May I suggest using a clamp to hold the piece against the fence instead of your hand for the bevel cut, so you can stand farther away from the blade and off of it's path if it decides to do a Mad Max boomerang on you.
I was trained on a saw that size in the 1980s in my cabinet making class and again in my wood technology classes. My instructor kept stressing, "never bend your elbow when using a radial arm saw”. Keep your elbow joint in your arm locked and pull the blade back by rotating your torso. That prevents the saw from running away with you and lurching toward you. The second safety rule with it is to never cross your arms. If you keep your arms from crossing, it helps keep your other hand from getting in line with the cut and keeps your hand attached to your body. I still use this rule with sliding compound miter saws. My instructors also warned us to only use the radial arm saw for crosscuts and leave the rip cuts to the table saw. All three of my instructors at two different colleges had all three of these rules in place.
I am 66 now, when I was a kid, starting at 14-15, I worked for my uncle who built apts. we would use such a saw for prep work. 2 by blocks, posts, various sized headers (from 2x4 headers to 2x12 headers) and such. Unc would have a list for me every morning. I miss those days, it was work, but it was fun. If you know what I mean.
I had shop class in the early 90s and our old shop teacher taught us not to even pull. Maybe because we were all stupid kids, but it seemed more logical to push the blade that way any kickback was going away from you toward the fence/machine rather than a blade and handle smashing towards you. We were also told to never do long rip cut on the radial, better, safer more simple tools available.
Pulling the saw towards you while cutting, you're performing a climb cut... That's when the saw may run towards your body. You should actually push the saw away from your body while cutting (conventional cut)
*Graphic Warning* Yeah, I was eight when my dad chopped three of his fingers off with his radial arm. Still remember him running out of the garage holding his hand up yelling at me on the swingset to not go in there as he'd left it running. That saw is now mine decades later, and while I love the saw, I have a huge amount of respect for what it can do to me if I'm not careful with it. Still even have the blade that cut his fingers off on it lol. For the record, he was ripping wood using the full travel of the saw with all the guards removed. My mother had to find the fingers in a pile of sawdust and put them on ice. Doctors tried to reattach them, only one of the three was successfully reattached.
Growing up this was the first benchtop saw my dad bought. I started using it when i was 14. Maybe it's just due to my experience with it, but i don't find it that scary. I never did any gut cut style cutting...
Hi John , I ve been a carpenter for over 30 years, I've used many radial arms saws, they are great for cross-cutting and doing dato cut . a big 16" saw is good if you work in a mill or a wood yard . all of those other features are great but should never been done . I like using the saw for the cross cut instead of doing the cut on a table saw
I have a 12" craftsman, I would love to have a 16", I also agree with these saws being to dangerous for beginners. my high school woodshop class had one and our instructor had it OFF LIMITS to everyone but advanced class
My father has a 12" Craftsman radial and I have a 90 degree scar on my left arm from it due to a ripping accident. Blade grabbed the oak board he was ripping and shot it at me. I somehow got my arm between it and my head or it could have been a lot worse. I still don't know how it didn't break my arm. Far as I know, he hasn't used that saw for ripping wood since and I'm VERY careful of the direction a saw blade is travelling when cutting.
You are missing parts that make the saw a lot safer. The large hole on the front of the blade guard holds a rod with anti-kickback pawls. There also should be a guard in the rear that holds the material down which greatly reduces climb and kick-back as you feed sheet stock in. I wouldn't ever feed a rip cut without the rear hold down guard; the way you did it was pretty dangerous.
I came to the comments looking for this. The anti-kickback pawls are missing. And on my 6.5 Black and Decker (about 75 year old tool [Green and Red]) the blade guard is adjustable. It can be 'tilted' forwards and back so you don't get blasted with dust / debris.
My dad has one of these in his woodshop in the garage...I only remember him using it for crosscutting..but even as a kid I was always intimidated by it just because of the sound and the amount of airflow it put out..
Assuming that this is a 3-phase machine (if I'm mistaken then ignore the rest of this) then you could wire it up to a VFD which will give you lots of benefits: - Slower ramp-up start (saw will no longer want to "jump" towards you on start up) - Option to decrease rpm's of blade (may benefit you when making deep cuts in hardwood) - and perhaps the most useful: option to apply "braking forces" on the blade to more quickly stop it once shut off. ... All of these can be programmed to various settings on a VFD. I think the ability to turn your 3-minute spin-down into 10 seconds would be worth the VFD purchase alone. For both safety and convenience. Loved the video! Old machines are sexy.
John I was in the Seabees in the 80’s I used dewalt 16” radial arm saw mount on a 5 kw generator when we work in remote sites. I used it for ripping plywood all the time. When we did we always had two people sometimes 3 to tip plywood for concrete forms.
I bought a 10" Craftsman in about 1975 and used it for many years. When you do rip cuts you rotate the guard so that the leading edge is barely above your wood. That covers the most dangerous part of the blade. A hose from the dust elbow on the top of the guard is run into a dust hood at the back of the saw attached to a shop vac. That gets 90+ % of the dust. It was cleaner to use than most mitre saws today. Straight cut off, mitres, compound bevels, in and out rips were all easy and safe. I did use a dado head on straight dados but would never even think of using a moulding head. Scared the you know what out of me. I finally got rid of it only because a table saw worked better for what I was doing then and I didn't have room for both. But it was a very useful tool. Took a bit of TLC to keep it square though. Adjusted that quite a lot. But the adjustments were easy and straighforward.
My father had a giant old radial arm saw in his commercial woodworking shop for 20+ years (he made wood windows and doors) and it was pretty much a single task tool, for cross cutting giant rough milled slabs of wood to length, before running through the thickness planer. It just sat on a bench at the back of the warehouse, right between huge racks for lumber storage and I don't think he ever messed with any setting on it ever, except when changing the blade between sharpening, because it was never used for precision. That side of the shop also had the shaper, so I guess it was the "watch your damn fingers!" zone
When ripping, you turn the blade guard down so it's just above the wood being ripped. That way it doesn't chuck so much wood at you and in later versions they had an anti-kickback tool that was on the guard.
I love your work and channel and subscribed long ago! But. Sorry , even if you don’t use this function there are many, many, many foolish people. These people will take what you as an experienced wood work shows and assume it’s okay, “ John” did it! Please be a good example. I mean talk the line but play safe under the top story. I personally own Dewalt and Delta/Rockwell RAS , I love them and are very careful when using them.
@@chrisdzisiak7540The reality is that no one is responsible for the safety of another adult except for the adult themselves. If someone chooses to be a moron, that is their fault and only theirs. It is not up to John, you or anyone else to keep people from doing dumb shit.
@@JohnMaleckiUnscrewedThe problem is that by not showing it being done with common sense and the correct tools for safety, you are making the saw seem like more of a death trap than it actually is. Even if you don’t plan on using it to rip, you ought to at least try it properly. Perhaps you should get someone with more expertise to help, like you did with the shop-smith tool. I own a radial arm saw, I use it all the time to rip and crosscut. I don’t own a miter saw and table saw, I don’t have the space to have both of those in my garage.
DEFINITELY GET A ELECTRIC BRAKE FITTED! Had a similar saw in the place I did my apprenticeship, only used for cross cutting batons before machining down.
With a 16" blade the force of a DC brake making it come to a stop would likely unscrew the nut holding the blade on because the blade isn't pinned to the arbour, so the inertia of the blade wants to continue spinning and thus unscrews the nut. That said, you could probably adjust the brake to stop in 10-15 seconds or so which wouldn't cause so much strain as stopping in 2 or 3 seconds, still much better than 5 minutes.
@@WoodMachinist As long as it can just slightly slow it without trying to stop it that would make a huge difference in its safety and use. Kind of like brakes on a bike, you can use them to add just a slight friction to take a little moment out without just clamping down and stopping like you would do going down hill. I don't know if you would get that kind of adjustment out of an electric brake addon but if you can I think thats the way to go.
The blade spinning endlessly is a good indicator that the spindle bearings are in need of new grease. Great video John, I think these are excellent for crosscutting.
Back in '70s I worked for a lumber yard. We used a big 16" radial arm saw for cutting framing lumber. We had very few accidents and when we did we found a bit of crazy glue and a buffing wheel buffed everything right out.
I use a 14” radial at work daily to rip plywood for export crates. The way I get around the potential kick back is to use a sacrificial board to feed the one I’m cutting through the cut. Also when ripping you can tip your blade guard down so that most of the duct comes out the shoot and not straight back at you.
