Dewalt Radial Arm Saw

[freekwonder]

Pick this up at an estate sale this weekend. Older gentleman said he built majority of the house with the saw. I definitely need to build a better base for it, going to keep it mobile with better casters. And build a new table top for it. Hopefully I can give it a good home and learn to use all it's features, while keeping all my fingers. It seemed like a good deal, so snatched it up.

 

[pstemari]

Sweet! Once you get RASs aligned well, they're a joy to use.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[bisley45]

Great find one of the best RAS ever built. I have one also and would not be without it

 

[freekwonder]

Definitely need to learn to use it properly, plan to get that Mr Sawdust book and luckily enough found the manual for the MBC line of saws online.

 

[7th Kahuna]

Nice find. That is a very nice saw. I have a newer Dewalt (1960's). Definitely get Mr.Sawdust's book. He will tell you everything you need to know. He provided sales support and training for Dewalt back in the day. You will definitely want to built a sturdy stand for it, and maybe a 'Mr. Sawdust' table. There are videos on table construction on YouTube in addition to details in the book.

 

[toddmp]

Anyone know what sort of paint/coating they used on these early machines? love the look of it.

 

[7th Kahuna]

^ I had assumed it was just splatter paint but then I noticed somewhere (I think in an old Dewalt catalog), that they sold touch up paint, so maybe not. I like the look too.

 

[toddmp]

^ I had assumed it was just splatter paint but then I noticed somewhere (I think in an old Dewalt catalog), that they sold touch up paint, so maybe not. I like the look too.

it reminds me of an Epoxy chip garage floor.

 

[freekwonder]

Anyone know what sort of paint/coating they used on these early machines? love the look of it.

Definitely love the paint, I'm hoping I don't nick it up to much I'd hate to have to repaint it.

Nice find. That is a very nice saw. I have a newer Dewalt (1960's). Definitely get Mr.Sawdust's book. He will tell you everything you need to know. He provided sales support and training for Dewalt back in the day. You will definitely want to built a sturdy stand for it, and maybe a 'Mr. Sawdust' table. There are videos on table construction on YouTube in addition to details in the book.

Will do, surprisingly the stand isn't terrible for being probably 30+ years old, but the casters definitely **** and the table is falling apart. Plan to get the lift style casters like I saw on rockler. I'm lucky to have a good sized garage, but it shares duties with RC Car/hobby stuff, car stuff, and wood stuff.

 

[bigroomboy]

I think doing well since it's probably closer to 60 years old. Lovely saw I hope you enjoy it. I've just finished rebuilding an Italian DW 110.

 

[7th Kahuna]

I'm lucky to have a good sized garage, but it shares duties with RC Car/hobby stuff, car stuff, and wood stuff.

Space is something I wish I had. Even if you do have space, you might want to consider building the saw into a workbench so that the cutting surface is level with the rest of the bench. Then you can just rotate the arm out of the way and still have 'most' of your bench open for other uses. Just a thought. The father of the guy I bought my drill press from had set his bench up that way. He had even gone so far as to hang the drill press from the rafters. The drill press table, which he protected with a sheet of plywood, was even with the bench top as well. I'm not sure why he went to the trouble to hang it except that it gave him open storage under the bench. Fortunately for me he had stored the foot of the drill press away in a corner. Thus far I haven't had a space to set it up, so it remains to be seen if I will take his lead and hang it again or go the more traditional route and set it on the floor.

 

[freekwonder]

Damn, that's using all the space you can.

I like the idea of the work bench. I'll have to look into doing something like that. Have to space out more how I hope to use the garage. I made a big miter saw station (when I had a miter saw), but realized it was just to big and didn't work with how i hoped to you use my garage.

I might look into a fold down work bench/feed table or something like the Ron Paulk work table.

 

[Stewie D]

Here is the link to a DeWalt Rel. No. 25 that has been restored and just looks superb.
http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=8854

It is probably only a minor variant of your No. 23. The last photo in that OWWM shows the same original "spatter paint " effect.
The saw in this link is also made in Aug 1954 so if yours is an earlier model it could be a year or three older.

Stewie

 

[freekwonder]

Damn, that's a beautiful saw.

Well I went to cut a piece of wood just to play around and had a bit of sparking so I took a look at the wire. I'm thinking fixing this should be my first priority.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Damn, that's a beautiful saw.

Well I went to cut a piece of wood just to play around and had a bit of sparking so I took a look at the wire. I'm thinking fixing this should be my first priority.

That's about the same condition the switch on my MBF was in when I got it. Unfortunately I dis-assembled the motor to replace the bearings and haven't got it back together again - no press . . . Now it's a basement queen . . .

Jim

 

[freekwonder]

Is that the standard switch/key setup?

 

[Outlawmws]

IIR there are a couple of variants, but yes, that is probably a factory switch.

Spend some time to get it aligned right, and make sure the right blade is used. it makes a difference especially if you are push cutting vs pull...

I've had my first one for like near 30 years, and the second (Bigger) 20 or so. #3 needs re-wiring... You can do cabinet/furniture grade work with those...

