DCH wrote:
mac davis wrote in
:
On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 22:22:57 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:
"DCH" wrote in message
...
Greetings all...
I found an older Craftsman (1960's) radial arm saw a few days ago,
for 40$ looked fine, cleaned up real nice, leveled the table, added
a new fence, it
runs fine until you cut with it, once the blade gets into the cut it
seems to wobble, making a kerf much wider than it should, the saw
was made for a 9" blade but the guy had a 8" blade on it...I thought
that might be an issue, but thought I would see if anyone else has
seen this before and what
the possible causes and/or cures that are out there....
First thing to check--are _all_ the adjustments locking tight? Grab
the blade guard and try to move it in all directions. If it moves in
any then you need to find out what's loose and tighten it.
Next, try to wobble the shaft up and down and in and out and see if it
moves--if it does then you may need new bearings, which you should be
able to order off the Sears site.
Check the blade runout--is it wobbling on the shaft? If so the shaft
may be bent or the flat surface on which the blade seats may be
deformed.
Next, get Jon Eakes' radial saw book
http://www.wired-2-shop.com/joneakes...l.asp?ProdID=3
&nPrdIm
ageID=&CatID=1 and do what it says (there are a lot of adjustments to
tune, several of them could be causing the problem that you're
seeing).
Also, see if it is covered by the recall
http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/. If it is you can get a hundred
bucks by sending the motor back--not as good as having a working saw
but it beats not having anything.
Thanks for any help...
DCH
ALL excellent suggestions and could be a tutorial!
I would like to begin the inspection with UNPLUG THE SAW, but I admit
to being a bit paranoid about stuff like that...
Mac
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm
Greetings....
I lapped the washers( retainers, collars, not really sure of the name )
on the sides of the blade flat...the blade does not have any play I can
feel on the arbor, the arm seems to be as square as I can
measure....both to fence and the table...sooooo I will try a better
blade and see if that helps any, the saw only wobbles when its
cutting...it runs very smooth until the cutting begins...I think the saw
qualifies under the emerson recall, so at the very least I might make a
few bucks off the saw...thanks to all for the advise...
DCH
I have a 10" Craftsman radial arm saw. I got it used back in the 1970's
and still use it. The manual for mine is available on the Internet (Old
Woodworking Tools). Google will find it. It's worth doing the
alignment procedure just to rule out things and get everything tight.
If the wobble only shows up when cutting, double check the blade. A
single bent or broken tooth can cause a lot of trouble. If dull or mis
sharpened, bad things will happen. Was it me, I'd invest the price of a
new carbide blade to get the saw running. What kind of shape is the
table in? If its warped, or badly cut up, cutting a new one might help.
On my Craftsman, table alignment comes first. You loosen the angle
irons holding the table to the base. Then adjust five set screws buried
in the bottom of the table with PEM nuts until you can swing the arm
from side to side with the blade just scraping the table. When the
table is flat, tighten the angle irons to the base to hold it in
position. Then use a framing square to get the arm at right angles to
the fence, and a combination square to get the blade at right angles to
the table.
David Starr