John Grossbohlin wrote:


"CW" wrote in message
news
Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough


After having had several near misses doing this I'll never do it again...
seems to be a combination of no splitter,

Trade it on a cheap Craftsman then.

the wood not being pulled down
to the table by the blade,

No, that's what you use featherboards for.

an inadequate fence,

If the fence on an RAS is "inadequate" then why haven't you fixed it?

a saw that would twist
when under a ripping load causing the blade to bind,

Has to be a real POS if that's happening. More likely it wasn't set up
properly in the first place.

and inadequate power.

Ditto.

Perhaps a really well built radial arm saw is up to the task... but I'll
stick with my 3 HP table saw for such use in the future.

My Craftsman, built the same way that Craftsman RAS have always been built
near as I can tell, has a riving knife, not a "splitter" (if yours doesn't
and you're in the US it's almost certainly eligible for a free upgrade),
and has no trouble ripping anything I throw at it, and "anything" includes
ipe and lignum vitae. And on the rare occasion that it has had a kickback
it slid the piece off the table instead of throwing it through the air.

Sorry, but if you are having trouble ripping with an RAS you're doing
something wrong.

You really should read the Jon Eakes book and the Mr. Sawdust book and learn
how to use the tool properly instead of blaming it for your own
shortcomings.



John

--
--John
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