radial arm saw advice

[james@moveon]

Hi Everyone

We've just installed this DeWalt radial arm saw and need some advice. (Not used one before!)

1) Can anyone ID what model it is? It's 3 phase.
2) We've just put on a sharp chop saw blade and it's cutting roughly with a burning smell. Any ideas what we need to do?

Best wishes

James

 

[MikeG.]

Yep, the blade is the right way around. It might be the photo playing tricks with my eyes, but it does look to be skewed quite a long way, meaning the blade isn't spinning exactly parallel to the overhead track. The body of the saw can be adjust to rotate on a vertical axis (don't be tempted to do this to create an ad hoc dado cutter, will you).

I'm sure it's for the photo only, but don't be tempted to try operating this, even once, without the guards. These things can snatch and climb the work, and that could be horrific for an unfamiliar user.

 

[AJB Temple]

Those are big teeth (maybe you are cutting thick material) and it looks like quite a positive rake angle. I don't have a radial arm saw and it is ages since I used one, but I thought the normal practice is to have slight negative rake to counteract blade climb.

Presumably there is a blade guard and extractor hood not shown?

 

[MikeG.]

Yep, the blade lying on the bench looks a better bet. RAS are cross cut only, so want lots of teeth. Negative rake is ideal, but not compulsory. Most saw problems only start to get solved when there is a sharp blade fitted...be that jig saw, bandsaw, or any form of circular saw.

 

[Steve Maskery]

That looks like a rip blade to me, it should be a crosscut blade.
It probably just needs setting up, square in all axes. But as Mike says, don't even switch it on without its guard, it could kill you, and I'm not being flippant. Just don't.
If it came with its guard, fit it now. If it doesn't have one you are in serious trouble.

 

[Myfordman]

Not a lot of help but 3phase ones end in "3" and single phase, end in "1"
Mine is a 1753. I've never found a correlation between the rest of the number and the arm length for example.
They are all very much the same in design so any manual you can get hold of won't be a million miles away.
email me directly with your addy and I can send you manuals. Bob

 

[james@moveon]

OK, that gives me a few things to check out.
We do have a guard, it's just not on for the photo.

Thanks for the help!

James

 

[deema]

I own and regularly use a RAS, which doesn’t make me an expert, but at least means I have practical experience.
The blade looks fine, it should have a negative rake angle which it looks to have. Cross cut or rip, both will work in it the difference only affects the finish of the cut.

If the wood is burnt after the cut (black smears in the cut) either the blade is dull or it needs setting up. The main suspect will be that the blade, as Mike suggested, isn’t aligned with the jib.

If the wood isn’t burnt, then it’s likely to be the motor. The blade is either over powering the motor (too few teeth / too many teeth for thickness of wood being cut) or the bearings need lubricating / replacing or there’s wood dust inside the motor burning off.

 

[worn thumbs]

One more thing to check out;the blade is in the right way round but 3 phase machines with incorrect wiring for the socket can spin backwards.Have you checked for this?

 

[Hattori-Hanzo]

Worn thumnbs, that's the first thing I though of too.
Seen it a few times with 3 phase, it's amazing the wood is cut and not sent 3 foot into the air!

 

[powertools]

Welcome to the world of the radial arm saw.
I can't help with the model number, mine is a DW125 but the basic principles for all models are the same.
My advice would be forget the blade on the bench it is to fine for all but the thinnest material. The blade on the machine looks to be about the right number of teeth but we have no idea of the make, the rake angle or how sharp it is
If this is a machine that you plan to use for the long term I would recommend that you buy a high quality blade from a reputable supplier who understands these things such as Wealden Tools or Scott and Sargent it wont be cheap but in the long term it will pay dividends.
Having got the new blade you the need to run through the whole set up process as per the instruction manual, if the table is in poor condition now is the time to make one.
You are now about to enter the most frustrating few hours of your life, cover the new table you have made with a thin piece of mdf while you make your test cuts with the blade set just above the table so as not to damage while you do your test cuts during the set up process. When the set up is complete make a new hard wood fence and you will have a machine that will give you many years of service.
I think that mine is the most used machine in my workshop and I would not be without it.

 

[ivan]

From the look of the arm, it's an early version of the DW728. In about 1990 it was called the 1600S 1 or 3* according to the supply. This could be younger as it has the emergncy stop button on top. It should be able to crosscut somewhat more than 600mm x 25mm. The guard accepts blades up to 350mm, but for precision work the 1970 catalogue reccomends 11" /280mm. Later, the blade size was upped by the marketing department... at least we did not get the "developed HP" swindle in the UK! Yours should have an 8 bearing roller head. The long arm version (almost 1M) only had a 4 bearing head. On 2nd hand models, bits of the guards are often missing... Yours may still have some anti kick back fingers and a riving knife you can lower for rip cuts - now not considered safe. I must admit using mine to rip, but it has a custom built 2M table and roller outfeed, so I can size sheet goods on my own. Treewood ripping is by bandsaw.

The set up is convered in the 728 manual downloadable from the DW site, or much better, have a look at mrsawdust.com. Wally Kunkel was long involved with DeWalt since before the purchase by B&D. Now deceased, his family run an interior finishing service for banks, boardrooms, grand house libraries etc, and still rely on the RAS. Wally was involved in both sales, demos and training courses and his book is worth getting via the website. The intro also includes a fascinating history of the RAS. As Americans, of course they love to use the RAS with a dado head and often use it for jobs better done by spindle or router - but interesting just the same. However, the set up chapters would help someone new to the RAS. There's also another useful book you might find second hand - Fine Tuning Your Radial Arm Saw by Jon Eakes - Amazon has copies at a ludicrous price or a .pdf at
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... radial+arm
for free. This deals with DIY models, but the principles apply to any RAS.

* 1phase 2.5HP, 3phase 4HP (I think)

 

[james@moveon]

Hi Again.

We've started cutting with this machine now. The 3 phase supply was wired in backwards hence the burning. It's now cutting great with the blade going the correct direction!!

I found an identical saw online with a 1600/S badge but Dewalt could not find any manual for this. The DW728 does look very similar so I'll go with that.

The guard has a riving knife incorporated but I can't see anywhere to attach the anti kick back fingers and don't own any. We do need to rip with it, so I might buy a new guard with these included.

Thanks again for all the help!

James