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Table Saws vs Radial Arm Saws
I have had a Radial Arm Saw for many years. It is a fantastic, versatile, accurate, powerful machine. Why does no-one use them anymore? Why are there never articles on their use? Why do all plans somehow assume the use of a table saw?
It is quite frustrating.
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the demise of the RAS (post #169321, reply #1 of 11)
I suspect the demise of the RAS is mostly a function of many considering them to be more dangerous, less versatile, and less precise than the table saw. That doesn't need to be the case, of course, but I think it is the general perception. And, to a large extent, the functionality of the RAS has been replaced with the sliding compound miter saw.
lots of things. (post #169321, reply #2 of 11)
The RAS was my first real purchase. It was supposed to be a router/crosscut/rip device. I tried all features. The crosscut was great, the router function turned slow and was not practicle, and the rip was scary. I think the safety issues was its demise. Most folks don't like that blade when it bites jumping at you. I think with the advent of the Sliding compound miter saw and track saws and other options it was just not seen as needed. I still see them in a comercial environement and the old big dewalts are imrressive. I've got an 25+year old craftsman with a forrest blade in the garage gather dust now for 3 years. Tried selling it twice no takers. Even tried giving to a veterans group that takes appliances and tools for resale and they did not want it. Kinda says it all.
...For that old machine lovers: http://vintagemachinery.org/home.aspx
What Bones and Ralph said. (post #169321, reply #3 of 11)
What Bones and Ralph said.
RAS (post #169321, reply #4 of 11)
I have an OOOLLLLD Dewalt RAS and Iv only used it twice.... my table saw is broken.. but the RAS is really cool! my grandfather got it at a garage sale and is sold out to RASs.... he swears they are better than table saws and he used. as of right now i think it is awesome!
my 2¢ (post #169321, reply #5 of 11)
RAS would have been just the ticket for cutting the dados for the dog hole slots in my Klausz bench. Going slow and careful O'corse.
I used the table saw with a dado blade and help from support tables and Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer.
Finicky going on the table saw. The RAS would have made it a snap.
My shop isn't large enough for a Ras (multi hobby space you see ) so I won't be buying one, or a sliding miter saw.
Being mostly a hand tool wood worker that rarely works with sheets of plywood etc I feel the same way about my little table saw , barely room for it, but I bought it before I KNEW what the hell I was wanting to do exactly.
The bandsaw . . . awwwwhhh the bandsaw . . . now . . . that is entirely a different thing . . .
I have yet to see a resaw jig for the RAS. That is where I ABSOULUTELY NEED power and speed beyond what my weenie arms can produce. With a second person I can resaw by hand.
Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer decreed, after participating in a couple of resaw sessions, that a bandsaw would make a stellar addition to our household.
my 2¢
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
What others said, BUT (post #169321, reply #6 of 11)
I have restored a 1947 DeWalt GP 12 " true 2 HP Radial Arm and love it to death( maybe a poor choice of words) I have an eight foot table on it, and for cross cutting it can't be beat. I use it with a -5 degree/96 tpi blade. Repeatable cross cuts with a stop block are simple. And for $150 it sure beat the Festool Kpex for $1500 (sort of)
I sure don't rip or use the molding head. Table saw and router table for those jobs.
Dangerous ??? A bit ! But arn't all power tools to some extent or another.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
I ran across this while looking for some thing else (post #169321, reply #7 of 11)
You probably already have been there but anyway :
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.as...
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
part of the problem is that a (post #169321, reply #8 of 11)
part of the problem is that a lot of them AREN'T very accurate because they lose settings quicky. Well made RAS are expensive--just beginning to be useful at about the price of a good cabinet saw. But a $400 RAS won't be nearly as satisfactory aas a $400 table saw.
Ripping is also psychologically more challenging I'd say as well.
Test your finish on scrap, FIRST, or risk having to scrap your finish.
The radial arm saw is seen as dangerous. (post #169321, reply #9 of 11)
Mostly because people don't really get trained on how to use them safely, and try transfering table saw safety rules over to the ras.
It seems backwrds to people trained on table saws to pull the blade backwards through a cut. Most people can remember that after the first time they try to make a cross cut by pushing the saw into the work, and it jumps back, spraining their thumb and launching the work piece.
Ripping, is really hard to explain to people. I've had more than a few argue with me when I tell them that they need to bury the blade in the table, leaving just enough height between the table and the motor, and feed the work piece in so that the saw is pushing it down into the table. This is safe, and can't kick back. Most folks think you put the blade barely into the table, and then push the work piece into the blade like they would on a table saw. Guess what: It kicks back.
The other issue, is that an inexpensive radial arm saw may not be stiff enough to resist racking as it gets loaded by the cut, and is thus unsafe, and inaccurate.
"...I've had more than a few (post #169321, reply #10 of 11)
"...I've had more than a few argue with me when I tell them that they need to bury the blade in the table, leaving just enough height between the table and the motor, and feed the work piece in so that the saw is pushing it down into the table...."
That might work if you only cut a few sizes. I'm trying to picture the size of what one might call the "throat opening" in the table unless one only ripped a few widths or does one make a new table frequently? The RAS I had, and it's long gone, had steel structural parts not too far below the table and in line with the travel of the blade. Sinking the blade more than an inch or so wouldn't have been a good idea.
Part of the poor design seen on some of the RAS (post #169321, reply #11 of 11)
The better RAS were desinged so that with the head rotated 90-degrees to rip, the metal base for the table was well clear of the blade. This one of the problems with some of the cheap ones that meant they were inheritantly less safe.
The tables were typically mdf or particle board, could be replaced pretty easily, and were definitely what I would term sacrificial.