Bought a RAS (Sears Craftsman Model 113-23111 at a yard sale – minus the table/fence pieces. Saw runs but requires setup/adjustments. Obtained a replacement user manual from Sears.
Manual has all parts listed including the table, fence, etc but no dimensions. Seems silly to try to buy these from Sears.
Can anyone give me an idea of a suitable table size? This is a 10 inch
saw. Or do I crank it to 45 degree miters – left & right – fully extend the motor unit and take some measurements? Other (hopefully, better) ideas?
Thanks
Replies
My 1975 era sears RAS table over all size is 40 wide by 24 deep, the fixed front part is about 181/2 inches deep , the back is 2 peices one about 1.5 inches and one about 3 inches plus a movable fence that can be installed one of the three locations. Hope this helps
"Or do I crank it to 45 degree miters - left & right - fully extend the motor unit and take some measurements? Other (hopefully, better) ideas?"
Dunc: Actually, your idea sounds pretty good. I've seen RAS tables sized from miniature to extra large. If it were me, I would size the table to support the type of cutting I intend to do on the saw, and to fit the amount of allowable shop space. The largest table I've used was 2 1/2 x 26'. My current table is 20 x 44" as I only use the saw for 90* crosscuts.
-Jerry
I've got one in the garage that I'm actually putting in a garage sale saturday. I'll measure it this weekend and see if I can grab a pic or two and some dimensions.
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Dunc,
Mine is around 4.5' wide. I use a bucket of paint with chunks of timbers sitting on it for an outrigger when I cut longer boards. When I get a little shop maintenance time, I'm going to have at least 4' on either side of the blade... and I'll probably find out that I need more than that. Think of it as an outfeed table for your RAS.
If you're only using your RAS as a break-down saw like me, you'll never regret making the table nice and long - uh... within reason. You can also use the extra surface as a bench for your miter saw, etc. I'm planning on putting mine on top of some old kitchen cabinets so the space won't be wasted. Also to get it up to a comfortable height. Right after I finish the 200 projects I'm working on right now.
I hope you got it for a good price, cause I can hardly give mine away.
Before you get too involved in the intracacies, you gotta know that if you expect to achieve much accuracy, you gotta clean the rails that the carraige rides on, and while yer at it replace the bearings that ride on it. Before the era of SCM chops saws, three years was the average life expectancy of them bearings, before they got sloppy.
Table is three parts if I remember correctly- back piece, fence, and front piece.
The width is whatever you want, I'd go at least a coupla inches outside the base box just so I could clamp fences or stops or whatever.
Your fence material should be a commonly used size, say 3/4" plywood, as you will likely be repacing it regularly as it gets chopped up.
I'm thinkin that 4x4 is the max yer gonna x-cut with this beast, so with the saw back all the way, u figure out where the front of the fence is gonna be, and knowing fence thickness, the back piece is a simple arithmetic operation.
The front piece is gonna extend past that so that when the saw is fully extended, the saw is still entirely over the table....kinda a safety thing.
That should also take care of the 45 degree thing you mentioned, but you might need to adjst the width to accommodate.
As the saw and arm are rigid, you gotta shim the table so that the saw tracks level over it. It's rather a flimsy sheet metal base, and if the saw has been dropped, that metal base coulda been torqued. Back in the day, RAS's were often trucked to sites and suffered god knows what abuses....
Saw tracks level over the bed, you now gotta check that the detents hold the blade at 90 degrees to the bed....maybe some more shimming involved.......
then you gotta now check that the carraige carries the saw blade truely; them thar bearings that I mentioned earlier, I think they have an eccentric bolt center that you have to adjust.
A dial indicator is helpful in this regard....
I miss using my RAS sometimes, and then I don't. Wheneer it went on site, it had to be set up again, and when it came back, same thing. Kinda got tedious.
That is why the basic chop saw became so popular. You had to drop it off the truck before it went out of adjustment. Then came SCM saws with linear bearings.
If yer really into this RAS thing, I'm thinking that you should be able to pick up one of the Delta books on a used book site (Abebooks perhaps) on "getting the most out of your radial arm saw" to get the ins and outs in more detail.
They were for many years a mainstay of shop operations, but I doubt if you even went to the factories of the major tool mfgrs that you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who was still "tuned in" to setting one up.
I dunno if I still have the manual for mine, but if sears can't fax you one, I'll go looking.
