Comet or Dewalt Radial Arm Saw?

[Steve Pippins]

Anybody have strong opinions on Comet versus Dewalt radial arm saws?

Do not have model numbers on either yet. And both are old cast iron machines for less than $150.

Thanks in advance.

Steve Pippins

[Bill Dufour]

Dewalt you can find some parts. Comet I doubt you will find many parts, even in California.
Bill D

[Jeff Davies]

DeWalt 'cheapened up' sometime in the 70's. You want the ones with the round top solid cast iron arm. I had a 10" made about 1975 that I could not keep in square. Then I got and still have a 1953 14". it has eight roller bearings and never gets pushed around . over 20 years in my professional shop, day in day out , it was the one machine that never failed. (aside from my 1888 J T Towsly horizontal drill)
That said, the heavier Comets were meant for commercial use--I doubt if you could stress one in a home shop . I think I would lean toward the Dewalt, but look at condition first and watch for any cracks in the castings. Regards, J J Davies

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I just used my old Dewalt GE to crosscut a bunch of 16" soffit material, what a beast of a saw. You won't be sorry if you get a good vintage Dewalt. I don't have any first hand experience with the Comet.

[Rick Potter]

All the Comet saws I have seen seem to be made for construction use, not making furniture and cabinets.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I would go with a DeWalt.

[Phillip Gregory]

Anybody have strong opinions on Comet versus Dewalt radial arm saws?

Do not have model numbers on either yet. And both are old cast iron machines for less than $150.

Thanks in advance.

Steve Pippins

The Comet radial arm saw is a sliding-ram design that as far as I can tell was actually invented by DeWalt and introduced in its "Victory" model saws in the 1940s. They abandoned the concept shortly thereafter. Comet and TOPS/Marvco later made similar saws. The main disadvantage of this setup is that the arm pushes backwards when the saw is retracted, which necessitates the saw being placed further from the wall compared to a standard radial arm saw. DeWalt made a different version later with the R2 where they made a conventional radial arm saw arm (instead of a round ram) slide back and forth on top of the column to give a similar effect, but that too was discontinued after a short period of time. I've never used a sliding ram saw so I can't say any more than what I have.

The big thing with DeWalt radial arm saws is that while many were excellent saws, some of the later 1960s through 1980s light-duty/homeowner units were not very good. If you mentioned "cast iron," you have a good one as the poor quality units used sheet steel and plastic arms and were quite crummy. The smaller older saws such as MMBs and the MB series were high quality and accurate but are small and underpowered as they are 1/2 to 3/4 hp saws that are best used with a thin-kerf 8" blade in thinner stock (but in this task, they excel.) Pretty much any used radial arm saw is going to be inexpensive, even high-quality large ones. $300-400 will buy you one of the largest made in decent running condition and smaller ones are $100 or so.

I do highly recommend a good old cast-iron arm DeWalt, particularly a medium sized or larger unit such as a 1 1/2 hp GW or an industrial model like a GA, GE, 34xx/35xx, or Super Duty saw. I have a 1956 GE with a 7 1/2 hp motor and the medium arm which gives a 25" crosscut in 1" thick stock. It is very accurate and more than suitable for fine cabinetry work despite its large size and that these saws were typically used to make rough cuts. I use it about as much as I use all of my other saws combined.