Ripping on the Radial Arm Saw, with a feeder

[Stephen Cherry]

I know, "the horror!":eek:.

I just picked up an old Bridgewood radial arm saw, which looks exactly like a Maggi 640 Junior. Italian, cast iron arm; the opposite of what the radial arm saw became in the 1970's and 1980's.

I've got an extra 4 wheel feeder, and I'm thinking about mounting it on the saw for ripping strips. Long fence, cuts from 2-4 inches wide.

Should I just forget about it, or could it be OK?

[johnny means]

Where would you mount the feeder? It would have to be on the out feed side of the blade. But you could never get within the normal proximity to the blade that a feeder is normally mounted. That being said, I can't see why it wouldn't work. IMO, it would actually make ripping on an RAS feasible.

[Stephen Cherry]

Where would you mount the feeder? It would have to be on the out feed side of the blade.

The feeder pole would go on one side somewhat behind the saw pole. Blade turned in, wheels turned out, low fence. It's a 14 inch blade, so there is some room under the arm that I may be able to squeeze one wheel on one side of the blade, three on the other side.

[John McClanahan]

As long as the blade and fence are parallel, I don't see any problem. Just stand out of the line of fire when you first try it out! Many years ago a Craftsman RAS was the only stationary woodworking tool I owned. I ripped on it, never had a problem and still have all my body parts. :D

John

[Stephen Cherry]

Just stand out of the line of fire when you first try it out!

John

Yea-- I've been thinking about that.

[Brad Cambell]

I've done it but only a few times. My advise is to buy a contractor table saw. Think about how much money it would cost to repair a finger that was cut off using the wrong tool. I have a radial arm saw. I use for repetitive cross cutting. Ripping on a radial arm saw is scary.

[Harvey Miller]

Not familiar with the Bridgewood, but I’ve had a couple Dewalts. Try to find the manuals- for the Dewalt there was a anti-kickback pawl mounted on the blade guard and the guard was adjusted to sit close to the work piece. That insured it couldn’t get up to ramming speed. Also it’s recommended you use a negative hook blade- aggressive blade angles promote launches.

[Mike Heidrick]

the opposite of what the radial arm saw became in the 1970's and 1980's.

I've got an extra 4 wheel feeder, and I'm thinking about mounting it on the saw for ripping strips. Long fence, cuts from 2-4 inches wide.

Should I just forget about it, or could it be OK?

Only some RAS became that way, my long arm Delta 16 might buck that notion too. Guess it was made in the early 90s though. It's a matter of what $ amount most people paid for most RASs in the 70s and 80s that spoiled the vastly available machines. I blame Sears :) Its just taken a long time for decent machines to get priced right enough to make it back into some hobby/one/two man pro shops. Some of us never learned to fully utilize them either. Dying art.

As to the feeder I think it sounds like a great idea! Sudo single rip saw. I would try it! Heck I might do it with you - I have some extra 1hp feeders stands and feeder too.

[johnny means]

One thing to keep in mind is the size of your work pieces. In my shop ripping is often done with smaller offcuts and parts. Your setup would be great for ripping up stacks of full length boards, but almost useless for what I call assembly rips.

[Jeff Duncan]

I will add that the long fence of a RAS may actually be more detrimental than helpful. In reality you may want to use a short fence, (Euro style), which is much more beneficial, (read safer), to ripping than the long fence. I don't see any other reason it wouldn't work especially if you can get a wheel right up to the blade. Oh and I'd also swap out the blade for a true rip blade. And don't count on the anti-kickback pawls, with a feeder mounted properly you won't need them anyway.

good luck,
JeffD