I was watching the old John Wayne movie (1944) tonight and there is a scene
where "Sawyer" opens a pack of cigarettes by running the end of the pack
through a Dewalt radial arm saw, that looked to be a 16" blade, while
another guy was ripping lumber. The looks on Susan Hayward and Dennis
O'Keefe's faces were great as was Hayward's line "Hadn't you better count
your fingers sawyer?" Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough but to open a pack of cigarettes was even crazier! Sawyer's response
was "It always turns out the same, 10 or 12 roughly." He was drunk... this
was an advertisement for the CPSC and OSHA!

John

Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough

"CW" wrote in message
news
Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough


After having had several near misses doing this I'll never do it again...
seems to be a combination of no splitter, the wood not being pulled down to
the table by the blade, an inadequate fence, a saw that would twist when
under a ripping load causing the blade to bind, and inadequate power.
Perhaps a really well built radial arm saw is up to the task... but I'll
stick with my 3 HP table saw for such use in the future.

John

Working with any tool that is badly set up and operated is dangerous. I've
done a pretty fair amount of ripping on a 1980 Craftsman radial arm saw with
no problem whatsoever. Only downside was that the table is not as slick and
nice as a tablesaw.

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
ink.net...

"CW" wrote in message
news
Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough


After having had several near misses doing this I'll never do it again...
seems to be a combination of no splitter, the wood not being pulled down
to
the table by the blade, an inadequate fence, a saw that would twist when
under a ripping load causing the blade to bind, and inadequate power.
Perhaps a really well built radial arm saw is up to the task... but I'll
stick with my 3 HP table saw for such use in the future.

John

John Grossbohlin wrote:


"CW" wrote in message
news
Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough


After having had several near misses doing this I'll never do it again...
seems to be a combination of no splitter,

Trade it on a cheap Craftsman then.

the wood not being pulled down
to the table by the blade,

No, that's what you use featherboards for.

an inadequate fence,

If the fence on an RAS is "inadequate" then why haven't you fixed it?

a saw that would twist
when under a ripping load causing the blade to bind,

Has to be a real POS if that's happening. More likely it wasn't set up
properly in the first place.

and inadequate power.

Ditto.

Perhaps a really well built radial arm saw is up to the task... but I'll
stick with my 3 HP table saw for such use in the future.

My Craftsman, built the same way that Craftsman RAS have always been built
near as I can tell, has a riving knife, not a "splitter" (if yours doesn't
and you're in the US it's almost certainly eligible for a free upgrade),
and has no trouble ripping anything I throw at it, and "anything" includes
ipe and lignum vitae. And on the rare occasion that it has had a kickback
it slid the piece off the table instead of throwing it through the air.

Sorry, but if you are having trouble ripping with an RAS you're doing
something wrong.

You really should read the Jon Eakes book and the Mr. Sawdust book and learn
how to use the tool properly instead of blaming it for your own
shortcomings.



John

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:59:57 GMT, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:


"CW" wrote in message
news
Since when?

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
news:iPwAg.7652

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough


After having had several near misses doing this I'll never do it again...
seems to be a combination of no splitter, the wood not being pulled down to
the table by the blade, an inadequate fence, a saw that would twist when
under a ripping load causing the blade to bind, and inadequate power.
Perhaps a really well built radial arm saw is up to the task... but I'll
stick with my 3 HP table saw for such use in the future.

John

Guess it depends on need and setup, John...

Not having room in a garage/shop for a lot of end feed tables and such for a
table saw, I bought an old RAS specifically for ripping...

With a lot of help from the crew here in the wRECk, I feel safe with my setup
and (when I can find the saw under the bowls and stuff) leave it in the ripping
position all the time with feather blocks and guides in place..

Oh... the saw was $50 and it cost almost that much with postage to replace the
missing splitter/anti kickback assembly..

IMO, a RAS is kind of like an old Corvette with "tri-power" carbs..
You spend a lot of time tweaking them to get it right, and they don't stay right
for very long, but they sure are sweet when they're working well..
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

Ripping lumber on a radial arm saw is foolhardy
enough



Just in John's defense, I too have had horrible experiences
ripping wood with a RAS.

Just seems to me that a badly setup table saw will just do
bad job .. but .. a badly setup RAS is friggin dangerous.

just JMHO

mike

"CW" wrote in message
ink.net...
Working with any tool that is badly set up and operated is dangerous. I've
done a pretty fair amount of ripping on a 1980 Craftsman radial arm saw
with
no problem whatsoever. Only downside was that the table is not as slick
and
nice as a tablesaw.

I probably should have qualified that statement by mentioning the volume of
wood I was running through it... for days at a time 100s and 100s of linear
feet of ripping was involved. It was a Craftsman of late 70s vintage and
with that amount of use it wouldn't retain it's set up. Checking and
resetting the adjustments was a daily task as was waiting for it to cool off
enough for the reset button to work. It launched a few boards and bound up
and stalled on others. It was slow going and stressful. For once in a while
ripping of a few boards it was probably fine... for production ripping it
was a hazard. In the movie the machine was clearly being used as a
production ripping machine.

I recently ripped about 800 linear feet on the table saw. Biesemeyer
T-Splitter, X-Acta Commercial fence and 3 HP... not once was there a time
when it didn't feel safe. I'll stick with the table saw...

John