Anybody do any lumber ripping on their radial arm?

[johnny means]

If I was in your shoes, I would table mount the tracksaw and rip away. You could make a simple t-square fence that clamped in place on to of a sheet of melamine.

[HANK METZ]

[QUOTE=Dan T Jones;1984546]Hank,
Good info. Also thanks for your help on the DeWalt forum. Your pictures look like the 1400. I am getting a 1200 adjusted up.

Question, with a 8 1/2 or 9 inch blade do you think the 1200 can rip without the power issues others are noteing? I may do some occasional ripping or dado work in the rip position.

Thanks.

Dan, Mr. Sawdust recommended many years ago to use only the blade size that will just do the job. Many times I have found this wisdom to be true and valuable. For rip work I currently use the Freud 8300 series, 8” blade and have not only ripped to great accuracy, but have resawn with great precision on the radial arm saw as well. The same doctrine would be true for the tablesaw as well: eliminate harmonics and flutter from too large a blade. The tooth profile of triple chip grind gives a very smooth edge, ready for glueup and the thin kerf augments the smaller diameter such that no bogging down happens on a well- tuned machine.

- Beachside Hank
If you can't solve the problem, then change the problem.

[Carl Babel]

Just don't get cocky. I used my Craftsman RAS (first stationary WW tool) to rip for months before having a big kickback - wood had a slight twist. No flesh damaged, but punched a hole in the garage drywall and even dented the sheathing and aluminum siding. Scared the heck out of me and I have never ripped on a RAS since. Much later, I realized that it was operator error and I probably could have ripped that piece successfully with enough safety aids, but by then I had my first tablesaw.

Good luck and be safe.

[David Peebles 1]

As was mentioned above, it's important to feed from the right (correct) direction. My uncle once fed a board from the wrong end on his RAS, and shot it into the end wall of his garage. Luckily he wasn't in the line of fire. That wasn't kickback. With all tools, such as the shaper, where it's possible to do it wrong, I have a mantra: feed TOWARD the carbide (while acknowledging that there are times when a climbing cut is appropriate--but never on a saw!)