes of working tables — some large and some small.
So make sure to choose the right one according to your needs and requirements. A radial arm saw itself is magic, but still, you will need some additional accessories to perform varieties of cuts. So make sure to look for those. Not only this but some high-end units also come with a dust collection system to wipe off all the sawdust from the atmosphere. So, if you have a flexible budget, try to get those too!
This is the most basic, important, and easy-to-find factor out of them all. Always make sure that the unit you are going to buy has an ergonomic design and is utterly easy to use, even if you have to pay a few extra bucks for that. Trust me; you should never compromise on your comfort and convenience. However, keep in mind that they all perform the same tasks, the only difference would be the weight capacities and high-end features. Now that we have gone through the considerations, here are the top 3 features you should never compromise upon while buying the best radial arm saw:.
A blade is undoubtedly the most important part of a radial arm saw since it will be doing all the cutting solely. So, make sure that the blade has a high-speed motor to make it spin quickly for the perfect cuts. Also, the blades should be wide enough ideally 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Also, the blade should be covered by safeguards to protect yourself from accidents and injuries.
The base of a radial arm saw is also an essential part you should never compromise on. Sometimes I set it up for a specific task and leave it so I do not continually have to adjust one of the other saws. That being said I have a lot of tools lying around the shop that are never used but bought them fully intending to use them some day.
Join Date Jun Posts I have a Sears Craftsman 10" Professional, never keeps a setting radial arm saw. It makes a great dado station that way. If I need to kerf out a pocket, I can mark my lines, both width, and the bottom depth, and go over there and use it. No having to reset up or configure table saw with dado blades that way. Of course for long dados, the table saw is required. For that reason, and that reason only, I keep the Craftsman saw. I noticed that someone mentioned certain years Craftsman were ok, that is something to consider.
I know some of the heavy Delta's did a good job. Radial arm saws as you may well know are dangerous due to the nature of the way they are put together. They are forced to spin the blade so as to keep the workpiece trapped against the rear fence. That forces the blade, with the sliding arm to want to jump across the wood right at you.
So the RAS I mentioned above does have one feature that is worthwhile, and that is a steel cable, mounted to a separate motor, that you can adjust the feed rate to a slow or faster speed, but what I prevents is the unit kicking back at you. So be careful shopping for older saws, or at least in using one. The temptation is to put your hand sideways across the board, and start your cut.
If the saw kicks, and scoots across the board, it could dance right into your hand. Dual Compound Sliding Miter Saws, and there are many good ones out there, my preference are the Makitas for there total accuracy, are a welcome addition to any shop.
Many use high quality miter gauges, with built in stops to cut miters on the table saw. I prefer to cut miters on the Makita, which has a shop stand it is located on, with a stop, and measure system out the left side. I just dial in a number, set the saw, and know I am getting totally accurate results every time. I do check it once in a while though The sliders can handle wider boards, usually up to 12 inches or thereabouts, so they have an advantage of a chop saw.
Radial Arm saws have a deeper range depending on the model, so they enable you to cut wider pieces. I had such a bad experience with accuracy on the Sears, that I dare not use it for ripping, the position that picture shows you.
Table saw for that. Just my. While they do work well on dadoes, to me they are one of the most dangerous saws you can put in your shop. Admittedly the saw I had was on the poor end in regards to quality a mid 70's vintage Craftsman and from what I have heard the old iron Delta and Rockwell saws are fantastic. I had more instances with the blade grabbing and jumping across a board while crosscutting than I care to remember, and while you can turn the head and rip its not real safe doing that plus you already have a TS.
Join Date Mar Posts It works great It does work great for those dados and that is how it is usually set up. They say the radial-arm saw is difficult to adjust and, unless everything is perfectly aligned, makes cuts that are less than true. The radial-arm saw contingent argue that their favored tool is much more versatile than the table saw.
They say it can sand and plane and, like the table saw, rip long boards at a single pass. So which is right for your shop? Adjustment is crucial: Follow the instructions in your manual to the letter. It will also swivel right and left for mitering, and the blade and motor housing can be turned a full ninety degrees to right or left, meaning that the saw can be used to rip boards with the miter clamp releasing the yoke.
For some operations, like ripping, the saw is fixed in place and the stock pushed through the blade. The motor and blade can also be raised or lowered via a crank, either on the overhead arm or beneath the cutting surface. The saw will lock into any of these paths for precise work.
Radial-arm saws are identified by the size of the blade for which they are designed.
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