# R-A-S-p-e-c-t: Mister Sawdust ? Your table is ready.



## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

I know.

I screwed up.










I ran the bar stock width-wise, instead of length-wise.

I make a fair number of dumb mistakes (LOL !). This was simply one of them.

But … it's pre-sanded, *hardwood* plywood, so I'm not all that worried about warping.

And … if it does warp, I have enough materials left to make another one. I'm also going to put a trim cap on the leading edge, for appearance sake.

So … this is my *Mister Sawdust Radial Arm Saw table*.

It's two layers of 3/4" ply with 3/4" aluminum bar stock sandwiched in between, in dadoes. Everything's put together with construction adhesive. It's dead flat.

Directly behind the table is my 2-1/2" x 3/4" African Mahogany fence, which … will *never* look *this* good again ;-)

Behind that is the "back board-" another assemblage of two pieces of 3/4" ply. It's 7" deep.

The table is 37"W x 17"D, and is topped with a sheet of 1/4" hardboard, inset 1/16" from the front and the back (to facilitate sawdust removal):










I've decided to hold off, for now, on any cosmetic work-the saw actually looks REALLY good. I'm awaiting the arrival of the following parts, to complete the mechanical restoration: carriage bearings, motor bearings, anti-kickback pawls and stalk, both electrical cords (coiled, for the motor to frame run), a dust snout, and a Forrest RAS Woodworker I and 4" blade stiffener.

I think I'll be into the saw for about $320, after all these parts arrive.

Then … I'll align it to a gnat's tushie, and … start figuring out just what I bought, here 

Thanks for stopping by…..


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

Neil that looks good so far. Neil where did you get those parts from?


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks, *Charles* !

The blade and stiffener came from Forrest, directly;

From Wolfe Machinery , I ordered:

-the (4) carriage bearings
-the (2) motor bearings
-the anti-kickback pawls;

From Amazon, I got the Gates radiator hose that should be a perfect fit to make the dust snout;

From Grainger, I ordered the (2) electrical cords.

If you need any part #'s, just lemme' know.


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## lilredweldingrod (Nov 23, 2009)

Neil, you are beginning to make me feel guilty as sin. I've turned down two of these in the last year and now if I could find space, I'd go looking for one. lol
I really like the table. And the old saw is cleaning up very nicely. That is going to be a very nice addition to your shop. What are the dimensions of the fence?


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

Looking good Neil. Is that hole facing the user on the left hand side for dust collection? Odd placement I guess, you may need to add additional DC behind but I'm sure you'll figure that out once its running.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks, *Rand* !

For a hundred bucks, the MBF was one I couldn't pass up.

The fence is 2-1/2"H x 37"W x 3/4" D

Every time I check CraigsList, in Northern Colorado, I see one or two of the older DeWalts, so … in Southern California … I would think you'd have plenty to choose from, if and when you decided you can't live without an RAS ;-)


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

*Eric*:

Ayup. That's the only spot to hook up a DC.

I think lots of people build out a hood behind their RAS's, just like they might for a CMS.

Another idea I got was a slotted panel, mounted horizontally, below the RAS, and hooked into the DC via the kind of wye you might use on a router table.

This one's going to get "served" by the 20' hose off of my ShopVac. I doubt I'll do anything more for it … unless it truly creates a blizzard, during use.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

Ok Neil, my RAS is a DeWalt MMB 23 so I think its a little smaller than yours.


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

That's sooooo cooool, Neil. 
You are doing right by the old gal. 
Great job!


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

hmmmm a gnats tushie huh…i think i saw one of those on the discovery channel…...it was mighty tight…but knowing how you do things …i wouldn't expect much less…that's a beauty of a saw…and your doing a wonderful job of getting her back into service again…i would like to see and hear this beast come to life….i wonder what a gnat sounds like when you nick its tushie…lol…..carry on my wayward son….....


