DeWalt Radial Arm Saw

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pinkiewerewolf
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DeWalt Radial Arm Saw

Post by pinkiewerewolf »

I know there are some members with RAS on the site and I misplaced my Delphi password for the DeWalt RAS site so I thought I'd ask you guys some questions.
I'm not sure if I "lucked out" or not but I bought an old DeWalt RAS today.
$50 and the guy delivered it.
It came with a rolling stand complete with shelves and a saber saw attachment. (I don't think I'll use that as I have a Bosch saber saw.)
It will need some restoration work and I knew that going into it, but the motor turns well so I figured I'd chance it.
Model is MBC
REL NO. 28
Serial 154588
It has speckled paint with red plastic knobs on the adjustment rods.

Areas to focus on replacing first. (The motor is running well at this point)
Blade size? 8/14"? 9"?
HP? 1/2?
Any tips for the replacement table? MDF vs, plywood vs. ???
Thanks in advance for any help.
John, aka. Pinkie. 1-520, 1-510 & a Shorty, OPR. 520 upgrade, Band Saw, Jig Saw, scroll saw, Jointer, Jointech Saw Train.:) Delta Benchtop planer, Makita LS1016L 10" sliding compound miter saw, Trojan manf. (US Made)Miter saw work center, MiniMax MM16 bandsaw.
Squire of the Shopsmith. ...hmmmm, maybe knave, pawn, or wretch would be more appropriate for me.:D
charlese
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Location: Lancaster, CA

Post by charlese »

Hi Pinkie! Sounds like a good find! I've had good luck finding parts starting with this site: http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
dicksterp
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Location: Ft Wayne, IN

Post by dicksterp »

pinkiewerewolf wrote:I know there are some members with RAS on the site and I misplaced my Delphi password for the DeWalt RAS site so I thought I'd ask you guys some questions.
I'm not sure if I "lucked out" or not but I bought an old DeWalt RAS today.
$50 and the guy delivered it.
It came with a rolling stand complete with shelves and a saber saw attachment. (I don't think I'll use that as I have a Bosch saber saw.)
It will need some restoration work and I knew that going into it, but the motor turns well so I figured I'd chance it.
Model is MBC
REL NO. 28
Serial 154588
It has speckled paint with red plastic knobs on the adjustment rods.

Areas to focus on replacing first. (The motor is running well at this point)
Blade size? 8/14"? 9"?
HP? 1/2?
Any tips for the replacement table? MDF vs, plywood vs. ???
Thanks in advance for any help.
Pinkie, You need to get an 8" blade for your MBC. There are really only two blades recommended for RASs. Buy the Freud LU83R008, it is reasonable from Amazon. I think I paid about $28 on sale for mine for my MBF. The MBC is a 1/2 hp. The other blade which is the #1 choice is the Forrest WWI TCP. I have this blade (10") for my 1030k and my 1500. These are 1 1/2 hp saws.

Build a Mr. Sawdust table for your MBC. You need to get the Mr Sawdust book http://mrsawdust.com . This will show you how to build the table and also teach you the correct way to align and use your RAS. It is a must have.

Find your password for the dephi/dewalt RAS forum http://forums.delphiforums.com/woodbutcher/start
They can answer all your questions and the faq's will answer most of them.

If you have any more questions PM me.
Dick

SS equipment. '89 510 (upgrade to 520), beltsander, pro planer, SS dust collector, 2 bandsaws, jointer, strip sander (production unit #1), OPR, scroll saw, Power Station, Incra TSIII Ultra Fence System& Wonder Fence plus (2) 50 year old DeWalt RASs and Incra miter express with miter gauge
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pinkiewerewolf
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Location: Ca. Eureka area.

Post by pinkiewerewolf »

Thanks for the information Chuck and Dick.
I will have to order on of those blades and the Mr. Sawdust book, I've heard that the book is a must have.
Delphi sent me a temp p-word so I'm up & running again there. (Different screen name there Dudley5586)

I went through the drawers of the rolling base and found a large envelope with the manual, a parts guide, an attachments guide, and not just one but two sets of plans for a super duper DeWalt work bench for the RAS, one of them is an actual blueprint... on blue paper. LOL
I have some research to do, a table to make and a blade or two to order... and a couple of broken bits & pieces to order from Wolfe (I like their name;) ) or The Original Saw companies.

This saw will be a bit small for what I want one to do but it will teach me quite a bit in the referbing of the tool and it reminds me of HS Woodworking class all over again just being around a RAS. (Even though the school used a Craftsman)
John, aka. Pinkie. 1-520, 1-510 & a Shorty, OPR. 520 upgrade, Band Saw, Jig Saw, scroll saw, Jointer, Jointech Saw Train.:) Delta Benchtop planer, Makita LS1016L 10" sliding compound miter saw, Trojan manf. (US Made)Miter saw work center, MiniMax MM16 bandsaw.
Squire of the Shopsmith. ...hmmmm, maybe knave, pawn, or wretch would be more appropriate for me.:D
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Ed in Tampa
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Post by Ed in Tampa »

Pinkie
My buddy first built a really swell Radial arm table and then I built one, although now I have my RAS back on it's stand. (shop redo forced me to dump the RAS table)

The concept of the table was to build a super table and then on a shelf below the table is where you mount the RAS sans it's normal table top. The RAS is then mounted on four jack screw/bolts so it can be adjusted up down or leveled in relation to the table above which becomes the RAS table and is immovable.

