Three times?!!!!! I've aligned mine three times in two days. I couldn't begin to count how many times I've done it. It's just not possible to keep a Craftsman RAS (I don't care what vintage) in tune over a nearly 40 year period with just three alignments. Unless you never use it. And then it's still not in tune. Just doesn't need to be.
Au contraire, bonhomme. Excuse my French but I have a Craftsman radial arm saw, circa 1970, that I use almost daily and if I had to give it a tuneup more often than about every 6 months or so, I would give it away. Either you're doing something wrong or I am. But I'm getting accurate cuts so what gives?
Max
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Well, once/10-years is probably a stretch, but it depends more on _which_ RAS than even vintage. Of course, there was a stretch of time in which I'm not sure they built any very good ones...
The biggest problem is generally that the table supports are inadequate or that a kickback causes a rapid readjustment... :(
Larger here, of course, is better. Stuff is more solid and the power means fewer of the latter.
I've recommended before (and will again :) )if one is really interested in RAS to go the used, larger route. One can almost always find one quite inexpensively and even if need to by the 3-phase converter to run it, still come out ahead over new in initial cost w/ no comparison to equivalent for the price capabilities...
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"dpb" wrote
I have a Craftsman radial arm
My son experienced a kickback on my saw a few years ago.. He learned. And it did require realignment. It has never happened to me. :-)
Max
I have a Craftsman from the mid-60s. Once I learned not to use the table as a workbench or for storage of heavy stuff, it has been just fine. I check it out before any major project and align as necessary (perhaps once per year). It must be said that I use it for crosscuts and dadoes mostly. mahalo, jo4hn
My primary beef with Craftsman _anything_ is tolerance from one example to the other.
One guy having great results and another having poor, with different examples of the same tool, sounds like Craftsman power tools!
"jo4hn" wrote
LOL. Bingo. I used a laundry marking pen to write on the table, "Not a workbench, do not lean on, use to move, place heavy objects upon".
Max
You're right about inconsistent quality. When I bought this RAS, I took the first one back because of too much arbor runout. I have noticed that Sears has *lately* been working on the quality thing. I happened to be in the store just before Christmas and saw this router on sale for $69. It has turned out to be great for roundovers, chamfering etc.
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