Old DeWalts

[jteneyck]

Yes, it would be hard to get along with my Dewalt GW.  I bought it used about 25 years ago for $150; changed the motor bearings twice, the last time myself which was quite an adventure.  It only runs on 220V but that's fine with me.  

There are several things it can do that would be really hard to do with another power tools, and be pretty tedious to do by hand.  A couple of recent examples:





I've always felt the little stands RAS are mounted on do them a huge injustice, at least for the type of work I do, so I mounted mine in a large bench as you see in the photos.  I use it for nearly every crosscutting work I do except large panels. 

John

[joespehar]

"Keep Fingers 12 inches away so you can Keep 10 Fingers. This means pulling with your left and holding with your right."

First, I have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs. 2nd why pull with my left, I am right handed? I can pull with my right and hold with my left and still be 12" away. It is how you want to situate your board and support for it.

     Thumbs are fingers.

[AgGEM]

As the Delta's were mentioned I'll add my story.
I recently had to move into a new shop space that is only 6 and a half feet wide. The turret arm design of the Delta made it possible to save 4 inches of floor space by angling the arm at 45 degrees and calling this the new 90.
I still have full use of the crosscut capability.

<img src="http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo177/stevansweeney/100_0668%202_zps06mjwhko.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 100_0668 2_zps06mjwhko.jpg"/>

I also removed the drywall between two studs to gain an additional 4 inches of knuckle clearance, and floor space. Without the turret style saw, I doubt that I could have kept an RAS in my new space.

[Downwindtracker2]

My Dad's DeWalt is a 1960 or '61 Power Shop 1400. It had just been used for two months  to build an office  when he bought it. They were expensive,he had to take out a bank loan. It's the deluxe 10" square top made in Galt Ontario. I have only replaced the carriage rollers and the table. The bearings were available from Accurate Bearing.  I found Accurate Bearing here http://vintagemachinery.org/home.aspx Talk about quality, the original plywood table was resin coated, which I replaced with resin coated formply. I never bought either of the books as the owners manual is very complete. They were called Power Shop the same way Dodge called their 4x4 a Power Wagon, it could power farm implements, so the RAS could power accessories , there was even a lathe.

My SCMS has about the same footprint. Both DeWalt and the Unisaw had set ups so I pulled  my cheap 10" SCMS out and then looked around for a place to put it.

[Brian in sunny FL]

I was able to purchase a nice DeWalt GW 10" with 1" arbor, had Ridge make me a blade with 1" bore, bought the book mentioned and unfortunately never used it, at all.  I'll probably put it up for sale soon but they appear to be very nice and well made saws.

[jteneyck]

What's the motor HP on your GW, Brian?  I never knew there were some with a 1" arbor, which seems odd for a 10" blade.  Mine is the standard 5/8". 

John

[Brian in sunny FL]

It's odd to have that arbor, heard once they were coveted by the DeWalt fans, don't know.  I believe it's 1HP but would have to double check.

[MichaelS]

MY GP (that was a beautiful saw) had a 1" arbor, but a 12" blade to complement. I restored it about 80% of the way, ran out of time and sold to another lover of old DeWalts. I kept my mint GWI though w/ 1.5hp, 110V carriage motor. Factory perfect paint with no chips or cracks on any of the original bakelite knobs (which are spendy if you want to replace.

Dewalt, Walker-Turner, Delta, Red Star, Northfield, and more all made superb saws that were abused in industrial settings and could take it.

When respected (as with any tool - though with perhaps a bit more risk if not thoughtfully employed) they can accomplish tasks that few other tools can.

Get a negative rake blade though (5* is common) - you can order Forrests, Freud has them, Amana, etc.

Michael

[bandsaw]

Then along came the internet and a guy that had never used a Radial Arm Saw declared that they were deadly dangerous and a few more guys that had never even seen one agreed and it became the "truth" that they should all be scrapped and never used. Kinda like right tilt table saws.

[MKepke]

Then along came the internet and a guy that had never used a Radial Arm Saw declared that they were deadly dangerous and a few more guys that had never even seen one agreed and it became the "truth" that they should all be scrapped and never used. Kinda like right tilt table saws.

Nah, the RAS was in serious decline long before the internet became widespread.

I think it was simply cost vs benefit..starting with the introduction of powered chop saws in the '70s, it became increasingly affordable to own specialized tools that supported a given task better than the RAS.  There was a declining cost-benefit to owning "the jack of all trades".  

Looking at a snapshot in pre-internet time, in FWW Nov/Dec 1988 issue RASs were featured on the cover page.  In the adverts the entry level light commercial Delta RAS 33-990 had a street price from $489-$599.  The Delta miter saw 34-080 was $169-189.  The Delta contractors saw 34-440 ranged from $399-$579.

Note that the Jet contractor saw is $389-$419 in that same issue...

In 1988, if you shopped carefully, it appears you could buy a miter saw AND a table saw for nearly the cost as the Delta RAS.

As time marched on, substitute tools like miter saws and table saws kept getting better (more functions, easier to use, easier to maintain, lighter, safer) and/or $cheaper.   Cheapening the RAS - and B&D/Dewalt, Delta, Sears, Ryobi, Ridgid (Emerson), etc all tried it - only made it a worse performer.

The internet just made that information readily known to lots of people.  I don't doubt that there was some safety FUD too but cost-benefit vs substitutionary tools was the kiss of death (IMO).

-Mark