What's the footprint for a RAS "Radial Arm Saw"?

[Art Mann]

If you are going to install crown or casing or base molding, you don't do it at the lumber yard. If you just want to cut off a shorter piece to sell at a lumber yard, almost any saw will do just fine. I have been around new house construction most of my life and I have yet to see a finish carpenter lug around a RAS.

Out of curiosity, I just looked again on Craigslist in the three largest towns that are close enough for me to drive to in a few hours - Birmingham, Nashville and Chattanooga. I only found one Dewalt 105 miles away that might have been worth buying. I couldn't tell because the picture and description were bad. It was $300. I did find probably 50 or so Craftsman saws that are no better than the one I just sold.

Like I said, if I could find a good RAS, I might buy it. I have the room for it. But, it takes up the same amount of room on a shop floor as a SCMS and that is what the OP was originally concerned about.

[Mike Olson]

Out of curiosity, I just looked again on Craigslist in the three largest towns that are close enough for me to drive to in a few hours - Birmingham, Nashville and Chattanooga. I only found one Dewalt 105 miles away that might have been worth buying. I couldn't tell because the picture and description were bad. It was $300. I did find probably 50 or so Craftsman saws that are no better than the one I just sold.

Like I said, if I could find a good RAS, I might buy it. I have the room for it. But, it takes up the same amount of room on a shop floor as a SCMS and that is what the OP was originally concerned about.

There are 6 Dewalt RAS in just the 2 cities near me. one is really nice but it's an old post and the person has not responded yet. They are all 100 - 150. Like you said, there are TONS of craftsman ones that i'd rather stay away from.

The takes up the same amount of room as a scms isn't technically correct. As the saw slides all the way back and you can have the surface the same height as all the rest of your stationary tools you can share that work surface, where the scms can't share any of it's space. coming to that conclusion is why i'm planning on replacing my scms for a RAS.

[Art Mann]

I hope you find a good one!

[jack forsberg]

I cant see you replacing one for the other but putting them side by side sharing the same table does not take any more room. I have a 14" RAS a 12" mitersaw and large drill press that all use the same table and take about 6 feet of wall.

here is my set up. you will see the RAS miter saw drill press near the end sorry

[Art Mann]

The video player says "This video is private". Hope you can fix it so I can see your setup.

[Art Mann]

Video is working now. You have a very nice RAS!

[jack forsberg]

Video is working now. You have a very nice RAS!

That's a Delta 14" 40C turret arm i picked up for $143 and i like them over the Dewalts because the controls for the fence/rise and fall/angles are all up front. the carege rides on replaceable harden drill rod and not the milled ways in the arm like the dewalts. Lots of old dewalts with lots a ware in the fist bit of travel that would need a machine shop to bring back into spec. The Dewalts have just as much to blame as the craftsman's in giving the RAS a bad name for accuracy.


the Delta 40C in a nice little compact saw but if you have the room then I would get one of My Wadkin CC 18" cross cut. a killer saw. It will take cutters or stacked dado's up to 4" wide . these thing don't ware out a bit.

you build a timber fence and the control are bolted into the table. for 32" cross cuts.




it did come as a portable unit though you need a train track




so nice i pick up 2 for $400 that came with all the tooling (4 16" dado stacks and 4 18" blades)

they come in at just over ton each so there not for everyone

[Mike Olson]

drool....... I wish I had the room

[Mike Olson]

I cannot get the smile off my face!!!

saw a post on craigslist from 21 days ago about an estate sale and radial saw was listed. called the number after work and went out there at 7:30 and just got back.
The guy was older and had a friend put it up for him and he couldn't tell me anything about it besides it's old so I went there having no idea what he would have...

$125 for the saw, a bunch of blades and a 7" dado blade.

Jack, I can see what you were talking about with the drill rod that it rides on. very nice...

I don't know a model number on this thing, all I can find is a serial number which I posted in the pictures below.

