Radial Arm saw

[SawSucker]

I usually don't ask many questions here, but I have a delema. I just recently bought a Penncraft 9" Radial Arm Saw Model 4183 with a cabinet base, it was made by Rockwell in the mid 60's. The equivilent Rockwell model is a 33-310. It appears to be very nicely built, most of it is cast iron and it's heavy for a small saw in my opinion. I'm haveing a tough time decideing weather I should keep it or not because I'm finding that it's going to be tough to find a place to put it in my allready full shop. So my question is how many of you have a Radial arm saw, and how valuable is it in your shop ? The saw in Vintage Machinery website link is not the saw that I own, but is the same model, and the condition is comparable. http://vintagemachinery.org/photoind....aspx?id=10359

[SawSucker]

I realize that the saw probably won't get used alot, but I could see it comeing in handy someday for crosscutting up to 16" wide boards, and makeing a quick dado cut with several passes instead of haveing to setup the table saw with a Dado blade, or setting up a router only for one dado or two..

[Jerry M]

It's a tough call. Some people love those RAS. Some don't. I used to own one. It can be handy---some things are easier/faster on the RAS than the table saw, but not many. For me, the usefulness of the RAS was not worth the space it took up in my shop. I sold it several years ago and have never regretted it.

[FrankC]

When I got a sliding compound miter saw I found the radial arm was used less and less, eventually it became pretty well dedicated to cutting dados for one particular recurring commercial contract, when that contract finished it was moved out of the way to a shed, that was about ten years ago and it is still sitting there.

[SawSucker]

I agree guys, a Radial Arm Saw does take up space, and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it fit into the shop without it being in the way, I hate cluttered work spaces.

[deepsplinter]

I bought a 10" Craftsman in the late 80's. Still use it...daily.

Some might consider it a POS, but it has served me well.

99.9% for rough crosscutting. Occasionally, I'll set it up for horizontal boring.

100_1360.jpg

Can you put a drill chuck on it?
If you can make room, hold on to it.

[SawSucker]

Deep, I'm not sure if I can attach a drill chuck to it, there is a small threaded stud that turns on the opposite side of the blade on the motor, but like I said, it's pretty small, maybe a 1/4" or 3/8 chuck ? I got the original Iinstruction Manual with the saw, but most of what it tells you is how to adjust the saw, doesn't say anything about the features. I made a new table top for it this afternoon useing the saw to do it, and I'll tell you one of the first things that will get done if I keep it, DUST COLLECTION ! my gawd, that thing can sure throw out the dust. Now I've got a shop to clean. LOL Pictures comeing soon.

[Woody.]

I HAD one for 20+ years and did all sorts of things with it.

I crosscut - I ripped - I ripped sheets of plywood.

I ripped piles of 8 foot 2x4 in half to make my own 2x2 deck spindles.

I made mitered frames and Dados.

I mounted sanding disk and sanded. I used the drill chuck - but that does not do a good job

If it the only machine you can have - ok.

I retired mine after more than 20 years service about five years ago,

[SawSucker]

Well here's a couple pictures after adding a set of locking casters and a new top. PenneysRadR.jpgPennysRADL.jpgPennysRADlabel.jpg

[FrankC]

The biggest problem I found with mine was keeping it tuned to make accurate cuts, once it was moved off 90 degrees it never seem to end up to be right on once it was moved back.

I eventually made up some jigs to make my angle cuts leaving the arm in position and found everything worked much better.
http://sawdustmaking.com/Radial%20Ar...#Miter%20Gauge