Eric in Calgary
If you want the exact dimensions, give a shout and I'll measure mine. The original is just particle board, but I'd suggest some good 3/4" ply, topped with a sacrificial sheet of 1/4" ply. (Cheaper to replace the 1/4" occasionally and you don't worry as much about making additional kerfs in the sacrificial sheet.) The original has a large fixed front table that extends forward almost as far as the arm, and two strips behind that that are loose, plus the 3/4" fence that sticks up about 3/4" over the top of the sacrificial table. The loose pieces allow you to fix the fence in any of 3 positions. You don't necessarily need that setup, tho' -- your call. The function is primarily used to allow a bit wider rips when needed. It's not particularly useful for crosscuts in that the rearward positions places the fence so far back that part of the blade is in front of it making it impossible to put the workpiece agains the fence without hitting the blade.
The original table has holes for mounting bolts that are countersunk well below the surface. Drill a 3/4" hole with a Forstner bit about 3/8" deem, and center a 1/4" through hole in that for the bolt.
The original table is centered over the frame. I'd suggest that if you have the room, and unless you will have support like a workbench off to the side, make it a bit wider to the left. Since the saw blade is to the left of center, and you do most of your cutting to the left of the blade, the short table on that side can mean longer boards are not well supported after the cut.
Take some time to set the table up properly. It's set on rails that fasten to the frame and you need to make sure it's level in the plane of the cut. I think the manual covers how to do this, but it involves tilting the motor so the arbor is down, and using that to set the height of the table rails. Once mine was set, I drilled some holes in it and bolted it in place. It's been good for 30 yrs. now. ;-)
It's pretty easy to square the arm to the fence and the blade to the table, but do it carefully. Many regular RAS users on this forum pretty much set up their saws to cut square and leave 'em there, making miters by employing auxiliary fences. I do this too, but I'm not too finicky about it. I'll adjust the saw if that's easier than using a jig. On advantage to the "set it and leave it" method is that the fence gets kerffed in only one spot, making it easier to position the workpiece since you can use the fence kerf to line up the cut line.
Contrary to what many naysayers would have you believe, these saws do NOT mysteriously unalign themselves every time you turn your back on them. Heck, I need to readjust my TS fence more often than my RAS.
As another poster mentioned, you can get some play in the slide bearings. But I doubt you'll have to replace them. They are adjustable, so spend some time making sure they're tight enough to eliminate play without hampering the slide function. Don't forget to check the play in the column as well -- again, there's an adjustable bearing to keep this moving without excessive play. There's also an adjustment in the motor yoke that indexes the blade parallel or perpendicular to the arm. You'll probably want to check that as well.
Finally, once it's set up, get yourself a good blade designed for RAS use -- different tooth angles than a blade for a TS.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
Your radial arm saw has a Emerson tools recall . http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/
I registered mine and received free, a new blade guard and a 1 inch mdf table kit. This convinced me to tune up the saw with new bearings and to adjust all componants. But I use it only as a straight cross cut.
I built a 12 foot long bench along one wall. On it I mounted 2 Radial saws, a bench morticer, and a chop saw that fits in the same receptacle as the morticer. I covered them all with formica. I have small tools, squares, driver bits, screwdrivers hanging above the back of the bench. For me it works great, as I build doors, etc which are long. Also, below it I have storage for paint, etc, which I mix on the long bench. The formica allows easy clean up. I'm not sure of the animosity toward RASs but I like mine. I just treat them with a lot of respect. I learned a long time ago how to keep them in tune.
Stef
Sounds like a great multiple tool workstation. It's a usefull tool, but yes I agree you and I also respect it's limits and potential, it can easily ride over into a pile of fingers!
Yup. Do the recall that caadianeh refers to. I got the stuff for mine, and now it's a usable tool.
By the way, I never rip with that saw--only crosscut. I don't have the stomach to do that.
there is a book on the RAS from the 'guru' of RAS (I cannot remember his name but I think it is http://www.mrsawdust.com). He worked for DeWalt when the RAS was in it's heyday and says to take two pieces of 3/4" stock for your table and run a saw kerf lengthwise down each one and then take 1/8"X1" steel bar stock and put in the kerf sandwiched between the two pieces with epoxy in the kerf and yellow glue for the rest of the glueup and then clamp the whole thing to a flat table to cure.
He says that this extra rigid bed will improve the performance of any RAS! Makes sense to me and I plan on doing that when I replace the table on mine. Takes up a ton of room in the shop but I cannot force myself to get rid of mine.
Scott
Yes, it was Mr. Sawdust.Boiler
Dunc,
I have a RAS that's prolly the same one as yours. I'll check the model number on mine but I do have the complete manual. Moved mine about 6 mos. ago and went thru it top to bottom when I set it back up. I'll ditto everything Mike said and add that the alignment process is a ste by step process and you need to follow the instructions in order as each step is dependent on the previous steps for accuracy.
If you need a copy, email your address to me via clicking on my name and I'll send you a copy of mine. Some day I'd like to upgradde my Craftsman RAS and get one of the biguns. Then ones that dim the lights for 6 miles when you fire it up.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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