Craftsman 10" radial arm saw for $75

[dennis thompson]

There is a used Craftsman 10" radial arm saw with a 1 1/4" formica covered table and extra blades for sale in my local paper for $75, is this a decent saw? good price?
Thanks
Dennis

[glenn bradley]

There are different models but I never could get my C-man RAS to cut accurately. I have used good ones and they are a pleasure. As long as your doing rough work it should be OK. IMHO.

[Allen Bookout]

I agree with Glenn. Mine was OK for crosscutting but not for ripping. It was not very accurate at that. What year model is it. Check to see if it was one of the ones that was recalled and if it is do not buy it at any cost. I used mine for years but I finally just junked it as I did not want to sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.

[Tyler Howell]

What Glenn Said.
I couldn't give mine away.

[John Bailey]

I used one for many years. I got good service out of it, but I had to reset it almost every job and I never felt safe with it. I still have it because I couldn't even give it away. The used DeWalts are great machines, but even at 50 years old they are at least twice that cost for the smallest.

If you buy, know that you're getting a machine with questionable accuracy and safety. However, you can do good work with it, it's just harder.

John
(By the way, if you want it, come and get it.)

[Matt Campbell]

Dennis, I bought a Craftsman RAS a while ago for $75. It has done a great job for me. Mine was made back in the mid 60s. I wouldn't buy one much newer than that.

[Greg Robbins]

You can get boat anchor's for a lot less than that!

[Kent Fitzgerald]

Check to see if it was one of the ones that was recalled and if it is do not buy it at any cost.

Why not? Under the terms of the recall, the manufacturer will either provide a retrofit kit, or if no kit is available, they'll pay $100 for the return of the saw motor. Seems to me that the worst-case scenario is $25 profit and a free tool stand.

Details are at: http://radialarmsawrecall.com/

[Bruce Benjamin]

I have an early 90's version and I gotta say that for the most part it's worked just fine. It's easy to tune up and for cross cuts it's been very accurate. I used it for rips with fair success for a while before I bought a table saw and as long as I paid attention to my setups the cuts were about as accurate as my table saw is now, and that's dead-on. But ripping on a RAS, especially narrow rips, can be a little intimidating for some people.

I think good performance depends on how well the user is able to set up the machine, or at least how much time they're willing to spend to get it right the first time. Mine has stayed in tune for quite a while now although I only use it for some crosscuts and short crosscut dados. I don't have any plans to get rid of mine and I have a shop full of ways to cut wood using electricity. Knowing what I know now, if I didn't already have one and found one in great shape for $75 I'd buy it. That being said, I'd rather have an older Delta or DeWalt RAS if I were looking right now. To each their own!

Bruce

[Allen Bookout]

Why not? Under the terms of the recall, the manufacturer will either provide a retrofit kit, or if no kit is available, they'll pay $100 for the return of the saw motor. Seems to me that the worst-case scenario is $25 profit and a free tool stand.

Details are at: http://radialarmsawrecall.com/

Well, I guess so if you want to go to that amount of trouble for $25. You have to ship the saw carriage and motor to them and I do not see anything about who pays the shipping but I suspect that the owner would, so do not forget to take that off of your $25 profit. My thought was that some of the recalled ones were not very good to start with. At least mine wasn't.

[Brad Townsend]

Well, I guess so if you want to go to that amount of trouble for $25. You have to ship the saw carriage and motor to them and I do not see anything about who pays the shipping but I suspect that the owner would, so do not forget to take that off of your $25 profit. My thought was that some of the recalled ones were not very good to start with. At least mine wasn't.

When I returned mine, I called the number and they sent me out a box to put it in and a prepaid UPS call tag. All I had to do was remove the motor, put it in the box and set it on the front porch. Took me all of fifteen minutes.

[Allen Bookout]

I guess that I should have sent mine in after reading about what Brad had to say. I suppose that I was just tired of messing with it and was happy to see it go to the dump. After all I bought it in 1968 or 1969 so I got my use out of it.

[Bruce Benjamin]

Well, I guess so if you want to go to that amount of trouble for $25. You have to ship the saw carriage and motor to them and I do not see anything about who pays the shipping but I suspect that the owner would, so do not forget to take that off of your $25 profit. My thought was that some of the recalled ones were not very good to start with. At least mine wasn't.

If they required you to find a box and pay for shipping nobody would do it.

Bruce

[Bruce Benjamin]

When I returned mine, I called the number and they sent me out a box to put it in and a prepaid UPS call tag. All I had to do was remove the motor, put it in the box and set it on the front porch. Took me all of fifteen minutes.

Hmmm...Find enough of these $75 saws and you're making $100 an hour!

Bruce

[Allen Bookout]

I give!!!! I give!!!! I will never make that mistake again.