cwshaw

I run a medium size shop with an excellent safety record.
We are now more "fabricators" than just woodworkers as we have complete welding, sheet metal, and metal machining capabilities.

We had radial arm saws for about 15 years, and I finally gave them away. A 14" dewalt heavy duty saw and several Sears types. We never had an accident, but the inhernt dangers of the tool became quite obvious to the experienced eye.

I did once hire a machinist helper with no fingers on his left hand do to a "crash when trying to cross cut multiple pieces on a RAS. He was cutting up scantlings to go into the trash when it happened. He was 65 years old at the time of the accident. It did not happen at our shop.

A small metal lathe will allow you to make all sorts of custom guide bushings for routers and shapers, as well as allow you to repair tools that would otherwise be junked. If you sell your RAS get one of these with the money. Learn how to use it safely.

Ripping on a radial arm saw is just nuts, although moving the fence to the user side of the table instead of behind the blade helps.

I got the 14" Dewalt while still still working as a young frame and trim carpenter. Once we were using it to rip 4x8x 1/8 sheets of Thermoply in half. One of the new hires fed a sheet in from the wrong side, and it must have thrown it at least 60 feet. This saw was made before the saws had anti kick back pawls.

If you are a hobbyist or one man shop, their versatility cannot be denied. If you are a professional with employees, get rid of it before it costs you $50,000 plus in worker comp premiums when disaster finally strikes. Use the savings to make payments/buy a cnc router or a good sliding table saw. Keeping it around just for that special job almost insures it will be out of tune when that special job arrives.