On 08/08/2011 02:43 PM, dpb wrote:
On 8/8/2011 2:25 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
In , says...

On 8/8/2011 9:38 AM, J. Clarke wrote:
...

While an RAS, perfectly aligned, is a wonderful tool, bump it in the
wrong place and you have to go through the whole process again. I just
don't get the same repeatability out of the RAS that I do out of a
crosscut sled on the table saw.
...

If a simple bump can do that, it's the POS in "POS RAS" that's the
problem, not that it was a RAS...

It's inherent in the design. Bump the end of the arm from the side and
something's going to give. It's called "leverage".
...

It'd take a hell of a bump to move the arm on my RAS16; you'll regret you hit it and learn
not to do that again if you were to do so...

In the roughly 35 years I've not had it be an issue _ever_ so my conclusion is either
there's something wrong in a shop that one would get hit so hard and often or it's simply
too flimsy if a casual bump can knock it out of line.

I've seem the small DeWalts (Dad had one for 'round the farm) and I've also seen several
various Craftsmans of similar lightweight construction; them I'll grant aren't much of a
tool as far as sturdiness goes altho I used the one Dad had for the kitchen cabinets rather
than drag mine from VA to KS and it was serviceable. I'd label it in the POS class, though,
simply because it was so lightweight. It was also seriously under-powered for anything other
than softwoods or at most 4-quarter hardwoods

Not so w/ the 16RAS; it weighs nearly 400 lb; I doubt the DeWalt weighed 100.

I have a Craftsman 10" RAS that I use for 90-degree crosscuts ONLY, and I never adjust it
away from that position. I could see how it could get knocked out of adjustment if got a
good wack, and I do check it periodically but it never seems to do that of its own accord,
so I'm happy with it. I would like to have a *serious* big-daddy RAS to replace it, but I'm
slightly space constrained and I see no immediate reason to seek one out. If a professional
quality RAS is as useless as a lot of people here would have us believe, I'd like to see
what every home center and lumber yard would do if you tried to take theirs away.

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