Every now and then a restored, or restorable saw will pop up here, a site devoted to DeWalts.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/woodbutcher/
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
I have a 1970s 14" Dewalt / Black and Decker, 3HP 1PH. I have it set as a dedicated crosscut station for 90 degree cuts. When I purchased it Biesemeyer sold a crosscut fence system for RAS saws. I have 9ft to the left of the blade with the hairline pointer and 8 ft to the right. I dialed it in with the 5 cut method when I installed it 18 years ago and then I tightened up the column screws to effectively lock it in place. I checked for square a year ago and still a perfect 90 with the 5 cut method. With the Biesemeyer fence I have a hair line pointer on the fence and I can super quickly set and cut precisely. Here are some cluttered shop pics of the RAS and fence setup.
Nice setup, is that a copy of Norm's RAS cabinet?
Somehow I just didn't picture you tooling around on a Razor with that helmet on...
Thread on "How do I pickup/move XXX Saw?" http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=597898
Compilation of "Which Band Saw to buy?" threads http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...028#post692028
Would it offend anyone if I said I didn't know what a RAS was until 6 months ago?
No joke, I was talking with my father in law who was talking about using one on a make shift job site. I had never heard of one before, although I admit after looking it up online I recalled seeing them on some job sites.
they were advertised as 'portable' at one time.
here's the original sales brochure that came with mine, around 1948-1950...
i suppose it's portable with two people carrying it like that, but it's about 300 pounds so i think the portable claim is highly dubious at best, at least compared to modern 75 pound 10" miter saws .
i have a 10" craftsman electronic radial saw for 1984. i use it all the time. i dont care for miter saws. just today i was using the RAS to rip wood for about 6 hours then switched to making cross cuts. i could not live with out this saw. true some cman saw are junk but this is one of the few that is good. it has a digital read out of the angle of the arm and the bevel of the head. it also has a motorized height adjustment you just punch in the height you want the arm at and it will set it self.
i do not own a table saw never have and never will. i can do just about everything i need with the RAS and what i cant do with that i can do with a skill saw and a jig
i use this saw to make doll houses
I threw a mahogany table leg across my high school shop class with a RAS years ago. They are probably safe if set up correctly however I haven't used one since.
I do have one that is portable. It is a 9 inch C-man with an aluminum arm.
Of course, it is no match for accuracy that a Delta Turret or vintage DeWalt, but for framing or building decks it is a lot more versatile than a compound miter saw. For example; notching posts and putting the top bevels on posts are done quickly and accurately.
One thing I never do is swing the arm. It always stays in the cross-cut position. After moving it to where I want to use it I check the alignment and if an adjustment is needed, I prefer to shim the fence as needed. For cutting miters I have what is the equivalent of a table saw sled with accurate fences for the 45 deg angles.
For ripping, be sure the blade guard is almost touching the wood and use a push stick made for a radial arm saw. It is just a piece of sacrificial scrap long enough that I can push the piece I'm ripping all the way through the blade.
For cross cutting negative or low angle hook blades are nice, but not entirely necessary if you are aware how the saw self-propels itself through the cut. For ripping, I just use a decent rip blade.
I maintain my table in good order. Some don't like my method of using Bondo regularly to fill and remake the cut slot and fill the previous rip divots, but it works for me.
I also have a 12 inch Delta turret that is a tighter, heavier machine and nicer to use. But really, I could get along just fine without it. Cut accuracy is more a factor in how one uses the saw as it is saw tightness in a RAS where you are moving the saw through the wood. This is not so for a table saw, where any looseness in the arbor, for example, makes it impossible to get a good accurate cut.
My main complaint with a RAS is dust collection, especially for ripping. I just give up and seldom use it anywhere but outdoors.
So, while the RAS has gone out of fashion, I am not interested in disposing of mine anytime soon.