Very entertaining video! I'm 33 and have been operating radial arm saws since i was tall enough to reach the handle, strictly for crosscuts and the occasional miter. I've done the rips only twice ever, once with my brother and once by myself. I got to the same point you stopped at and said the EXACT same "nope" you did. Very entertaining that i have the exact same feelings towards this saw as you do
Great vid. Glad you were able to keep all of your appendages. This saw reminds me of the Craftsman radial arm saw that my dad had in the 70s. It did most of the cuts you described. I think it had some additional safety features such as an anti-kick device. He used the crap out of that thing. Good memories.
@@mromutt look up brian weekley, he understands how to use the saw properly. this video is a waste of time as he threw it up for views without truly learning the saw.
I've been on the side of kick back 2 time's once was in high school with my wood shop teacher he set the fence wrong on the table saw hit my belt buckle was just fine. Second was the morning after losing a family member and a piece I bevel ripping shot out on a 10" radial arm saw was injured I still use a radial arm saw to this day. Respect for your tools is a must at all times.
When I was 17 (back in the 80's) my 1st "propper" job was at a place called Bate Welding and Engineering Supplies. My job was to sharpen TCT saw blades. The biggest ones were for British Rail and they were between 36" and 42". That must have been a monster machine that they went on.
@@James-dv1df Something that huge had to be something like a giant mill right? I cant imagine what else could use them. I would love to see a blade that big in person but never want to meet the machine it goes in haha
When I was younger my father used a Craftsman radial arm saw all the time for ripping boards. It was so normal that we never thought twice, it was nice because it was actually easier to adjust the width against the fence. I still have the saw and am thinking about getting it up and running again.
I do run a radial arm saw every day. Mine is a 14" original saw, the most productive tool in my shop. After I assemble a cut list, I mark out stop locations, turn the saw on, and keep feeding it material until the cutlist is finished. I never take it out of its 90 degree orientation, I'll go so far as to cut the long dimension on the radial arm saw then switch to a miter saw for all the angles. When used in the sort of production environment I'm describing, I find these safe, efficient, and more enjoyable to use than any alternative I've found.
When I was a senior in HS (late '60's, early '70's) I worked in my grandfather's woodshop. I think that was back when a "miter saw" was a u shaped wood structure that you put your 2X4 wood in and cut it with a handsaw. The 2 pieces of equipment that were most important in his shop were the table saw and the radial arm saw. What you're not showing with the radial arm, at least in our shop, every task on that saw had its own jig and, if there wasn't one existing, we made them. I don't ever remember being scared of the saw. We did lot ripping with it. There were long infeed and outfeed tables to support the wood. As you say, kickback was one of the biggest concerns. We were aware of the dangers of the saw(s) but we had systems and jigs to make them safer.
I've actually seen machines like this being modified with "primitive breaks". Essentially make a hole in the "blade guard", weld on a threaded pipe. Take a durable cylindrical piece of rubber which fits into the pipe and use that as the "break caliber" - and then use a screw/cap/plunger - whatever you choose to apply it towards the blade. Just be "fairly gentle" when applying break force in a place which was not designed for it - and remember to disengage it before stating it up again. (You can also make a spring-loaded mechanism which automatically disengages when you stop pushing it - however that's a bit more involved 😀)
My first major shop tool in 1972 was a Dewalt RAS. I have used it to rip hundreds of feet of lumber. What makes it much safer than your saw was the fact the blade guard could be tilted backward to contact and hold the stock down. For narrower pieces you absolutely need a push stick. One attachment I never used was a rotary planer head to reduce the thickness of wood. That to me was way to dangerous.
Obviously this guy shouldn’t even turn this saw on. With some proper training and setup (as you saying tilting the saw guard down on rip cuts which does a decent job of dust diversion as well) it is a very usable saw. On the smaller and newer saws there was also a splitter and anti kickback pawls. This is an industrial saw. One learns to ride a tricycle before a bike. This guy is going directly to a unicycle. IMHO
Back in High School woodshop class ( early 80's) we had this same saw. Only allowed to crosscut on it. Can you imagine a bunch of high school teens using this beast. Thankfully no one ever injured! I had grown up using a 10 inch RAS so was used to it but many others were complete newbies. That blade would spin forever. We would wedge a long 1x2 piece of oak using that small black knob on the front as a fulcrum against the saw plate as a brake no less - Just crazy!. We also had a shaper - NO One not even the teacher used it - can't imagine how terrifying that must have been. Thanks Mr LeCluse if your out there for keeping us all safe.
My grandfather has a 10" RAS, and got me a 10" one as well. I use it for crosscut only, as I have other tools for the other cuts. I know he has used his for ripping, and has suggested I try it for ripping also. But I have had thoughs similar to what you experienced, and also have a nice table saw,so I use it instead. So much easier for set up, and safer for usage.
9:20 when I saw you get that rag so close to the blade to showcase the airflow, I just started sweating when I thought about how it could get caught on the blade and pulled in. Or maybe I am overthinking this and have watched final destination one too many times
I just watched you make several errors with your RAS 1. Read the Mister Sawdust book before you use the saw. 2. That saw needs a much bigger/longer table. I use a 3 piece table, 2 pieces behind the fence puts you further from the blade for most cuts. Move the the extra table piece in front only when you need the extra width 3. Make your cross cuts from the left. Hold the stock with your left hand and the saw with the right hand. 4. Throughly inspect the machine and install the missing parts. Anti kick-back bar... 5. When ripping rotate the blade guard to just above the piece being fed into the blade. Adjust the anti-kickback bar to the material thickness. Use a much longer push stick shaped like a tablesaw push stick that fits between blade and fence. 6. All tools require the operator to be familiar with operations. I recently replaced a sliding miter saw with a 1956 Dewalt RAS and I love it. It sits closer to the wall and makes perfect cross cuts and dados. Great tool you have acquired I look forward to more videos as you become proficient with this tool. Keep up the great content.
I own a 1965 Craftsman 10 inch radial arm saw that I got from my father and he kept the manual for it all those years that he had it. The craziest cut I saw in the book was a cove cut, essentially you're swinging the saw blade side to side on the pivot of the motor to cove out a depression in the face of the piece of wood. There was also an attachment on the back side of the motor to turn it into a shaper and a kind of drill press... no thanks, still gives me the shivers even thinking about doing either of those things.
Had this exact model (minus the weird dust collection thing that this one has) in a wood shop I used to work at. But they had it altered so that none of the adjustments could be made. You could only slide it forward and back while cutting material. They also had a sort of raised bed built around the blade so the blade wasn't exposed. It was only used for 90 degree cuts on 2x Materials. 2x4, 2x6, etc. You slid the 2x materials under/in to the "raised bed". It was actually a pretty genius way to make a very unsafe saw, safe. They had it there for longer than the 10 years I was there with no incidents.
I have personal used one of theses and it is terrifying. We used it to cut pressure treated 6x6x16’ down, it would go right through one of them like a hot knife butter. That saw wouldn’t just cut a finger off it would take ur whole arm off and u wouldn’t even know it.
My father bought a 10" Dewalt radial saw new in 1958. I still have that saw in my shop today and can't imagine not having it. I have 8 foot in feed and out feed tables on each end of the saw therefor I don't get stuck like you did. As for the blade deflection , your blade is not lined up parallel to the fence. There are adjustments for every aspect of that saw. You had my heart rate up when did the rip cut because you are missing the anti kick back paw!!! My saw still has the original maple top on it and as the humidity changes in the shop I have to check cut squareness every now and then. Get a better operators manual on the saw and it will show all the adjustments that can be done on that saw. By the way I was never brave enough to do the gut cut rip. I use my saw almost every day. Keep up the the good videos and be safe!!! Mike
German proverb for turning threads on rotating parts in the right direction. „Wie ich lauf, so geh ich auf“ In English: As I run, I rise That has always been true until now 😅
@@mikedunham7220 Ah we have an old one about tightening screws "solang das deutsche Reich besteht, wird die Schraube rechts gedreht" "so long the german empire exist, the screw is turned right" (sorry for the terrible translation, but the original even rimes) But I think it has some flaws.
I worked at a lumber yard where we had one of these. It was 3 or 3.5 HP if I remember right. We cut anything from 2x4 to landscape timbers to 4” Schedule 40 PVC to railroad timbers if we rolled them over. It had automotive wheels and tires and a hitch so it could be pulled behind your truck. We also had 20’ extensions on each end for doing those rip cuts you were struggling with. It did take over 2 min to come to a stop. It was crazy. I think it may still be in use at the lumber yard today
I've had a 10" Craftsman radial arm since the early 1970's - still runs fine. One thing to mention, the blade guard is adjustable. The front edge of the guard (many have a point at that part) should be set to barely clear the wood and it will keep it from throwing all that sawdust at you.
