"Leslie Gossett" wrote in :
Trimmed an entire house with a RAS and built a cedar planked bathroom on the
45 diag with it also. It did a good job but a PITA to switch diags. Just trimmed a room with a CMS ...what a pleasure.
What your writing is: To use a RAS you have to have a clue?
Agreed.
Question(s): When did the power miter box appear and when did they become a consumer item?
Ah, had a tough time with the LH miters on the RAS? Tis easy to do, make an auxiliary "broken fence" fence 90 degs to normal, swing to the right hand miter position, place the aux fence so that you cut at the miter mark and feed you LH miters in straight into the saw.
I've uploaded a drawing of the broken fence to abpw.
? Did I say a Bad thing?
Jon and I worked things out and this last wasn't meant to knock his second message. I was just putting my thoughts on the RAS down. I included a quote only to indicate I, to some measure, agreed with the statement.
Didn't mean the post to be derogatory to anyone.
Sorry Mark, I already bought from the guy for $40.00. Its probably 20 years old but is square and has a very strong 2hp motor. I just don't have much space for it.
How in the world do you rip plywood with the RAS? It's arm only moves about 2 feet. Do you just fix the unit in place then move the plywood itself through the blade? I'm confused on this one, sorry, but I'm new to woodworking and especially the RAS.
You rotate the motor 90 degrees counterclockwise for an outrip or 90 degrees clockwise for an inrip. You then lock the motor on the arm with the blade parallel to the fence and at the desired rip width. Make sure the rear of the guard is rotated down just above the work piece as a hold down and any anti-kickback pawls and splitter on the front of the guard are adjusted to the workpiece. Feed the stock held against the fence and against the rotation of the blade. Use pushsticks to keep a safe distance at the end of the cut. Beware of very narrow rips or very thin stock.
-Doug
Go immediately to the following site and buy and download this book:
Absolutely. I will sum it up by using the words someone used in another forum: "If you need to ask us whether or not you need a RAS, then you don't." In other words, a RAS is by no means a machine for a beginner.
Fair enough (and I am not one to ask a machine to be forgiving). It's just that new people don't seem to know that a RAS is more dangerous than first meets the eye (and it looks pretty menacing as it is).
First of all let me say that I own 2 tablesaws and a RAS BUT NO CMS....
The RAS is used only for cut off work..shortining long boards etc... and has not moved off 90 degrees in over 20 years...I will ocassionally use it to do dados since it is much easier to do with a RAS then a Tablesaw...
To me unless the Dewalt RAS is selling for less then a tank of gasoline and you have room for it in your shop I honestly would PASS... I thought about replacing my RAS with a CMS but honestly I have not come up with any reason to .... TODAY if I were a young man justr setting up shop I would have a CMS instead of the RAS BUT I sure would not go out and buy a RAS if I already had a CMS...
Just my opinion...
Bob GRiffiths
Even better is the Mr. Sawdust Book, "How To Master The Radial Saw"
you have room for it in your shop I honestly would PASS...
For a bit more than the price of a tank of gasoline, on abpw, a moulding in maple recently made on the RAS.
I am glad to see that Eakes' book is still available even if not in a hardcopy format. This is a classic and will remain current as long as there are radial arms saws.
Thanks Bob for the info and advice. I did buy it for $40. Its such an old Dewalt that it doesn't have the Dewalt colors that Dewalt sells by now. Its more of a tannish dark yellow instead of the bright yellow. However this seems to be a good saw and it'll probably hardly get used but when I need it it'll be there.
Do you know what model number it is? How many amps the motor and the size of the blade?
I want to know too.
Generally the fence on a RAS is set to the front of the saw. This makes it easier to use for most operations. A few more inches of rip capacity can be gained by setting the fence to the base/ column.
The length of fence is limited only by the length of straight lumber you can find or make. Same as a table saw. Except the fence doesn't necessarily extend into the work area, or hang off another fence.
The fence is normally set to the backside of the front table and held in place by a clamping action between the front table and the back table(s).
The rear table is usually in two pieces - on my saw, a 3" wide middle table and a 5-1/2" rear table. The fence can be clamped between the middle and back table to gain 3" of table space or behind the back table to gain 8-1/2" of table space for ripping. Positioning the fence behind the middle table also allows crosscutting 3" wider thin material than the normal fence position.
-Doug
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