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Thread: Radial arm saw versus miter saw

  1. #1

    Radial arm saw versus miter saw

    Once again, thanks, in advance, for indulging me as I ask more dumb questions.
    Your advice is always appreciated and helpful.

    I don't spend near enough time in my "shop" because I just don't have room.
    I think part of my problem may be that I have too many saws.

    I have a craftsman radial arm saw and a Dewalt 705 miter saw. (Plus a fold up Dewalt table saw)
    The radial arm saw was free and the miter saw is on a Harbor Freight rolling stand which makes it mobile

    I have both because the miter doesn't slide reducing the cut width.
    The radial deals with that but takes up a lot of room.

    If I replaced the miter saw with a sliding compound and got rid of the old Dewalt and the radial arm saw, what functionality might I lose that I may regret?
    Neither seem to have much value on the market

    Thank you

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Get rid of all those saws and get a good cabinet saw. It will do everything you need and you'll have more space.

    John

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    I would never give up my radial arm saw, which stays setup to make perfect 90* cuts only. My miter saw is stored under a bench and only comes out for mitering.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

  4. #4
    Thanks, John and Andy.

    John, I don't think have the room to have a cabinet saw.
    Or the wallet.

    Andy, if I understand, I wouldn't need a sliding miter saw and what I have is fine if I can find a nook.

    My shop is approx. 9' wall to wall and 16' from an end to a stationary bench at one end.
    I do have a small "L" shaped offset.
    Right now, the radial is there and I do have room to operate it there.

    I'm packed pretty tight

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    Get rid of all those saws and get a good cabinet saw. It will do everything you need and you'll have more space.

    John
    Maybe not, the cabinet saw can not deal with cross cuts of very long stock effectively (or not at all). In the end this all depends on the work you do. If for instance you are only building furniture you may be able to get away with only a cabinet saw and a circular saw (for rough sizing).

    I have a 12" mitre saw. Mostly used for getting stock to rough lengths when building furniture. It also how ever is the key work horse when I am doing "general" carpentry and finishing work. It is set up with very tight tolerances, but not as good as my cabinet saw - so my cabinet saw does get use for critical cross cuts.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    I have both, a miter saw and a radial arm saw. Both are finely tuned and accurate. If I had to give up one, my first guess would be to get rid of the radial arm saw, the functions of which are largely duplicated by the miter saw, except the RAS can handle a dado blade. The miter saw takes up less space.

    I consider a good table saw essential.
    Regards,

    Tom

  7. #7
    I use my RAS the least but I find it handy for cutting tenons on long pieces. Now that I have a domino, I wonder if I will even use it for that. It will do larger crosscuts but I can do them on the table saw with a sled or I can use my track saw. I haven't gone with a slider both because of the cost and the fact that there is always the possibility of deflection resulting in inaccuracy. RAS has the same issue. But it is very hard to push a 12 inch CMS out of alignment.

  8. #8
    Thanks all for weighing in on your thoughts.
    Hadn't thought about dado blades, something I need to get soon

  9. #9
    Your radial saw can do a lot if you learn how to maximize it's abilities. It can be a little inconvenient, but it is very capable.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiGH0Qsu3ak

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    Not giving up my Radial Arm saw. Either of them. I keep one set up for accurate crosscuts, and the other for dadoes. My tablesaw doesn't even have slots in the outfeed table. I can't do without the various miter saws either. One RAS, and the sliding miter saw have tops the exact same height. Right now, they are on the same wall, and help support each other's work.

  11. #11
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    I was looking into a slider in the past few days. I was interested in a Bosch Glide but became disinterested for two reasons:
    1. I actually had one (a gift) for a short while but the base was dished. The center was about 1/32" lower than the edges of the base. At one point, I had a Bosch tech and several more saws in my house and all had the same problem. That was a few years ago but I remain skeptical.
    2. Researching it recently, I found out about another problem The movement of the saw forward and back must be parallel with the blade. Users were complaining that if they lined up the saw for 'chop' mode, then it was wrong in 'sliding' mode. This is easily tested. Take a board about 12" wide and clamp it to the saw. In chop mode lower the blade until the kerf reaches about the halfway point. Then in sliding mode cut from the near edge of the board to just about the end of the previous kerf. If the kerfs line up, you are good. The problem with the Bosch Glide, according to the dissatisfied users, is that there is no way to adjust the angle of the blade to make it parallel with the direction of slide. Presumably, it was engineered to be right but some sort of manufacturing defect crept in and made some (or all?) saws misaligned. Another way to test this same problem is to use a dial indicator against the blade and see if the indicator moves as you slide the saw. This issue is exactly analogous to making the blade parallel to the miter slots on a table saw. All table saws can be adjusted with varying effort. It seems that the Bosch Glide can't be adjusted at all.

  12. By the way 9' by 16' though not large is still not too bad for a shop set up. The cabinet saw is so central to my work, that I would organize a small shop around it.

  13. #13
    Jeff that's wall to wall.

    Actual open room with everything pushed against the wall is more like 6".
    I wasn't clear on that part

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Foster View Post
    If I replaced the miter saw with a sliding compound and got rid of the old Dewalt and the radial arm saw, what functionality might I lose that I may regret?
    Neither seem to have much value on the market
    I own a craftsman radial arm saw and find it very inaccurate. It can be set to make precise cuts, but the minute you change the set up to make a different cut, the accuracy vanishes. Mine basically gathered dust since I acquired my table saw. Miter saws seem to be more repeatable in making precise cuts. To answer your question the only thing you lose is the ability to cut dados. A router and straight edge can do that instead of the radial arm saw.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  15. #15
    Thanks, Lee.

    Getting rid of it would make me a lot of room

    In your opinion, what about changing the miter saw to a slider?

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