It's interesting to me to see people talk about radial arm saws as if they're strange antiques. (Maybe this is because I'm something of a strange antique myself.) I have two Sears Craftsman 10" Radial Arm saws--one I've had for about 40 years and one I picked up for $25 to keep in the basement of a rental property I own. I've never owned a table saw, though I recently inherited an old Shopsmith Mark V that I often use for the table saw function. I've use my radial arm saw mostly for crosscutting, miters, compound miters, but also for ripping. (I recently rebuilt the cedar lath fence in my front yard that required me to rip dozens of 1"x8"x8' boards to 1-1/4 slats.) I've used the planing attachment to rough plane a very uneven 4" slab of walnut that I used for a live-edge shelf for a television. I have a dado blade for it that I've used--one of those that wobbles to various widths that you set. Before I had a drill press, I used the radial arm saw as a drill a few times and I have a sanding disk and several sanding drums that I've used, too. I've also used it for molding edges with molding attachment. I don't understand the reputation that radial arm saws have gotten for not being safe. Of course, any saw is inherently dangerous but, in all the years I've used the saw, I've only once had anything I'd consider a mishap. While ripping, the saw threw a loose knot that I hadn't noticed back hard enough to break off a little bit of the saw blade guard. Without the guard set close to the board, as you're supposed to, it could have hit me if I'd been directly behind the blade. But I usually stand a bit to the side. For crosscuts, the blade is pushing the board back against the fence and I've never had a problem with the blade wanting to climb the board. This is probably because I keep a firm grip on the saw. (I've also sometimes done a cross cut from the front, pushing back against the wood.) I've seen Stumpy Nubs' original video that rightly calls out some of the initial hype about what radial arm saws can do (ruclips.net/video/AHRwN99fGCY/видео.html). (One of the manuals shows guy in a dress shirt and tie cutting full sheet of plywood in half by having the saw blade turned outward and pushing the plywood in front of the saw. Sheeze!) I've also see the rebuttal videos by radial arm saw fans and Stumpy Nubs' clarification in which he makes it clear that he's not saying that radial arm saws can't be safe; he's just criticizing some of the unsafe uses of them (ruclips.net/video/TKL2ooTOPk8/видео.html). If you want to learn more about radial arm saws from an old pro, check out videos by BigMike Tuna like this one (ruclips.net/video/CV4uXtxnOdg/видео.html) . (His saw is almost identical to mine, by the way.) If you want to see some terrific joinery done with a radial arm saw, check out videos by @dustylumberco. And here's an idea for an upgraded table for a radial arm saw: ruclips.net/video/bdLaLgGCqUo/видео.html. There's an interesting historical promotional film from DeWalt about the use of the DeWalt radial arm saw's use in the WWII war program here: ruclips.net/video/HiGH0Qsu3ak/видео.html. W/r to this video, not only is the saw missing the anti-kickback pawl, as @robertgruen2088 noted, but Malecki isn't adjusting the blade guard appropriately for the rips, as was noted by @leebernardo 1000.
It is all about perspective. You were taught with this, it was all you knew. Now we have more safety features, we look back at those seeing the potential hazards. I have a craftsman table saw from the 50's in my home shop. There is no safety features. No blade guard or riving knife or anything else modern saws use. Where I worked had machines from WW2. When they did get newer machines, they had to try to retrofit safety features like light curtains. In 50 years, they will look back at what we currently use as dangerous and crazy. You just dont know until things change after stuff like injuries and death.
@@nikkafrog My father had a 50's era Craftsman table saw. No safety features, to be sure, but it had a hell of a nice cast iron table--something you won't find on low-cost table saws these days. My 1970's era Craftsman radial arm saw, does have a device to prevent pinching when ripping. It's not a riving knife but a disk that rolls in the kerf keeping it from closing up. And attached to that splitter are anti-kickback pawls. Using that right, I've never had kickback.
In my undergrad theatre woodshop (circa the '90s), we learned on a 3-phase, (I want to say) 5hp, TWENTY-INCH radial saw. The thing was an absolute beast and it terrified more than a few of us. We had a standing rule that when you were done with it, you HAD to stand by it and watch it spin down (which took well over 3 minutes, the last minute or so was SILENT!!!) to keep other people in the shop from accidentally reaching into the still-spinning blade. We *only* ever used it for crosscuts at 90*, though, and it was years later before I even learned that a saw like that *could* do other stuff.... It's a good story I love to tell but I do NOT miss that saw... I'm pretty sure I watched every one of your cuts puckered up and through my fingers....
I have one that looks identical. You are missing an anti kickback device. It is 5/8” solid rod that drops down a hole next to the dust discharge with some barbs on the end that allow wood to slide under them but only 1 way. The cutting deck is designed to be easily re- configurable leaving a spacer wherever you want that puts your fence in the spot you want. You could spin your Motorhead 180 degrees that would allow the belly cut….but that’s as sketchy as waving a rag in the wind of the massive blade!
When people whine about "safety" etc., they conveniently forget that those rules were written in blood with the limbs that were lost. And this thing right here is a prime example.
You ought to see the rough cut blade they use in sawmills. Some those get up around 60" diameter. I used to work near one and it was a crazy feeling bring close to it
I saw that final image/diagram was thinking to myself no way he is going to try that!? I wasn't even in the shop and my heart rate was through the roof just watching this video.
There is plenty of research into the long term health effects of fine saw dust. Melamine dust has the added benefits of being embedded with glue and other binding chemicals.
Dude... I built so many projects on a 10" Craftsman radial saw in my younger days. Did rip cuts, cross cuts, even raised panes with a shaper attachment. I'm luck to be alive. LOL
My father had a radial arm (not as big as this beast) that injured him on a rip cut. The wood jumped - he didn't get hit by the blade, thank God, but just the force of the wood slammed back into his hand. The resultant force split the entire last knuckle of the ring finger on his right hand into three meaty chunks. We drove to the hospital with his hand cradled in an ever-increasingly-red kitchen towel with him passing out from the pain. It actually did heal back together but it's a permanently-branded-in-my-brain reminder of how dangerous these older tools were/are!
My dad was artist that made crazy picture frames out of Barn wood on I think it was a 12" radial arm saw, ripping a dato for the glass, barnwood is never planned to be perfectly flat..... he was crazy.... but the was always amazingly beaautiful in the end.
I got taught to use a pretty big cross cut like this at a timber yard for my first job when I was 15, the biggest I ever cut would be a 3x9 sapele or oak board. Biggest tip is keep your arm straight because when it bites or hits a knot it'll yank your absolute arm off, it'll also stop it wanting to "walk off the table" 🤙🏻
I grew up using a 10” craftsman radial saw. Always preferred it to the table saw, but happy I have replaced it with a 12” compound miter saw which is so much easier to configure than the radial was. Probably lucky I never did something stupid with it
I miss having my radial arm saws. I have had 3 over the years. My 12" craftsman was a strong work horse. The 14" delta was under powered for hard woods, unless I put a 12" blade on it. And my 16" delta very much like the one you got was a great saw. Mine had a blade break on it. It was just a lever that I would push on to slow the blade spinning down faster
These are great for production work with jigs and and established setups and techniques. Where people get in the most trouble is when they are switching the tool around to do a bunch of things in sequence for a few parts. They can also take of body parts if you are stupid or careless. I've used the RAS with the blade horizontal or transverse but had the table set up with fixtures and jigs, everything locked and the work fed with a pusher where I was beyond arm's reach of the blade and not in the line of kickback and had a remote foot switch. You can make crown moldings, dado, etc
@23:20, about your saw being wired as to not extend a certain point. I think the motor has been flipped over. Remove blade and rotate motor 360 degree counter-clockwise as seen at that point in the video. That should freen up the cable for maximum sketchiness.
I’m glad you know when to stop, John. …and I’m also glad you know to tell us you know when to stop. It’s one thing for Jim from Stumpy Nubs to calmly explain the dangers while showing a slideshow of the manual pages; it’s quite another for a woodworker to get halfway through demonstrating one of the only-moderately-sketchy cuts before going “f-no-f-no-f-no” and burying the blade in the workpiece to stop it NOW.
I have this exact same saw! It was in my dad's shop since I was a kid, he let me loose on the thing when I was like 12. It really does like to run towards you when cutting and is quite scary. Your is missing part of the blade guard mechanism, and the anti-kickback fingers for ripping. Also, there's a built in braking system for the blade that isn't working - it makes a loud repetitive clicking sound when turned off and the blade slows down pretty rapidly when it's working. With original accessories, it can also be used as a disc sander, drum sander, grinder, and pattern-maker router. I have scans of the original owners manual and parts catalog for it, if you'd like a copy.