Edit: forgot the pictures

[jack forsberg]

good for you

[Mike Olson]

Well, after hunting through Vintagemachinery.org I figured out why I couldn't find a model number... because it doesn't have one. This is simply known as Delta 10" Radial Saw. The user guide I found that looks exactly like it is from 1962

It looks a lot like the 30-C except the top of the motor is different and my knobs are not red. Also, all the 30-C's serial numbers start with MX3 and mine starts with MX2 so i'm guessing this is the predecessor to the 30-C

[Roy Turbett]

That's a Delta 14" 40C turret arm i picked up for $143 and i like them over the Dewalts because the controls for the fence/rise and fall/angles are all up front. the carege rides on replaceable harden drill rod and not the milled ways in the arm like the dewalts. Lots of old dewalts with lots a ware in the fist bit of travel that would need a machine shop to bring back into spec. The Dewalts have just as much to blame as the craftsman's in giving the RAS a bad name for accuracy.

Jack - I have to disagree with you in regard your comment that the DeWalts "have just as much to blame as the Craftsman's in giving the RAS a bad name for accuracy." I've rebuilt two DeWalt MBF's and a GWI and I was able to adjust all three of them to within .005" at 90 degrees. I sold the two MBF's but still have the GWI that is pictured above and it has remained spot on accurate. The GWI replaced a Craftsman because I couldn't keep it accurate. The reason the DeWalts are more accurate is because the locking mechanism is a machined wedge on a lever as opposed to a spring loaded ball and locking lever on the Craftsman. This setup almost eliminates any "end of play". I also disagree somewhat with your comment that "Lots of old DeWalts (have) lots of wear in the first bit travel." It is true that some DeWalts in production environments develop this condition but it is not all that common. It is, however, something to check before you buy by running your finger along the ways. I also moved the fence locking mechanism on my GWI to the front by mounting some cams on threaded rods underneath the table similar to some Delta models. The cams are available through Rockler.

I recently picked up a rare 1951 Delta 40B that I'm going to restore. I like that it will take a 14" blade and the turret arm lets you use more of the table. It also has detents for common miters that are lacking on some of the other Delta models. One drawback to the Delta 40B is that parts are going to be much harder to find than they are for the DeWalt. Fortunately, the saw is complete except for the anti-kickback pawl. I'm probably going to have to rebuild the carriage bearings.

[ShawnE Curry]

That thing is sweet!! Good luck on the refurb. Old Woodworking Machines http://owwm.com [EDIT: guess it's vintagemachinery now?] was a good resource for me. Looks like a rare bird, but I'm sure you'll have a bunch of guys over there who can help. Looks like you'll want a new table. Does she run? I'm guessing she'll need some new motor bearings if it hasn't been run in a while. Looks pretty complete though - the kickback pawl is missing a lot of times from the dewalts.

Very nice score. I'll have to keep an eye out for pics of the restoration.

[HANK METZ]

..."I also disagree somewhat with your comment that "Lots of old DeWalts (have) lots of wear in the first bit travel."...

And I agree also, on both statements. Inexperience in machine tool usage leads some to believe that normal wear is somehow indicative of a design fault. The most common example would be metalworking lathes whose ways will almost always show more wear at the chuck end rather than the tail simply because that is where most of the work is performed. I have found DeWalts easy to restore, even when they should have been sold for scrap, and far and away they were the best of the best ever produced. DeWalt MBF restoration.

[Mike Olson]

Here is a snippet of the owners manual on adjusting the guides. It's crazy easy, can be done 4 times, and they are easily replaced.
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Hank, that's a very nice restore. I'm not yet sure how involved I will get with my restore. Everything seems to work fine on it. The motor runs fine and the motor bearings seem to be fantastic as the blade was still spinning after I tested it out the entire time we were discussing the price and looking at the other tools he had for sale. There is no play on the motor shaft, the blade remains stiff with no wobble. This weekend I'll start trying to figure out the alignment and new table.

I'll have to sign up on the vintagemachinery website, didn't realize there was a forum there.

Oh, and as for the answer to my origional question. This radial arm saw takes up much less room than my scms.

- My scms set at 90* sticks out from the wall 44" and has 12" length of cut.
~ This Radial Arm saw set at 90* sticks out from the wall 33" and has a 14" length of cut.
- The scms has 12" of surface out front but it's so far out from the wall it can't really be shared at all.
~ The Radial Arm saw has 16" of that front table which can be shared space with other tools

The Only thing the Radial arm saw does not win at is moving from 90* to 45*. It takes maybe 5 additional seconds.