DeWalt 740 Powershop RAS

[Dave Houseal]

Anybody know anything about these saws? Are they any good? Hold settings well? What time frame are these from?

I've been thinking about picking up an RAS for a while, and just spotted this one. It looks like impeccable condition and only $100. Even at that price if it isn't going to hold settings well, I'm not going to end up using it.

Thanks!

[Mike Circo]

For $100 in good condition it would be hard to go wrong.

This would be one of the "home" type RAS from the late '60s into the '70s. Good cast iron arm. Not 100% solid like the older industrial types, they webbed the upper portion and put a plastic cap on the top of the arm. Still this is better than 75% of the Craftsman RAS out there.

There are two versions of motors. One has a series of vents on the bell end of the motor. These are open and do not have an automatic brake. The blade takes forever to spin down. No issue with the motor except for the inconvience of the long spin down. The others have a more rounded end and have an auto break. A bit nicer.

Once set the 90 and 45 settiings are usually right on. As long as the arm isn't damaged, it will handle those settings every time. The intermediate settings on ALL RAS is a catch-as-catch-can system as there is no detents for those. But this one should return to 90 every time.

Check www.owwm.com to see if they have any manuals online or other info.

[Bob Aquino]

From what I read over on owwm, these machines were built after B&D bought out AMF and thus had already started to dumb down the saw. As the other poster mentioned, parts of the cast iron arm were starting to be replaced with sheet metal. The very early DeWalt or later AMF/DeWalt MBF machines are supposed to be the best of the lot. Ask me in a few months, I have one coming down from my brothers house in NJ this labor day and it will be my next project.

As for this one, for 100 bucks, if it is in plug and play condition, I don't see how far wrong you could go. If it doesn't turn out to be what you want, you can always palm, er I mean sell it for what you paid. Just make sure the bearings are good in both the arm and the motor.

[Jerome Hanby]

I paid a little more than that and drove to the other side of Atlanta (from Birmingham) to pick it up. The table was shot (seems to be standard on used RAS) and the stand looked like something I built when I was 6 years old, but the saw ran well and seems solid as a rock. I left the stand and brought the saw home. Mine is still in the queue of shop projects, but will one day live in a Norm based Miter Saw/RAS workstation. Might be a leftover from growing up with the latest tool catalog from Sears as my wish book, but I've always wanted a RAS and that Dewalt looked like a winner for the price.

Of course the easiest way to find the perfect, old iron, RAS is to buy this one, wait a week, then look around again. You'll find your dream machine for $25 less and 5 miles from your front door. :D

[Dave Houseal]

Of course the easiest way to find the perfect, old iron, RAS is to buy this one, wait a week, then look around again. You'll find your dream machine for $25 less and 5 miles from your front door. :D

LOL Good plan!

Thanks for the info guys. The thing looks perfect....based on Mike's description I believe it is one of the ones without the brake, which would be nice....but for $100 I can't complain too much about waiting for it to spin down.

It's a little bit of a drive for me, but I think I'll check it out.

[Jerome Hanby]

If you buy it, post some pictures. I'll show them to my RAS and demand it tell me what happened:eek:

[Rick Potter]

I would not waste time writing about it till I brought it home. If it is in good shape it is a gloat.

Rick Potter

[Jerome Hanby]

I would not waste time writing about it till I brought it home. If it is in good shape it is a gloat.

Rick Potter
That's good advise. I asked some questions about a Unisaw I found locally and another reader drove about two hours and snagged it before I could get home from work. Gotta love Karma sometimes, turned out it had some pretty severe damage and I found a much better machine for less about a month later.

[Ed Jolin]

Depends on your location.

Around here the older Dewalts can be had for less, though good condition may make it worth a premium.

I just sold a 925 and an MBF for under 50, both of which were nice little saws. I could have gotten a little more out of them, but not much. I got my 7790 (12") for $125. I gather the markets in other areas of the country are different. Dewalts come up here on craigslist fairly regularly; most people just want 'em gone.

Stick with Dewalt though, and you won't be disappointed. oh, and I highly recommend the Mr. Sawdust book (no affiliation).

[Jerome Hanby]

Depends on your location.
Stick with Dewalt though, and you won't be disappointed. oh, and I highly recommend the Mr. Sawdust book (no affiliation).

+1 on Dewalt and he book