We had a De Walt 20" radial saw for cutting extruded aluminium box section, 5.5" square. We would occasionally cut mitres, but 99% of the time it was straight cuts. We had 16" and 13" diameter blades too. Never had any accidents on it, at all. We used 13" mitre saws with 13" blades for cutting aluminium too. We would fit at least 2 emergency stop buttons on every machine, just to be safe.
When I was 17 years old, I was left alone to rip riser and tread material for stairs after a 5-minute tutorial on how the saw worked. It was terrifying lol
I used a radial arm saw years ago in high school. It was a great tool and as long as you don't have the saw blade directly pointed at a body part it was super-safe. I only used it for crosscuts and dados so perhaps other functions are more dangerous but for other functions I either used a table saw or hand tools. I always felt the radial arm saw felt safer than the table saw so maybe I'm just different than other users. Maybe it was because I could see the blade where-as with a table saw the blade was often hidden for dado cuts and rabbets. The saw I used had a auto brake function when power was removed which I'm sure makes a difference.
Holy smokes! Every time you pointed at the saw while the blade was still spinning I was like half out of my chair ready to run for help. I know you were 6' away but it still got me. This saw is great for about 3 functions as long as you need to make long continuous cut runs, say 30 or more. Otherwise there are modern tools that aren't as multi functional, but are much better suited to safely do the same things. That being said I totally want one :)
Used these everyday in uk, brilliant for repeat cuts, depth cuts, ripping rough sawn planks to length, really good for cutting bevelled shoulders on tenons
The really great thing about these if you are new and nervous about tools they make table saws seem so much safer! Trying to rip stuff sideways on that thing is absolutely mental
Used one almost exactly like that to cross cut 2x4s for crates. Except we added a dynamic brake and a hand trigger to start it. Never thought twice about using it
G’day loved the episode I run a timber workshop in Australia and have a newer version of this saw I run a 20 inch blade to dock and point 8x8 cypress My machine thankfully doesn’t spin all the way to 90 degrees for ripping but makes short work of pointing posts up to 60 degrees New to the channel so I’m watching a lot of your early stuff and love it Cheers bud 🇦🇺
I grew up using a radial arm saw with my Dad and inherited it eventually. I built a big cabinet system for my laundry room using it with a wobble dado blade. It's a wonder I didn't lose a body part. Sold the thing shortly after and bought a table saw. It was a cool tool for some cuts, but a table saw and a miter saw are better options.
you can use a VFD Inverter to control motor speed and even adjust the acceleration time and deacceleration time so you'll get a soft start and short time stop and immediate emergency stop. it's very important on this kind of saws.
John, I would love to see the safety demo's surrounding these saws. Maybe clam a workpiece to the table and pull the carriage with a string to show how the saw wants to run and how it will try to jump at you. Maybe use a ballistic dummy to show the carnage that can happen.
We had a pair of these in my high school wood shop. The first month of the class was just safety demonstrations and tests and stuff, but even with all that, I don't know that I'd trust a teenager with tools like this. Also, I really didn't appreciate how dangerous tools like this are until years later, and all we did were cross cuts and miters.
Ran one of those for a year back in 1972. 16 inch delta we built 2 big project about 2000 2 story apartmens. The thing is a bull. Never laid it on the side . Cross cuts only. Great saw. We built a ply wood table for it 32 ft long 2 ft wide. Waxed table everyday. The wax was driping off the bottom of the plywood after we tore it down .
Looks like task specific jigs could help with working on that. E.g. for splitting that melamin, you could have a moving table jig with fences. Put the material on table, maybe even clamp it down to it with some bolts or wedges, and push it through. It could have handles on the side so you wouldn't have to be in the way. That would not be good for making custom items but for longer production runs it likely would help.
Man, that saw brings back memories! Believe it or not, we had one in our high-school shop class. I used it alot from 9th to 12th grade. Back when men were men lol
Had one and loved it. It was just so big and heavy I had to get rid of it. Regretted it ever since. Such an amazing saw, it was that off color teal Dewalt one.
I remember we had one of these in my high school shop class. That thing was genuinely terrifying to most people, but I just used it like I'd been around it all my life. These things are so huge and clunky, that its really hard to actually injure yourself with one of these unless you start reaching around the blade and stuff. Seeing that gut cut in the manual though is pretty funny, but also exactly something I feel like you would see in the 60's. I definitely would never want to try that at all.
Nice to see those still in action. Radial arm saws are one of the most versatile tools out there, and not that dangerous if you know what you're doing.
I ran one of these for almost 12yrs at an orange store that no one knows. We had a spring loaded tether that went from the saw carriage to the rear post to keep rearward tension on the saw. So if you let go, it would get pulled back into the starting location. It also stopped the saw from climb cutting, and shooting forward as you make the cut.
I been seeing a ton of these 10" on marketplace in my area, 50-100 bucks...I'm getting one just for half laps an such...there is a huge advantage to owning one, and cheap..all the ones I see are craftsman...use to be a time they was everywhere, in school to... But for joinery it's a game changer ..
The radial arm saw at my school has like a 12 foot table. We never make rip cuts with it but if we ever did we have a long table so the material can't fall
I’ve got a 9” craftsman in my garage. Watching you do these cuts, I felt uneasy. When I went to trade school in 2009, they made us do a rip on one. Think that was the only and last time.
The most dangerous tool I think I have ever seen, honestly scary to see you use it but I honestly appreciate you showing how dangerous it is so I avoid using it or thinking I can safely use one.
I’ve used a saw very similar to this in a production setting. They are sketchy but a swing saw is just for cut off and they are the sketchiest saw I have ever used.
Honestly i can't wait to see what you make with this tool, I see how dangerous it can be. Maybe you could make your own blade guard that doesn't get in the way so you don't have to completely remove it but you are protected. It would be nice if you could add a brake to slow the blade down once the saw is off.
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Cool, where are the $60 safety glasses I ordered months ago?
I Love your videos and channel 🩶
May I suggest using a clamp to hold the piece against the fence instead of your hand for the bevel cut, so you can stand farther away from the blade and off of it's path if it decides to do a Mad Max boomerang on you.
Can u make a custom chess board
It’s my favorite game to play
Better start the clean up and spruce up on the saw lol your at 15k
I was trained on a saw that size in the 1980s in my cabinet making class and again in my wood technology classes. My instructor kept stressing, "never bend your elbow when using a radial arm saw”. Keep your elbow joint in your arm locked and pull the blade back by rotating your torso. That prevents the saw from running away with you and lurching toward you. The second safety rule with it is to never cross your arms. If you keep your arms from crossing, it helps keep your other hand from getting in line with the cut and keeps your hand attached to your body. I still use this rule with sliding compound miter saws. My instructors also warned us to only use the radial arm saw for crosscuts and leave the rip cuts to the table saw. All three of my instructors at two different colleges had all three of these rules in place.
I am 66 now, when I was a kid, starting at 14-15, I worked for my uncle who built apts. we would use such a saw for prep work. 2 by blocks, posts, various sized headers (from 2x4 headers to 2x12 headers) and such. Unc would have a list for me every morning. I miss those days, it was work, but it was fun. If you know what I mean.
He’s gonna hurt himself with that limp arm pose 😂
These safety tips are greatly appreciated!
I had shop class in the early 90s and our old shop teacher taught us not to even pull. Maybe because we were all stupid kids, but it seemed more logical to push the blade that way any kickback was going away from you toward the fence/machine rather than a blade and handle smashing towards you. We were also told to never do long rip cut on the radial, better, safer more simple tools available.
Pulling the saw towards you while cutting, you're performing a climb cut... That's when the saw may run towards your body. You should actually push the saw away from your body while cutting (conventional cut)
"Nope. No no no no nope." Glad you stopped. I was fully puckered and I wasn't even in the shop.
I laughed so hard at this lol. Good one
I'm fully puckered and I haven't even watched the video.
I legit let out a breath of relief when this video was over
😂😂😂😂
*Graphic Warning*
Yeah, I was eight when my dad chopped three of his fingers off with his radial arm. Still remember him running out of the garage holding his hand up yelling at me on the swingset to not go in there as he'd left it running. That saw is now mine decades later, and while I love the saw, I have a huge amount of respect for what it can do to me if I'm not careful with it. Still even have the blade that cut his fingers off on it lol. For the record, he was ripping wood using the full travel of the saw with all the guards removed. My mother had to find the fingers in a pile of sawdust and put them on ice. Doctors tried to reattach them, only one of the three was successfully reattached.
Quick question.... Are we sure Peter is a fan, and not someone who despises you? LOL 😄
That is 100% a fair and valid question lol, also is he possibly the beneficiary on the life insurance or in contact with whoever is XD
No truer questions or statements were ever fucking written!!! THIS MACHINE IS SCARY AS HELL - even in just the mind, let alone reality!!
