Rockwell 900 radial arm saw

[keith micinski]

I have never had any interest in a radial arm saw but this saw just showed up on Craigslist. I already have a really nice 12 inch Milwaukee compound sliding mitre saw and I don't know what I will do with it. It looks like someone restored it from the photo and he is asking 150 for it. It looks like a well respected radial arm saw from the research I have done so far and I am going to look at it tomorrow. What do you guys think?

[Stephen Cherry]

Looks like a non-craftsman to me.

My prediction for 2013 is that the radial arm saw is coming back into style.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Go ​early! Post pictures tomorrow.

[Dan Rude]

Well if you live near the twin Cities, here is an even better deal http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/tls/3538150174.html
I don't think I could get it in my basement.:(
Dan

[HANK METZ]

Get it.
Get it now before someone else does.
Worry about what your gonna do with it later.
Any Delta turret model is one of the best out there.
$150 is the same thing as stealing it.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Bruce Wrenn]

If it's a Super 900, it will take 10" blades. Also, the blade guard from a recalled Craftsman will fit with a little hand work.

[keith micinski]

Crap I think it is actually just a 900. I am going to look at it tomorrow. Not taking a ten inch blade kind of hurts but I am still interested.

[HANK METZ]

Crap I think it is actually just a 900. I am going to look at it tomorrow. Not taking a ten inch blade kind of hurts but I am still interested.

Unless you really need the cutting height capacity, an 8" T.C.G. blade will do most anything needed in the woodworking/ cabinetmaking world.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Stephen Cherry]

Crap I think it is actually just a 900. I am going to look at it tomorrow. Not taking a ten inch blade kind of hurts but I am still interested.


One thing to remember is that if this machine does not work out, there will always be another good deal.

[keith micinski]

Well I got it for 120 bucks. I started it up and it has been sitting in a cold garage for months and it barely wanted to go. I am assuming a new start capacitor will take care of that. THen once it got going it seems like what ever mechanism they use to do the braking on the blade was hanging up because it was squealing and squalling a little but once I kicked it off and on a few times it quit doing it. It also needs some screws for the lifting mechanism but over all it appears to be in unbelievable shape for being 50 years old or more. the biggest problem I see is I need to figure out what I am going to do with the table and the fence I am going to have to do some research and see what guys are using with radial arm saws. Up until a few days ago I had never even considered a Radial arm saw so my knowledge of them is pretty limited right now.

[HANK METZ]

Congratulations on a solid investment, and your are wise to investigate proper restoration and usage of such a fine machine. I would offer that the table of a radial saw is one of the most important components that make up the system, all the accuracy you will ever achieve springs from it, and it's quality of construction is the very first order of business. I recently posted a link to my rebuild of a DeWalt MBF (http://people.delphiforums.com/perristalsis/MBF_%20Saw_Restoration/DeWalt_MBF_Saw_Restoration.htm) radial saw, I'm including it here in the hopes you will at least scroll down to the presentation of the table construct and setup where you will also find a link to the Mr. Sawdust book, long considered the bible for radial saw operators of any make.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That looks like a nice addition to a shop to me! I just got a RAS, and now that it is here, it is amazing all the ways I've thought of using it. Just leaving it set up with a dado opens up a bunch of possibilities, nevermind all the other opportunities.

[Myk Rian]

I picked one up this summer. 9" 3/4hp. The super 900 had 1 hp.
I also got the stand with mine.
You have what is left of the original table. A few more pieces is all it needs to finish it.
3 pieces at 5.5", 3.5" and 1.75", plus a 1" thick fence.

You might want to pull the carriage, and check the 4 roller bearings. At that age, they might be stiffened up, but can be cleaned.

And yes. It is not a Craftsman.

I restored a DeWalt MBF a couple years ago. Put a Freud 8" blade on it. It's also 3/4 hp.
You won't get any better 45º cuts than you will with your RAS.

Here is the manual for it.
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4182

[Rich Riddle]

It looks like a great saw. Congratulations.

[keith micinski]

I took it all apart and got it all cleaned up and lubed up the carriage is really solid and slides pretty well all of the stop pins and adjusters cleaned up nice and work smoothly. THe only problem I am having right now is where the turret comes up out of the mounting block there is just a little bit of slop. You have to wiggle the arm pretty good to get it to move but it definitely had a little bit of play in it. I have messed around with the brass gib screw and the locking bolt on the back of the mount and I cant seem to get all of the movement out. I don't even know if you can get it to move while using the saw under normal operation but it is definitely there. Here is a photo of it setup at my place. I love the 1950's crinkle paint and sure wish there was a way to get more of it.

