Building a Shop

easterngray · Post by **easterngray** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:21 am

Very nice shop guys! Jim, your suggestion to have plenty of room for the RAS is one I do intend to take. Here's a picture I have of a very fancy RAS bench. This fellow certainly did a nice job! Alec

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:35 pm

woodburner wrote:Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd do my part and "show off" my woodshop too:D .
All of the photos I've seen of other shops of Shopsmith owners are very impressive. I hope mine stacks up there with them.

Thanks for the photos! Your garage shop is close to the top of the stack. Nice work on the bowl!

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:05 pm

a1gutterman wrote:Hi Paul,

Doesn't choosing to use SS even when we could use standalones go a long way toward the fact that SS works well?

I love my Shopsmith and would not trade it for standalone tools even if I had the room, but it seems to go against conventional wisdom about the Shopsmith.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:07 pm

easterngray wrote:VHere's a picture I have of a very fancy RAS bench. This fellow certainly did a nice job! Alec

WOW, it puts Norms to shame. The bench is a work of art.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:48 pm

I agree, that is a nice RAS setup..for crosscutting. It does not look like he can use it for ripping though, unless he can remove that entire bench top first???

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:53 pm

paulmcohen wrote:I love my Shopsmith and would not trade it for standalone tools even if I had the room, but it seems to go against conventional wisdom about the Shopsmith.

There is NEVER enough room, so even if the SS is designed to fit/work in small spaces, the bigger the space the better.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:17 am

a1gutterman wrote:I agree, that is a nice RAS setup..for crosscutting. It does not look like he can use it for ripping though, unless he can remove that entire bench top first???

Sorry Tim, gotta take issue here. I worked with a RAS for years, before getting my Shopsmith. The way you rip with a RAS is first turn (rotate) the saw on the siding arm. The saw will rotate more than 90 degrees with the arm set at zero. (Zero is as you see it in the photo - 90 degrees to the axis of the fence.) After setting the saw to the desired distance parallel to the fence, all you have to do is to slide the board down the table. The saw blade guard also has an anti-kickback dog. I had a small RAS (8" blade) - I could rip stock up to 16" wide - length was not an issue.

Looks like length over 8 ft. may be an issue for the ictured RAS. The thing that bothered me was - It looks like he never uses his RAS for cutting 45 miters or other angles.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:03 am

I used a RAS was a ripsaw 30 years ago and once was enough to never do it again. The blade rotation and type was wrong, the guards stunk and the anti-kickback paws don't prevent kickback, but the scariest think was trying to push stock past the blade with body parts on both sides of most of the blade while leaning over the table. I have seen people trying to dado a grove and that is even more frightening.

I loved them for a quick crosscut or with a dado blade to make a lap joint but they have largely been replaced by Sliding Crosscut Mitre Saws and table saws.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:00 pm

paulmcohen wrote:I used a RAS was a ripsaw 30 years ago and once was enough to never do it again. The blade rotation and type was wrong, the guards stunk and the anti-kickback paws don't prevent kickback, but the scariest think was trying to push stock past the blade with body parts on both sides of most of the blade while leaning over the table. I have seen people trying to dado a grove and that is even more frightening.

I loved them for a quick crosscut or with a dado blade to make a lap joint but they have largely been replaced by Sliding Crosscut Mitre Saws and table saws.

I'm not sure where the bad vibes come from a RAS but I suspect it is the saw many first time buyers buy and without proper education or forethought end up getting hurt. Hence there are tons of war stories about how dangerous a Radial Arm Saw is.
A Radial Arm Saw is no more or no less dangerous than any other power saw, but it does have to be used right.

I like a RAS because I can see what I'm doing. It is like a comment Nick made when talking about the Overhead Pin Router I like the ability to see how my cut is progressing.

I have all three a SS a powered mitre saw and a RAS. I use the powered mitre for trim and finish work, the RAS for most of my crosscutting and my SS for everything else. Although I have ripped on my RAS, and if done properly it produces an excellent cut in absolute safety.

On my saw the splitter and anti kick back pawls are excellent and work flawlessly.

The biggest problem with a RAS is having the wrong blade. I use negative hook blades, I used a positive hook once and to my surprize the blade wanted to climb the wood and come whizzing at me. On my saw the stop switch is under my thumb so the instant this happened my thumb was forced into the switch that turned the saw off. No problem, changed the blade to a negative hook and learned never to put myself, or anything I didn't want cut in front of the blade.
Ed

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:13 pm

charlese wrote:Sorry Tim, gotta take issue here. I worked with a RAS for years, before getting my Shopsmith. The way you rip with a RAS is first turn (rotate) the saw on the siding arm. The saw will rotate more than 90 degrees with the arm set at zero. (Zero is as you see it in the photo - 90 degrees to the axis of the fence.) After setting the saw to the desired distance parallel to the fence, all you have to do is to slide the board down the table. The saw blade guard also has an anti-kickback dog. I had a small RAS (8" blade) - I could rip stock up to 16" wide - length was not an issue.

Looks like length over 8 ft. may be an issue for the ictured RAS. The thing that bothered me was - It looks like he never uses his RAS for cutting 45 miters or other angles.

Hi Chuck,

I should have been more specific, as you were: As you noticed, he has (apparently) never used his RAS for cutting 45's et al. I too, was referring to no marks on his "worktable" for using it for ripping. But, by the look of how nice the work surface is, he does not want to, thus my reference about removing the top. It is a bit narrow too, for ripping full sheets of plywood. It looks to me like it is only used as a cut off saw:eek: . Maybe it is "brand new" in the photo and has since been used like you and I would use it?

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