Anyone have this setup a radial arm saw setup in rip mode?

[Gary roofner]

 

Do not  flame me right away. I can usually find a 4 or 5 saws on Craigs list for $100 or less ever week. I had a saw for 15 years had leak in roof saw got damaged. It did a nice job of ripping wide stock. I had about a 6 foot top 30 inch deep. Replaced it with a table saw from sears small table for 6 to 12 inch wide boards works great with featherboard. But not for wide plywood panels. you can ripp to the center of  48 inch sheet of ply wood. You have a longer fence.  Thinking of making a tabletop out of maple 8 to 10 long.

[Mark Lesch]

Gary I have a Craftsman radial arm saw and I have used it to rip it is more than a little scary. First the saw trys to lift your wood then you have to push your hand and arm under the saw arm next to a 3500 rpm saw blade that is trying to pull the work out of your control. Yes you cad do it JUST BE CAREFULL it is tricky. why would you buy a radial arm saw and not a bigger table saw they are on Craigs list to?

[Gary roofner]

You were going the wrong way when pushing the panel. Sawblade teeth should be coming down which would hold board down not lift up comon mistake when ripping with a radialarm saw. The table can be made longer and wider which would hold and support the panel better. Thats why I suggested a big table made out of maple.
Mark Lesch said:

Gary I have a Craftsman radial arm saw and I have used it to rip it is more than a little scary. First the saw trys to lift your wood then you have to push your hand and arm under the saw arm next to a 3500 rpm saw blade that is trying to pull the work out of your control. Yes you cad do it JUST BE CAREFULL it is tricky. why would you buy a radial arm saw and not a bigger table saw they are on Craigs list to?

[David Miller]

first of all, radial arm saws should be seen and not used for ripping. I have an old one and it never gets turned on, it is a collector item and it scares the heck out of me, and i make my living with wood. be very careful if you go in the direction the blade turns as the saw is going to want to pull the work into the blade which could damage you, your work and your saw. do yourself a favor and get a decent table saw and use the radial arm as a cross cut saw if you don't have a mitre saw!!

[Gary roofner]

I get the point thanks for your setting me straight. I have taken your advice and found what I think is a good table saw its a makita 2704 not a 2705 as mentioned in one of my other postes can't see the differeence in the two saws. Just that in my area more radial armsaw for sale easier to find. Looked at about 5 saws before I bought this saw from craigs list. Thanks Dave and Mark.

[Jason Watkins]

So this is an old tread obviously, but here are a couple resources you might find useful if you still have the RAS.

http://mrsawdust.com/

http://people.delphiforums.com/snotzalot/sawdust/

[Ken Darga]

RAS---

great tool---

great for cutting rabbets and dado's,

as well as cross cutting and ripping.

The models with the auxiliary spindle, is a bonus for routing.

[Jens Jensen]

http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/albums/my-humble-shop

Great saw I use it more than my miter saw but dont rip on it

1956 or 7

[Ken Darga]

Hi Jens,

Thanks for sharing your photos of your shop.

Very nice setup you have there.

I haven't seen one of those RAS Delta 'oldies in a looooooong time.

I'm sure it still works fine.

I have my Dad's mid 50's Delta-DeWalt tilting table model.

This machine still cuts very accurate ---

I can get repeated rip cuts to within .005''---

the saw blade is parallel to the miter slide within .003---

level within 0.1 degrees (measured with a digital level).

It can handle a 3/4'' dado and molding cutters.

The cast iron top and extensions, seem to weight a ton.

It takes 2 people to just lift the top.

I have it set-up mobile, so as to move it around, to rip long pieces---

using roller extensions, for single person operations.

I'm very satisfied with it. 

Can't get much better than that.

[Gary roofner]

I at the time didn't have a good table saw. when I posted. I had a ras for 20 years and worked well for cutting notches and half laps. Lost the saw had a leak in garage roof and got water in the motor and didn't know it started saw up and fried the motor. I would still like to have one for dados.  Living in a mobile home park now only have a 10 x 10 shed. Need to make tools mobile to work out in carport. My dust deputy helps keep things cleaned up.

We lost our home in a flood last year on Sept. 7. We had lived there for for thirty one years never flooded. I did not keep the flood insurance level up when I retired . So we are retired and down sized to a mobile home. One good thing I now have a couple good wood working buddies.  So thanks for the new posts but probably not going to get a radial arm saw.