75 Dollar Radial Arm

[treemandan]

CL of course and I see them for much more. This one is great. Clean and true, came with a new fence and blade. I haven't used one since high school, I could have built a jig to miter wider boards on the table saw but I like these saws too. I like the way it works opposed to sliding the board across the table. It can take attachments like a shaper also.

Finally thought up this simple cantilevered corner shelf that will be just the the interior decorater ordered for some unused corner space.

 

[lobsta1]

Check the link. That might be one of the saws that there was a recall on. If yours is the non-upgradeable one, you can get a $100 for it. That is what I did with mine that I originally purchased in 1974.
Al
http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/

 

[treemandan]

Check the link. That might be one of the saws that there was a recall on. If yours is the non-upgradeable one, you can get a $100 for it. That is what I did with mine that I originally purchased in 1974.
Al
http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/

Well... I guess I didn't expect to much for 75. There had to be some catch. Yeah the gaurd is a little lacking it seems. The guy I got it from said the saw was " scary as hell"... and it is.That is what they told me in high school wood shop as well. The first time I pulled the arm on this saw across some wood it bit in so fast and came at me then stalled. I am using rough lumber that is not perfectly straight but I clamp my stuff down cause the table saw is no less hairy than the radial.
I know a lot of what the radial does can be done on the table but the radial can accept other tooling but MAN! That saw is scary as hell. I think the guy I got it from emailed me after the sale and pickup to tell me he had the gaurd.
Thanks for the tip. I am hoping to make/obtain different gaurd set ups for both the table and radial saws.

 

[treemandan]

Thanks again for the tip, the new gaurd kit is on the way.

 

[Woodsurfer]

Are you sure it has a negative hook blade? That is supposed to prevent the "self feeding" menace.

 

[treemandan]

Are you sure it has a negative hook blade? That is supposed to prevent the "self feeding" menace.

It is a finishing blade on there, it doesn't look to agressive of a hook.

 

[Mike Van]

Dan, just my 2 cents here - These Craftsman saws were made as cheap as possible for a mass market - Strength & reliability were the last thing they thought of. They're just too light. Look at an old Dewalt sometime, see the difference in the two. Shaper cutters, molding heads, etc are the last thing I'd ever try to use on one of these. I know there's guys out there thats "had one for years" but there's also a lot that have been hurt by one.

 

[treemandan]

Dan, just my 2 cents here - These Craftsman saws were made as cheap as possible for a mass market - Strength & reliability were the last thing they thought of. They're just too light. Look at an old Dewalt sometime, see the difference in the two. Shaper cutters, molding heads, etc are the last thing I'd ever try to use on one of these. I know there's guys out there thats "had one for years" but there's also a lot that have been hurt by one.

Yeah, when I see they wanting 400 bucks for a used one I kinda laugh though its not very funny.
That is what they said in high school shop, that is what the guy who sold it to me said and that is what everybody says... dangerous.
I got few books from the library on the saw and will make the saw safer with hold downs, the retro kit, and some other things.

 

[treemandan]

Heavy is definately more accurate, I wish I could afford it, I wish I could justify why I would need all these saws in the first place...
Most of my wood stuff is of the crapsman variety. Whatever is wrong with the circ saw sure is noticable by the noise it makes but I will screw a straight edge to some unplaned flitch cut pine and have some decent boards real cheap with it.
I have no idea what to get anyway other than some of the more expensive shop tools on CL. They are just to big and kinda unwarrented for what I do. Whatever they sell elsewhere just looks to " cool" to really cost what they want at HD.
My favourite tool is a block of wood and some sandpaper.

 

[Brmorgan]

I got ya beat, Dan. I picked up a very new Craftsman Professional laser-guide radial, exactly the same as the one still in the catalog for almost $1000 CDN, at a rancher's yard sale two years ago for $80 CDN. It had been out in the weather so all the bolts were rusted quite badly, and the carriage head had been knocked hard so the actual cast aluminum trunnion plate was broken. One call to Sears and a $29 replacement part later it was up and running like new. I don't know about yours, but the trunnion on mine can be adjusted to be a bit tighter on the guide rails so it takes more effort to pull the carriage towards you. A little resistance here can make it a lot harder for the carriage head to runaway out of control, though it can be hard to find a happy medium between being too tight to pull easily or too loose to offer any advantage.

To be honest though, if it's grabbing and running at you consistently enough that it's a real safety hazard, I would try replacing the blade. Radials do not do well with an aggressive blade, such as a ripping or even a combination blade. They do even worse with a dull blade, since they just want to grab and pull rather than cut. I bought a Freud Ultra Crosscut 80T blade for mine for a bit under $50 and it was well worth it. With a good strong grip (like you're firing a handgun) I've never once had that blade try to run at me.

 

[treemandan]

I got ya beat, Dan. I picked up a very new Craftsman Professional laser-guide radial, exactly the same as the one still in the catalog for almost $1000 CDN, at a rancher's yard sale two years ago for $80 CDN. It had been out in the weather so all the bolts were rusted quite badly, and the carriage head had been knocked hard so the actual cast aluminum trunnion plate was broken. One call to Sears and a $29 replacement part later it was up and running like new. I don't know about yours, but the trunnion on mine can be adjusted to be a bit tighter on the guide rails so it takes more effort to pull the carriage towards you. A little resistance here can make it a lot harder for the carriage head to runaway out of control, though it can be hard to find a happy medium between being too tight to pull easily or too loose to offer any advantage.

To be honest though, if it's grabbing and running at you consistently enough that it's a real safety hazard, I would try replacing the blade. Radials do not do well with an aggressive blade, such as a ripping or even a combination blade. They do even worse with a dull blade, since they just want to grab and pull rather than cut. I bought a Freud Ultra Crosscut 80T blade for mine for a bit under $50 and it was well worth it. With a good strong grip (like you're firing a handgun) I've never once had that blade try to run at me.

Supposedly the retro kit consisits of some adjustments like you speak of The rails could use some attention. I am waiting for the kit in the mail. I will try another blade to, right now its a crapsmans 60 T Finish blade. Also the wood I am cutting isn't exactly perfectly striaght.

 

[oldsaw]

There is nothing wrong with those old Craftsman RA saws. No, they aren't built the best, but they are built well enough for the use they will likely get. The problem is that the people using them tend to be relatively clueless, as illustrated by shopping at Sears for woodworking tools.

Put a negative hook blade on it then watch your feed rate and you will have no problem with "runaway". The two things that cause problems on an RAS are then taken care of, outside of pulling the blade over your fingers, but that's just inattention.

I remember in shop class as a kid, the teacher tried to push a block of wood through the RAS backwards in rip position. The saw apparently had a negative tooth blade on it because it just wouldn't bite. He put a blade on from the locked shop cabinet for the TS and got it to launch across the shop. I still remember it slamming against the garage door 40 or 50 feet away. We weren't allowed to rip on the RAS, but I never saw that as a real good use of one anyway. TS is a far better tool for that.

Mark