Do you have a radial arm saw and do you use it?

[Matt Day]

Rush - 3.5hp is the ‘maximum developed’ hp. Do you think your shop vac is really 5hp? I used to have that saw btw, nice saw.

I’ve got a Delta turret 12” and use it on every project. Having an accurate crosscut machine is essential. Large reference face, minimal flex, decent capacity (16” on mine). I wouldn’t swap it with a SCMS, in fact if I had more room I’d get a bigger RAS especially since they are a dime a dozen at Auction.

[Tom M King]

I use two. One is set up for perfect 90's only, and the other keeps a dado stack on it. I also have a sliding miter saw. Very little crosscutting is done on a table saw here. The trouble with the RAS reputation is that too many were sold that were too flimsy. If the arm can flex AT ALL, or the roller carriage for the motor has ANY play in it, at all, a fine tool becomes a dangerous piece of junk. Some came off the drawing board as a piece of junk. A good, heavy, fine tuned one is a great tool to have.

[Jim Allen]

+1, wouldn't be without one.

[Bill Orbine]

The radial arm saw in my shop is an essential machine and used very often. The Tops saw is set up mainly for cross cuts.

[Marshall Harrison]

No radial arm but a sliding compound miter saw.

Mike

My to. A 12" SCMS. If I had the room I would get a RAS too. Maybe someday.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Like Rush I have a Dewalt 7790 with a Forrest Woodworker I and use it for everything as well. Fantastic saw and very safe if used correctly. At some point I'll probably add a Dewalt G-series and set one of them up exclusively for dados. Someone gave me a Quick-Set dado blade (similar to Comet) that I've experimented with but would prefer a better blade. I have a Makita 10" slider on a Bosch gravity feed stand for when I need to bring the saw to the wood.

[ray grundhoefer]

back in the early 70's as a teenager I got a craftsman new for 200.00 . It had to be adjusted often , but I built a lot of furniture with it for about 30 years. Now I have a 1957 dewalt GW-1. have an early 50's unisaw to go with it . gave the craftsman to my brother for building decks.

[Phillip Gregory]

I have a medium arm DeWalt GE and use it frequently. I use it to do essentially all of my crosscuts, miters, and dados. I much prefer to do those tasks on the RAS vs. my cabinet saw.

Matt, most DeWalts had motors rated with an actual running horsepower. Many of the mid-1960s and later consumer level saws went to a "maximum developed" horsepower but the earlier ones did not, and none of the industrial ones did. The 7790 was one with an inflated rating and the best guess based on power draw and performance in comparison to the older GWI with an honest rating is that it is about 1 3/4 hp.

[William Bell]

Bought a Craftsmen in 1985. It was okay for rough framing but would wonder in the cut on hardwoods. As a result sold that and bought a DeWalt 7790 with 12 inch Forrest WW1 blade. Saw was purchased and set up in 1990. To this day it cuts at a perfect 90. Use it occasionally to miter. Returns to a perfect 90. Wish I had the room for a 16 or 20 incher. When tuned with the right blade they are safe and work perfectly.
I have seen some 16's in very good condition for $400.00. You can't buy A good SCM new for that money. Just my 2 cents.

[Bradley Gray]

14" delta/rockwell from the 50's.Use it every day.

[lowell holmes]

I made a cabinet with drawers that my saw is on. I attached 1X12 wings on each side with hinges.
I can move the saw out into the shop, prop the wings out, leaving about 10' of saw table.
This facilitates ripping boards on the saw.

[Alex Zeller]

I have my father's Craftsman 10". He bought it at a discounted price because the lift doesn't work correctly (was an easy fix according to him but never got around to it). I don't think you can buy parts for them now. It has it's place but I haven't used it in 30 years. I do have lots of memories of learning exactly how not to use it. My father loved to rip 2x4s down to 2x2s. My father would rope me into helping him. After proving I had the reflexes needed to dodge wood flying at me he decided that feeding them in from the other direction might be safer. At one point in time he actually broke the bolt that stops the saw from sliding off the track. It now has a bolt from the hardware store in it. Back in the 80s I made a real table for it with a clamping system. With the wood secure it's much safer to use. I do like using it with a stacked dado. That's one thing the sliding compound can't do so my only option is the table saw.

[Dave Zellers]

I have two- a Craftsman that I bought new 1975ish (First real machine!- a very big deal at the time) and a Delta/Rockwell from the 1960's that I bought used years later.

Every time I think "Well the Craftsman must need adjusting by now", I check it very carefully and it is always dead nuts on. Always. So I don't touch it and use it everyday in it's 90º cut-off position. I use it for fine cabinetry without even any hesitation. But I have a few other options- like multiple sleds for the table saw and a SCMS. The 15" cut I get on the RAS is hard to beat especially for long stock. It's impossible for me to put an 8' board on my sled.

I keep telling myself some day I'll set up the Rockwell as a dedicated dado but I usually end up using a router for that. Right now it's just taking up space. Space that I really could use but I can't bring myself to let it go.

I have a problem that way. Just like letting my Craftsman go would be like putting a 20+ year old dog/companion down. We're in this journey together. At this point, I have no doubt that saw will out live me.

[Dave Zellers]

After proving I had the reflexes needed to dodge wood flying at me he decided that feeding them in from the other direction might be safer.

Wait- What? Were you actually feeding wood into it from the front when you were ripping? No wonder people think these are dangerous.

[Matt Mattingley]

I have two- a Craftsman that I bought new 1975ish (First real machine!- a very big deal at the time) and a Delta/Rockwell from the 1960's that I bought used years later.

Every time I think "Well the Craftsman must need adjusting by now", I check it very carefully and it is always dead nuts on. Always. So I don't touch it and use it everyday in it's 90º cut-off position. I use it for fine cabinetry without even any hesitation. But I have a few other options- like multiple sleds for the table saw and a SCMS. The 15" cut I get on the RAS is hard to beat especially for long stock. It's impossible for me to put an 8' board on my sled.

I keep telling myself some day I'll set up the Rockwell as a dedicated dado but I usually end up using a router for that. Right now it's just taking up space. Space that I really could use but I can't bring myself to let it go.

I have a problem that way. Just like letting my Craftsman go would be like putting a 20+ year old dog/companion down. We're in this journey together. At this point, I have no doubt that saw will out live me.

I am with you here. How are the guys dato cuting well building a 96 inch shelf using a tablesaw or sliding chopsaw . My sliding tablesaw will not hold a three-quarter dado blade or any dato blade. My craftsman will.

My tablesaw only has a 24 inch fence. I don’t have a 48 or 52 inch fence. I do have a 5 hp motor and Max capacity of 18 inch blade. I do have a 16 inch dado stack that will trench 1 1/8. To use it, I will have to build a dado stack arbor.

Have guys put a dado head on their sliding chopsaw?