RAS tear out question

[Ron Truitt]

I'm using an old Craftsman radial arm to crosscut cabinet plywood pieces to length and seem to have a problem with surface tear out.

The tear out is only on the left side of the blade(a combo carbide blade still in good shape). I get a clean cut on the right side.

Any ideas why this might be occurring, and only on the left side?

Thanks,

RonT

[aswr]

you need a better blade and one with more teeth....I suggest a Freud with 80 teeth and the hook set for use with a radial arm saw Mike

[aswr]

you need a better blade and one with more teeth....I suggest a Freud with 80 or more teeth and the hook set for use with a radial arm saw Mike

[John]

If it's happening only on one side, and the blade doesn't appear to have any obvious problems, it's likely that the blade isn't aligned perfectly with the arm. If the front of the blade is slightly to the right, and the back to the left, the teeth will rub against the work on the left side as they are rotating up out of the cut.

John Martin

[woodworker88]

Mike is right. Although I'm not sure if you need a Freud (the're about

80 bucks), crosscutting plywood demands a dedicated plywood blade. They are simply normal blades with about 80-100 teeth. The will prevent tearout in general, and produce a smoother cut through the varying plys of the plywood.

[George]

Blade has some "heel" in it. Means it's not parallel to the line of travel, the equivalent of blade not parallel to miter groove in tablesaws. You need to touch the adjustment a bit nose right so the teeth won't pick up the splinters. I like the splinter method of adjustment - it's the most sensitive available.

Note: as you check for heel, pull a bit to either side and see if the arm's out of adjustment. Loose arm and heavy hand can do it, too.

Oh yes, doesn't matter how many teeth you have in the blade if you slow the feed rate. Use your blade if you care, until you can get one with the negative rake popular for RASs.

[lostinthesnowjr]

I also agree that the blade is not square to what you are cutting. If you can not get the blade or the arm square then draw out the distance of the cut you are cutting. Then on the bad side go along the line with a utility knife before you cut. This will keep the tear-out to a minimum.

[J. Clarke]

Since nobody else has mentioned thise, get a copy of Jon Eakes radial saw book and do what it says . While you're about it you might want to pick up a copy of the Mr. Sawdust book as well .

[Leon]

The blade does not spin parallel to the path it travels.

[Rumpty]

In other words it's out of alignment. The heel/toe needs to be adjusted. The Jon Eakes book has complete alignment instructions for the craftsman RAS. It can be downloaded in PDF format for around $15.00 CDN.