Growing up this was the first benchtop saw my dad bought. I started using it when i was 14. Maybe it's just due to my experience with it, but i don't find it that scary. I never did any gut cut style cutting...
can someone let John know his "build channel" dont work no more, i get a "This page isn't available" notice .
Hi John , I ve been a carpenter for over 30 years, I've used many radial arms saws, they are great for cross-cutting and doing dato cut . a big 16" saw is good if you work in a mill or a wood yard . all of those other features are great but should never been done . I like using the saw for the cross cut instead of doing the cut on a table saw
I have a 12" craftsman, I would love to have a 16", I also agree with these saws being to dangerous for beginners. my high school woodshop class had one and our instructor had it OFF LIMITS to everyone but advanced class
My father has a 12" Craftsman radial and I have a 90 degree scar on my left arm from it due to a ripping accident. Blade grabbed the oak board he was ripping and shot it at me. I somehow got my arm between it and my head or it could have been a lot worse. I still don't know how it didn't break my arm. Far as I know, he hasn't used that saw for ripping wood since and I'm VERY careful of the direction a saw blade is travelling when cutting.
"advanced class" of 16 years olds with 16" death blades... FML... old school days didn't care about safety
We had one in my shop class too and our instructor paid ZERO attention to anything... I used that thing all the time, freeken awesome!
Yeah I grew up using a craftsman 12”.
@@cjamesfox pretty sure advanced means more experience aka older students not 16 year olds
You are missing parts that make the saw a lot safer. The large hole on the front of the blade guard holds a rod with anti-kickback pawls. There also should be a guard in the rear that holds the material down which greatly reduces climb and kick-back as you feed sheet stock in. I wouldn't ever feed a rip cut without the rear hold down guard; the way you did it was pretty dangerous.
Was just gonna say that , mine still has them
I came to the comments looking for this. The anti-kickback pawls are missing. And on my 6.5 Black and Decker (about 75 year old tool [Green and Red]) the blade guard is adjustable. It can be 'tilted' forwards and back so you don't get blasted with dust / debris.
Sorry I will keep my table saw and 12" sliding miter, thanks. This saw died a very necessary and timely death, IMO.
I was just commenting on how there is supposed to be something that I thought was called a claw! I was so close on the name lol
My Craftsman RAS had extra guards over the blade. Yours must be missing some.
My dad has one of these in his woodshop in the garage...I only remember him using it for crosscutting..but even as a kid I was always intimidated by it just because of the sound and the amount of airflow it put out..
Assuming that this is a 3-phase machine (if I'm mistaken then ignore the rest of this) then you could wire it up to a VFD which will give you lots of benefits:
- Slower ramp-up start (saw will no longer want to "jump" towards you on start up)
- Option to decrease rpm's of blade (may benefit you when making deep cuts in hardwood)
- and perhaps the most useful: option to apply "braking forces" on the blade to more quickly stop it once shut off.
...
All of these can be programmed to various settings on a VFD. I think the ability to turn your 3-minute spin-down into 10 seconds would be worth the VFD purchase alone. For both safety and convenience. Loved the video! Old machines are sexy.
I had the exact same thought
John I was in the Seabees in the 80’s I used dewalt 16” radial arm saw mount on a 5 kw generator when we work in remote sites. I used it for ripping plywood all the time. When we did we always had two people sometimes 3 to tip plywood for concrete forms.
I bought a 10" Craftsman in about 1975 and used it for many years. When you do rip cuts you rotate the guard so that the leading edge is barely above your wood. That covers the most dangerous part of the blade. A hose from the dust elbow on the top of the guard is run into a dust hood at the back of the saw attached to a shop vac. That gets 90+ % of the dust. It was cleaner to use than most mitre saws today.
Straight cut off, mitres, compound bevels, in and out rips were all easy and safe.
I did use a dado head on straight dados but would never even think of using a moulding head. Scared the you know what out of me.
I finally got rid of it only because a table saw worked better for what I was doing then and I didn't have room for both.
But it was a very useful tool.
Took a bit of TLC to keep it square though. Adjusted that quite a lot. But the adjustments were easy and straighforward.
My father had a giant old radial arm saw in his commercial woodworking shop for 20+ years (he made wood windows and doors) and it was pretty much a single task tool, for cross cutting giant rough milled slabs of wood to length, before running through the thickness planer. It just sat on a bench at the back of the warehouse, right between huge racks for lumber storage and I don't think he ever messed with any setting on it ever, except when changing the blade between sharpening, because it was never used for precision. That side of the shop also had the shaper, so I guess it was the "watch your damn fingers!" zone
When ripping, you turn the blade guard down so it's just above the wood being ripped. That way it doesn't chuck so much wood at you and in later versions they had an anti-kickback tool that was on the guard.
Malecki is trying to show this saw as best as he can but these details make this saw less dangerous though
I appreciate this. I wont be using it for that function tho haha
I love your work and channel and subscribed long ago! But. Sorry , even if you don’t use this function there are many, many, many foolish people. These people will take what you as an experienced wood work shows and assume it’s okay, “ John” did it! Please be a good example. I mean talk the line but play safe under the top story. I personally own Dewalt and Delta/Rockwell RAS , I love them and are very careful when using them.
@@chrisdzisiak7540The reality is that no one is responsible for the safety of another adult except for the adult themselves. If someone chooses to be a moron, that is their fault and only theirs. It is not up to John, you or anyone else to keep people from doing dumb shit.
@@JohnMaleckiUnscrewedThe problem is that by not showing it being done with common sense and the correct tools for safety, you are making the saw seem like more of a death trap than it actually is. Even if you don’t plan on using it to rip, you ought to at least try it properly. Perhaps you should get someone with more expertise to help, like you did with the shop-smith tool.
I own a radial arm saw, I use it all the time to rip and crosscut. I don’t own a miter saw and table saw, I don’t have the space to have both of those in my garage.
DEFINITELY GET A ELECTRIC BRAKE FITTED! Had a similar saw in the place I did my apprenticeship, only used for cross cutting batons before machining down.
Yeah, just for reference the legal time for a bladed machine to come to a halt in the UK is less than 10 seconds :)
With a 16" blade the force of a DC brake making it come to a stop would likely unscrew the nut holding the blade on because the blade isn't pinned to the arbour, so the inertia of the blade wants to continue spinning and thus unscrews the nut. That said, you could probably adjust the brake to stop in 10-15 seconds or so which wouldn't cause so much strain as stopping in 2 or 3 seconds, still much better than 5 minutes.
@@WoodMachinist As long as it can just slightly slow it without trying to stop it that would make a huge difference in its safety and use. Kind of like brakes on a bike, you can use them to add just a slight friction to take a little moment out without just clamping down and stopping like you would do going down hill. I don't know if you would get that kind of adjustment out of an electric brake addon but if you can I think thats the way to go.
dad's had a red rectangular button on the motor that braked the blade.. basically a mechanical brake..
The blade spinning endlessly is a good indicator that the spindle bearings are in need of new grease. Great video John, I think these are excellent for crosscutting.
Back in '70s I worked for a lumber yard. We used a big 16" radial arm saw for cutting framing lumber. We had very few accidents and when we did we found a bit of crazy glue and a buffing wheel buffed everything right out.
I use a 14” radial at work daily to rip plywood for export crates. The way I get around the potential kick back is to use a sacrificial board to feed the one I’m cutting through the cut. Also when ripping you can tip your blade guard down so that most of the duct comes out the shoot and not straight back at you.
Very entertaining video! I'm 33 and have been operating radial arm saws since i was tall enough to reach the handle, strictly for crosscuts and the occasional miter. I've done the rips only twice ever, once with my brother and once by myself. I got to the same point you stopped at and said the EXACT same "nope" you did. Very entertaining that i have the exact same feelings towards this saw as you do
23:30 take the blade off and spin it through 360 so the wires on the other side of the carrier!!
Then you can use the full slide rail.
180 degrees, actually. Derp!😅
@@bjornolson6527 180 on x axis + 180 on a axis= 360? :)
But yes your correct.
Great vid. Glad you were able to keep all of your appendages. This saw reminds me of the Craftsman radial arm saw that my dad had in the 70s. It did most of the cuts you described. I think it had some additional safety features such as an anti-kick device. He used the crap out of that thing. Good memories.
This video is just 24 minutes of anxiety, so many squirrely moments. Def a machine that'll never be in my shop that's for sure.
I thougt i was The only one😂
I have always wanted one but seeing these videos makes me never want to even be around one.
I'd buy a Shop Smith before this death trap. Geeze, too sketchy.
