In article , "Steve Radoci" wrote:
What is the best piece of equipment to use (and who makes it) to obtain
accurate cross cuts? I have a Sears radial arm saw and it seems like I spend
all my time adjusting it. Any recommendations would be appreciated.


If you have an accurate square, you already have all the equipment you need.
NOTE: if your square also came from Sears, you do not have an accurate square.
Accurate squares come from specialty dealers catering to woodworkers or
machinists. Starrett is a particularly good brand. A bit pricy, but worth it.

You can make accurate, repeatable 90-degree crosscuts with this saw, provided
that you (a) take the time to align it dead-on to 90 degrees using an accurate
square, (b) have a good straight, flat, and smooth fence board, (c) never
budge it off of 90 degrees once you have it set up (or take the time to
realign it to 90 after you change the angle), and (d) check periodically to
make sure it's still square.

It is not possible to accurately set *both* the 45- and 90-degree stops on
this saw. Setting one of them accurately misaligns the other by a fraction of
a degree.

Another option is a good-quality table saw (these also don't come from Sears),
and a precision miter gauge for it, such as one of the Incra miter gauges
(www.incra.com). I have an Incra 2000 that I'd be willing to sell, so that I
can buy an Incra 3000; if you're interested, email me at the address shown in
my sig line and we can talk about it.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)