Can Anybody Identify Which Model DeWalt RAS This Is?

Got a picture? Is the arm round or flat on top? How many amps does the motor pull?

There are a couple of companies out there that may be able to help. They are

Wolfe Machinery

and

The Original Saw Company

The The Original Saw Company bought all the patterns and such from DeWalt and still produces the same saws.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

at this time it’s pretty hard to tell with no pictures or description other than a DeWalt RAS .

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

I seem to have no luck embedding the picture so I appended a link to my post instead. Sorry ‘bout that.

-- Sawmill Lodge - http://sawmill-lodge.com

ok , now we have a picture link. Could the original ID label have been painted over ? Sometimes they locate them is the hardest to see places .

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

I have looked and looked and looked and I see no markings, data plates, stickers… nothing. Hence my puzzlement.

-- Sawmill Lodge - http://sawmill-lodge.com

Exclamation points on both end of the link places the image, Billco. Or you can use the link icon at the top of your reply pane.
You can use Photobucket to resize the image to 640×480 pixels to get the whole thing to fit into the page.

Good luck on your saw quest.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

A little quick research at OWWM just left me puzzled. Here’s a fairly close match:
http://www.owwm.com/photoindex/detail.aspx?ID=1728

The motor looks similar and the pull handle on the yoke casting looks similar but definitely different. I’ll bet they broke handles off and redesigned the yoke to offer support at both ends of the pull handle. This one was listed as between 1958 and 1962, I’ll bet yours is earlier. They have a lot of DeWalt catalogs on the OWWM site, maybe looking through the 50’s and earlier will find a match.

I have been looking to buy a DeWalt RAS myself. I’ve been to look at several basket-cases in my area and was struck by the huge number of changes that DeWalt went through in the life of this product.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

I’ll give it a shot. I have a DeWalt 7740 Power Shop and mine has a lot in common with your saw. Mine was manufactured in 1980. I think yours is a little older. DeWalt started manufacturing the arms on their lower end contractor type saws square instead of round around 1960.

Here are a couple of observations about your saw.

It has obviously been re-painted battle ship grey. Are there any traces of yellow under there? Especially on the motor housing?

The carriage is identical to my 7740 except mine is Darker Grey.

Someone has fashioned a new top for the arm on your saw. Those little tabs on the casting with the threaded tapped holes were originally made to hold a piece of trim that held on the original cover for the saw arm.

Someone has replaced the switch and swich plate located on the front of the arm.

The hand crank on top of the rear post has me a little puzzled. I suspect it is a replacement. The saws manufactured in the 60’s had the crank on top of the post like that but the knob was plastic not metal. Later in around 1970 the crank was moved up to the front part of the arm and used a v-belt to attach it to a pulley on the top of the post. I suspect yours was once like that. Those saws were manufactured with a cover over the top of the arm to give access to the pulley arrangement. Before that the casting closed in the top.

All the DeWalts I have seen of this vintage have a plate on the front of the base with the model and serial number on it. The Serial number always begins with the year of manufacture. It looks like yours was removed at some point unless it is under the paint.

One final observation is the blade on that saw. I can’t see it very clearly but it does not look to be designed for cutting wood. Maybe non ferrous metal?

That T-1812 looks a lot like yours with the exception of the arm cover and the crank. Do you think the hole in front of the base could have once had a crank rod through it?

HTH

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

I’m guessing a 7790 that has been, as Scott mentioned, modified slightly. Do you have pictures of the left side?

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Here’s the left side:

-- Sawmill Lodge - http://sawmill-lodge.com

we have 2 older dewalt ras at school, this looks to be a cross between them. The 220v version has a rounder top on the arm this resembles more the 110 version which is almost a twin to the craftsmans of last 10 years. I will take pics and get model numbers for your compairison early this week.

Not much help becasue I believe the picture is too big for the website, but I think I am going to change my guess to the T18?? contracto model. This T1810 has the same kind of carriage crip handle, but the elevation handle is different – may year of manufacture. I am not sure I would agree with the 5 gallon bucket lid as blade guard. To think this was used in a teaching/learning environment.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

You fellows have been a lot of help so far. I don’t think this saw is a total basket case but I will definitely be needing to find some parts for it.

I did convert the images on photobucket to 640×480 to make them fit the LJ site.

To quickly answer a couple of questions:

I think the top crank assy is mostly original, but the ball on the crank appears to be an adapted ball hitch (seriously).

I don’t see through-holes on the aft frame so I don’t think it was converted from a low-crank to the present configuration.

The 5-gallon blade guard is priceless, but I don’t think I will be using the saw before I find an OEM housing to replace it.

Any other input you fine people can offer will be welcome. BTW, is there anyplace in Canada to procure parts or do I have to go to the US?

-- Sawmill Lodge - http://sawmill-lodge.com

^^bump^^^

-- Sawmill Lodge - http://sawmill-lodge.com