@@mromutt look up brian weekley, he understands how to use the saw properly. this video is a waste of time as he threw it up for views without truly learning the saw.
I've been on the side of kick back 2 time's once was in high school with my wood shop teacher he set the fence wrong on the table saw hit my belt buckle was just fine. Second was the morning after losing a family member and a piece I bevel ripping shot out on a 10" radial arm saw was injured I still use a radial arm saw to this day. Respect for your tools is a must at all times.
When I was 17 (back in the 80's) my 1st "propper" job was at a place called Bate Welding and Engineering Supplies. My job was to sharpen TCT saw blades. The biggest ones were for British Rail and they were between 36" and 42". That must have been a monster machine that they went on.
What sort of machine do you think they would have been used on?
@@James-dv1df Something that huge had to be something like a giant mill right? I cant imagine what else could use them. I would love to see a blade that big in person but never want to meet the machine it goes in haha
When I was younger my father used a Craftsman radial arm saw all the time for ripping boards. It was so normal that we never thought twice, it was nice because it was actually easier to adjust the width against the fence. I still have the saw and am thinking about getting it up and running again.
I do run a radial arm saw every day. Mine is a 14" original saw, the most productive tool in my shop. After I assemble a cut list, I mark out stop locations, turn the saw on, and keep feeding it material until the cutlist is finished. I never take it out of its 90 degree orientation, I'll go so far as to cut the long dimension on the radial arm saw then switch to a miter saw for all the angles. When used in the sort of production environment I'm describing, I find these safe, efficient, and more enjoyable to use than any alternative I've found.
When I was a senior in HS (late '60's, early '70's) I worked in my grandfather's woodshop. I think that was back when a "miter saw" was a u shaped wood structure that you put your 2X4 wood in and cut it with a handsaw. The 2 pieces of equipment that were most important in his shop were the table saw and the radial arm saw. What you're not showing with the radial arm, at least in our shop, every task on that saw had its own jig and, if there wasn't one existing, we made them. I don't ever remember being scared of the saw. We did lot ripping with it. There were long infeed and outfeed tables to support the wood. As you say, kickback was one of the biggest concerns. We were aware of the dangers of the saw(s) but we had systems and jigs to make them safer.
I've actually seen machines like this being modified with "primitive breaks". Essentially make a hole in the "blade guard", weld on a threaded pipe. Take a durable cylindrical piece of rubber which fits into the pipe and use that as the "break caliber" - and then use a screw/cap/plunger - whatever you choose to apply it towards the blade. Just be "fairly gentle" when applying break force in a place which was not designed for it - and remember to disengage it before stating it up again. (You can also make a spring-loaded mechanism which automatically disengages when you stop pushing it - however that's a bit more involved 😀)
Did you mean brake?
I have a radial arm saw and it’s beyond sketchy. Terrifyingly awesome. I love it. I only use it when I’m ok with losing an arm or 2
My first major shop tool in 1972 was a Dewalt RAS. I have used it to rip hundreds of feet of lumber. What makes it much safer than your saw was the fact the blade guard could be tilted backward to contact and hold the stock down. For narrower pieces you absolutely need a push stick. One attachment I never used was a rotary planer head to reduce the thickness of wood. That to me was way to dangerous.
Obviously this guy shouldn’t even turn this saw on. With some proper training and setup (as you saying tilting the saw guard down on rip cuts which does a decent job of dust diversion as well) it is a very usable saw. On the smaller and newer saws there was also a splitter and anti kickback pawls. This is an industrial saw. One learns to ride a tricycle before a bike. This guy is going directly to a unicycle. IMHO
Back in High School woodshop class ( early 80's) we had this same saw. Only allowed to crosscut on it. Can you imagine a bunch of high school teens using this beast. Thankfully no one ever injured! I had grown up using a 10 inch RAS so was used to it but many others were complete newbies. That blade would spin forever. We would wedge a long 1x2 piece of oak using that small black knob on the front as a fulcrum against the saw plate as a brake no less - Just crazy!. We also had a shaper - NO One not even the teacher used it - can't imagine how terrifying that must have been. Thanks Mr LeCluse if your out there for keeping us all safe.
Helpful hint, always loosen the nut in the same direction that the teeth go. Tighten against the teeth
Elegantly simple yet very useful tip, thanks for sharing.
My grandfather has a 10" RAS, and got me a 10" one as well. I use it for crosscut only, as I have other tools for the other cuts. I know he has used his for ripping, and has suggested I try it for ripping also. But I have had thoughs similar to what you experienced, and also have a nice table saw,so I use it instead. So much easier for set up, and safer for usage.
9:20 when I saw you get that rag so close to the blade to showcase the airflow, I just started sweating when I thought about how it could get caught on the blade and pulled in. Or maybe I am overthinking this and have watched final destination one too many times
Think everyone thought that :) huge ass blades or machinery and loose cloth gives me the willys.
I was staring at that tail intently as it whipped back and forth😅😅😅😅😅😅
I just watched you make several errors with your RAS
1. Read the Mister Sawdust book before you use the saw.
2. That saw needs a much bigger/longer table. I use a 3 piece table, 2 pieces behind the fence puts you further from the blade for most cuts. Move the the extra table piece in front only when you need the extra width
3. Make your cross cuts from the left. Hold the stock with your left hand and the saw with the right hand.
4. Throughly inspect the machine and install the missing parts. Anti kick-back bar...
5. When ripping rotate the blade guard to just above the piece being fed into the blade. Adjust the anti-kickback bar to the material thickness. Use a much longer push stick shaped like a tablesaw push stick that fits between blade and fence.
6. All tools require the operator to be familiar with operations. I recently replaced a sliding miter saw with a 1956 Dewalt RAS and I love it. It sits closer to the wall and makes perfect cross cuts and dados.
Great tool you have acquired I look forward to more videos as you become proficient with this tool.
Keep up the great content.
I own a 1965 Craftsman 10 inch radial arm saw that I got from my father and he kept the manual for it all those years that he had it. The craziest cut I saw in the book was a cove cut, essentially you're swinging the saw blade side to side on the pivot of the motor to cove out a depression in the face of the piece of wood. There was also an attachment on the back side of the motor to turn it into a shaper and a kind of drill press... no thanks, still gives me the shivers even thinking about doing either of those things.
Had this exact model (minus the weird dust collection thing that this one has) in a wood shop I used to work at. But they had it altered so that none of the adjustments could be made. You could only slide it forward and back while cutting material. They also had a sort of raised bed built around the blade so the blade wasn't exposed. It was only used for 90 degree cuts on 2x Materials. 2x4, 2x6, etc. You slid the 2x materials under/in to the "raised bed". It was actually a pretty genius way to make a very unsafe saw, safe. They had it there for longer than the 10 years I was there with no incidents.
09:05 That video edit transition from touching the blade in power off mode to the machine running fear-froze me for a second 😵💫
I have personal used one of theses and it is terrifying. We used it to cut pressure treated 6x6x16’ down, it would go right through one of them like a hot knife butter. That saw wouldn’t just cut a finger off it would take ur whole arm off and u wouldn’t even know it.
My father bought a 10" Dewalt radial saw new in 1958. I still have that saw in my shop today and can't imagine not having it. I have 8 foot in feed and out feed tables on each end of the saw therefor I don't get stuck like you did. As for the blade deflection , your blade is not lined up parallel to the fence. There are adjustments for every aspect of that saw. You had my heart rate up when did the rip cut because you are missing the anti kick back paw!!! My saw still has the original maple top on it and as the humidity changes in the shop I have to check cut squareness every now and then. Get a better operators manual on the saw and it will show all the adjustments that can be done on that saw. By the way I was never brave enough to do the gut cut rip. I use my saw almost every day. Keep up the the good videos and be safe!!! Mike
German proverb for turning threads on rotating parts in the right direction.
„Wie ich lauf, so geh ich auf“
In English:
As I run, I rise
That has always been true until now 😅
Genau so isses
In America it's "righty tighty, lefty loosey"...
We're not that smart...
@@mikedunham7220 that's why germans don't want your cars, we love quality xD and not that junk
lass mich raten, von Bungi82 gelernt xD Grüße aus Niedersachsen
@@mikedunham7220 Ah we have an old one about tightening screws "solang das deutsche Reich besteht, wird die Schraube rechts gedreht"
"so long the german empire exist, the screw is turned right" (sorry for the terrible translation, but the original even rimes)
But I think it has some flaws.
I worked at a lumber yard where we had one of these. It was 3 or 3.5 HP if I remember right. We cut anything from 2x4 to landscape timbers to 4” Schedule 40 PVC to railroad timbers if we rolled them over. It had automotive wheels and tires and a hitch so it could be pulled behind your truck. We also had 20’ extensions on each end for doing those rip cuts you were struggling with. It did take over 2 min to come to a stop. It was crazy. I think it may still be in use at the lumber yard today
I love the shop shades ads. What I'd love even more is if you'd actually ship my order out which was ordered March 3rd.
