Radial arm saws

[Mike Schuch]

Because of the v-shape it must seat until there is no play. If the parts ever wear, it just means the male v will go deeper into the female. Really pretty simple. The key is you must adjust the arm so that when it engages, the arm is 90 to your fence. Took this photo of a Dewalt from ebay. You can see the three indents.

The problem I had with mine was play between the lever and the arbor it road on... not between the lever and the slots in the column. I spent hours trying to fix that issue. I even bored the lever out and turned the arbors down then put a bronze bushing between the two. That helped a lot but I still always had to check the alignment when ever I changed the position of the arm if I wanted a spot on 90 cut. 20 years later I still remember the assembly vividly because I spent so much time trying to fix it.

[Rick Potter]

Matt,

My 7790 has been adjusted only twice in at least 15 years. The first time when I got it from a friend who said he could not get it to keep its adjustments. When I got it home, I found all the adjustments were only finger tight. Once I set it up it lasted 13 years till a friend tried to cut a 4 x6 with it, and didn't notice I had a blade stabilizer on it. He forced it till the saw tried to climb up after him, and threw it out of adjustment and messing up my zero clearance insert (see the pic), etc.

After readjusting it, including the table that moved a bit, it has been fine again since then. It makes polished cuts using a DeWalt 90-100 (?) tooth blade that is several years old.

I would suggest you check the heel adjustment, as that can really be difficult to diagnose. Check to see if a cut kerf is wider than the blade kerf.

Rick