what to do with a RAS minus motor?

[Lynn Kasdorf]

You guessed it- I retired an Emerson/Craftsman radial arm saw for the $100 bounty. (www.radialarmsawrecall.com)

The saw is really pretty lame, it was given to me, and I have several other RAS plus a nice SCMS. After using my walker turner beast, the craftsman is just a toy. Lots of plastic and pot metal. The saws are incredibly prolific on Craigslist, and rarely bring much more that $100. So, I can live without it.

But now- I have this overhead swinging arm on a table that needs a new purpose in life. The arm elevation system works fine. I saved the roller bearings from the carriage, so making a new carriage will be easy.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Make a travelling overhead router (actually planning to do this on a monster walker turner RAS I have with a bad motor). This could be very cool- especially if I made some sort of table that travelled in X. It would be great for cutting tenons.

2. Make a mat cutter- work out a plunge mechanism for a mat cutting knife.

3. mount an oxyacetylene cutting torch and make a steel cutting fixture. I have always felt that if I had a carriage for my torch, I could do really nice cuts on steel. And, I do a lot of steel cutting actually.

Any ideas out there? This has to be good for something!

[Jim McCarty]

An anchor?:D

[Daniel Shnitka]

Convert it to a dedicated RAS for cutting steel. If it suffers indignities of being used on steel so be it, you owe it regular care and maintenance.
With the appropriate blade given regular use ithe blade will wear down. And when it does just lower the arm.

[Randall Frey]

I too have a Craftsman RAS that would probably work better morfed into something other than what it is. I wonder though, since the natural cutting motion of a RAS is front to back, if the swinging right to left let's say with a router would move nicely in the arc? I do like the idea of the overhead router. Anyway, I think the saw is to cumbersom for an anchor but Sears does have quite the inventory of items that would work just as well. Err, umm, I hope I deleated that last sentence.

[Robert Waddell]

Lynn,

It was a boat anchor before it lost the motor. I don't know what it is now but it ain't much! LOL

I bought a used one for a specific cut on a product that I was going to do 20units a month. Now after 9 mos. I've done 50 units total. Other than these it never sees any use.

I know! It's a spacesaver! It's saving the space that would otherwise be used up by a more useful machine.

I would love to see what you do with it. I may want to convert mine one day.

Rob

[Bart Leetch]

Drum sander. I would have kept the motor to drive the drum. To bad you didn't think of that instead of thirsting for the $100.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Drum sander. I would have kept the motor to drive the drum. To bad you didn't think of that instead of thirsting for the $100.

Actually I did think of that. But I already have a powermatic oscillating spindle sander as well as 2 other working radial arm saws (big walker turner and cute DeWalt 925dlx powershop) with which I could do sanding.

What has crossed my mind is making a thickness drum sander, since it has the nice raise/lower mechanism and is reasonably rigid. I'd want to use a different motor anyway- got lots of 'em.

[Loren Hedahl]

How about turning it into a morticer.

You would need to mount a router on the arm and a table below that would slide perpendicular to the arm for clamping the workpiece to.

Loren

[Lynn Kasdorf]

yeah- that is what I'm thinking for the Walker turner. I think the incredible mass of the walker turner would make it safer and less prone to jump. An overhead router is a useful thing. If I fashioned a cross slide with some sort of clamping affair, that would be very handy.

Of course, I recently picked up a very cool old Oliver mortiser which has a very nice cross slide and clamping system and foot pedal to lower the chisel.

I have also had thoughts of some sort of a layout aid. Imagine a laser pointing straight down at the table. You could use it for a kind of drafting arrangement except that you could mark your work. This is still a vague idea- but it might have some merit..

I'm still leaning toward the radial arm torch (RAT)!

All of the above! I love stuff like this -Repurposing machinery

[Tyler Howell]

I used mine for a buffer when I was polishing old hand planes.
Still a POS

[Pete Brown]

Send it to Blendtec to be the next item in "Will it Blend? (http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe)"

:p

Pete

[Larry Conely]

Many years ago I fell for the Inca radial arm saw with the optional router attachment. The saw was a POS, but the router attachment was actually pretty cool. It made a great dados, rabbets and sliding dovetails. I have long since gotten rid of the Inca saw, but every once in a while I wish I had the router accessory back.