RAS Cabinet #6: Testing the Assembly

Hi sIKE,

Good progress mate! as a I beaver away at work. I truly have a “labor” day today. The good news is that 1 Sept is considered the first day of spring here and we have glorious sunshine.

wrt the front of the RAS table, my take it on it is that there are two factors
1) Safety thing. How far does your blade extend? You don’t want the blade coming past the table. The blade buried in the table is a good thing. RASs are already dangerous enough.
2) How wide a board will you want to cut? In order to cut a board on the RAS, the back of the blade has to come past the outer edge of the board, so you need an extra distance equal to the diameter of your blade on this side of the table.

From the looks of it, you could mount the RAS base further back. Is that an option? or the space back there for some sort of dust collection?

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

The space back there is for dust collection. I was wondering about the safety issue of shortening the width of the table. My plans are mainly to use this with a dado head in it and to cut the occasional long and wide board (aka my 13’ long 8” wide cheery boards). I have gotten the upgraded guard set from the recall for the Craftsman RAS.

Thanks daltxguy! (I read that as Dallas Texas Guy. Am I wrong?)

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

>Thanks daltxguy! (I read that as Dallas Texas Guy. Am I wrong?)

You got that right. 10 years in Dallas and now a refugee of the telecom meltdown!

I’m not familiar with the guard set upgrade, so couldn’t comment if that it makes it any better.

My own RAS sits on the benchtop with no dust collection and it still sticks out just like yours and I just live with it. It’s actually not a bad thing because it forces you to stand to one side of the saw, which is where you want to be anyway when using it.

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

Looks good!

Thanks for the post

Callum

-- Look great, get your TTK merchandise now! http://www.printfection.com/thetimberkid/ Check out my site http://thetimberkid.blogspot.com/

I am heading up to Ft. Worth for a Software install this week. I could leave the table but the width of my shop is only 16 ft and with the Lumber Storage rack on one wall and the Miter Bench on the other wall and the TS with 52” rails doesn’t leave a lot of space. I would really like to make the table narrower but I am not going to introduce a safety issue as a result.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Hey sIKE,

You really don’t have to wash the wood first.

Looks good.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Not sure about putting a saw next to a sink .It will be full of chips in no time L.O.L. anyway I would like to see it finished.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

The sink and its cabinet is lower than the RAS table. I p-lane to build a small top with a frame that fits inside of the sink for stock support to the right of the cabinet.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

You only need to extend the front a little further than the maximum cut of the RAS. Otherwise you will have trouble reaching over and adjusting heights & angles.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python