Do I need a RAS in my shop?

[Mark Gibney]

I have a 10" Craftsman RAS. Great for accurate cutting of long pieces to final length.
But it bogs down in thicker material.
I'm considering getting a Festool Kapex chop saw in the new year.

[Larry Edgerton]

thats cause they were never taught how to use them. Ive stated it a number of times here.

Almost every Radial I see has the wrong blade in it. You can't go to Walmart and buy a blade for a RAS. Has to be a negative Hook.

[Edward Weber]

Almost every Radial I see has the wrong blade in it. You can't go to Walmart and buy a blade for a RAS. Has to be a negative Hook.

I always use a negative rake blade on my RAS and SCMS, I've never had an issue with the blade grabbing and the cut quality is perfect.
In the old days, negative rake blade were pretty much non existent and the saw could get quite grabby, This was the cause of many shorts to be soiled and why you can get a used craftsman for about $100.

[Warren Lake]

you keep your arm straight not bent at the elbow, either blade it cant take off, elbows fold. Straight arm doesnt and there is not material for the saw to grab its been removed you are holding or pushing it back no material to creep climb whatever. End of story no matter what blade is on it

A cheap saw will be well more prone to creeping because of flex in it and it will try and climb up. They also dont have the weight, heavier is better less creep. Heavier is better on almost every machine.

I have a 275.00 Negative hook on the one I have as it came from a school.

In over 40 years ive never seen anyone use one right yet an English cabinetmaker told me that back then. Negative rake good for sure but if you dont have it keep your arm straight

[Warren Lake]

often this site wont let me open my last post so I can edit it and here I am again. Only site that does this. If someone could explain what to do in simple terms ill try and fix it as head office hasnt.

All the shops i saw in auctions usually with Omga saws did have negative rakes on them. They didnt learn from you tube

[Gordon Stump]

I am not a cheerleader for my craftsman RAS. But I have the room and with my extended tables and a thin kerf Industrial blade it will cut 6/4 rough boards. I am 78 and getting a 12 foot 6/4 walnut board over to the RAS table is enough work. Wrestling with it on sawhorses or whatever with a jig saw or circular saw ain't gonna happen in my shop. So if there is room, why not keep it.

[Edward Weber]

Higher quality saws have a recoil mechanism that keeps the blade/carriage from creeping.

I'll have to disagree with Warren on this, but with a recoil system holding the blade in place and a negative rake blade, you're doing the pulling, not trying to hold the blade behind the fence, this makes a huge difference.
I have to pull my blade through the cut, I'm controlling the feed rate, not pushing back against a saw that wants to self feed. When I'm done a cut, the carriage wants to go back to it's resting position behind the fence. (if I were to let it go, it would do it by itself)
The self feed (grabby) is what scares people and why the "straight arm" technique is adopted by some.
Cut safely, whatever you choose

[Warren Lake]

hog wash you need to get out more. Probably been in or seen over 100 shops for auctions. Omga Wadkin other pro saws, nothing to pull them back. It may exist but never saw it in the real world.

[John TenEyck]

I haven't used many 3HP or larger RAS, but when I have, I never experienced climbing, unlike my 1.5 hp Dewalt GWI which will sometimes want to climb even with a negative hook blade on it. The reason the large ones don't do it while the lower powered ones do isn't in the motor, it's the column (mostly) and arms. Those large HP saws have really beefy columns and arms that don't easily bend. If you have ever experienced climb cutting and afterward thought about how it happened, it's usually when you are working near the bottom of the blade, where the angle to the wood is shallow. That allows the blade to walk up on top of the board, because wimpy column bends and allows it to. If you take that same board and support it on another board underneath on both sides, but not directly under where the blade will cut, you'll find it doesn't climb. Why? Because the angle of the blade to the wood is much steeper and that prevents the blade from being able to walk up on top of the board.

Larger RAS's seem inherently safer to me, once you get over their scare factor. If I were a few years younger I would pass my beloved GWI on to someone else and get an RA or similar saw with a 12 or 14" blade, and one with at least 18" of travel.

John

[Edward Weber]

hog wash you need to get out more. Probably been in or seen over 100 shops for auctions. Omga Wadkin other pro saws, nothing to pull them back. It may exist but never saw it in the real world.

I won't argue, I'll simply point out that my 2001, 12" Omga has a recoil/retract system.
Item #3
Omga return.jpg

[Doug Garson]

Guess I should have quoted Michael or my post doesn't make sense. Michael said"I will summarize this thread and numerous like it: Yes or no, you be the judge"

Or "it depends".

[Warren Lake]

point taken

so you are telling me there is a pull back on your saw that is so strong that it stops a 2-3 HP saw from feeding? thats quite the set up if so. im sure if a saw was set tilted back it would return to the post.

For the rest of you if you want to not have issues with creeping keep your arm straight and it wont fold and if you push back on it there is no way it can keep feeding forward. I used these saws from the start mostly with the wrong blades on them as you use what the shop has. they dont always listen though now with nanny state they have to or more chance they do. The school one the had to but they changed t he saw out for some other 6,500.00 Radial

[Edward Weber]

It won't stop it from self feeding, though with a negative rake blade, that's not an issue. It does keep it from creeping. The amount of tension can be adjusted to the operators liking.

[Larry Edgerton]

hog wash you need to get out more. Probably been in or seen over 100 shops for auctions. Omga Wadkin other pro saws, nothing to pull them back. It may exist but never saw it in the real world.

My Omga RM700 has one.

[Warren Lake]

yeah edward said so and I acknowledged, its irrelevant to the discussion of radial arms feeding and climbing. Ill put two shims mine at the front and it will return as well

I stated long in here heavy better climb less, straight arm no matter what blade or what saw. I do what people taught when I see it works. Sometimes i dont listen to past info for other things and have my own way.