On Mar 29, 12:45*pm, busbus wrote:
While scrounging on Craig's List, I found a couple old Dewalt Radial
Arm saws. *One is pretty pricey at $325 but one is $85 and the other
is only $70. *Would it be worth it to purchase one of these or would I
be better off with a good miter saw? *I already have a Jet table saw,
so my initial thoughts are that one of these would be redundant but
the prices keep bringing me back. *From what I understand, the Dewalt
is one of the few radial arm saws that were really very good at
keeping true. *Or am I wrong?

I don't know how much space would be eaten up by one of these but I
don't think it would be ultra-terrible, is it? *I "share" my garage
with my car but even if I kept it outside all the time, I would need
to put this on wheels because there is simply no room. *Also, I do not
know if things get all out of whack if I would move this thing all the
time.

Would it be worth it to go after one of these things or am I just
thinking stupidly?

DeWalt Radial Arm Saw Model 7740 - $325 * *http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/tls/1620826647.html
Dewalt Radial Arm Saw - $85http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/tls/1665111701.html
RADIAL ARM SAW 10" DEWALT - $70 * * * * *http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/tls/1664498660.html

Thanks.

I went through a similar thought process several years ago when trying
to decide what size of miter saw to buy for a basement finish job. At
the time I opted for a 12" vs 10" to gain a little more size
capacity. I also decided then that I could add a RAS later when I had
more room. I have the room now, and I'm starting to think radial arm
saw again.

Comparing the two is a little like apples and oranges. Even the
sliding miters come up short on a lot of the capability of a RAS. Not
only can you do miter work with a radial, you can raise and lower the
arbor/motor to adjust depth of cut. When saw-cutting dado's it is
easier to index the stock against the fence and visually see the blade
cutting across the panel; rather than seeing it come out the other
side face-down. A RAS will accept most of the blades, dado heads,
shaping accessories, etc. that your table saw uses. Panel cutting,
within reasonable sizes, can be easier with a radial arm saw.

I don't think the RAS will give you the precision you can achieve with
a well-tuned table saw. Also, some folks will say that shaping, and
to an extent, dado cutting on the RAS isn't as safe. I would probably
agree with this but you just have to keep your head engaged as with
all power equipment.

RonB