I received a free vintage Radial Arm Saw!

[mlcannon]

The thing does scare me a little!!:saw:

The other day it took a block of wood which I thought I had held securely and threw it to the ceiling in the corner of the garage!8-O

Luckily no one was hurt. I am respecting this saw a lot!!

Mike

 

[DaveO]

Are you using a negative hook angle blade????? I have one for cross-cuts on my RAS, but use a normal angled dado set for dado work and the difference is night and day...one is very scary and the other is only a little scary (no worse than the table saw)
Dave

 

[mlcannon]

Dave,

I have a 7 1/2 inch 40 tooth thin kerf finishing blade on the saw. I have another blade that is a plywood/laminate type blade which has more teeth. It might have just been me doing things wrong the other day. I was pushing the saw into the wood from the front to the back of the table.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[DaveO]

Yes, you are doing something wrong. You pull the blade through the wood from the fence to the front of the table, the angle of the teeth tend to push the board back to the fence. I had a similar conversation about the differences between a RAS and a SCMS and the big thing is how you move the blade. With a SCMS you move the blade like you described doing, but it is the reverse for a RAS.
Dave

 

[mlcannon]

Dave,

Thanks!! You may have just saved my life!!

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I should not turn the motor and blade parallel to the fence either for essentially the same reason??

Mike:eusa_thin

 

[DaveO]

Hey, you're welcome. RAS can be used to do the same ripping cuts as a table saw, but that cut is more dangerous than the same on a table saw, so why do it if you have a table saw available. I use my RAS for crosscuts on wide stock that is longer than I like to do on my table saw x-cut sled i.e. cutting rough 12' boards down to begin milling and dado work. I like to see the dado stack cutting so I know I am on my mark. Mine currently stays set up for 3/4" dados as my CMS can generally cross cut most stock I use.
Did you see the link that I posted near the begining of you thread with the owners manual in it. There should be some good usage information in it :-D

Dave

 

[mlcannon]

Dave,

Thanks again for all of the info. I did see the owners manual you posted earlier. I have looked over it and will keep it nearby for reference. There was a copy of this that was with the saw as well, but it has dry rotted and is difficult to read!!

Mike

 

[Travis Porter]

On mine (which is very similar to yours), once I got it set up square and perpendicular, I have not had to adjust it again in 7 or 8 years. IMO, it is solidly built and once you get it right, it stays right.

As far as ripping (parallel to the fence), I gave that up years ago. I had a tendency to have boards go shooting across the shop.8-O

 

[mlcannon]

Travis,

I just took a look at your shop pictures and your RAS is very similar to mine, but your shop has me beat by a mile!!!!! :-( Thanks for the advice!

Mike

 

[Travis Porter]

Thanks, I just need to get better at doing stuff. I have had woodguy disease for about 12 years. I will say the wood stuff (and the tools) are a lot of fun!