Gloat? Pristine Dewalt MBF Radial Arm Saw

[Peter Aeschliman]

Alright, I have to brag. Not sure if the sticklers will allow me to call this a gloat since I paid $200.

I just picked up a pristine Dewalt MBF radial arm saw. Bearings run smoothly, no play whatsoever, and the ways in the arm are perfect. It came with a whole bunch of blades, some molding attachments, etc. They appear to be unused. The boxes appear to be original, and in really good shape. The textured paint on the saw is in great shape. I will probably just give it a quick wipe-down.

Apparently it was owned by a doctor, who passed away a few years ago. He gave it to his neighbor when he was getting too old to use it, and that's the guy I bought it from. He had hardly used it.

I'm so excited! I'm still building out my basement shop, so it's going to be a little annoying to have to move it around while I finish. But I had to grab it before somebody else did!

Any tips on maintaining and calibrating the saw??

Apologies for the bad lighting and photo quality.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/peteraeschliman/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-03/20160313_124453.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/peteraeschliman/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-03/20160313_124453.jpg.html)

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[Earl McLain]

Wow, congratulations on a great looking saw. According to the Vintage Machinery Wiki, the post serial number should make that a 1957 model, the motor serial number will likely start with 57xx (57=year, xx=month). Though i have read that motors may have been made years earlier than the saws

You'll find more info than you can digest on the Dewalt RAS Forum on Delphi. I picked up a 1958 GWI last weekend, we just pulled the motor bearings this afternoon--can't wait to get it back together!!

earl

[Peter Aeschliman]

Cool! The serial number on the motor plate starts with 57, so I guess that means the motor year matches the rest of the machine.

[Paul Wunder]

That certainly qualifies for a GLOAT.

Add a nice in-feed and out-feed table for support and you'll be good to go

A lower blade guard probably was not available at the time of original purchase, but you'd be a heck of a lot safer if you could get an add-on or retrofit something.

Enjoy yourself

[John TenEyck]

Oh, that's definitely a gloat. It looks brand new ! Just follow the manual to set up and calibrate the saw and you'll be good to go. Be sure to use a blade designed for RAS's. IIRC that saw uses a 9" blade, and I think Carbide Processors sells some for it. Get rid of those steel blades and get a good carbide one.

John

[Frederick Skelly]

NEW DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's a heckova find Peter - good for you!
Fred

[mark kosse]

Original papers, original boxes, original clean base? Gloat worthy my friend.

[Jon Endres]

I have the same saw, in nearly the same condition. I got it for free, but I didn't get the base cabinet, the paperwork or the extra stuff though. $200 is a good deal for a nice little saw that has decades of life still left in it.

[Bradley Gray]

needs some sawdust on it!

[Robert Engel]

Nice. I picked up one about 15 years ago I think I paid $75 for it but no stand.

It took a 9" blade but from the git go seemed a little underpowered, I thought it was because of the 3/4 horse motor.

After several years of use, it finally pooped out took it to a motor shop who determined it needed to be rewound but at the time I didn't want to sink the money in it. IIRC they wanted around $150 to rewind it. So I passed and ended up giving it away to a guy who said he could "fix it".

Now I wish I had spend the $150 and got it fixed!

Its a very nice saw. The Ridgid I picked up for $75 is a POS compared to it.

Nice find.

[David Tolsky]

What a great find and great looking machine! That's a pride-in-ownership piece you'll enjoy for years!

[Ole Anderson]

Looks just like the one my dad had and I cut my teeth on probably 55 years ago. Gloat worthy my friend! And no reason to apologize for the pics, nice and clear. Not sure I would want to run those big molding cutters on it though.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I won't run the molding cutters or the dado, and definitely won't be using it for ripping. I have a tablesaw and router table for those operations.

This will be for 90s and 45s only!

[Rick Potter]

Hi Peter,

I had to do a LOT of dado work on melamine coated particle board, and didn't want to dull my Forrest dado set, so I used one just like yours and it worked surprisingly well. The bottoms were not perfectly flat, but they were a lot better than wobble blade dado's make. Only a small amount of chip out too.

I was pleasantly surprised. Be careful of self feeding though....with ANY dado set on a RAS. I have several, including the Freud 'Safety' dado. They all pull.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Not that I am envious or anything..............:rolleyes:

Congratulations on a great buy!

[Rod Sheridan]

Very nice Peter, however I would put that molding set up above the fireplace mantle as a show piece only.

The "Dominion of Canada" tag made me smile..........Regards, Rod.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Very nice Peter, however I would put that molding set up above the fireplace mantle as a show piece only.


Oh for sure. I have no desire to use that thing!


The "Dominion of Canada" tag made me smile..........Regards, Rod.

It sounds so ominous, especially for a country full of really nice people!

I made my first few test cuts last night, and, well, it went pretty poorly! The saw really wanted to climb and push the workpiece away from the fence. And when it pushed the workpiece away from the fence, it pinched on the blade and stalled the motor. Pretty unsettling feeling when you want to shut down the saw, but you need to keep a hand on the workpiece and another on the saw so that everything stays secure!

I'm now going deep in a research rabbit hole, reading about which special forrest blade to order (have to call in because apparently it's not listed in their catalog or on their site), reading about the Mr. Sawdust Table, and reading about all of the adjustments to get the thing dialed in.

whew. I had no idea I had bought such a complex tool! But in hindsight it's pretty obvious when you think about all of the functionality designed into the thing.

So hopefully I can get this thing tuned up with the right blade and a good table, so that it will be a precision cross-cutting machine for me. But first, I need to finish building my d*mn shop!

[Steve Peterson]

NEW DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's a heckova find Peter - good for you!
Fred

Yes, definitely gloat-worthy in the most politically correct way. New Duck. That saw looks like it still has the original cosmolene on it. It's not even broken in yet.

Steve