One of the biggest complaints about a RAS is it always needs adjustment. If you look at the adjustment they rely on bolt/nut friction instead of something more solid. With this super table there is no way to knock anything out of adjust unless you compress or stretch a bolt.

I had my table surfaced with MDF coated with many coats of Boil Linseed oil. You could throw a 8x8 on it and Radial Arm would stay in perfect adjustment. I first built the table using 2x4's and then built the RAS shelf mounted the RAS then installed the MDF table top which sat on 2x4 frame.

The plus to all of this was the adjustment itself. On a normal RAS you must adjust the overhead arm to be perfectly parallel with the table. Easy to say hard to do. Usually it is done by loosening a few bolt and slideing the table support bracket up and down. You held adjustment by tightening the bolts but we all know metal will slide against metal to some degree. With the super table you adjust four bolts up and down to achieve parallelism.

To do this I first adjusted the back bolts for the approx height of the RAS to the table. Then I swing the RAS arm far right and far left and adjusted the back bolts so the arm remained parallel to the table. Then I locked that adjustment with jam nuts. Then moving to front bolts I swing the arm to the normal 90 degree position and adjusted the front bolts until they arm was perfectly parallel front to back with the table. I then fine tuned my adjustment using the front bolts swinging the arm to 45 degrees on both sides. Once I was happy I locked down the jam nut and my RAS was set.

Next was setting the fence. On my table I used a fixed fence. Nothing more than a piece of oak that was jointed so it was perfectly straight. Using a screw I mounted one end and then using a speed square I adjusted it until it was perfectly 90 degrees to the blade when the RAs arm was in the 90 degree position. I then locked down the fence and drove screws into it to hold it at a number of places (make sure not to place a screw in a normal 22 45 degree range). Since the fence was screwed to the table and it the table was built to hold a tank nothing would move out of adjust.

Last thing to do was adjust the blade to be perfectly perpendicular to table again speed square and internal RAS adjust. Nothing special there.

Lastly paint a red danger (no hands) zone an area about 2-3 inches wide on either side of the blade normal travel area on the table top to remain yourself never to let your hand in that area.

Do this and you will love your RAS and wonder why everyone else talks so negatively about them.
Ed in Tampa
Stay out of trouble!
charlese
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Location: Lancaster, CA

Post by charlese »

My old RAS was a small Black and Decker saw by Dewalt that used either an 8" or 7"blade. It was the only power tool I had other than a Grinder that wasn't a hand held tool. Used this tool for nearly 30 years with absolutely no problems.

The cross cut depth was just a little deeper than 1 1/2". I found it to be very accurate, and constructed quite a few cabinets, shelves and the biggest project was it was the only power tool I had to construct a second story on our house. (2 bed rooms and a bath). I replaced the table top several times because of too many grooves and the fences were replaced a lot more often.

After I retired and moved to TX, I felt the need to get more fixed power tools. Hence the Crafter's Station and the Mark V.

My feeling is you can't go wrong with a good RAS. It'll cross, miter, rip, dado and even make large curved grooves for moldings and feet like pictured. Although these feet were made on the Mark V.
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
charlese
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Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:46 pm
Location: Lancaster, CA

Post by charlese »

My old RAS was a small Black and Decker saw by Dewalt that used either an 8" or 7"blade. It was the only power tool I had other than a Grinder that wasn't a hand held tool. Used this tool for nearly 30 years with absolutely no problems.

The cross cut depth was just a little deeper than 1 1/2". I found it to be very accurate, and constructed quite a few cabinets, shelves and the biggest project was it was the only power tool I had to construct a second story on our house. (2 bed rooms and a bath). I replaced the table top several times because of too many grooves and the fences were replaced a lot more often.

After I retired and moved to TX, I felt the need to get more fixed power tools. Hence the Crafter's Station and the Mark V.

My feeling is you can't go wrong with a good RAS. It'll cross, miter, rip, dado and even make large curved grooves for moldings and feet like pictured. Although these feet were made on the Mark V.
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Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
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a1gutterman
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Post by a1gutterman »

charlese wrote:...My feeling is you can't go wrong with a good RAS. It'll cross, miter, rip, dado and even make large curved grooves for moldings and feet like pictured. Although these feet were made on the Mark V.
Nice feet charlese! Quit teasing us and show us the rest of the ??? that those feet go to!
Tim

Buying US made products will help keep YOUR job or retirement funds safer.
charlese
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Location: Lancaster, CA

Post by charlese »

I did! They are from the corner cabinet from last year. Here's the top of it, but I still can't get the total piece to fit the format for this forum, without rotating it.
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Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
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a1gutterman
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Post by a1gutterman »

And that is a beautiful piece! Well worth another picture. :D
Tim

Buying US made products will help keep YOUR job or retirement funds safer.
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