Radial arm saw assistance needed

[Bob Heist]

Hi everyone,

I picked up a Delta 33-890 RAS Wednesday off Craigslist for $75. After putting a 220V plug on the cord it runs great—he couldn’t understand why the blade wasn’t spinning when trying to run it at 115V. The only real problem with the saw is the table. According to the parts list, it’s missing the the fence and the 4 smaller boards that go toward the rear post. The only part of the table that was with the saw was the main board in front that is 14 3/8” x 30 1/8” x 1” MDF.

I’d rather not spend the $270 that Delta wants for a replacement table if I can make my own. Does anyone out there have a 33-890 or similar model and could let me know the measurements of the rest of the table and fence? Any pictures would help as well.

Thanks,
Bob

[Neal Clayton]

the table can be whatever size you like really. i made the one for mine out of 2x pieces of 3/4 ply glued up face to face.

for the fence, just cut a dado in your table material, and glue a board in the dado for the fence.

[Don Jarvie]

Do you have the manual? They may list the size of the boards required.

The boards are there to so the fence can move to different postions to rip, cut miters, etc.

You can cut a few pieces to make up the space from the back of the saw to the fixed table.

Back of saw-board-fence-board - fixed table.

[Sean Nagle]

$75!! That's worthy of a gloat.

[Mike Heidrick]

Bob, loosen the knobs that hold teh table pieces tight, then measure the total distance.

Those tables for your 890 saw go somewhat cheap on ebay - check there if you do not want to make your own.

Where do you get 1" MDF anyway?? I need to stop buying sheet goods at the BORGs I know! I do love Menards ply though.

[Bob Aquino]

What you need to do is remake the table. It is the most critical part to getting the saw cutting accurately at all different spots on the table.

Many folks recommend the book by Wally Kunkle http://www.amazon.com/How-master-radial-Wally-Kunkel/dp/B0006QUBB6 on how to master the RAS. In it he details how to build a table with some steel embedded in the middle and on the edges to ensure that it stays perfectly flat throughout its useful life. Think about it, do you really think a piece of MDF is going to stay flat for years without any support on the edges? Its nothing but compressed sawdust. To keep the top of the table from getting destroyed, you can use a 1/4 inch sacrificial top out of plywood or masonite. Once you remake the table (which will cost you all of 30-40 bucks in materials) then you align it to the bottom of the saw blade or some other fixed point that will allow you to maintain the reference distance accurately. When I did my table, I used 3/4" MDF so the table thickness is 1.5" not counting the 1/4" top. You don't loose any cutting depth since there is so much adjustability built into the saw already.

The other part you need to work on is adjusting the saw so that it is aligned to the arm and carriage as well as the blade is to the table top. Those instructions may be in your owners manual or you could extrapolate them from Kunkles book (he mostly deals with older Dewalts).

[Bill ThompsonNM]

+1 for kunkles book (Aka Mr Sawdust). My project this weekend is to make a table as described in his book. Have fun with your new RAS that's a great deal!!

[Ken Kirkley]

+1 on the Mr. Sawdust book, but go to his website, it will be much cheaper...
https://www.dovetalebooks.com/sawdust/proddetail.php?prod=sawdust01

[Bob Heist]

Thanks for the great suggestions.

I'll probably start with just making my table with 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF glued together and then cut to the different sizes like Don suggested.

Mike--I think I'm missing parts of the clamps that hold the table down. I saw them in the parts list, but couldn't tell what they were used for. I guess that's another part I'll have to pick up.

I'll have to check out the book. Although it's mostly about the Dewalts, it looks like it still has some good info in it.

Bob

[Jerome Hanby]

Mister Sawdust for the win. Great book, has a great table. Not 105% applicable if you aren't running a DeWalt GWI, but great regardless.

[Greg Sznajdruk]

The table on a RAS is quite simple. You have the Table Front on your saw, what you need now is a fence and filler. Rip a piece of MDF the tickness of you table plus 1 inch. Set the fence in place and measure the remaining distance to the clamps that hold the fence and filler in place cut a piece to fit. Drop them in place and tighten the clamps to hold these two pieces in place. There is a way to adjust the clamps if it is too tight or loose. Usually a theded nut or the clamps leavers can be theaded in or out.