radial arm or sliding mitre saw?

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I've just sold my RAS to a forum member purely because i moved to a smaller shop and had a sliding mitre saw doing not much after giving up site work. If i had the room, i'd have a RAS for the reasons stated by others and they are safe if you use them sensibly. Having said that, my Makita sliding mitre saw does everything i want it to and will cut 12"x4" at 90 degrees. Also handy for plain and compound angles. It's a swine to extract dust from mind.
 
Mine is a Dewalt 1251 if memory serves me correctly. Looking for £150, got a couple of spare blades I think. It's heavy so would need collecting. I'm on the South Coast.


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DiscoStu":1wa6doz4 said:
Mine is a Dewalt 1251 if memory serves me correctly. Looking for £150, got a couple of spare blades I think. It's heavy so would need collecting. I'm on the South Coast.


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Any pics? I could see about arranging a courier
 
I'll try and get some. I wasn't really quite ready to sell it so not really prepared but I'll try and get some photos.


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I love radial arm saws for their sheer solidness and accuracy. It takes up a bit of time to check and tune when you first get one, but its very worthwhile spending the effort and time. Dewalt have changed very little of the design over the years, one of them was using thinner metal for the stand on some models, hence the cross bracing on the 1751 models table. There is a very good book out there by a guy called Wally Kunkel who was one of the original salesman for Dewalt many years ago and he went by the name of Mr Sawdust. He explains in great detail how to tune them up to perfection and also how to build the perfect flat table which is important if you are wishing to cut joints on them instead of just just crosscutting timber to length. He also tells you how to check one thoroughly if you are going to buy one secondhand as well.
I have just bought another Dewalt RAS a couple ofdays ago and I am still trying to identify it. It has hardly been used and has the eight rollers in the head instead of the usual 4 which makes a big difference to smoothness when using it. I will need to rebuild the table as it has been well used and a sacraficial table wasnt installed but thats quite easily done. The motor and bearings on it are so smooth and quiet its brilliant, and this is one reason I much prefer it over the noisy screaming motors of the sliding miter saw.
There is also an American based RAS forum which, although all the US made saws are different to the European saws, still has a lot of useful info such as modifications and accessories you can make or buy for your RAS.
One interesting bit of info is that the current Dewalt saw cannot be used for ripping. The head cannot be turned around to 90 degrees to allow this. Possibly due to pressure from the H&S Exec, I dont know for sure. I dont rip on mine as I have a good panel saw which has a scorer on it so it doesnt really bother me.

Mike
 
Never had a radial saw, but would not be without my sliding mitre saw.

Mike
 
I was a lover of the RAS. Fantastic machines if set up properly.

I used to use an old beast when I was a joiner and loved it, especially grooving using the dado blades.

I have just bought a Scheppach Precisa 4 and bought the adjustable slot cutter for the thing. It can cut between 8mm to 15mm and gets around the EU nonsense (no that's not a Brexit hint) by still being classed as a single blade. I don't know how that can be, as it comes in two parts and expands using large washers. It will hammer through the tenons no problem 'I hope'.

Jonny
 

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