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View Full Version : Big Iron and Dust Sucker Gloat



Rob Russell
10-31-2005, 9:35 PM
Well, I think this is an SMC first. This is a gloat for me and it’s also a gloat for another SMC member, but this other SMC member wants to stay anonymous. So – we have an anonymous gloat! Seriously though, he’s a full SMC member with a real first and last name, but he wants to stay as a lurker and I will respect his wishes, so I’ll call him OSG (Other SMC Guy). Here’s our little gloat story …

I ended up with a deal on a Delta 16” Radial Arm Saw. The RAS included a free cyclone dust collector, but both the RAS and dust sucker were in New Hampshire and I needed to go up to pick them up. I have a perfectly good dust collector and neither needed the cyclone nor have room for it in my shop. So, I put an ad in the SMC Classifieds that said “almost free monster dust sucker” – I wanted $75 for the cyclone to cover the cost of my going up to NH to get my RAS. Well, Alan Turner was first to respond and said “I want it”. It looked for a little while as if there would be a way for someone to take the sucker down to Alan in Philadelphia, but that didn’t work out. Meanwhile, OSG had contacted me. OSG lives in NH and I figured I could pickup both machines in my pickup and just drop off the sucker to him. After talking with the place that had the machinery, they said “you aren’t gonna fit all this in the back of a pickup”, and I realized that there was also no way to offload the sucker at OSG’s from the back of my pickup. So, I checked around and found, and OSG agreed to cover the rental of, a 16’ beaver tail tilt construction trailer. I would drive up to NH with the trailer, pickup the machinery, drive to OSG’s drop off the sucker and then drive home. The trailer meant that unloading at his place became a matter of wheeling off the sucker with a pallet jack vs. “push the sucker off the back of the bed”.

So – it’s up to NH we go. The machine shop I was picking the machinery up from said that they had pallets for the machines and a forklift to load them onto my truck/trailer.

The basic plan for moving machinery is to bolt it to a pallet, strap the machines down to the trailer and offload with a pallet jack. I prepped for the rigging by cutting some scrap pieces of 1”x3” to screw down across the slats of the pallets. That was to reinforce the connection between the machine and pallet. When I got to NH, they had already bolted the RAS to a pallet for me. Nice guys! Unfortunately, the forks on my “narrow-fork” pallet jack were spaced perfectly so they hit the bolts sticking down, so I had to move 3 of the 4 bolts holding the RAS down. I didn’t bother with the extra wood strips across the pallet because that would have meant getting them to lift the RAS up for and I didn’t want to ask them to do that. We got the RAS loaded onto the trailer. Then the cyclone came out. Fortunately, the bottom of the cycle sat right on the pallet and had a flange with some holes on it that could be bolted down. Then, they said we’ve got to get the chute too. I’m thinking – there was no mention of a cute – what’s this? Well, it turns out to be a stand that the cyclone sits on and the narrow nose of the cyclone sits down in. That was light enough so we loaded it by hand on to the back of the trailer.

Here are a couple of pictures - the machines on the trailer and a shot from across the street so you can put the size of this stuff in perspective.

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We drove to OSG’s place. Backing down the driveway was a little fun – that’s a lot of trailer and the driveway had a bend right of the road. We made it down and ended up putting the beaver tail of the trailer right inside the garage door so we could roll right off onto the concrete.

Here’s a pic of the cyclone in the garage.
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The basic diameter of the cyclone is 24” – it’s 5’ tall. The inlet orifice is 12” in diameter. It has a 7.5HP 3-phase motor. I was looking at it (first time closely) to see what the amperage draw was and it said about 7 amps. I’m thinking – that’s awful low until I look at the voltage – 575 volts. So, OSG will need to replace the motor, but some patient Ebay shopping will produce a motor for under $100 including shipping. It’s possible that a smaller motor (like a 5HP) would work as long as he runs smaller ducting – like the 6=7” most of us would want anyway. Can you imagine a 7.5HP sucker with a 12” duct? Don’t put a full-size floor sweep on that thing or you’ll suck in more than wood chips.

Rob Russell
10-31-2005, 9:45 PM
Here’s a pic of my saw loaded solo on the trailer for the trip down to CT. In the background, you can see the base stand for the cyclone, flipped upside down (we just flipped it off the trailer).

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So – we get home and I offload the RAS. Here it is sitting in the garage. One pleasant surprise was that the blade guard was there. It wasn’t evident from the pictures when I was looking to buy the machine - it was lifted up and tucked tight against the blade housing and not visible. The one piece that is missing is the handle on the height crank (hanging off the middle of the front of the table). The blade on the saw is missing a tooth and could use a sharpening, but it’ll certainly work for rough cutting lumber.

