Older Dewalt RAS vs SCMS

[rick bear]

David,

I've owned one of he newer RAS saws from Sears for several years. It was easily knocked out of alignment and was a hassle to realign.

I now own several Dewalt GWIs with the heavy cast iron arm. Stays in alignment, has a 90 degree lock and is a wonderful saw to use. The last one I bought was in perfect alignment and has been going strong for 2 years, no adjustments needed.

Be prepared if you buy one to possibly replace the bearings, align, and build a new table top.



- Rick

[Ken Fitzgerald]

David,

I have a SCMS.

At the time I bought it, I had no source for a RAS.

The most accurate MS I have ever used was a very simple 8" Craftsman..no slider.....just a very plain CMS.

If I had my druthers, I would have a RAS and a simple CMS.

I can use my stacked dado blade on a RAS. That isn't an option on my SCMS.

The SCMS...it's accurate but it seems like I have to realign it alot.

It's really a matter of personal taste and useage.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I have an even newer dewalt from the 70's with the crank up front ..
The crank introduces a few problems with belt stretch etc so I can't repeat height measurements by counting turns -- but I've been cutting miters and compound miters over the past 4 months while framing an addition with a pitched roof and I've been able to get the miters right with the scale and always return to an accurate 90 degrees. One of my best purchases. I'd like to restore a classic sometime,
but not many in this area.. Not as much population in the 50's and 60's so not many old machines in garages.

[Sean lennon]

I have a DeWalt MBF and its slightly larger brother the GWI.
Both saws use a wedge type stop on the column for positioning at 45 and 90 degrees and are extremely repeatable.

as said in above posts, there are places in the shop for both the scms and the ras in the shop, I would not want to have to carry either DeWalt very far to a worksite but so far as a precision tool for cutting at any angle I set it at and returning to a perfect 90(or 45) they are excellent.
Get the Mr. Sawdust book and remember "you need to be smarter than the machine you are running"

Have fun!
Sean