radial arm saw??

You'd do well to upgrade to a nice table saw. Radial saws often became problematic over time but not sure why they disappeared.

They sure are proud of them. It seems that they have been replaced by another type of saw. A sliding compound miter saw.

Maybe the safety issue had something to do with them leaving the workplace.

On 12/22/2019 10:08 AM, G.B. Cricket wrote: > Hey All, >

Delta is, of course, merely a (very) faint shadow of its former self and has ceased to make much of anything anymore.

Just went out of style; it's much easier to build a decent portable/smaller contractor- or job-site style TS than a RAS that will hold its true. Never were nearly as widespread as the TS altho while Sears was still healthy their mass marketing got quite a number of theirs out there. They were, of course, like most Sears products quite variable from some very, very good models to pure junk.

DeWalt dropped their line quite a long time ago but for a serviceable inexpensive tool, they're not bad. What I started out with solely lo! some 50 year ago, now. The one dad bought when he was redoing the house is still here some 40 yr later and is still going altho I brought the

Well, they're two totally different tools; trying to compare is difficult. 'Pends on what one is trying to use for most.

I've both, wouldn't willingly give up either, nor the chop saw. They all have different strong points.

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They're serious professional tools, however, nothing like the mass-market Craftsman or even the DeWalt kind of thing...

Again, depends upon what OP wants for as to suitability for purpose.

Bingo !

John T.

On 12/22/2019 11:30 AM, dpb wrote: ...

If in your area, this looks like would be a pretty decent acquisition...advantage to home user is dual-voltage single phase.

These were nice tools...not OSC-level nice, but very solid.

For most people, I suspect that to have one that was usable for long pieces, the main use, you needed a whole lot of shop space. That market was pretty small. I do occasionally wish I had one but you can still use a sliding miter saw for the purpose if you build the right spot in your bench for it. I use long extensions on my table saw or use a hand held circular saw with a jig depending on what I am doing because the need is so rare.

I think the slide miter saw has reduced the need/want for radial arm saws. Just a thought.

I have a DeWalt Powershop 7730 10" RAS for sale. It's 1970's era, and a hand-me-down from my grandfather's workshop. In great working order, and includes the original stand and a custom made dust collection "back-stop" that fits onto the working surface. Really want to see it go to someone who will use it. I'm in the Washington DC area.

They are considered semi-obsolete. You can pick used ones up by the dozen for cheap on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. I think it is now considered safer to instead use a table saw and/or a sliding miter saw.

I had 10" Delta or Dewalt radial arm saw, can't remember which. Good saw. But I wouldn't want one now. Now I have a Craftsman 10" sliding miter saw that takes up 10% of that RA saw space. More accurate too. IMO, the biggest downside of a RA saw is the arm flex. Not good when looking for perfect cuts. Oddly enough, I used the RA mostly for ripping.

The one job it WAS good for - - -

There seems to be a lot of talk about safety. I don't find it any more dangerous than a table saw or skilsaw. If you want one and have the room, go for it, I have one and have made good use of it. If you can't find a new one that you can be happy with, buy a quality used one and rebuild it. Watch as many Youtube videos as you can find, lots of info about safety, the proper blade is actually ground different than a table saw blade. Then you can build a better table than it came with. And there are several little jigs that are very useful. Again Youtube has so many useful videos about Radial Arm Saws, watch them before you buy.

Mikek

The RA saw is pretty much the only tool if you are making trusses and you need a shitload of intricate cuts, identically. in lots of pieces of long stock. Unfortunately not a lot of people do that. I assume it would be good for fence pickets or pretty much anything else where you have long pieces that you can set a stop block and cut factory style. There have been a few other times where I wish I had one but not enough to dedicate that kind of shop space.

Miter saw or sliding miter will do that with ease.