Craftsman RAS or cheap jobsite/benchtop TS or ?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I sold my Hitachi job site saw last year and my 8.5" SCMS won't make rip cuts.
I have some hardwood flooring and some laminate flooring I need to install.
The jobsite is an hour and a half away, so, ripping the pieces at home and taking them to the job site isn't all that practical.
It's doable, but, obviously, I'd rather avoid having to.

One of the few things tool-wise that shows up a lot on CL is the abundance of Craftsman RAS's.
I'm leaning heavily towards getting one as opposed to a jobsite table saw since I believe I can get more use out of it around the shop.
I have the room for the RAS so space isn't a big factor.

My budget for this is low - about $100 tops.
I see quite a few of the Craftsman saws in this range - some of them even look like they are in decent shape.

Just how good or bad are they?

[Matt Meiser]

I can't comment on the RAS, but I borrowed one of the Skil flooring saws from a friend when I did the laminate floor in my daughter's room and it was great. But its pretty much a single-purpose tool. They are $140 at Amazon or there's a like new one for $126.

[Terry Beadle]

A Craftsman RAS is a pretty good tool but it isn't as good as a cabinet table saw when it comes to doing safe ripping.

The RAS will excel at cross cuts and is easier to tune up for 90 degree cuts. The weakness of RAS's, IMO, is ripping. I've had a Craftsman RAS for over 20 years. It's still going strong. I use it primarily to cross cut stock. For ripping, it's just not as good ( read safe ) as a table saw. If you set up the rip cut on a RAS correctly though, it will rip all day and accurately. My Craftsman just doesn't have the power to rip 8 quarter stock with out burning or plain flat having to feed so slow. I may be spoiled by my Grizzly 1023 ( yep..just checked..I am ). Any way, for a remote job situation, the RAS for the flooring stock you are talking about would be a very good partner. It can handle 3/4 inch thick stock no problem. I highly recommend a 3/32 blade with rip teeth or about 24 teeth. that is for ripping. I'd also recommend you use a jointer or a hand plane to do the finish thicknessing. You could use a 40 tooth or higher blade to do the finish thickness-ing but you would have to allow time for un-mounting the rip blade, mount the finish blade, and make the final pass(s). I just think a good 4 inch or 6 inch portable jointer would give you good results. I guess it depends on your budget.

I would think for a flooring install situation you are not going to be ripping a lot. Maybe to make stock fit door ways, wall ends, hallway sides etc. There fore the cross cutting ability of the RAS would be very useful and controllable. I have a small jig, really just a piece of wood about 1 1/2 inch wide by 18 inches long and 3/4 inches thick. In one end I've mounted a wood screw down near the bottom of the jig. I use a set of deep vice grips to clamp the jig to the length I need for several cross cuts. I've put a 1/8th by 3/8ths dado on the lower back side for saw dust to escape to. Very handy. You don't need the screw but I've found it to be a predictable length set. You can make one with a pointed end and just use it natural but the screw head clears the jig end by about 1/4 inch and allows more free movement of the saw dust and off cut debris.

For very thick stock, I used a 24 plain steel blade with lots of set and hand sharpened way back when I didn't have other choices. The RAS with this special set blade went through thick stock easily but it did take quite a wide kurf.

For a $100 solution, the RAS is a good one. The better ( read more money ) solution would be a sliding arm miter saw.

Another thing that might help you is to make a special fence that you can sweep almost 180 degrees across the RAS table. This allows you to keep the RAS saw set dead 90 degrees and use the special fence to accurately set the cut angle for flooring pieces that have to butt against non-90 degree surfaces.
The special fence is just two pieces of straight stock. One piece, lets call it the anchor, will be mounted in the slot just in front of the blade but not proud of the table top surface. In the end of the anchor, drill a hole and get a wing nut and bolt through it into the cut fence piece. The cut fence piece will pivot in the center of the anchor but have a stop near the pivot point end. The work piece slides against the cut fence and the pivot point stop keeps the work piece from shooting out the back side of the RAS. Set the cutting angle on the cut fence just a little wider than the angle you may need for the non-90 butt end. Do trial cuts with little adjustments with the wing nut clamp until you get the exact butt end angle you need and do the final cut.

This whole explaination takes more time to read/comprehend my poor description capability than it takes to make the special fence.

In any case, good luck and enjoy the process.

[Joseph Tarantino]

i'm a big fan of the 60's and early 70s vintage c-man 10" RASs. with that in mind, i don't think it's appropriate to your situation. they are quite heavy, bulky and therefore not terribly portable. and ripping on a RAS has never been a favorite activity of mine, and i have a 60s vinatge c-man RAS. i have ripped on it, and i avoid it whenever i can. and regarding portbility, the RASs you are considering don't enjoy being moved around. they are best put in one place, set up and left there. i've also used low end portable/benchtop TSs, and i try to avoid it. they are too light weight and unstable. within your parameters though, i'd go with the TS for ripping. too great a chance that the RAS blade will not be parallel to the fence opening up the potential for kichback.

