Here’s an interesting and very useful tool I made. The title is a bit misleading because the arm is not radial but never the less it resembles a radial arm saw. The horizontal slides are 1”-inch bars with linear bearings and the vertical is a dovetail slide. I had a local fabricator make the parts after drawing the plans in Sketchup (thanks to americancanuck for help with Sketchup). All the parts are very expensive if you had to buy them although I got them free from some printing equipment they were removing where I work. Never the less, this is good “idea material” and there are probably ways to build something similar with much cheaper parts. The hiegth adjustment is 3/8” x 16 TPI so one turn on the crank is 1/16th inch and the total travel is about 28 inches.
4 comments so far
Ben
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#1 posted 206 days ago
I’ll bet this would make quick work of any repetitive task you needed taken care of. Does it work in three dimensions or just two.
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Ampeater
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#2 posted 206 days ago
That is nice. I have an old Craftsman Radial Arm Saw that I don’t use anymore. I will have to consider modifying it to use as an overhead router. Thanks for the idea.
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Dick, & Barb Cain
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#3 posted 206 days ago
I really like this set up!
Thanks for the tip!
I have a Wards Power-craft RA with a burnt out motor.
I can’t find parts for it, so, I think I’ll convert it to a Radial arm router.
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Mork
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#4 posted 206 days ago
Ben, it’s just two dimensions, depth and crosscut.
Yes, I thought about using an old radial arm saw for this and in fact I was looking for one when I found these parts. I’d say the radial arm saw would work very well. I plan on putting a fence across the back and installing two toggle clamps. As you might expect, the wood tries to move to the left as you pull the router towards you.
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