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This article is from the Woodworking FAQ
Collection 4, by multiple authors.
21 Summary concerning the Sears digital radial arm saw
From: rcsmith@anagld.UUCP (Ray Smith)
Date: 9 Apr 90 17:50:02 GMT
Here is a summary both e-mail and posting to my question on the Sears
digital radial arm saw. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
P.S. I went ahead a bought the critter. Now its time to learn how to
use it :-)
From: uunet!gn.ecn.purdue.edu!rblack (Robert E. Black)
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 90 12:17:21 -0500
Ray,
I remember reading in Fine Woodworking (or was it Wood) magazine
about a month ago about Radial arm saws. The reviewer said that before
he tried the sears w/digital readout he thought it would be a gimmick.
After using it , however, he thought it was worth the extra expense.
Evidentally, the digital readout is pretty accurate and convienient to
use.
I have not used the saw, so I have no opinion. If you want me
to look at the article(its at home), let me know and I can be more
specific.
From: uunet!mts.rpi.edu!Jon_Finke
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 90 18:04:12 EST
In article <918@anagld.UUCP> you write:
>I am interested in getting a radial arm saw and I noticed that Sears
>currently has their digital readout system on sale. My question has
>to do with the digital readout... Is> it worth the extra $30 dollars
>over a similiar saw without the digital readout???
All comments about sears aside, I have the Sears Radial Arm saw with
the digital display and I love it. Want to do a rip, slide the blade
against the fence, zero the display and slide it out to where you want it.
Seems pretty repeatable too. Also handy when you want to cut a Dado or
rabbit. Set the blade so it just kisses the wood, take the wood out,
zero the display and crank it to the desired depth.
It saves a lot of setup time and measuring.
From: uunet!Sun.COM!shr (Scott Rautmann)
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 90 15:50:20 PST
I've owned a sear radial arm saw with digital readout from when they first
started making them. Now, I'm not advocating the sears, because if I had
it to do over again, I might save my money and pick something different,
but I Like the digital readout. Repeatability is good, figuring out angles
and setting them to a specific amount is great, and so far, after 4 years
of home use, it still works fine. If you do buy a radial arm saw, I'd get
the book "Fine Tuning Your Radial Arm Saw" by --- --- (forget now..) It's
got the sears in it and the steps they take you through to tune the saw
are absolutely a must if you ever want to cut anything near straight.
From: uunet!att!cbnewse!parnass
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 90 19:02:57 -0500
My friend has a digital Sears radial saw with the readout
and he has a tough time mentally converting 1/8" and 1/16" measurements
to decimal. The Sears saws are made by Emerson Electric, which
also makes Skil tools.
I recently bought the Delta radial instead, after comparing it to Sears.
The Delta is built much better. It has an entirely cast iron (not
cast steel) rail and the motor is supported by a yoke in 2 places
vs. 1 place for the Sears.
I paid about $530 at Farm & Fleet. I don't like Sears power tools
much any more. Good shopping.
From: uunet!intermec.com!michele (Michele Whitmore x6421)
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 90 13:25:40 PDT
In article <918@anagld.UUCP> you write:
>
>I am interested in getting a radial arm saw and I noticed that Sears
>currently has their digital readout system on sale. My question has
>to do with the digital readout... Is it worth the extra $30 dollars
>over a similiar saw without the digital readout???
>
I read an old article in fine woodworking mag. where there was a
comparison of about 5 radial arm saws. One of the saws compared
was the Sears one with the digital readout. The author was
pleasantly surprised to find the readout useful and accurate for
setting blade hight, and cutting angle. So, according to the
article, the digital readout was worth the money. Good luck,
From: mark@leo.UUCP (Mark Halvorsen)
Date: 4 Apr 90 18:28:12 GMT
I bought this saw about a year ago. At first I thought it was the best thing
since sliced bread but it did not take long to figure out its short comings.
Inspite of what the you might think resolution to a half a degree is not
enough. It is next to impossible to cut exact angle just by using the
readout, I had to use jig to assure reproducability. It is much easier to
see how close you are on an analog miter/bevel gauge. Also on the rip
scale, if I even bumped the arm it would go to the "EEEE" error display.
I would also strongly recommend that you try to find an older Sears radial
arm saw. My dad has one that is about 15 years old, the new saws can't
even hold a candel to it. Sears replaced the cast and machined carriage
tracks with stamped sheet metal tracks. The pull on my saw was so rough
and uneven that it boardered hazardous..., well it was hazardous to us it.
The stability of the saw was poor due to the single yolk construction of
the carriage. In the first few months that I owned it I had to have the
orginal motor replaced and than they, Sears, put the wrong replacment
motor on so they had to replace that motor. Thank goodness for service
contracts.
Well the bottom line is that after having it for eight months I called up
the local service manager, who I had gotten to know better than I cared to,
and told him I want my money back. He said fine, take it over to the local
store and they will give you a full refund. I did and they did and a
couple of hours later I walked out with an new table saw which I have
used since.
So, in summary, If you are set on buying a "new" Sears RAS then don't buy
the digital, I had much better luck with dad's old analog, and make sure
that you buy a service contract, it's worth the $36.00.
From: kassover@jupiter.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Date: 5 Apr 90 18:47:45 GMT
My 20 millidollars:
I'm seriously considering getting a radial arm saw to complement
my Shopsmith mark V, especially to overcome the inherent
difficulties in doing cross-bevels at the ends of long pieces,
with a tilting table saw. (Cross miters and trim cuts are a
little more manageable with some suitable clamps and other
"handy's"))
I asked the instructor at the local Shopsmith academy his opinion
on a radial armsaw: in the $350 category, the Sears Craftsman is
about the best all around saw. If you want to spend in the $600
or up category, there are lots of choices. (I'm partial to
DeWalt, myself (but I believe they "invented" the modern radial
arm saw concept))
A friend of mine bought the Sears digital saw on a plain stand
during a sale, which brought the price into the $350 range.
Initial setup is a little more complicated; Setups are somewhat
more delicate than our combined experience with other (not our
own) saws.
My opinion: If I were to accumulate the digital readout saw, I
would use the readout for rough measurement only (And in some
cases it's good enough) For anything else I would set up in the
"traditional" way, possibly with (homemade) guage blocks.
>Inspite of what the you might think resolution to a half a degree is not
>enough. It is next to impossible to cut exact angle just by using the
>readout, I had to use jig to assure reproducability.
IMHO, it depends on what you want to do. If you're doing some
complicated stave or segment construction for turning, you want
your angles pretty much dead on (any error will get multiplied by
the number of staves). Given a choice, I would do this on the
table saw, anyway.
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