my new sliding miter saw

[Neal Clayton]

well, not new, and not really a miter saw, but that's what it'll replace and that was the manufacturer's original intent ;).

bought from a fellow creeker, a new guy in the memphis area.

it's an original 12" unipoint, made by "American Woodworking Machinery Co.", Northfield later bought this company out and continued the design into their RASs, the original manufacturer made these in the 50s (maybe into the 60s?). this was their idea of a portable cutoff saw, rather than the lightweight ones we have today. i would say that the "portable" part is arguable at best. it is very light for the size of the castings, apparently the cast parts are magnesium rather than iron, other than the sliding arm. so it only weighs about 300 pounds, ish. i sure wouldn't want to carry it upstairs to cut crown with, though...

it'll probably need a new set of bearings for the head and definitely a new blade, but otherwise seems tip top.

anyone need my old Delta RAS? only abused for a little while, free to good home! ;)

[Sean Nagle]

Now that's what I call a real SCMS ;)

[Paul Ryan]

Neal,

I hope for your sake that avitar doesn't jinx the "who dats". I switched back to my normal routine and the vikes won again. By the way nice saw .

[Neal Clayton]

WHO DAT! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVtsyDIeUx8)

they're flirting with disaster every week, but destiny seems to be on our side...for now ;).

[David Christopher]

Neal, thats one bad a$$ saw. I'd say it will do anything you'll ever need it to

[Aaron Berk]

That thing is huge! What is the cross cut capacity on it?

[keith ouellette]

It sure looks portable. ;)

Its amazing how people used to view things years ago.

What kind of capasity does it have and does it bevel also? In the picture it looks like you could cross cut 24".

Nice saw.

[Neal Clayton]

yes, it bevels as well. the base sits in a half-circle cast, so it bevels just like a modern SCMS does.

the crosscut capacity seems to be 15-16 inches, it's limited a bit by the bevel mechanism at the base. if you didn't care about the bevel and extended the fence back over the top of the bevel point, you could probably get over 20".


It sure looks portable. ;)



sure it's portable!

here's the picture from the sales brochure as proof.

my helper can attest to the guy in front on the shoulder side probably needing surgery after this picture was taken...

[scott vroom]

If it ever breaks down it will make one heck of a boat anchor.

[Simon Dupay]

Be careful, it might be tippy like it's big brother is!(all that weight in the back):D

[Neal Clayton]

it's borderline simon, we noticed that while loading it up. the motor isn't as large as the northfield models are, so it isn't too bad, but it will need to be level, i think, to avoid being a tip hazard. previous RASs i've had i've set up unlevel in the back a bit to make the arm tend to fall back on its own. i don't think we'll be able to do that with this one.

[Neal Clayton]

so the only downside turned out to be this thing having an odd duck arbor size. it's 3/4. don't think anyone makes stock blades with a 3/4 bore anymore, so i brought my newest chopsaw blade and dado set along with a new pair of collars down to the local machine shop to get the bore opened up, and got them back today.

it has a bit more oomph than your typical brush style miter saw motor ;)

the stops are 3/8" steel pins, and as one would expect considering that, after knocking it around to random bevel and miter angles and throwing it back into the stops, it seems to square itself back up nicely.

so i'm happy, finally found a decent RAS for less than the price of a car.