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Radial arm saw question

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Damian Lawrie

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5
Location
Australia
Hi new to the forum. Located in Australia.

I have inherited a DeWalt radial arm saw. The table and fence are chipboard and are not remotely square or level and have seen way better days.

I'd like to make a new table for it but given that this is my only woodworking tool I'm not sure how to go about making sure I make it so it is square and level.

I have a few projects I require this saw for so it'd be great to get it usable again.

I have read the thread a few below this one and understand that these are not the preferred tool but it's what I have.

Thanks in advance for your input, greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Damian

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Here you go!

I inherited an old 'Red Star' saw. The thing is a beast but required a bit of tuning up.

This book is what I used. They can be a little finicky, but since I got mine adjusted it works great.

And Welcome aboard!

https://www.mrsawdust.com/
 
Damian, welcome to our sawdust pile. We like to help, so don't hesitate to ask questions. The only dumb question is the one not asked.

I hope this helps with your saw problem. If I didn't provide enough or the correct information, don't hesitate to ask for what I have omitted. If I don't have the answer, I'm certain that someone else here will be able to help you. In fact, you may get way more help than you need.

When I had a radial arm saw, I made a replacement top out of 3/4" cabinet birch plywood for it, mostly because it was what I had available. The original tops are usually 1" thick MDF or chip board. I made my top the same X & Y dimensions as the original top pieces, and used a piece of 3/4 X 2" wide solid wood standing up on edge and pinched between the front and back top to serve as the fence. Being good plywood quality and 3/4" thick, all I needed to do to check it for level was to lower the blade (without it running) until it just barely touched, and then moved the saw carriage and arm around the table and at different angles to the fence to find the high and low spots, then shim the low spots to make them level before tightening the table mounting bolts. It didn't take much leveling. A repeated check of all positions assured that it was as level as I could get it. It's best to do it this way, since it's really the relational distance from the saw arm and carriage that you want to be parallel to the table surface. Using a bubble level will get the saw table level with the Earth, but it won't help make the saw work properly. You want the saw blade to cut through your work and just barely below it so the work is completely separated at the cut line, wherever on the table your are making a cut.

This may not be the way that the original manual suggested, but it worked well for me. You should also check the angle gauge of the arm by using a framing square on the table and against the fence. Draw the non running blade along the edge of the square with the other flat edge of the square held against the fence. At 90 deg arm angle, the blade teeth should just touch the square all the way out to the full extension of the saw carriage. Either correct the dial, or move the table slightly to get the fence at 90 to the blade and lock it back down to get this 90 degree setting correct.

BTW, I attached a piece of 3/8" thick MDF to my radial saw's table using double sided tape. All of my cuts then scored this disposable top, and I replaced it, and not the whole table whenever the scoring became troublesome.

I never trusted my radial saw when making angled cuts without using something of a known angle to adjust the blade to. I always used known angles like drafting triangles, etc. to get the fence to blade angle setting where I needed it. Now days they offer digital angle gauges, so if I still had my radial saw, I would likely be using one of them to set the saw at the desired angle. The dial on my saw was far from accurate, so I never trusted it. For blade tilt angles, I suggest getting an "Angle Cube" It's a little digital display with a square cube shape. You place it on the saw table and zero it, then place it on the side of the non running saw blade positioned as vertical on the blade as possible. It has magnets, so it will attach easily. If you attached the bottom of it to the saw blade, and the saw blade is at 90 degrees to the table, it will display 90.0 degrees. You can then tilt the saw carriage to the desired angle and lock it in the desired position. Be sure to remove the "angle cube" and put it in a safe place before turning the saw "on". My angle cube was made by Wixey, http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/ but there are several brands available. Hopefully, one of these will be available in your country.

Charley
 
For squaring specifically you can get it pretty close with a framing square, but the five cut method will get you really really close.

This is for a table saw sled but the concept is the same for a RAS.


The short version is:

You make a cut, rotate the wood so that the cut edge is now against the fence, and repeat until you've made 4 cuts that take off about 1/4" of material.

Now make the fifth cut placing the freshly cut edge against the fence and cut a about a 1" strip off.

Measure both ends of the strip for width with a pair of calipers or a micrometer, if they're equal you're square. If not then you need to adjust a smidge.
 
larry merlau said:
there can be alot of things made with a radial arm saw the first kitchen i made was done mostly on a radial arm saw
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I mainly want to make simple cuts. I would actually like a sliding compound saw as it would be more suitable and portable, but I don't have the cash to splash for that so inherited it what I have.

90° and 45° cuts are really what I'm going to be doing. Maybe trimming plywood to size at times too

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The older DeWalts were among the better Radial Arm Saws. They were (are?) far better at holding their settings than the Craftsman, and other, saws, so you've probably got a pretty good saw.
Making a base board for it isn't rocket science. Some decent plywood or MDF - or even particle board - will suffice. Cut it to size using a circular saw, hand saw, or whatever you may have. Mount it to the base and use the saw's carriage to level it. Set the blade height some measurable distance - say 10 mm - above the surface at the back edge, then move the arm about over the base, taking measurements. Use wood, or even cardboard to shim the underside till you get it even overall. Job done!