[keith micinski]

Wait a minute hank you appear to have found something close to the crinkle paint where did you get that stuff at. One problem I have is my paint is so nice it really only needs touched up which probably isn't going to happen and get a good match.

[keith micinski]

Also does anybody know what the two adjusters on the back of the table rails are for. I have been looking through the manual and arent seeing anything on them?

[David Winer]

You might want to pull the carriage, and check the 4 roller bearings. At that age, they might be stiffened up, but can be cleaned.
__________________________________________________ ________

I recently found my old Delta RAS had become stiff in pulling the motor carriage along the arm. I took off the front cover plate off the arm and could see that the roller bearings were not rolling very well but were sliding on the ways. Dri-slide to the rescue. This is a molibdinum disulfide lubricant that has an extremely volatile carrier that seeps into anything like crazy. Then it leaves the moly that lubricates but is dry and works wonderfully. My bearings were instantly transferred to smoothly rolling condition. The motor carriage was so heavy that I decided not to take it out to get to the rear bearings, instead got to them with an extended q-tip. Try this if you are troubled with a stiff carriage. My can of dri-slide has lasted for over 50 years and has solved innumerable problems. I think it is available now at bicycle shops for chain lube.

[keith micinski]

I think I figured them out. It looks like you build an L shape fence and you clamp it to the back of the table assembly with those.

[HANK METZ]

Keith, those two thumbscrews are to clamp the loose back boards in place up against the fence, looks like the only surface you have is the main table. Someone else posted the missing one's sizes. A sub-link in the MBF link I gave you points to the paint source, also there see the last shots to view what the clamps do.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[HANK METZ]

David, I posted a Youtube video on rehabbing carriage bearings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLESB5r7S0) for a DeWalt, it should also work for Delta or any other low- speed way guide bearing set.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Mark Ashmeade]

Nice score!

One thing I would check into is the carriage bearings. The ones in David's photo aren't quite the same as mine, my saw is a 33-411 longarm, but it's the same arrangement. Now when I got my saw, and those bearings needed replacement (they had dings and pits in the outer race, which is the "bearing" surface), they were unobtainable. This was at the time that Delta was being bought by Chang Type Industrial from Stanley Black & Decker. They did eventually come back into stock, and I got mine replaced. However, I don't expect that I'll be able to buy any more the next time it is necessary. That's likely to be 20 years from now, so no point buying any for me now. But if yours are in any way suspect, I would look into getting some new ones sooner than later.

I don't want to be alarmist, it may not be necessary, and you have a great saw there. Good luck with it!

[HANK METZ]

I think I figured them out. It looks like you build an L shape fence and you clamp it to the back of the table assembly with those.

Not an "L" Keith, just a plain board held vertical by the back boards. This is good design as you can flip and rotate the board to use it all up, when chewed beyond use, just toss and replace. The design also allows for using an overly long fence and a stop for repeat cuts of long lengths.

http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=13403

Manual (http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4182)


- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[keith micinski]

So I finally got around to getting a table setup on the saw to mess around with it. I have some 3/4 cabinet grade plywood laying around so I used that to start with just to get a feel for what kind of a table design I should have. I actually was able to get the table really flat and level with the blade. I then made a fence piece out of some maple I had laying around. I went ahead and crosscut the first pass through the fence and then I angled the blade to make my right side mitre pass. I noticed right away how close the fence was to the blade on the front side of the pass and how far the blade went behind the fence on the backside. I then angled the blade to the left and noticed my left side mitre was not only really far over to the left the blade literally just barely made it threw the fence enough to cut a board. The way the turret swings on this saw there doesn't appear to be anyway to avoid this. Am I missing something? It seems like if I want to do a left side mitre I am pretty much screwed unless I want to make a fence piece that hangs a few feet off the left side of the saw or make a piece that I can slide back and forth from left to right and if I want to do a right side mitre I have to hope its not a very wide piece otherwise I am going to have to make separate table pieces so I can move the fence backwards which really seem like a very poor design. I only have a 7 1/4 blade on this right now since I don't have any 9 inch blades yet but even with a 9 inch blade the motor clearance really doesn't give you room for a very tall fence which is another downside I have figured out so far Don't mind the shop cat in the photos the saw has encroached on her food area so every time I go over there she thinks she is getting fed. Also what about this 8 tooth blade that came with the saw. It seems like this would be a ripping blade I guess. I would think you would want to keep a blade with more teeth on it for cross cutting since it seems like thats what you would be doing with this saw the most.