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You can see an extra blade sitting on the table. That came with the saw. It’s never been used (no sawdust buildup around the teeth), but it was sitting somewhere and the back has a fair amount of surface rust on it. You can see that in the second picture. Some penetrating oil (Liquid Wrench) and steel wool and that blade will be as good as new.

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Jim Becker
10-31-2005, 9:51 PM
Nice "haul", Rob!!! I do hope that OSG fesses up at some point and shows us how he/she has employed that cyclone in their shop! Do be sure to go over the details of that old RAS for us, too...

Andy Hoyt
10-31-2005, 11:18 PM
Rob - Nice score! And OSG should be commended for his spriit.

Is that RAS an old 20" dewalt?

Lee DeRaud
11-01-2005, 12:00 AM
The trailer meant that unloading at his place became a matter of wheeling off the sucker with a pallet jack vs. “push the sucker off the back of the bed”.You sure know how to suck all the real fun out of a good story... :rolleyes: :p

Rob Russell
11-01-2005, 6:18 AM
The details on the saw are:

Delta (not Dewalt) 16" Radial Arm Saw. This is the turret style where that long arm rotates.
5 HP, 3-phase motor
24" crosscut capacity. The 14" and larger have this huge crosscut capacity. My plan is to eventually build a bench along 1 wall of my shop with this for rough-cutting lumber and the Dewalt DW708 SCMS next to it for fine crosscut/trim work. The rear fences of the 2 saws will line up/be common.
The saw was built in August, 1991. That's sort of why I called it "big iron" not "old iron".




I do hope that OSG fesses up at some point and shows us how he/she has employed that cyclone in their shop!

OSG's plans are to have the cyclone outside in a little shed type attachment to protect it from the weather. The shop has radiant heat, supplied by a water heater, so when he runs the sucker it may pull some cold air into the shop, but that won't be a major issue. It's probably fair to say that he won't need to mess with much fancy collection for the fine dust and just let that fine sawdust that makes it through the cyclone spew into the woods.

Next spring, if he's willing to send me a digital pic, I'd be happy to post it for him (assuming he still still wants to stay in lurk mode).


You sure know how to suck all the real fun out of a good story... :rolleyes: :p

Yeah, well we decided it wouldn't bounce too well. Besides, the disassembly I'll need to do to get this into the basement should make for some "fun".

Karl Laustrup
11-01-2005, 6:45 AM
Thanks for the story, Rob. And good score to both of you.

That is some healthy iron you got there. I just have a "little" 10" DeWalt RAS and I know how much fun that is to move. I can only imagine the "fun" you'll be having getting that beast to the basement. Don't forget the pix. :D

Karl

lou sansone
11-01-2005, 7:53 AM
nice machine there. Great story as well. I know that some feel that RAS are just death, but the turret style is pretty accurate. I think you are going to really like it for bucking up rough stock and for doing some more detailed work as well. best wishes
lou

Chris Rosenberger
11-01-2005, 9:58 AM
The details on the saw are:

24" crosscut capacity. The 14" and larger have this huge crosscut capacity. My plan is to eventually build a bench along 1 wall of my shop with this for rough-cutting lumber and the Dewalt DW708 SCMS next to it for fine crosscut/trim work. The rear fences of the 2 saws will line up/be common. "fun".

Rob,
Is something like this what you had in mind.

Rob Russell
11-01-2005, 10:19 AM
Rob,
Is something like this what you had in mind.

Yep - that's it!:D

I'd planned to put the SCMS and RAS in reverse order though. Do you ever find that you want the longer crosscut capacity for the SCMS and not the RAS? Which size is your RAS? It's got to be a 14" or bigger because of the crosscut capacity.

Chris Rosenberger
11-01-2005, 11:14 AM
I use the RAS for rough cutting & most of my finished cuts, straight & wide mitered. For the other finished cuts, I have an Excalbur sliding table on my Unisaw. I have found that this RAS is more accurate than the SCMS for finished cuts. I use the SCMS for quick rough cuts & all narrow miter cuts.
The RAS was sold new as a 16". I did not like using the saw with that big of a blade. I bought a 14" guard off of Ebay & went to a 14" blade. I still did not like that setup so I now use a 12" blade on the saw. I like it very well. Also an advantage of using the 12" blade is that I could move the fence back. I can now crosscut about 28 1/2" in 2 1/4" material.

Alan Schaffter
11-01-2005, 12:23 PM
That beast looks like a bigger version of my old homemade push-through Wood Mag cyclone with Griz blower

<img src="http://members.cox.net/aschaffter/Old_cyclone.JPG"width="400">