Good luck lol. I pre-ordered mine in November of 23 and haven't heard a peep. An update would be nice.
@@ChiKusari So essentially the ONLY people who actually have these "shop shades" are those in the videos.
March 3rd orders are being packed up today!
I've had a 10" Craftsman radial arm since the early 1970's - still runs fine. One thing to mention, the blade guard is adjustable. The front edge of the guard (many have a point at that part) should be set to barely clear the wood and it will keep it from throwing all that sawdust at you.
It's interesting to me to see people talk about radial arm saws as if they're strange antiques. (Maybe this is because I'm something of a strange antique myself.) I have two Sears Craftsman 10" Radial Arm saws--one I've had for about 40 years and one I picked up for $25 to keep in the basement of a rental property I own. I've never owned a table saw, though I recently inherited an old Shopsmith Mark V that I often use for the table saw function. I've use my radial arm saw mostly for crosscutting, miters, compound miters, but also for ripping. (I recently rebuilt the cedar lath fence in my front yard that required me to rip dozens of 1"x8"x8' boards to 1-1/4 slats.) I've used the planing attachment to rough plane a very uneven 4" slab of walnut that I used for a live-edge shelf for a television. I have a dado blade for it that I've used--one of those that wobbles to various widths that you set. Before I had a drill press, I used the radial arm saw as a drill a few times and I have a sanding disk and several sanding drums that I've used, too. I've also used it for molding edges with molding attachment.
I don't understand the reputation that radial arm saws have gotten for not being safe. Of course, any saw is inherently dangerous but, in all the years I've used the saw, I've only once had anything I'd consider a mishap. While ripping, the saw threw a loose knot that I hadn't noticed back hard enough to break off a little bit of the saw blade guard. Without the guard set close to the board, as you're supposed to, it could have hit me if I'd been directly behind the blade. But I usually stand a bit to the side. For crosscuts, the blade is pushing the board back against the fence and I've never had a problem with the blade wanting to climb the board. This is probably because I keep a firm grip on the saw. (I've also sometimes done a cross cut from the front, pushing back against the wood.) I've seen Stumpy Nubs' original video that rightly calls out some of the initial hype about what radial arm saws can do (ruclips.net/video/AHRwN99fGCY/видео.html). (One of the manuals shows guy in a dress shirt and tie cutting full sheet of plywood in half by having the saw blade turned outward and pushing the plywood in front of the saw. Sheeze!) I've also see the rebuttal videos by radial arm saw fans and Stumpy Nubs' clarification in which he makes it clear that he's not saying that radial arm saws can't be safe; he's just criticizing some of the unsafe uses of them (ruclips.net/video/TKL2ooTOPk8/видео.html). If you want to learn more about radial arm saws from an old pro, check out videos by BigMike Tuna like this one (ruclips.net/video/CV4uXtxnOdg/видео.html) . (His saw is almost identical to mine, by the way.) If you want to see some terrific joinery done with a radial arm saw, check out videos by @dustylumberco. And here's an idea for an upgraded table for a radial arm saw: ruclips.net/video/bdLaLgGCqUo/видео.html.
There's an interesting historical promotional film from DeWalt about the use of the DeWalt radial arm saw's use in the WWII war program here: ruclips.net/video/HiGH0Qsu3ak/видео.html.
W/r to this video, not only is the saw missing the anti-kickback pawl, as @robertgruen2088 noted, but Malecki isn't adjusting the blade guard appropriately for the rips, as was noted by @leebernardo 1000.
It is all about perspective. You were taught with this, it was all you knew. Now we have more safety features, we look back at those seeing the potential hazards. I have a craftsman table saw from the 50's in my home shop. There is no safety features. No blade guard or riving knife or anything else modern saws use. Where I worked had machines from WW2. When they did get newer machines, they had to try to retrofit safety features like light curtains. In 50 years, they will look back at what we currently use as dangerous and crazy. You just dont know until things change after stuff like injuries and death.
@@nikkafrog My father had a 50's era Craftsman table saw. No safety features, to be sure, but it had a hell of a nice cast iron table--something you won't find on low-cost table saws these days. My 1970's era Craftsman radial arm saw, does have a device to prevent pinching when ripping. It's not a riving knife but a disk that rolls in the kerf keeping it from closing up. And attached to that splitter are anti-kickback pawls. Using that right, I've never had kickback.
@@nikkafrog I'm hoping one day we can find a much less sketchy successor to the angle grinder - man are they useful! Man are they sketchy!!!
In my undergrad theatre woodshop (circa the '90s), we learned on a 3-phase, (I want to say) 5hp, TWENTY-INCH radial saw. The thing was an absolute beast and it terrified more than a few of us. We had a standing rule that when you were done with it, you HAD to stand by it and watch it spin down (which took well over 3 minutes, the last minute or so was SILENT!!!) to keep other people in the shop from accidentally reaching into the still-spinning blade. We *only* ever used it for crosscuts at 90*, though, and it was years later before I even learned that a saw like that *could* do other stuff.... It's a good story I love to tell but I do NOT miss that saw...
I'm pretty sure I watched every one of your cuts puckered up and through my fingers....
I have one that looks identical. You are missing an anti kickback device. It is 5/8” solid rod that drops down a hole next to the dust discharge with some barbs on the end that allow wood to slide under them but only 1 way.
The cutting deck is designed to be easily re- configurable leaving a spacer wherever you want that puts your fence in the spot you want.
You could spin your Motorhead 180 degrees that would allow the belly cut….but that’s as sketchy as waving a rag in the wind of the massive blade!
I have a 10" and I love it for cross cuts. I'd absolutly pickup a 16" for cutting 4x4s in one pass.
Liked for a tear down video.
When people whine about "safety" etc., they conveniently forget that those rules were written in blood with the limbs that were lost. And this thing right here is a prime example.
100%, those rule were developed by the blood, sweat & tears of damaged men.
You ought to see the rough cut blade they use in sawmills. Some those get up around 60" diameter. I used to work near one and it was a crazy feeling bring close to it
I saw that final image/diagram was thinking to myself no way he is going to try that!? I wasn't even in the shop and my heart rate was through the roof just watching this video.
For the love of god put on a mask when cutting melamine.
How come?
There is plenty of research into the long term health effects of fine saw dust. Melamine dust has the added benefits of being embedded with glue and other binding chemicals.
These so called professional influencers really should be setting better examples.
What if he doesn’t love god? Does he still have to put on a mask?
Hearing protection would be good too, don't think I saw any
Dude... I built so many projects on a 10" Craftsman radial saw in my younger days. Did rip cuts, cross cuts, even raised panes with a shaper attachment. I'm luck to be alive. LOL
Way back in the day it might have been the best option, but with all the tools available now I would rather not get final destinationed
I ran a 20" in a millshop for years. Beautiful piece of equipment! Wish I had space for a larger one in my own shop.
Get your first hour ticket here.
no
I'll take 2
Ok
Anybody know where I can get a 3 hour ticket I'm desperate
Hope i can use my crusty 3 hour ticket 🥳😅😅
My father had a radial arm (not as big as this beast) that injured him on a rip cut. The wood jumped - he didn't get hit by the blade, thank God, but just the force of the wood slammed back into his hand. The resultant force split the entire last knuckle of the ring finger on his right hand into three meaty chunks. We drove to the hospital with his hand cradled in an ever-increasingly-red kitchen towel with him passing out from the pain. It actually did heal back together but it's a permanently-branded-in-my-brain reminder of how dangerous these older tools were/are!
At work we have an original saw 20" radial arm saw. It's a much newer model. But it's a pleasure to use. We cut a lot of larger timbers with it.
My dad was artist that made crazy picture frames out of Barn wood on I think it was a 12" radial arm saw, ripping a dato for the glass, barnwood is never planned to be perfectly flat..... he was crazy.... but the was always amazingly beaautiful in the end.
