I just received and read John Eakes’ book “Fine Tuning your Radial Arm Saw”. In the introduction, I believe, he makes mention of making box joints on the RAS. He goes no further with it. Just mentions the fact that it can be done. Have any of you ever heard of such a thing or maybe done it? I can not for the life of me figure out how that can be done.
Now, I know there are those of you out there who are not fans of the RAS. I don’t need anyone telling me that there are other safer ways of doing things other than using a RAS. I know there are other ways of doing it that may or may not be safer. That does not and will not answer my question.
TIA,
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Replies
Although I long ago ditched my RAS, I can see how box joints could be made with one by raising the blade and indexing the workpiece. The size of the pieces, however, would be limited to whatever you could fit under the blade.
That does sound dangerous.
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry -
The OP made a point of NOT wanting to hear about the dangers of using a RAS, so I limited my response to what I thought might work. It's NOT something I would try! - lol
I did this a few times many many years ago when I didn't have other alternatives, and got good results although limited in the width of the joint by the total travel of the height adjustment of the arm. You may find that the blade guard gets in the way, so I worked without it. Don't tell anybody I said so...
Put a dado blade on the saw and turn the motor face down so the blade is parallel to the table. On a test piece, see how many cranks of the height adjustment will give you exactly double the dado, that is, the amount you need to jump from one cut to the next. Use a very solid sacrificial fence on the right of the table, high enough to back up the pieces to be cut (you can gang them up). Set up some kind of stop block for the position of the wood to be cut. I preferred to cut through by gradually pushing the saw away from me, not drawing it forward. Cut through, pull back, and crank up to the next, and so on. You must cut the whole series without changing cranking direction, or you'll lose accuracy. Nobody's saw has zero slop in the height adjustment.
Not a great system, but with careful set up and careful sawing you can get good results.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Did it once on a small piece. Put a backer board behind it to stablize it and reduce the splintering. Worked fine, and I still have all my body parts.
Also nothing beats a RAS for making dentil moulding that would mount below crown. If you set up an indexing jig, it makes dentil really fast and nice.
You could try going to the source. Eakes's website no longer answers questions, but I believe he still does so at http://www,homebuildercanada.com/tooltalk.htm
Jim
Thanks for all the responses.
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry,
Thought about doing this many times but couldn't find a way that beats the TS interms of safety and ease of use. Holding the wood and indexing the piece across its edge seem better done on the TS to me.
Perhaps a clever jig with a slot in the table for holding the board vertically, I don't know. As the table is inheritantly part of establishing the accuracy of a RAS I have my doubts as to its effeciency.
If one could make a slot in the table for mounting the board vertically I would think that you'd still have issues with indexing and holding the workpiece. Just some of my thoughts.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks, Bob. I just don't see how it can be done accurately...aside from the safety issues.
HarryFollowing the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry,
Now that I think about it, why would you want to do this on the RAS vs a TS? Not that it couldn't be done but it seems to me that an accurately built sled would be more efficient.
Granted that height adjustment might be easier on the RAS but this is a one time operation as part of the setup and doesn't change throughout the process. Quite frankly I can't think of any other advantages over a TS for box joints.
I've toyed with the idea of using the RAS for these and dovetail joints but none of my ideas presented clear advantages over other methods/tools. Maybe it's time to hone the mind!
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob, honing the mind is what this is all about. I know I can do it on the table saw. I'm just trying to figure out how it can be done on the RAS. After seeing it mentioned in John Eakes' book, "Fine Tuning Your Table Saw" I know there must be a way. If John Eakes can do it then I want to know how. You know, inquiring minds and all that... ;)
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry,
OK, here's one way to do it: http://books.google.com/books?id=QZVdS3OuDxUC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=radial+arm+saw+box+joints&source=web&ots=llK1soG2bw&sig=D-PzrfNsM4sS_VJt47WRBLXxuT4&hl=en#PPP1,M1
Fine Woodworking on Boxes, Carcasses and Drawers. I found it on Google Books. Hope you don't have problems with this site as others have. The article is written by Ken Mitchell.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks Bob. That book seems to have quite a bit of useful information in it. I just ordered it.
Thanks,Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Some RAS's can be rotated 180 degrees to hang off the back side. If yours does you could make a vertical, side to side moving table (something like a WoodRat) to move the wood past for each cut. Could also cut other joints like tenons, including angled ones too. Might want to have a "gut bar" across the front, simulating a normal table to keep from getting too close.
Nope, I haven't tried it myself but offer it to see if anyone else thinks outside the box(joint). ;)
QC,
I don't know if mine goes all the way around or not...I've never tried. That's something that bears investigating.
Thanks,Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Love my old DeWalt RAS, and wouldn't be without it. No, I wouldn't make box joints on it--no way to properly index it. I happen to use TS, although my Leigh Jig is supposed to do it.Regards, Scooter"I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
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