"Chris Nail" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've got a friend that is contemplating the purchase of a radial arm
saw vs. a sliding compound miter saw. Most of the work will be around
his home as he's doing "home improvement" type work. I don't have a
clue about a radial arm saw but have used a sliding compound miter saw
some. Could you all please give some advantages/disadvantages or
compare the two?

Thanks,

Chris Nail

Hi, Chris,

IMHO, the other posters have pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only
thing that I would reinforce is to consider the RAS/CMS in conjunction with
the other tools in your friend's shop. If he has limited space and doesn't
have room for a table saw, then the RAS will be much closer to the Holy
Grail of the "Universal Machine", since it can rip as well as crosscut.

As other posters have indicated, the RAS is pretty much "Jack-of-all-Trades
(no diss intended, Theo!) -and-Master-of-None. It's more hassle and less
safe than a dedicated table saw for ripping. It's bulkier and less-portable
and - in the cheaper sector - than a CMS for crosscutting and transporting.
OTOH, you can use it for dadoing, tenoning etc, so it's more versatile.
Some models you can remove the blade, fit a router bracket so you can have
radial-arm routing. CMS's, however, are (generally!) more accurate and more
predictable for straight-forward crosscutting and mitring.

I have both, as well as a decent table saw for ripping.. If I want my RAS
to have ultimate accuracy, then I have to check the settings very
frequently - they do wander (I have a DeWalt 720). It gets used for mainly
cross-cutting and tenon shoulders or housings in the shop. The CMS
(actually, SCMS) gets used for cross-cutting and mitring on site work. I
don't have to worry too much about the set-up. It seems to keep its
accuracy however much abuse it gets in transit.

Having said that, there's a price point to everything - if you buy a cheap
Chiwanese CMS from a large pile-'em-high, sell-'em-cheap (thinking of B&Q in
the UK!), then all bets are off. Some of the kit is great (or at least
adequate) and other stuff is entirely wasted money. It might be cheap, but
it will let you down in some respect every time, there will be no
pride-of-possession, and you'll hate it. Whatever your friend goes for,
RAS, CMS or SCMS, tell him to do his homework on the particular brand of
machine. As we often say here on the "Wreck", if you buy a good tool, you
only have to cry once. If you buy a poor tool, then you cry when you buy,
then you cry when you have to replace the POS for something that will
actually do the job.

If God said to me that I could only have one or the other, then it would
have to be the RAS from a versatility viewpoint. But I would sulk. There's
room for both, unless you are limited for space, or dosh, or both.

My tuppence-worth.

Cheers,

Frank