Honestly, I'd set it on the curb.
Honestly, I'd set it on the curb.
A friend and I were discussing this just the other day. We both agreed, if there is enough space the radial arm saw is worth keeping. It will do things that are difficult to do in other ways and makes sense for some people.
Unfortunately, neither of us have extra shop space so we sold or gave away our saws.
JKJ
When I bought my first radial arm saw I built a portable table for it. (was young and strong then) 4x8x3/4" plywood ripped down, top was cut at 6' left of saw table and 2' right of saw table. 8' piece for bottom with triangle sections on ends to support top. solid strip across the back and strips set in dados in between top and bottom to make compartments. Added 3 2x4x8' to stiffen bottom so it would not flex. made two knock down sawhorses out of 2x4's for it to sit on. Added a 4" sq box with double duplex on the back with 25' cord for power and two removable uprights for a 4' 2 lamp shop light above saw. Traveled for over 20 years with that setup. Now have built in cabinets in basement and garage for those two radial saws. Both have at least 8' to left of blade and right at least 6'. The other two radial saws, one at work has a 36" wide top out of 4/4 cherry it is on rollers, picked up a bigger DeWalt from William Chain and it will replace the work saw. it will go on a pallet and probably have outfeed tables on pallets not certain yet.
Table saw will leave before radial arm saw does. To each there own.
Ron
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
My plan is to "set it and forget it" for both of them. The big Delta has a 12" blade on it now, and will be set at 90°, more or less permanently. I'm going to put a 6" dado blade on the DeWalt and use that for ... well, dados and rabbets. I've had both saws for a decade, used neither, but I've hung on to them for a bunch of reasons. The pair of them cost me less than $100, which is a big argument in favor of keeping and using them. I enjoy Frank Howarth's videos and that's part of my reasoning. He has made very good use of his multiple RAS's. I also dislike my SCMS and I know I can dial in either RAS to be super accurate.
Jon Endres
Killing Trees Since 1983
Yes, "this is the way". I would not recommend using the MBF for a dado stack. It'll spin it, but it's a little 3/4HP motor. I use my MBF's for either small crosscuts or leave them dialed for 45 degree cuts on one of the two axes. I use a 1030RA for bigger cross cuts and another 1030RA or 7790 for dedicated dado work. Those are in the 1.5-1.75HP range.
I have an old Delta Turret RAS that i rehabbed. As I needed an "outfeed" table like most, but didn't really have the space to dedicate to just a table, I built a wood storage unit next to the RAS with wood storage above and below the "outfeed" table part. I probably have 250-350 lbs of wood stored above (long stuff) and another 150 lbs (shorter stuff) below. Tried to get more bang for my buck. Oh, and its against the wall somewhat (wood storage behind it also, standing) Randy
Randy Cox
Lt Colonel, USAF (ret.)