Older Craftsman RAS

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

I have been offered an older Craftsman 12" RAS that's been sitting outside under a tarp for a..while. Owner says it will work, did work before he set it outside. It's 220V, It slides easily(front to back) and will elevate but the column needs serious clean up.

I want it to use with a stacked dado for dado cuts and half lap joints on longer stock. I'm not comfortable trying to run longer stock through a TS on a sled and don't have a sliding table.

Is anyone familiar with this saw. It's not polite to talk price but my stacked Dado blade cost more. This saw seems stouter and heavier than the 10" RAS offerings in the market.
<center>Please give me advice....

[Ed Marks]

Hi Doc,

We had a similar RAS when I was a kid. I don't recall any serious deficiencies for a machine of that era. You will find that there are a whole lot less safety features but I trust you'll figure out not to put your hands in harms way. I did not do too much furniture work with it back then but later in life I bought it's 10" little brother. It's for sale at the moment. A compound sliding miter saw has take it's place for the most part.

As for cutting dados, I had mixed results on the RAS. To do it well, you need to make sure the blade will travel parallel to the table over the length of the cut. I found it prety hard to get the machine aligned to do that consistantly. Lot's of shimming of the table to get it right and then it would get thrown out of whack the first time anything changed.

I can understand about cutting 1/2 laps and tenons in really long boards. Have you considered a router instead? You can make a simple jig to keep the cuts aligned. In some cases it's just easier to move the tool than the stock. This seems like one of them. You probably have everything it takes to do that..

[Bobby Hatfield]

Your taking too long getting your money out, that model is ok, the small 10" takes more effort to keep it square. The table is easily replaced.

[Jim Young]

Is it my imagination or is the dust collection port aiming at the user?

In my opinion (take it for what it's worth) it couldn't hurt to have this thing in the shop. By the time you knock the rust off and make it look nice you will probably have found dozens of uses for it.

[Tom Sweeney]

I have an old Dewalt RAS that's in worse shape than this one. It's waiting for me to find the time to restore it. There was a detailed article on restoring one in the BP articles - don't know if it would apply to the Craftsman but you might check it out.

I might be wrong - but there is some type of safety recall for some model craftsman RAS - Looks like it's just the smaller models, you can check here:
<a href="http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/" target="_blank">http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/</a>

Sounds like the price is right so go for it. I think it will work well for what you want it for. Course I'm a sucker for cheap rusty old iron :D

Good Luck!

[Michael Lutz]

Sounds like a good deal, if you have the space. I have a 12" one a few years earlier vintage. It can probably be rewired for 120V service, mine currently is. I bought it because I needed to cut vinyl siding for my house, and it was less than a sliding compound miter saw. I kept it when I moved. Enjoy it.

Mike

[Rod Peterson]

<br>
Keeping in mind that the Sears 12&quot; was a relatively short lived machine, and that its life may not have exactly mirrored the 10&quot; of the same appearance, I'll make an educated stab at some information.

I bought my 10&quot; RAS in 1972. The column, arm, arm lock, and some other things look <b>exactly</b> like my saw. In fact until I could make out the <i>12&quot;</i> on the blade guard, I was about to write and ask you to verify that it's a 12&quot;. Here's what mine looks like (I don't have a good specific picture of my saw; that may all change very soon): <br><img src=http://www.woodbutcher.net/images/shop-n.jpg><br clear="all">

The column housing is solid cast iron, and in the 10&quot; saw that lasted only for a year or two after 1972 when they went to the split housing with visible bolts and ribs.

I believe it was only a few years before that the column lock was located on top of the arm instead of at the end like yours. You can see an example of what I mean in this saw that is the non-electronic version of the one Norm used in the first season of NYW (it's hard to see, but this saw has the split column housing):<br><img src=http://www.woodbutcher.net/images/normstools/ras.jpg><br clear="all">

So, I think it's safe to say that early 1970s is the vintage.

My uncle (now deceased) had a 12&quot; from around that time, but I don't know if my cousin still has it. I can inquire and see if he has the manual as well. Let me know what your model number is so I can compare.

Tune up should be just about like any Sears RAS: level the table to the arm, square the arm to the fence, square the head to the fence, plumb the head to the table. That's the general concept; specifics such as how to adjust the table to level, how many cap screws to loosen to plumb the head, etc., may vary.

