Elu radial arm saw

[joesoap]

Hi Lads
I've just acquired a used Elu ras 1251Power shop , to give it it's full title . Yes it's the non pro version but at 1hp and a 10'' blade will suffice for my needs . It has been litlle used but suffered light abuse ie the table was gone and the original Elu blade missing teeth with severe resin build up . other than that motor and condition is fine . What I would like to hear is opinions on the five piece table plus fence and remarks , as to the quality compared to the famous Elu pro brand . I have the 'book' which is well laid out and , oh yes the cost ............£110 but that was with 2 record 5' sash cramps thrown in .
Did I do well or what ?
All points appreciated Cheers !

 

[misterfish]

Sounds pretty good to me. I've got the DW (slightly later) 1251 and find it invaluable. You certainly paid a fair bit less than I did!

Consider the table as a consumable - I made a replacement for mine based around a length of decent left over worktop. Once you've got the table made follow the instructions in the manual to set it flat, it's a bit fiddly.

As for the blade, it sounds like it's had it - just get a reasonable negative rake crosscutting blade.

Misterfish

 

[FatFreddysCat]

First off you don't really need the OEM table parts as it's quite easy to make your own from 18mm MR-MDF or birch plywood. If you don't intend to rip with the saw (inadvisable in any case) then you could simply make-up a one piece table and screw a piece of 2 x 1in PAR material to it as a fence. The only thing to do is to ensure that when the blade is in the "parked" position it is behind the fence. As to quality, well these saws have a tendency to flex a little more especially if you use them as mitre saws so if you can avoid doing that the saw will stay in alignment for much longer.

 

[joesoap]

Thanks for that guys . de walt blade on order now and as for the table I did think that the 5 piece jobbie was a bit o t t so will go ahead with the one piece . w/t offcut just happens to be sat waiting to be used which has saved it's life as it was on the skip list .
I forgot to add that the legstand was in the deal too . You reckon that the 1200x600x50 should be ok then ? Depthwise I mean or was that the 900 top you used ?
Have either of you bothered with the routing , drilling etc options available for the machine , can't see much point in it mesel but would be interesting to hear of it .
Incidentally I see that the De walt 720k , the clone of what I have is on Axi @ £799.95 + carriage .
It's a wet rainy miserable dreicht day up here but , can't stop smiling . Cheers !

 

[misterfish]

No, definitely make your own table. My worktop offcut is about 4 ft long and is fine for the table. When I got my machine (ebay) it came with a number of accessories - stacked dado set, sanding disc, sanding drum and the small router bracket. The only one of these I have used is the dado set - I am planning to experiment with the other bits but haven't got round to it yet (and I've owned the machine for a few years!)

The only other accessory I have bought and used is a pair of DW swivelling fences that allow the fence to be angled and can make cutting of some angles a lot easier.

Misterfish

 

[joesoap]

A'hh Misterfish, now that's very interesting , especially the dado set . Does that fit the spindle or come with it's own arbour . The angled fence too seems like a good move .
My new cmt blade is on it's way from Axmin and should be here tomorrow , latest .
If you have the Axmin catalogue (who hasn't) take a look at p 31, as I just did and surprise surprise , what tables . Sadly though at that depth it woulld be quite a ssqueeze between that and the bench for me. What puzzles is , why the change when looking at that it could'nt be more simplle and practical . Maybe the old school approach with the Elu boffins back then . Or !!! to eliminate the need for buying 'angle ' fences . Whatever , it's fine to have sparring partners and this forum is the place to be for that .
What's your take on that table on the 720 k , would you consider changing , does it have the same overhang as your own ?
I'd like to hear
Cheers !

 

[joesoap]

Fat freddy's cat
That previous reply of mine was meant for you as well ,sorry bout that your points were welcome too ,
I have just answered the door to the postie and that's my blades from Axminster arrived . Excellent service , around twenty hours ,can't be bad eh !
Cheers !

 

[misterfish]

The original tables look pretty flimsy. I took one look at the pictures and decided I could do better and make it more substantial. I looked around on the web to get ideas and based what I did on the original (as shown in the manual) and the materials I had available. I also wanted it deep enough to give support to boards that are appreciably wider than the crosscut capability. I'll photo what I've done later and post the pictures for you (providing I can log in to my web space)

The dado set is 5/8" bore and fits directly on the arbor (which is 5/8"). However I also have a dewalt replacement inner blade flange. This is slightly shorter and doesn't have the machined surface to fit in the 30mm bore of the 'normal' blade. I'll photo those bits as well.

