Radial arm saw capable of cutting 150mm x 150mm

[RobinBHM]

Budget is certainly a factor. I’m thinking hundreds rather than thousands and happy with an old second hand machine

There are loads of second hand Wadkin cross cut saws on the market and often cheap. The problem is the whole head moves so they take a lot of room behind unless you punch a hole in the wall.

your cheapest option I reckon is a cross cut and an inverter.

 

[AJB Temple]

Those large timber framers saws as recommended above are hard to come by in the UK for some reason.

 

[RobinBHM]

There’s a Wadkin cross cut on fleabay at present for £600

 

[RobinBHM]

There’s a half a dozen or so wadkin radial arm saws and cross cuts on Facebook marketplace. Prices from £500 to £1500.

the Wadkin BRA comes in 300mm to 400mm sizes, I think.

 

[JobandKnock]

The BRA has been available in sizes from 10in (250mm) up to 18in (450mm) at various times. 230 volt ones were normally only the 10 and 12in sizes (250 and 300mm) because the 14in (350mm) and larger ones require a far bigger motor (230 volt is generally limited to 2HP). The 14in (350mm) model(s) is by far and away the most common size

 

[Retire2004]

How about a metal cutting engineers bandsaw fitted with a faster motor and wood cutting blade......simples.

 

[Doug B]

If you go for a Wadkin BRA you'll need the 450 to cut 150mm deep in one pass & that's only 5mm off maximum depth of cut.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

This is for sale in greece:

https://vendora.gr/items/486p2w/prioni-kopis-petras-ke-marmarou.html
It's only 2k - any good?

 

[Cabinetman]

It might have been you that said that stuff like that is extremely expensive where you are, but that looks like a heap of junk to me and €2000? Not!

 

[JobandKnock]

That looks like a stone saw (look at the blade and bed). Most likely used with water cooling, so I'd expect a bit of rust

 

[OrangeFive]

Thanks all. I’ve seen the 450mm radial arm saws. I think that’s the closest I’m going to get to what I need it to do but I think space and cost are going to mean I’m going to have to stick to hand held circular saw. Which isn’t an issue as they do the job well. I currently use a 9” makita saw. I may upgrade to the larger one then I don’t have to flip the timber over. There have been some really good posts on this thread. As always it’s great to get others ideas and see if there is anything out there that maybe I’d not thought about.

 

[JobandKnock]

If you are still looking for extremely large capacity you might keep your eyes open for a pendulum saw. These were mainly used in timber mills, shipyards and the like with blades up to 36in diameter. The last UK manufacturer was probably Thos. White, although Pickles did list them until the 1960s (AFAIK Wadkin never made them, at least not after the 1930s). Stromab (Italian) still make them:

although in former times they might well be workshop built using an arbor, motor and bought in kit of parts:

They can be dowright dangerous to use due to guarding concerns.

The pull over saws mentioned earlier were another timber mill and shipyard tool (although prior to RASs appearing in the UK in the 1950s a lot more use was made of them in general industry) with blades up to 24in (Wadkin, Robinson, White, etc nade them later) but they often take up a massive amount of space (like this Wadkin CC):

On the odd occasion short stroke machines do come up, like this Robinson (currently £800 at Trebor):