Radial arm saw dado ?'s

[Steve Rozmiarek]

RAS experts, if all goes well, I will be bringing home a Dewalt GE tomorrow. It's a beast of a saw, 16" blade, 40" plus crosscut, 7.5hp, 1" arbor, etc. at least according to the specs I can find.

I'd love to be able to dado with it. What is the right blade set for it??? I suppose it takes a negative hook blade, but the largest dado I've seen is 12". What did they intend to be used on it way back then?

[Biff Johnson]

Sometimes I have to add a sub-base if I'm cutting a particularly deep dado because the body of the saw hits the fence. It sure is a nice way to cut dados though!

[Mike Heidrick]

I use a 10" Ridge Carbide set on my 16" Delta long arm. It was the best price I could find on a good set and it looks a lot like the Forrest Dado King. There is more than enough vertical travel to use it.

[Mike OMelia]

Gawd that sounds like an amazing machine. I'd love one of those.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Thanks for the info guys. I don't know if it's going to happen yet, if it does I'll post a pic.

It's been a long time since I was around a RAS, the blades for it are all supposed to be negative hook, correct?

[Bill White]

We just added a DeWalt GP to the shop specifically for dados on table aprons.
Chosee the Dado King form Forrest due to tooth configuration. Since we build from reclaimed lumber (lots of very old heart pine and southern yellow pine), we fight pitch buildup on blades every day. I'm hopin' that the Forrest will work well.
I'll let ya know.
Bill

[Mark Wooden]

Steve, be careful when you first start using a dado head on that saw, the potential for climbing is greatly increased.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

250347


Well, it was a successful day. Took us a couple hours to disassemble the 12' tables, and get this beast in the trailer, but I now have that big old Dewalt saw I always wanted. It's actually a GE model, 5hp, 3 phase machine. I think it will crosscut 30" or so. My mini skid steer had all it wanted lifting it, it's big.

[Stephen Cherry]

250346


Well, it was a successful day. Took us a couple hours to disassemble the 12' tables, and get this beast in the trailer, but I now have that big old Dewalt saw I always wanted. It's actually a GE model, 5hp, 3 phase machine. I think it will crosscut 30" or so. My mini skid steer had all it wanted lifting it, it's big.

Woo hoo! Congratulations! Do you have your three phase strategy worked out?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Thanks for the info guys. I have a few other Forrest blades, so leaning that way. It actually came with a big good looking carbide blade. Glad to have one of these in my yard now!

[Brian Brightwell]

Steve, does it look like this one. This one is 5hp 3phase. I don't think this size radial arm saw will climb cut like a smaller one.
I had to replace a roller bearing on the slide on mine. The factory motor starter was junk and hard to get to.

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy11/bebrightwell/DSC_0734.jpg

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Woo hoo! Congratulations! Do you have your three phase strategy worked out?

Thanks, and, sort of... I have a VFD for a drill press I could try and see if the hp is still ok, or if it is capable of 480 volt, I have that in the yard, just takes wire. Actually wiring the shop now, so either is a usable solution. Will take a closer look at the motor in the daylight.

[Mike Heidrick]

That would be one heck of a drill press if it had a 5hp VFD on it!!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Nice saw Brian! I think yours is a few years newer than mine... Pretty interesting to see the similarities between the two. You can tell they stuck with what worked, and cosmetically changed just a few things. Is yours a three phase machine? Good point on the climbing, that is a heck of a lot of strong cast iron and mass to resist such behavior.

I'm familiar with the mass part tonight. Stuck a hand inside the arm as the carriage moved, and got a new black finger nail to show for it. Shish, you'd think I left my brain at home this morning.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That would be one heck of a drill press if it had a 5hp VFD on it!!

It is! I have a thing for old cast iron I guess. It's in the farm shop, big old ornate babbit bearing beast with auto feed and very capable of running the 2"+ bits the the metal fab guys use. Picked it up on an old machine shop auction for cheap, outbid the scrap guy. Can't remember the make, will post a pic if I remember.

[Denny Rice]

A RAS is a great tool for making half-lap joints too...

[Brian Brightwell]

I made a rotary phase converter to run my three phase stuff. [ 5 machines ] All the components were used. I would like to find a 12inch dado set reasonable.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Wow, I really can't read motor plates in the dark apparently... Turns out my new saw is a single phase machine. That makes it a bit easier!

[Brian Brightwell]

Mine had a cover that helped seal the arbor end, shaft to housing. It was held on by three or four screws. The holes were striped out. I didn't thing too important. When started the cover guillotined the motor windings. Yours is probably ok but you may want to give it a quick inspection. Congrads on the single phase motor.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Mine had a cover that helped seal the arbor end, shaft to housing. It was held on by three or four screws. The holes were striped out. I didn't thing too important. When started the cover guillotined the motor windings. Yours is probably ok but you may want to give it a quick inspection. Congrads on the single phase motor.

Yikes, thanks for the heads up, I will check that for sure. I didn't notice anything fishy, but I missed the single phase, so will be lots of double checking.

[David Winer]

"I'd love to be able to dado with it. What is the right blade set for it???"
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Steve, I found a new, high Quality German-made Onsrud 10 inch, 1 inch wide dado on eBay for a very low price about a year ago. The inner cutters have multiple carbide teeth. The whole system includes lots of spacers and a wooden box to house it all in. This turned out to be an effective accessory for my 14" Delta RAS.

So many sharp teeth in a heavy object! Wear gloves when handling.