18 Re: Sears radial arm saw question...
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This article is from the Woodworking FAQ Collection 4, by multiple authors.
18 Re: Sears radial arm saw question...
From: mark@leo.UUCP (Mark Halvorsen)
Date: 4 Apr 90 18:28:12 GMT
I bought this saw about a year ago. At first I thought it was the best thing
since sliced bread but it did not take long to figure out its short comings.
Inspite of what the you might think resolution to a half a degree is not enough.
It is next to impossible to cut exact angle just by using the readout, I
had to use jig to assure reproducability. It is much easier to see how close
you are on an analog miter/bevel gauge. Also on the rip scale, if I even
bumped the arm it would go to the "EEEE" error display.
I would also strongly recommend that you try to find an older Sears radial arm
saw. My dad has one that is about 15 years old, the new saws can't even hold
a candel to it. Sears replaced the cast and machined carriage tracks with stamped
sheet metal tracks. The pull on my saw was so rough and uneven that it
boardered hazardous..., well it was hazardous to us it. The stability of the
saw was poor due to the single yolk construction of the carriage. In the
first few months that I owned it I had to have the orginal motor replaced
and than they, Sears, put the wrong replacment motor on so they had to
replace that motor. Thank goodness for service contracts.
Well the bottom line is that after having it for eight months I called up
the local service manager, who I had gotten to know better than I cared to,
and told him I want my money back. He said fine, take it over to the local
store and they will give you a full refund. I did and they did and a
couple of hours later I walked out with an new table saw which I have
used since.
So, in summary, If you are set on buying a "new" Sears RAS then don't buy
the digital, I had much better luck with dad's old analog, and make sure
that you buy a service contract, it's worth the $36.00.
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