[Bill Geibe]

I agree with the above that a RAS makes a great crosscutting machine but for ripping you have to be very careful. I've had a Craftsman RAS for 20 years and have never ripped with it even once - it's my wide crosscut machine (smaller crosscuts are for the miter saw).

That being said, you can rip on a RAS with proper precautions. I recently bought a vintage Rockwell turret RAS and from the marks on the table, I can see it was used for ripping many times (and no blood stains, either!).

Here's a link about a woodworker who set up a Sears RAS specifically to rip 1X cypress for some barn doors. http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/evil-machine-28461/ Knowing that RAS ripping can be problematic, he took some special precautions in setup and ripped a lot of lumber with no issues (other than occasionally popping the motor overload on the 14 foot long cypress). This might be similar to the OP's flooring job.

Bill

[Don Jarvie]

Do you do a lot of work outside the shop or is this a one time thing? If you do this often it may be worth while to invest in a sliding miter saw that is recommended above. You don't need a cadillac but you can pick you a slider at Sears for 100 to 150. Its a good tool to have since its much lighter than a RAS.

If this is a one time job make a jig and just use your circular saw. Buy a plywood blade and make a jig so you get 90 degree cuts and don't need to fumbling with a square.

[Kent A Bathurst]

On a different WW forum, there is a guy whose signature line is something like "Even Chuck Norris won't rip on an RAS."


Chuck's tougher than you, Rich. It's good advice, IMO. :p

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I'll disagree with many of the opinions-- I grew up ripping on a Craftsman RAS and I've seen as many or more kickbacks with my tablesaw before I got it fully outfitted with appropriate safety gear. I have a RAS now and don't rip with it but only because it's not situated with much room for infeed or out feed and my tablesaw is. Newer Craftsman saws are frequently heavy and hard to move around and keep adjusted but if you could find a somewhat older Dewalt with the smaller blade and motor I think it would work well for your purpose and should be in your price range. When ripping, I would add some 'board-buddies' or equivalent in addition to making sure the RAS pawls are engaged properly. Finally, do stand out of the 'firing line' when ripping and pick up a copy of Mr. Sawdusts book on RAS.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Do you do a lot of work outside the shop or is this a one time thing?
About 50/50. Most of the time though I'm working a lot closer to home & I can just make the rip cuts in the shop and take them back onsite the next day.
This time the job is an hour and a half away so that's not as practical.

My reasoning for the RAS is that I can set it up in the shop after this job and get more use out of it.
When I had two table saws, the Hitachi just sat unused and took up valuable space.
When the chance to sell it came along, I decided to get rid of it.
My original plan was to replace it with another job site or benchtop saw that has more standard features. The odd sized throat plate and miter slots of the Hitachi really limited it's uses.

Rather large and bulky has it's advantages on a job site. Portablility is nice, but, that sword cuts two ways. It's nice when I have to move the thing, but, when it "grows legs" and walks off on it's own, that's a bad thing.

Crosscutting isn't a problem. I have a couple of CMS's to handle that part.

Maybe I'll look into making a jig of some sort that holds the flooring pieces & let's me use my track saw.
That shouldn't be too difficult to cobble together.

[Rick Potter]

Perhaps I misunderstand, but I thought you wanted something to take to the job site? Whether you are pro or con on merits of a RAS doesn't matter. It is not that portable that you would want to take it back and forth from your shop.

Sounds to me like you need to replace your benchtop tablesaw.

Rick Potter

[Rich Engelhardt]

Rick,
Yes - I do want something I can take to this particular job site.
Getting it there and getting it out of the van shouldn't be that much of a problem.
I figure I can slide it in the back of the van and once onsite, I can slide it out and set it up in the garage.
The garage has a lock on the door & along with the size and weight of the RAS, I don't think anyone would bother to steal it so I can leave it onsite and not have to haul it back and forth all the time.

The TS is a bit more iffy.
Most of them are portable enough that someone could make off with it fairly easy.

[Terry Beadle]

I think you are on the right track to setup your track saw. In the long run you are not going to be doing a large amount of ripping any way.

Your miter saws will do the cross cutting which will be the volume of cutting.

For flooring rip cuts, I'd probably just use my skill saw with a good blade. My Dad was a pro carpenter for over 50 yrs and could make a skill saw really sing. Straight cuts were the norm. You are probably going to put some 1/4 round at the edges any way.

2 cents...and worth every penny...hoot!

[Steven Green]

My dad was a contractor and had a DeWalt RAS. I was a contractor and still have the same saw. They are very good for jobsite works and anybody that rips on one needs a gift card for a therapist and the ER. Just an opinion

[Dave Norris]

Maybe consider a Dewalt Ras, like a GWI. They also show up, but are a little more usually. Generally considered more accurate, and they were made for the job site. Once back in the shop it will stay accurate for years.