On 3/26/2014 11:06 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 3/25/14, 4:45 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
woodchucker wrote:

Not to me. I used one for years like you it was my only tool. When
I moved in here, I bought a used 10". I mounted a dado set in it,
and quickly found out why they are dangerous. Never had it race
toward me b4. but I could have lost fingers when it did.

I've heard this before but I never understood it. If that were
possible, then it could only be so if your hands were in the wrong
place to start with, and not a fault of the saw. It seems to me that
most of the complaints about a RAS are reflective of really bad user
practice as opposed to inherent problems with the saw - except for
turning the saw for ripping.Then... I do believe the saw has some
inherant problems.


Very true. I see the same bad technique used with SCMS all the time...
even on those TV shows when in the hands of these purported "experts."

A SCMS has the same obvious inherent problems but they are one of the
most popular tools made and used today.



Not true. With an SCMS you are pushing the blade against the rotation.

When using a radial arm saw, you are climb cutting.

Funny I had no problems ripping or cross cutting. It was the dado that
made me realize the danger. I always had a healthy respect for the RAS,
since the blade was fully exposed. And it was the first time the saw
showed me how much power it had when it pushed right out to me. The cut
didn't seem to deep, but it bit and just ran right out.

It wasn't bad technique, it was part of the problem with climb cutting.

--
Jeff