Post by -MIKE-Post by unknownPost by -MIKE-I wouldn't go that far.
I have a table saw with a sled, a really good compound miter saw, and a
radial arm saw.
The RAS is set up on the workbench, ready to use at all times with
dedicated dust collection in the hood and behind the fence. It's my
"go-to" saw for quick, perfectly square, clean cuts on any length stock
up to almost 16" wide and wider with a simply flip of the piece.
I would not want to be without it because of how convenient it is in my
shop, how great it cuts, and how it leaves virtually no saw dust in the
air.
I need to fit some sort of dust collection to my RAS, but other than that
it's a great saw. It took several days to tune up, but it was worth it!
I get square and true cuts with very little effort.
http://www.johnsonphotographic.com/goodstuff/owwm/Adjusting_DeWalt_Radial
_Arm_Saws.pdf
If you don't have a DeWalt, don't despair. You'll likely see the same
concepts expressed differently on other saws. There has to be a way to
set the blade true to the fence and true to the table, the arm parallel
to the table and so on.
Puckdropper
I don't know, man, but if you're into woodworking and making jigs and
whatnot, then you probably already process the skills and mental
fortitude to get one of these things all trued up.
I spent a good day taking mine apart, cleaning and greasing the parts,
putting the new (recall) parts on and getting everything square,
parallel, and true. After that it was in better shape than new. Of
course, I enjoy doing that kind of thing while listening to music or a
game and having a beer or two. Beats watching reality TV. :-)
FWIW, Jon Eakes wrote a book about tuning radial
saws a long time ago--covers DeWalt, Craftsman,
and Delta in some detail and has some good ideas
about the principles involved.
<http://www.joneakes.com/learning-curve/75-
radial-arm-saws>.
Also, Wallace Kunkel's "Mr. Sawdust" book is a
good read <http://www.mrsawdust.com/index.php>--
setting up the saw is only a minor part of it--
he started at deWalt in the late '40s or early
'50s and stayed there until he retired and he
knew radial saws inside and out. Note that the
family's facebook page
<https://www.facebook.com/mrsawdust/> is worth
seeing--several of his sons became woodworkers
and there's a good bit of their output on the
page.