I got taught to use a pretty big cross cut like this at a timber yard for my first job when I was 15, the biggest I ever cut would be a 3x9 sapele or oak board. Biggest tip is keep your arm straight because when it bites or hits a knot it'll yank your absolute arm off, it'll also stop it wanting to "walk off the table" 🤙🏻
I grew up using a 10” craftsman radial saw. Always preferred it to the table saw, but happy I have replaced it with a 12” compound miter saw which is so much easier to configure than the radial was. Probably lucky I never did something stupid with it
I miss having my radial arm saws. I have had 3 over the years. My 12" craftsman was a strong work horse. The 14" delta was under powered for hard woods, unless I put a 12" blade on it. And my 16" delta very much like the one you got was a great saw. Mine had a blade break on it. It was just a lever that I would push on to slow the blade spinning down faster
These are great for production work with jigs and and established setups and techniques. Where people get in the most trouble is when they are switching the tool around to do a bunch of things in sequence for a few parts. They can also take of body parts if you are stupid or careless. I've used the RAS with the blade horizontal or transverse but had the table set up with fixtures and jigs, everything locked and the work fed with a pusher where I was beyond arm's reach of the blade and not in the line of kickback and had a remote foot switch. You can make crown moldings, dado, etc
@23:20, about your saw being wired as to not extend a certain point.
I think the motor has been flipped over. Remove blade and rotate motor 360 degree counter-clockwise as seen at that point in the video. That should freen up the cable for maximum sketchiness.
I’m glad you know when to stop, John.
…and I’m also glad you know to tell us you know when to stop. It’s one thing for Jim from Stumpy Nubs to calmly explain the dangers while showing a slideshow of the manual pages; it’s quite another for a woodworker to get halfway through demonstrating one of the only-moderately-sketchy cuts before going “f-no-f-no-f-no” and burying the blade in the workpiece to stop it NOW.
I have this exact same saw! It was in my dad's shop since I was a kid, he let me loose on the thing when I was like 12. It really does like to run towards you when cutting and is quite scary. Your is missing part of the blade guard mechanism, and the anti-kickback fingers for ripping. Also, there's a built in braking system for the blade that isn't working - it makes a loud repetitive clicking sound when turned off and the blade slows down pretty rapidly when it's working.
With original accessories, it can also be used as a disc sander, drum sander, grinder, and pattern-maker router. I have scans of the original owners manual and parts catalog for it, if you'd like a copy.
We had a De Walt 20" radial saw for cutting extruded aluminium box section, 5.5" square. We would occasionally cut mitres, but 99% of the time it was straight cuts. We had 16" and 13" diameter blades too. Never had any accidents on it, at all. We used 13" mitre saws with 13" blades for cutting aluminium too. We would fit at least 2 emergency stop buttons on every machine, just to be safe.
When I was 17 years old, I was left alone to rip riser and tread material for stairs after a 5-minute tutorial on how the saw worked. It was terrifying lol
I used a radial arm saw years ago in high school. It was a great tool and as long as you don't have the saw blade directly pointed at a body part it was super-safe. I only used it for crosscuts and dados so perhaps other functions are more dangerous but for other functions I either used a table saw or hand tools. I always felt the radial arm saw felt safer than the table saw so maybe I'm just different than other users. Maybe it was because I could see the blade where-as with a table saw the blade was often hidden for dado cuts and rabbets. The saw I used had a auto brake function when power was removed which I'm sure makes a difference.
Holy smokes! Every time you pointed at the saw while the blade was still spinning I was like half out of my chair ready to run for help. I know you were 6' away but it still got me. This saw is great for about 3 functions as long as you need to make long continuous cut runs, say 30 or more. Otherwise there are modern tools that aren't as multi functional, but are much better suited to safely do the same things. That being said I totally want one :)
I love the radial arm saw, it was the very first saw I've ever used, my shop teacher had us use that instead of a miter saw
Used these everyday in uk, brilliant for repeat cuts, depth cuts, ripping rough sawn planks to length, really good for cutting bevelled shoulders on tenons
The really great thing about these if you are new and nervous about tools they make table saws seem so much safer! Trying to rip stuff sideways on that thing is absolutely mental
You're editors keep you in front of Sears. Thank you Brother, I Appreciate the sense of humor. Political incorrect is Comedy. GOD BLESS
Used one almost exactly like that to cross cut 2x4s for crates. Except we added a dynamic brake and a hand trigger to start it. Never thought twice about using it
G’day loved the episode
I run a timber workshop in Australia and have a newer version of this saw
I run a 20 inch blade to dock and point 8x8 cypress
My machine thankfully doesn’t spin all the way to 90 degrees for ripping but makes short work of pointing posts up to 60 degrees
New to the channel so I’m watching a lot of your early stuff and love it
Cheers bud 🇦🇺
I grew up using a radial arm saw with my Dad and inherited it eventually. I built a big cabinet system for my laundry room using it with a wobble dado blade. It's a wonder I didn't lose a body part. Sold the thing shortly after and bought a table saw. It was a cool tool for some cuts, but a table saw and a miter saw are better options.
Dado's, Rabbit's, dental moulding, ect, The radial arm saw is a great shop saw, and when properly maintained is super accurate.
you can use a VFD Inverter to control motor speed and even adjust the acceleration time and deacceleration time so you'll get a soft start and short time stop and immediate emergency stop.
it's very important on this kind of saws.
John, I would love to see the safety demo's surrounding these saws. Maybe clam a workpiece to the table and pull the carriage with a string to show how the saw wants to run and how it will try to jump at you. Maybe use a ballistic dummy to show the carnage that can happen.
This saw looks like a lot of fun. And your dust extraction system really satisfies my tism.
We had a pair of these in my high school wood shop. The first month of the class was just safety demonstrations and tests and stuff, but even with all that, I don't know that I'd trust a teenager with tools like this. Also, I really didn't appreciate how dangerous tools like this are until years later, and all we did were cross cuts and miters.
Ran one of those for a year back in 1972. 16 inch delta we built 2 big project about 2000 2 story apartmens. The thing is a bull. Never laid it on the side . Cross cuts only. Great saw. We built a ply wood table for it 32 ft long 2 ft wide. Waxed table everyday. The wax was driping off the bottom of the plywood after we tore it down .
This was so entertaining and sickening at the same time haha. Thanks for the vid, it's truly unbelievable that this saw exists at all!
Looks like task specific jigs could help with working on that. E.g. for splitting that melamin, you could have a moving table jig with fences. Put the material on table, maybe even clamp it down to it with some bolts or wedges, and push it through. It could have handles on the side so you wouldn't have to be in the way. That would not be good for making custom items but for longer production runs it likely would help.
Man, that saw brings back memories! Believe it or not, we had one in our high-school shop class. I used it alot from 9th to 12th grade. Back when men were men lol
Had one and loved it. It was just so big and heavy I had to get rid of it. Regretted it ever since. Such an amazing saw, it was that off color teal Dewalt one.
I remember we had one of these in my high school shop class. That thing was genuinely terrifying to most people, but I just used it like I'd been around it all my life. These things are so huge and clunky, that its really hard to actually injure yourself with one of these unless you start reaching around the blade and stuff. Seeing that gut cut in the manual though is pretty funny, but also exactly something I feel like you would see in the 60's. I definitely would never want to try that at all.
Nice to see those still in action. Radial arm saws are one of the most versatile tools out there, and not that dangerous if you know what you're doing.
I ran one of these for almost 12yrs at an orange store that no one knows. We had a spring loaded tether that went from the saw carriage to the rear post to keep rearward tension on the saw. So if you let go, it would get pulled back into the starting location. It also stopped the saw from climb cutting, and shooting forward as you make the cut.
I been seeing a ton of these 10" on marketplace in my area, 50-100 bucks...I'm getting one just for half laps an such...there is a huge advantage to owning one, and cheap..all the ones I see are craftsman...use to be a time they was everywhere, in school to... But for joinery it's a game changer ..
I used to use that saw in our shop when I was doing construction. The shop was an old cabinet shop and that Delta cut smooth.
I was 19, first real job in woodshop. Use to cut six 2x4 in one quick stroke. The blade barely slow down!
Quite frightening!
The 16 inch radial arm saws shown in Mike's video, and this one, are the only two that I have ever seen.........I want this saw.
The radial arm saw at my school has like a 12 foot table. We never make rip cuts with it but if we ever did we have a long table so the material can't fall
Been working table, slide miters and hand saws for 15+ years, your brave.
I’ve got a 9” craftsman in my garage. Watching you do these cuts, I felt uneasy. When I went to trade school in 2009, they made us do a rip on one. Think that was the only and last time.
The most dangerous tool I think I have ever seen, honestly scary to see you use it but I honestly appreciate you showing how dangerous it is so I avoid using it or thinking I can safely use one.
I’ve used a saw very similar to this in a production setting. They are sketchy but a swing saw is just for cut off and they are the sketchiest saw I have ever used.
This is so amusing. I grew up with a radial arm saw. I was using that before using regular power saws.
Honestly i can't wait to see what you make with this tool, I see how dangerous it can be. Maybe you could make your own blade guard that doesn't get in the way so you don't have to completely remove it but you are protected. It would be nice if you could add a brake to slow the blade down once the saw is off.