"Steve Turner" wrote in message
...
On 03/29/2010 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?

Consider the room that would be taken up by a RAS vs. a "movable"
miter saw. If you have room, including to the sides, then a RAS
would be great. Otherwise, for occasional crosscut or miters, the
miter saw on even the shop floor would be handy. Consider a
compound SLIDE miter saw. Mine can cut to the middle of a 24"
shelf. That's not as good as the 17" cut of the Sears RAS I had,
but covers about 95% of what I now do here at the house.

After downsizing, I have virtually no room for large tools like a
cabinet saw, RAS or planer. In my case, I got a Ryobi contractor
saw and mounted it onto a home built cart with casters. Low and
on one side of the cart is a Makita SLIDE/Compound miter saw and
below the Ryobi contractor saw is a 13" portable planer. By using
different sides of the cart, I can use all three without having to
move or change something. I just roll the cart out into the
driveway from its stored location and have 360 degree access.

--
Nonny
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member
of Congress.... But then I repeat myself.'

-Mark Twain
..