Check the cutting angles using a good square or template and you're golden.
 
I'm a big RAS fan, and will not be without one again. That said, the particular saw does make a difference and mine is the older Dewalt (a 1030K). Knowing what model you have would help with some suggestions. Anyway, if you reference the Mr Sawdust book linked above you will find a design for a table that is reallt as good as it gets. The "Mr. Sawdust table" is 2 layers of sheet stock with iron bars placed on edge and epoxied between the layers. This construction assures the table will stay flat for it's life, the iron bars are norm ally 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide, so they are buried deep enough that you don't cut into them. Positioning these takes some though since you don't want them in the way of the fasteners that hold the table to the saw brackets. Also, since you mentioned that you want to cut 90° and 45° abgles, the older Dewalts have notches machined into the column that allow dead-on cuts of these angles ince the saw is tuned (aligned) properly. So here's what I have: 2 articles written by a real Dewalt guru (his name is Roger Hill) that I can e mail you that walk you through an alignment process that really gets the saw singing. If you're interested let me have your email (PM) and I'll get them out ASAP. Back to the model: Roger's articles use a 925 as the example, but most of what he writes pertains to all the older solid cast iron arm models (MBF, 1030, etc.). The later ones were changed enough that much of it may not apply, and there are some foreign models that are slightly different. But I'd be happy to send the articles regardless.
 
fred hargis said:
I'm a big RAS fan, and will not be without one again. That said, the particular saw does make a difference and mine is the older Dewalt (a 1030K). Knowing what model you have would help with some suggestions. Anyway, if you reference the Mr Sawdust book linked above you will find a design for a table that is reallt as good as it gets. The "Mr. Sawdust table" is 2 layers of sheet stock with iron bars placed on edge and epoxied between the layers. This construction assures the table will stay flat for it's life, the iron bars are norm ally 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide, so they are buried deep enough that you don't cut into them. Positioning these takes some though since you don't want them in the way of the fasteners that hold the table to the saw brackets. Also, since you mentioned that you want to cut 90° and 45° abgles, the older Dewalts have notches machined into the column that allow dead-on cuts of these angles ince the saw is tuned (aligned) properly. So here's what I have: 2 articles written by a real Dewalt guru (his name is Roger Hill) that I can e mail you that walk you through an alignment process that really gets the saw singing. If you're interested let me have your email (PM) and I'll get them out ASAP. Back to the model: Roger's articles use a 925 as the example, but most of what he writes pertains to all the older solid cast iron arm models (MBF, 1030, etc.). The later ones were changed enough that much of it may not apply, and there are some foreign models that are slightly different. But I'd be happy to send the articles regardless.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I finish my block of night shift tomorrow so will find time to get a few pictures and a model number for the post.

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Here are the pictures of what I'm working with. It belonged to my wife's grandfather who used it extensively in his trade as a carpenter. One of our nearby towns, most houses built after WW2 were built by him.

The 2 things that let it down now are the aged table and the stand it lives on.
25c1d570bfc038b4910e5c1624764de7.jpg
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Thank you. That can be a serviceable saw, but it's generally not considered on of the "golden" ones. That saw was made after B&D did some cost engineering along with some design changes to compete with the Craftsman saws. I would still be happy to send you my articles (these are a PDF format, BTW) but little would apply other than the kick-butt tuning methodology. That model was sold in the US and some info can be found over at the Vintage Machinery site.
 
I've never seen a radial arm saw set up to place the material behind the saw and push the saw back for the cut. I can see that it would make the cut much like a sliding miter saw, but it seems like reaching around the motor and blade could be kind of risky.
 
Wayne Eikenberry said:
I've never seen a radial arm saw set up to place the material behind the saw and push the saw back for the cut. I can see that it would make the cut much like a sliding miter saw, but it seems like reaching around the motor and blade could be kind of risky.
Click to expand...
I've not worked with Radial Arms much, we had one in the shops at a couple of companies I worked but since I was in management, rarely actually operated the saws, but seems to me we always pulled the saw forward to make the cut, then pushed it back out of the way. Since I'm working from a 30 or 40+ year old memory, take my opinion for what's worth, but doesn't the blade look as if it's on backwards?
 
The blade is on correctly, but the wood is positioned wrong.

Cutting backwards like that is not safe, as the rotation is pulling the wood UPWARDS as it enters the cut. The fence needs to be re-positioned so that the blade is behind the wood, therefore the rotation of the blade will bush the wood DOWNWARD as it enters the cut. I had a RAS for years and did a ton of projects with it. I just don't have room any longer for it.

I never tried it, but I have heard that a negative rake blade is best on a RAS. Supposed to help with the issue of climb cutting.
 
The negatove rake blade is really good for eliminating the self feeding often experienced on an RAS, it's the only blade I'll use on mine. But I never rip on one, and the negative hook really sucks at ripping. So die-hard RAS users (the ones who also rip on their saws) will often select a lower positive hook angle blade, maybe 5-10º.
 
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