DeWalt RAS

[Bert_]

Picked up this saw earlier this week during our spring clean up day. DeWalt 740, 10" radial arm saw. Nothing real special by the looks of it but the price was right (free).

It was kind of noisy so I picked up some bearings for it since they looked pretty easy to replace. So I have a total of $21 into it. I don't have a miter saw so it's a nice upgrade and I can run a dado on it.

I have seen people here recommend negative hook blades but I've never seen one sold? The one it's got is ok.

 

[rsanter]

Somme of the other options to make them a sander, edge planer, etc can be great to have.

Somewhere I have a planer set and guard for the RAS. If interested let me know

 

[dutchgray]

As far as I can tell from the picture the blade you have is a neg or at least low rake blade with a lot of anti kick back features. This is what you want on a RAS, it makes them self feed less aggressively. Think mitre saw blades compared to your standard circular saw blade, its the former type you want.
They are a nice option to have in a workshop, but I restrict myself to cross cutting on mine nowadays, ripping is not much fun on them.

 

[Bert_]

As far as I can tell from the picture the blade you have is a neg or at least low rake blade with a lot of anti kick back features. This is what you want on a RAS, it makes them self feed less aggressively. Think mitre saw blades compared to your standard circular saw blade, its the former type you want.
They are a nice option to have in a workshop, but I restrict myself to cross cutting on mine nowadays, ripping is not much fun on them.

The one it has is zero or close to it. Definitely not negative though. Never seen a negative one like people recommend.

The blade that's on it cuts decent but has a tendency to sing pretty loudly after it runs for a half a minute.

 

[plinker]

They are a nice option to have in a workshop, but I restrict myself to cross cutting on mine nowadays, ripping is not much fun on them.

I tired ripping with one once, just to see how it worked. I'd rather not do it again.

I like them for wider boards and dado's at times.

 

[Ton ton]

They are obsolete. Like big time.

 

[Rick_Br]

They are obsolete. Like big time.

One man's opinion - personally I would not be without my Dewalt GP

 

[Bert_]

They are obsolete. Like big time.

For carpenter, yeah. Portability is probably the biggest concern. For everywhere else where they are stationary I would strongly disagree. I still see them pretty often in cabinet shops and lumber yards. Besides are you going to offer me a free miter saw?

I'm kind of excited to run a dado blade in it. Things like door jambs or tall shelves are pain to cut dados in with a table saw. Can't do that with a miter saw.

 

[dutchgray]

They are obsolete. Like big time.

Yet there are plenty still in use in joinery shops in a commercial environment and you can still buy large RAS brand new if you want.
They are truly great built into a long bench for cutting long lengths down to a bunch of short lengths quickly and easily.

 

[Ton ton]

You guys are probably right. My dad used to have one and he sold it. Nobody missed it because it was mostly dead weight.

 

[Bert_]

It's pretty awesome for doing dados. Obviously doing a dado on the end of a long board this has a huge advantage.

Found a couple stiffening collars and that solved the singing blade. Only thing left is the missing angle finder for setting a bevel cut.