Misterfish

 

[joesoap]

HI
I've gone ahead and fitted a 1.200 W. X 1.000 D X 18 mm ply . Recycled from an old school table , so nice and true and fixed using the Elu slotted m/s with locknuts to the makers frame .
Like you say it doubles for other jobs the beauty of it being the 'arm' can be swung clear so no loss of space really . I still have to squeeze a bit but we'll see how it fares , setting up was quite simple and I could see why the saw was bad used previously as it was not aligned to the frame for starters . Luckily the good Elu original blade had taken the brunt of it if not all of the damage .
What surprised me was the force of it and the strength needed to hold back on the cut , as mentioned in the book of course . A good sign of loads of power in the motor though . Or could it be that I'm just losing what strength I had .
Your pics , something I'll have to get started on but look forward to yours , once again , Cheers !

 

[misterfish]

Here's some piccies as promised.

First the saw in the workshop. The NVR switch in the handle was a bit iffy so I replaced it with the switch on the front of the stand.

Now the fence. The main part is 48 cm deep, the fence 2 cm deep, the strip of board is 5 cm deep and the back 'packer' is 15 cm deep. The fence can go behind or in front of the 5 cm strip - for thinner materials it gives a wider crosscutting capability.

Next the blades (and backing flages). The normal flange on the right is 28 mm wide, whereas the special dewalt dado flange on the left is 16 mm wide. this positions the dado stack closer to the motor. I have got a replacement blade guard (somewhere) for use with the dado blade but it has buried itself somewhere in the workshop.

Now the accessories I haven't yet got around to using. The drum and disc sanders screw on to the arbor after removing the blade and flanges. The small router bracket fixes in place of the blade guard (obviously after removing the blade. The Dewalt Powershop Handbook that I also got with my saw gives several pages of suggested uses and set up for the sanding accessories.

Finally the angle fences. To use them I remove the wooden fence and replace it with these. They allow easy and accurate angle cutting when the saw arm is at 90 degrees to the fence - much better than swinging the arm and working at an angle.

As you have found out you do need to use reasonable pressure to stop the blade running towards you which then means that it climbs the piece of work and knocks everything out of alignment after which you have to check and reset all the adjustments.

Misterfish

 

[studders]

What surprised me was the force of it and the strength needed to hold back on the cut , as mentioned in the book of course . A good sign of loads of power in the motor though .

It's also a sign that the arm bearings are too slack.The head shouldn't 'glide' on the arm, it should take moderate pressure to pull/push and feel slightly stiff.

 

[joesoap]

Now that's handy to know what's available and the options for table setup . I'll ask De walt for the book to see what is compatible to the Elu , should still be the same really .
I had the yoke out and cleaned off the tracks and bearings on the arm and it seems to have improved the action on the cut . There was quite a bit of gunge but otherwise fine . By the bearings being too 'slack' do you mean , due to wear on them or the arm tracks or is there some way of taking up the slack or is it renew them . They looked ok to my untrained eye when it comes down to metal.

One more thing , (well for the moment) Extraction!. It seems that some machines just do not come up too well on that regardless of suction power, force etc , is this one of them . My wee earlex helps but looks like I will have to get a reducer on to the 4'' from the rdx 600i . It would just be so cumbersome due to the position of the outlet on the saw . Any ideas on that Thanks again .
Cheers !

 

[FatFreddysCat]

I'd say that of the accessories the most useful is the mitre arm set shown by Misterfish. Start swinging a lightweight radial arm saw from side to side to make mitre cuts and they tend to droop and become inaccurate unless you're willing to spend the time to brace-up the underside. The problem with the sanding drum and disc is that the saw runs at 3000 rpm or thereabouts which is way too fast for sanding - your sandpaper would load up very quickly and there's a greater risk of burning. Also not sure how much use a router bracket really is because in an ideal world overhead routers are used with an alignment pin in the table. Aligning that with the router collet and keeping it in alignment whilst cranking the column up and down might prove a bit problematic

For extraction I'd suggest building a sort of box behind the blade into which the head retracts when in the "parked" position. This can be connected to the dust extractor via a 100mm or larger spigot to pick-up a lot of the dust, although not all of it. I've tried connecting the top outlet on the blade guard in the past but that's so small it really isn't much use.

 

[studders]

I used to know how to adjust the bearings but it's so long since I did it I've forgotten how.
As for dust collection the suggested method of a rear box is the best bet but you'll never get all of it.

 

[FatFreddysCat]

I used to know how to adjust the bearings but it's so long since I did it I've forgotten how.

The carraige has three bearings, two on one side, one on the other. The single bearing is secured on a short shaft with an eccentric threaded portion at the top. Looseb the hex on top and use a screwdriver on the head below to cam round into position. Remember to tighten up everthing afterwards.