Festo radial arm saw

[cje]

This beast is for sale at our local 'Craigs List' (Marktplaats)..

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Maybe something for the museum in Germany?

 

[greg mann]

Museum? Nah. That needs to go in Darcy's shop. How does he get it acoss the pond?  [scratch chin]

 

[Tinker]

You beat me to that one, Greg.  That has Darcy written all over it.
Tinker

 

[leer]

That Festo radial arm saw looks pretty impressive.  I am a huge fan of radial arm saws.  My first major power tool was a Craftsman RAS in 1975.  Still have the saw, and it is my "go to" saw for quick crosscuts up to about 17".  I do not take it off 90 degrees to perform miters any longer, instead I use a Ridgid compound miter saw. A Kapex is on my wish list to replace the Ridgid, now that I've been bitten by the Festool bug.  I bought a TS 55 REQ last month, and it has already replaced my table saw for breaking down sheet goods.  I bought the parallel guide set from Seneca Woodworking, and they make panel breakdown operations pretty quick, and definitely repeatable.

I could never sell my old RAS, but it may get retired from active duty in the wood shop and go to the garage for use on outdoor projects.

I wonder if any Festo radial arm saws are hanging out here in the USA? 

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I know a guy who fills shipping containers with machinery and imports it here.
I have not seen a festo ras here.

 

[cje]

If someone may be interested: This is the original advertisement.

He has a complete workshop for sale. All machines are huge and old. Current bid is 3000 euros, this is appr. USD 4000.
I think you can fill a 20' container with this set of machines.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Finding new radial arm saws in the USA is not easy.

However, there are a few firms making those on a custom basis. Because a major reason I bought the large building in which to build my cabinet shop is that I prefer to mill my solid lumber from the largest possible pieces, I need a lumber mill size R.A.S. Since I also own a Felder slider saw which uses blades up to 550mm, I had my R.A.S. built to accept those 550mm blades (5.5mm kerf) with the same arbor as the Felder. It has a 10hp 480v 3ph motor, can cut stock as thick as 140mm and cross-cut 26" Its blade guard has a dust port using a 50mm hose. Behind it I have a classic miter saw dust shroud connected to my plant DC system with a 200mm hose. This was way more expensive than my last new R.A.S. circa 1970 with a 14" blade and a 3 hp 208v 3 ph motor. Yes, I paid more than USA$4,000 for mine and I never have regretted spending that money. It is used several times a day.

Located near that R.A.S. is the Baker horizontal lumber mill band saw which can handle raw lumber 16" square. It is powered by a 40hp 480v 3ph motor driving a hydraulic pump which powers both the saw blade and the conveyor belt. The advantage to using the really big bandsaw is that the blade only makes a 1.5mm kerf. This yields more finished material and reduces the volume of dust and chips.

 

[greg mann]

I know a guy who fills shipping containers with machinery and imports it here.
I have not seen a festo ras here.

Don't bid on the whole shop, Darcy. If you won, the container might sink the ship. [wink]

 

[leer]

I forgot to mention, check out Original Saw Company if you are interested in radial arm saws.  They have greatly expanded their offerings, but click on "Wood Cutting" to see their line of RAS's for woodworking.  The smaller machines in their line have a resemblance to to the old DeWalt RAS's for a reason -- they bought the foundry castings from DeWalt.

http://originalsaw.com/index.html

I'm not sure I'll ever own one, since I have a basement shop, unless I make it a walk-out basement for better access.  But it is really nice to see "Made in the USA" on their products. We don't get to see that too often any longer.

 

[Tinker]

I forgot to mention, check out Original Saw Company if you are interested in radial arm saws.  They have greatly expanded their offerings, but click on "Wood Cutting" to see their line of RAS's for woodworking.  The smaller machines in their line have a resemblance to to the old DeWalt RAS's for a reason -- they bought the foundry castings from DeWalt.

http://originalsaw.com/index.html

I'm not sure I'll ever own one, since I have a basement shop, unless I make it a walk-out basement for better access.  But it is really nice to see "Made in the USA" on their products. We don't get to see that too often any longer.

I think they have discontinued that line of saws but parts are still available.
They are now producing larger saws of their own design.
Tinker

 

[leer]

I think they have discontinued that line of saws but parts are still available.
They are now producing larger saws of their own design.
Tinker

My impression was that the discontinuance was only concerning support of DeWalt-manufactured saws.  Here is the Service Notice from their website:

SERVICE PARTS NOTICE

March 1st 2011 - Original Saw is discontinuing service and support for the B&D DeWalt Contractor Series machines. This entails all 8”, 9”, 10”, and 12” Black & Decker DeWalt Radial Arm Saws. Only parts that will be available will be parts that interchange from other current series machines. Black & Decker DeWalt discontinued these machines throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Please note this does not include any machines manufactured by Original Saw Company, and we will continue to support the Industrial lines of DeWalt.

Regardless, their 12" RAS is what I'd love to have.  It still has that "DeWalt look" to the arm (rounded/curved), and it certainly is modern in its design, with modern TEFC motors and magnetic starter and automatic braking. But I think I'd first need to build that outdoor shop, and move out of my basement shop ...  [unsure]
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[Tinker]

I had the 10" B&D/DeWalt RAS and worked in a very small space.  i thought i could save space by unloading the RA and getting a contractor 10" table saw.
Big mistook.  I always regretted the change >>> until i found out about and brought home a MFT 1080 and ATF 55.  i also got a SCMS thinking that was less space than the RAS.  Not so.  With Table saw and the SCMS, I ended up with the need for a lot more space and less of it.

I even used the RAS for ripping lumber which I have been told is quite dangerous.  I never had a kickback, even when using it for site work.  Even so, i never worked so I was standing directly behind wood as I was ripping.  Even with the MFT and ATF 55, i wish i had not gotten rid of that old RAS
Tinker

 

[leer]

I used my RAS for ripping for almost 20 years, until I bought a contractor-style table saw.  I too never had an issue with ripping on the RAS, but I always used the anti-kickback pawls. I thought I'd upgrade my table saw to a SawStop, but this summer I stumbled upon some Festool videos that completely made me rethink my tool setup. I recently bought a Festool TS 55 REQ, and have used it for breaking down sheet goods.  I could not be happier with the results. The table saw did get upgraded with a Forrest Woodworker II blade, since some ripping will still be easier for me to do on the table saw. I ripped some 8/4 oak with it, and it went thru it just fine. At this point, I am not sure I'll ever justify going to the SawStop, other than the safety factor.

With the Seneca parallel guides I bought for the track saw, I can use it for making long, and very accurate, cross cuts.  I could actually retire the RAS from my shop to gain some space, but after using a tool for over 30 years, you get pretty comfortable using it.  Who knows, it may just end up being a permanent part of my shop.  I did just re-align it completely, and put a new blade on it, which has again confirmed how good a well tuned RAS can be.