RAS Lessons learned - Woodworking Talk

Sleeper · 05-26-2009, 08:58 PM

Some of you may remember a little while ago I was looking for advice on buying a RAS and I found a DeWalt 7740 for $80. I bought it only for making 90 deg dado cuts and was going to use my miter saw for everything. Well I made a number of dado cuts this weekend and after the 1st one I noticed that the cut was deeper on the far side.

I didn’t really have time to go through an alignment procedure right then so grabbed a couple of door shims and finished the cuts. The cuts were a little rough on the bottom so I cleaned them up with a chisel and otherwise they came out ok.

Today I decided to put on a new table and do some aligning. Oh what a mess, this thing must have fallen of the back of a truck. Someone who had ‘0’ mechanical skills tried aligning it. There was as much as ½” difference from one side of the table to the other (30”wide). They not only striped bolts, but lost some as well. This irks me the most because I don’t lose bolts or hardware and for those rare situations, I will stop everything and replace it.

Then I decided to check out the miter function and it was jammed so tight that it wasn’t moving. It wasn’t a big deal because as I said I was only making 90˚ cuts, but I decided to fix it anyway just in case. I found out that the reason they tightened it down so tight was that the 90˚ alignment slot was worn so bad that it’s lose. I guess they must have been slamming the arm into the 90˚ position instead of gently moving it into position. So this means that I have to check each time I move it for square before locking it down.

I’m very disappointed, but I’m going to buy new bolts and fix it anyway. Lesson learned, you get what you pay for.

I also learned that RAS are not great for dados because if saw dust gets under it or if your piece move for any reason, you risk having depth getting too deep which can’t happen on a table saw. I maybe shallow, but not deep.

firehawkmph · 05-26-2009, 09:18 PM

Johnny,
Sorry to hear about your trouble with the saw. I have the same one that I bought new over 30 years ago. It is a different color, but other than that, it looks the same. I remember following the instructions when I first unpacked it and went throught the whole setup. If I remember also, the bearings the motor slides on are on concentrics and are adjustable for slop and runout. I need to make a new table top for mine. Once you get them set up, they do work good for crosscuts. As far as the sawdust getting underneath, I would just have my shop vac handy and clean up between boards. Good luck with yours,
Mike Hawkins

Sleeper · 05-26-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firehawkmph

Johnny,
Sorry to hear about your trouble with the saw. I have the same one that I bought new over 30 years ago. It is a different color, but other than that, it looks the same. I remember following the instructions when I first unpacked it and went throught the whole setup. If I remember also, the bearings the motor slides on are on concentrics and are adjustable for slop and runout. I need to make a new table top for mine. Once you get them set up, they do work good for crosscuts. As far as the sawdust getting underneath, I would just have my shop vac handy and clean up between boards. Good luck with yours,
Mike Hawkins

Thanks Mike, I maybe calling on you since you have the same saw. I cannot rotate the motor in to the rip position. Not that I’m going to rip anything, but I can’t figure out why.