Old Dewalt RAS

[Scott Vincent]

Gonna go look at an old Dewalt. Motor has been rebulit, saw completely taken apart and redone. I think its a 7670. Only chatted online with seller. Anything I should be on the look out or paying particular attention to??

[Fred Hargis]

I'm not familiar with tat model, but generally the more desirable Dewalts have a solid cast iron arm. Later in the production, they cut the top off the arm and put a cover on it. These saws usually have the crank in the center of the arm, as opposed to the top of the column (at the rear). There is very little that could be wrong if the motor has been properly rebuilt. The more common things would be the arm bearings may be stiff (or shot), look for smoothness in the pull/push action. While doing the push/pull pay careful attention to the any "bumps" you may feel in the carriage. On heavy use saws, the ways sometimes get worn more toward the rear of the saw that the front, leaving a bump in them. The only fix is a replacement arm or an expensive machining job. Otherwise, just move everything and make sure it's smooth and fluid, and check to see all the parts are there. Also rotate the carriage to ensure that hasn't frozen, and swivel the motor (bevel cut) for the same reason. Even the later Dewalts are good saws, they just aren't quite as stiff as the earlier models.

[John Thompson]

The older Dewalts based on the one I used in HS shop in 1963 are tanks and very smooth. Follow Fred's advise on the check-out and if all is well including the price.. why not?

[Peter Quinn]

Ditto what Fred said about the ways. If they are worn you can have some slop in the first few inches of the blades travel. Feel the ways to insure they are not worn. Bearings are still available and not too expensive, but having the ways machined gets more expensive, and shipping the arm back to Wolfe machinery is more expensive than that!

Make sure the thing goes up and down smoothly, and look for cracks in all castings, particularly where the arm meets the shaft at the back.