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Ridgid RAS

So it looks like Ridgid has stopped producing RAS and my local HD has finally marked their reaining stock down some. I can't find any reviews online for this saw? Anyone got one? At $539 is this a good enough deal to jump on or should I keep my eyes on Ebay? I know some people are scared of them or don't prefer them for whatever reason but they always seemed to be to be a mighty versitile tool. I already have a nice table saw and compound miter so i suppose i could do without the RAS but....

Any opinons welcome

Thanks,

Chad

Reply to
nobody
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I have that saw, can't seem to get it to cut square, the blade flexes so as to make a slightly cove cut as well as out of square. It's the most expensive shelf I have in my shop, I just have junk piled on top of it.

One of these days I'll rework the fence and see if I can make it cut square and change that crappy blade to a thicker one and start using the darn thing, maybe.

Reply to
KYHighlander

Reply to
acronym

Your $539 would buy a mighty fine used DeWalt RAS.

Reply to
Rumpty

Reply to
Terry Martin

Well I am partial to DeWalt but I've been keeping my eye on Ebay and haven't seen an RAS come up within 200 miles of me (boston). I posted this over in the Delphi forum you suggested but I'll put it up here too. My company recently inherited a DeWalt 7770 "Contractor" RAS. Big black thing, square beam. It needs some love, new table of course, one of the stand legs is bent, all the adjustments are loose and it needs a new blade guard and anti kickback device. That being said, we have about zero use for it. (we bought out a theatre for their lighting inventory and the leftovers of the woodshop came with.) If I could get my boss to part with it for say $100 would that be an OK investment? Granted it's not a really old greeny with the cast arm etc.

Reply to
nobody

KYHighlander notes:

Change the blade all by itself first. Don't mess with the table and fence until you know it isn't the blade: if you've got a tablesaw, use a decent combo blade, full kerf, and see if your cove doesn't disappear.

One thing I've had to learn the hard way is to make ONE change and see what happens (unless the tool is flat falling apart in 7 different ways). If that doesn't help, go to the next one. You make all the changes at once and you probably will get rid of the problem, but you'll never be sure exactly what caused it. That means doing the entire process the next time around. That's probably OK if each bit takes 5 mnutes and costs zip. But when bits cost money and take 30-45-60 minutes, doing 6 unnecessary ones is a big waste.

Charlie Self "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." Mark Twain

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Reply to
Charlie Self

nobody asks:

As you say, that's not the really old DeWalt that is so good it hurts to see someone else have one. I'd offer him 50 bucks, make your (internal) max 100. With the saw that loose, you really don't know how many parts you'll need and how much work it's going to be to get it where you need it, so any you can save up front is good. Hell, offer to haul it away for him.

Charlie Self "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." Mark Twain

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Reply to
Charlie Self

Highlander, I'll be at the Wally World D.C. down in London tomorrow, and I'll be more'n happy to come by and take it off your hands, heheheheh.

Reply to
Jerry Gilreath

Unless something is broken, vintage DeWalt's can be easily adjusted and aligned. Many of the small parts etc. can still be obtained. A 7770 is a decent RAS.

Reply to
Rumpty

The fence on the table of the RAS is made from CDX so that was my thought that it isn't as thick on one end as the other. MDF seems to have a pretty tight standard on thickness throughout the sheet.

I know that blade has to go. You can actually see it flex.

Reply to
KYHighlander

Then where would I put all the stuff that I've had piled on top of it since I found out it wouldn't cut square? LOL

I'm gonna try to fix it. It would be a handy little thing if I could get it to cut good. I used it when laying the floor in my den, the baseboards covered the out of square ends, and it was great for that..

Reply to
KYHighlander

The correct blade for any RAS is the Forrest WW1 blade with the "TCP" triple chip profile and no other. If your RAS draws less than 12A on 110 V use a

8" blade for best performance.
Reply to
Rumpty

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