[Gary Herrmann]

Lots of highly experienced folks over on OWWM if nobody has pointed you that way yet.

[keith micinski]

I kind of forgot to look over there good idea.

[keith micinski]

I guess they really do intend for you to move the fence in out depending on your cutting situation. I didn't make my back pieces out of separate pieces but I guess I will go ahead and cut them so I can loosen the clamps up to change fence settings around. I wonder how flat and level everything stays when you go moving rear pieces and fences around? I am a little disappointed with the amount of slop that is in the turret arm. I can't get it all out no matter how tight I make the Brass Gib plate or the the locking bolt on the collar. If there was anymore in it I would say you wouldn't be able to get accurate repeatable cuts but as it stands I think it s close enough. I'll know more once I get a blade for it.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

There shouldn't be any slop in the turret arm when locked, that's the important part. I had to add another washer under the locking lever to take up the slack in my 14 inch Delta RAS of the same vintage

[HANK METZ]

I guess they really do intend for you to move the fence in out depending on your cutting situation. I didn't make my back pieces out of separate pieces but I guess I will go ahead and cut them so I can loosen the clamps up to change fence settings around. I wonder how flat and level everything stays when you go moving rear pieces and fences around? ...

There is indeed a reason why back boards are different sizes as you just discovered, also the fence is normally no higher than 3/4" tall above the table surface.

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[phil harold]

I noticed right away how close the fence was to the blade on the front side of the pass and how far the blade went behind the fence on the backside. I then angled the blade to the left and noticed my left side mitre was not only really far over to the left the blade literally just barely made it threw the fence enough to cut a board. The way the turret swings on this saw there doesn't appear to be anyway to avoid this. Am I missing something? It seems like if I want to do a left side mitre I am pretty much screwed unless I want to make a fence piece that hangs a few feet off the left side of the saw or make a piece that I can slide back and forth from left to right and if I want to do a right side mitre I have to hope its not a very wide piece otherwise I am going to have to make separate table pieces so I can move the fence backwards which really seem like a very poor design.
Over the years I have decided that a radial arm saw is to make 90 degree cuts only
if I need an angle cut I use an auxiliary fence attached to the table.

either you cat is large or that RAS is small

[Myk Rian]

I didn't make my back pieces out of separate pieces but I guess I will go ahead and cut them so I can loosen the clamps up to change fence settings around..
I did post the dimensions for you up-thread.

[Don Jarvie]

The 900 is a great saw and once its set up it works find. As it has been discussed, to cut at 45 degrees you need to move the fence forward so when you turn the saw it is behind the fence. If you look in the manual you will see the dimensions for the table. The large piece is fixed and the there are 2 pieces that can be flipped so the fence goes forward for the miters. The 2 knobs in the back will hold the 2 pieces in the fence in place. I just use mine for cross cuts. I made a sled for my table saw for 45s.

As for the carriage bearings, replace them. I paid 7 bucks apiece for them at Accurate bearing. Its a small investment and they are easy to replace.

Follow the manual to set up the saw. The manual is very good and easy to follow especially when you need to make adjustments. As for a blade, I put on a Forrest Chopmaster 8 1/2 full kerf. The Chopmaster is a great blade. I had a Freud on there are the CM is much better. Definitely worth the money.

I completely torn my saw apart and cleaned it, repainted and put it back together. I even changed out the motor bearings. Runs great. I didn't match the color but I don't really care either.

[keith micinski]

With a fence that is only 3/4 tall and having to move fence and table pieces around My enthusiasm for this saw has been dampened a little. I still hope to find uses for the saw. As far as the bearings go they have zero movement and are actually pretty smooth all things considered. The slop in the vertical lift mechanism is still a work in progress. Unfortunately I think its less of a problem and more of a design flaw. All that weight hanging off of the tube and the tiny little gib with one screw and one locking nut just isn't up to the task. As long as I am careful the arm doesn't have any movement.

[Don Jarvie]

Did you follow the manual to adjust the lift? You might need to take it apart and clean it up. Mine is rock solid so unless its missing a piece it should tighten up. The saw was made in 57 - 62 so it probably could use a cleaning and lube job.

[Myk Rian]

There's nothing wrong with the design. It's a proven, decades old method.
Just takes a little willingness to get it right.