19 Re: Sears radial arm saw question...
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This article is from the Woodworking FAQ Collection 4, by multiple authors.
19 Re: Sears radial arm saw question...
From: kassover@jupiter.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Date: 5 Apr 90 18:47:45 GMT
My 20 millidollars:
I'm seriously considering getting a radial arm saw to complement
my Shopsmith mark V, especially to overcome the inherent
difficulties in doing cross-bevels at the ends of long pieces,
with a tilting table saw. (Cross miters and trim cuts are a
little more manageable with some suitable clamps and other
"handy's"))
I asked the instructor at the local Shopsmith academy his opinion
on a radial armsaw: in the $350 category, the Sears Craftsman is
about the best all around saw. If you want to spend in the $600
or up category, there are lots of choices. (I'm partial to
DeWalt, myself (but I believe they "invented" the modern radial
arm saw concept))
A friend of mine bought the Sears digital saw on a plain stand
during a sale, which brought the price into the $350 range.
Initial setup is a little more complicated; Setups are somewhat
more delicate than our combined experience with other (not our
own) saws.
My opinion: If I were to accumulate the digital readout saw, I
would use the readout for rough measurement only (And in some
cases it's good enough) For anything else I would set up in the
"traditional" way, possibly with (homemade) guage blocks.
>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.
IMHO, it depends on what you want to do. If you're doing some
complicated stave or segment construction for turning, you want
your angles pretty much dead on (any error will get multiplied by
the number of staves). Given a choice, I would do this on the
table saw, anyway.
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