If you need more detail, let me know, or I'm given to understand there are instructions for tuneup out in cyber world somewhere, but once you've done it a couple of times, you'll have it down pat.

One difference between cutting dadoes on a TS and cutting them on a RAS is that (assuming the blade on the TS is set at the correct height) you can never cut the dadoes too deep on the TS, but it's easy to cut too deep on the RAS if the wood lifts at all. And your arm will tire sooner on the RAS...

I hope this helps.

Oh, and for Jim Young, there is supposed to be a rubbery plastic elbow that slips over the port sticking out from the guard. It can be connected to a shop vac or just exhausted wherever the elbow is pointing; one varies the direction during ripping depending on whether one is out ripping or in ripping.

[Howard Barlow]

Run away fast, it's a bad deal at any price. Email me the guy's name and phone #. I'll make him take it off the market.:D

[Bart Leetch]

Grab it & run. The guide rods & bearings in the head the it travels on are replacable.

I have one made in 1967 which was my Dad's & replaced the guide rods & bearings & it works fine.

I know it probably has seen a lot more use than the saw your looking at (Dad used it for framing houses & big commercial buildings).

It looks like the elbow to shoot the chips to the side is missing but you can make something to take care of it.

You saw is made in the early 70's before the mid 70's

[Mike Vermeil]

I have a DeWalt/B&D that was in much worse shape - the motor unit wouldn't even move - but now works well after rehab.

However, I agree with an earlier post about finding alternative methods for work of accuracy. I use my saw mostly for roughing out stock, and for cutting wide boards. Keeping the table aligned perfectly is just to finicky (sp?) for my taste.

[Rick Haverstock]

Doc,

I say grab it. I originally bought a 70's Craftsman RAS to hog dados on a large shoji screen project, paying the princely sum of $100. Tune up and alignment is finicky, but can be done. Helpful to me was an internet article by the guy that makes the PAL system. The saw is now dead on, and my half lap shoji joints (all 132 of them, but who's counting) are tighter than tupperware. Let me know if you'd like the article and I'll dig it out. BTW, the table is very easy to replace, but think of going with two 3/4" sheets laminated together. The original top on mine was 1" thick, but I like as much mass as I can get. Everyone else is correct, there is a rubber flexible duct elbow on the blade guard and I'm pretty sure that they're still available from Sears parts. Good luck !

Rick

[Clem Wixted]

Hey Rick,

Please post the article or web site. I have one of those babies and the table got wet and is in tough shape, but not as bad as the one Zack is looking at :)

How easy is it to get the new table to match the original?

Clem



Tune up and alignment is finicky, but can be done. Helpful to me was an internet article by the guy that makes the PAL system. The saw is now dead on, and my half lap shoji joints (all 132 of them, but who's counting) are tighter than tupperware. Let me know if you'd like the article and I'll dig it out.

[Ted Shrader]

Zack -

Didja buy it yet? Are you holding out on a gloat?

Ted

[Ted Calver]

Zack,
My brain has been playing tricks on me lately (just the last 60 years), but wasn't there a recall of these old Craftsman saws a couple of years ago?? I don't remember the specifics but there had been a sufficient number of safety related incidents to warrant paying a hundred bucks to saw owners. Maybe someone else remembers more better.
Ted

[Steve Schoene]

Thats the saw I had in the seventies. Its pretty good for an amateur/construction grade saw. As long as you have no plans for ripping with it I'd say go for it.

Frankly however I think RAS's are only really solid tools when they move past the consumer level to the price point where a new one today would go for more than $1,000. At that level they become solid enough to hold their set ups and make consistent precision cuts suitable for furniture making. House building requires MUCH less precision. So it also depends on what you plan to use it for and how much time you are willing to tweak it.

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

Thanks for all your input

I must confess I still have some reservations. I had a Delta 10" that I and my experienced friend were unable to tweak into producing consistent results. I returned it, but I acquired a lot of insight. This 12" seems much more substantial.

Still, there will be a lot of time spent restoring this saw: painting, scraping, polishing, lubricating, wiring and tweaking. A new table is simple enough. Forget the money... it's not much. It's the time I will have to invest.

If this saw will not cut a flat dado in a 12" panel that is 90 degrees to the fence with consistent results.... I will get little use out of it. I suppose I will have to do all of the above to find out.

Wasting money is sad but wasting time, at least for me, is a more personal aggravation.