 

[nonhog]

I have one very similar that I took apart thinking of using pieces for an E-wheel someday. I was just about to list the "saw" (motor) on CL.
Want it?

 

[Boilerhouse]

I have a Dewalt RAS about that vintage or perhaps even older. I bought it used in the mid 80's and have used it a lot. It is an 8 inch, and is dedicated to cutting 90 deg crosscuts only. I built it into my workbench so it takes up virtually no floor space.

 

[freekwonder]

Well cleaned up the wiring, put some shrink tubing on and no more sparking when I go to use the saw. Now for a new stand.

 

[7th Kahuna]

That may very well get you through for the time being, but really you will want to replace the entire cord. Perhaps it's already on your list. It's a simple process. And plenty of help here if you need it. Start with 14 ga wire and a plug or buy a 14 ga extension cord and cut from it what you need.

 

[ddawg16]

Nice score

Just food for thought since you are considering building a new base....

I have the Sears Craftsman....It's old...but works well....it's all in the blade....

I ditched the base and built it into my base cabinets. It shares the same rip fence as my compound mite saw....I can cut a 16' board anywhere I want.

 

[freekwonder]

That may very well get you through for the time being, but really you will want to replace the entire cord. Perhaps it's already on your list. It's a simple process. And plenty of help here if you need it. Start with 14 ga wire and a plug or buy a 14 ga extension cord and cut from it what you need.

Definitely on the list, I'd like to do something like what was done on the white one posted earlier in the thread.

Nice score

Just food for thought since you are considering building a new base....

I have the Sears Craftsman....It's old...but works well....it's all in the blade....

I ditched the base and built it into my base cabinets. It shares the same rip fence as my compound mite saw....I can cut a 16' board anywhere I want.

Really nice setup. Some day I may redo the shop and do something like that.

 

[raddksn]

Great saw! I picked up same one as OP 10 years ago love it!!

 

[7th Kahuna]

Definitely on the list, I'd like to do something like what was done on the white one posted earlier in the thread.

That will be nice. I'm curious how it is done. I would imagine there is a way to do it with a piece of steel pipe. Take the pipe, wrap it with paper and / or fibreglass mat followed by the cord and then slowly heat the pipe until it holds the spiral??? I'm probably going to have to do it one day too.

 

[freekwonder]

Yes, definitely going to have to research it. Where is a good place to get replacement cords for this kind of stuff. I've never had to do it before.

 

[Outlawmws]

Good quality extension cords are usually cheaper and work great. just get the right gauge wire.

 

[pstemari]

If you have a Platt Electric nearby, stop there and pick up some SOOW cable and a Hubbell plug. They sell it by the foot and it's far better quality than any commercial extension cord.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

I also picked up the same model saw as you have. Lots of rust on mine. I'll start a separate thread for mine.

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[kruchten79]

I've bought a couple of these older dewalt radial arms saws with the splatter paint. I've tested it to see if it is lead based paint or not. i could not tell from the swab if it was lead or not. Can anyone confirm or deny that Dewalt used lead paint? thanks.

 

[pancho400cid]

Very nice saw. I bought an old Craftsman RAS and bought a great book about how to set them up and use them. I highly recommend it. Link is below.

It's written by Wallace "Mr. Sawdust" Kunkle - who worked for DeWalt back when those saws were being sold. I learned a BUNCH from reading it. It has a lot of info, very specific to DeWalt saws, about tuning them up, making a tabletop, etc.

https://www.mrsawdust.com/

One thing I will say is the books talks about ripping with an RAS in parts, which many people say is unsafe. I'll leave that decision to you.

 

[ttpete]

I've bought a couple of these older dewalt radial arms saws with the splatter paint. I've tested it to see if it is lead based paint or not. i could not tell from the swab if it was lead or not. Can anyone confirm or deny that Dewalt used lead paint? thanks.

It really doesn't matter because you're not going to ingest any of the paint. If you decided to strip it off, you'd ingest more lead doing that than leaving it alone would.

 

[kruchten79]

It really doesn't matter because you're not going to ingest any of the paint. If you decided to strip it off, you'd ingest more lead doing that than leaving it alone would.

Sorry for not providing more of a background. i'm going to be restoring them but wanted to paint a different color. If lead based i guess i will have to use chemical stripper as opposed to wire-wheel and sandblaster. thanks

 

[ttpete]

Sorry for not providing more of a background. i'm going to be restoring them but wanted to paint a different color. If lead based i guess i will have to use chemical stripper as opposed to wire-wheel and sandblaster. thanks

If you go stripper, aircraft stripper is the best. The ordinary stuff no longer uses methylene chloride and it doesn't work well.

 

[Outlawmws]

You just about have to assume anything that old was lead based paint...

 

[ALLFAST]

Head over to the Delphi DeWalt Radial Arm Saw Forum. It's a literal goldmine of any and all topics related to wood and those fine machines. Wallace Kunkel Jr. is a frequent poster on their board. He is a master wood craftsman and true artisan. Great content and folks over there��