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## Florida_Jim (Jul 10, 2010)

That is a very nice job. I just bought its brother for $120.00 of of the local "CL". Mine has has motor bearings. I bought it from a very nice old gentleman, who had three MBF's. He's keeping one, giving one to his son, and sold me the other. 
Neil, what size did you make your table? mine didn't come with a table. "MR Sawdust" book says 17" X 37" 
I'm going to prep and paint mine. I got some Rustoleum "multi textured sea green" from Grainger. It's just a little darkerthat the original. I painted the guard to see what it would look like, and I like it.


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## StumpyNubs (Sep 25, 2010)

I am suffering from a case of Radial Arm Saw envy! What is that- a late 40's Dewalt? My grandfather has a mint condition one from that era (9') that looks a lot like yours and it is amazingly accurate. I have a 1960's Dewalt which was still a good saw, but not a pretty!


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

Neil now the fun begins. Put that thing to use and make some stuff!! Nice work on the table. I want to make one for my 925, but the table on it is still in decent shape.

For the DC port, go to an auto parts store and get a radiator hose with a 90 degree bend in and and cut it short. That will shoot the dust and chips away from you. Most of the chips will go back away from the blade, and only a little will come through the tube unless you use a stack dado blade. Dado blades makes the chips fly!


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

Pretty darn slick kid, neat looking table and saw. I use a plastic sink drain piece attached to the right angle plastic piece that came with the saw to shoot the sawdust back toward the saw column and into the dust collector box.

I gotta make that DC part a little more elaborate, and bring it closer to the fence, I think Jim Hamilton gave me the idea for that.

My top is simply two 1/2 inch MDF pieces glued together to make it 1 inch thick, 49" wide and 21" inches deep, I think. It is normally dead flat but finally noted it was slightly high in the center today. The center adjustment made it dead flat again in less than a minute. That was the first time I had to adjust it in about 18 months, and I have checked it a number of times, with a 4 foot level I bought for the task, so it has done well. I used the same adjustment mechanism that the original table had when I rebuilt it in 2009, just replaced the set screw and nut since they had gotten rusted over the years. Your top looks more robust, but if someone is replacing an old Craftsman top, I suggest they use the original system and some MDF. Cheap and effective. I don't know much about the Dewalt, so it may require a different approach. Your top should tolerate more abuse, and will probably never go out of adjustment, which is a plus.

About 75% or more of my cutting occurs on the RAS, since most cutting is crosscut. They are accurate, fast, and safer than a TS, in my opinion, for crosscut. Youse is going to love that saw! Remember my fence system, if you think it might be useful for you:

http://lumberjocks.com/jbertelson/blog/11233

The pertinent part is the end of that blog item, just before the comments.

Well, back to making sawdust, working on my project table base.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Great job on that table Neil. It sounds like you will soon firing the beast up. Looking at your nice new table made me wonder if you will get shallow cuts on it as you work, and that made me think you might be able to use a thin sacrificial layer on top that's easy to replace, like 1/4" MDF for instance. This isn't a suggestion, just wondered.


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

What a wonderful saw, even the design makes me say wauuu.
Well done table this will bring you lots of joy.
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## justinwdemoss (Jun 22, 2010)

I picked up the MBF off the sn of an original owner about 1 year ago. After some tuning, it has become one of my favorite tools. I will pick up the hose for dust collection. Right now, I have a big gulp catching the dust. I gave 75 for mine and got all the bells and whistles that came from the factory. Metal stand, sabre saw and sander attachments. I just crosscut with it, but lover this tool. If you can score one on CL, do it!


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

well, I almost missed another of you posts. I REALLY need to stay on top of things.

As soon as I saw your photos, I started thinking "uh oh, I was about to do mine wrong". Sorry to hear you already went ahead before realizing you had the support orientation going the wrong direction, but I don't think you will be impacted too badly.

First is for the reason you mentioned. Using 2 sheets of real plywood should resist any real deflection. Secondly though, I think the main purpose for the steal or aluminum supports are to keep the table flat when ripping. I can only assume you plan to keep using your table saw for most ripping so that wouldn't be a huge consideration.

I llike the idea of the hollow square tube stock instead of the flat stock. Too bad I already ordered my material, so I'm sticking with what I've got.

You are killing me with your fence selection. Why not just use some scrap mdf since you did say "it will never look this good again"? I've never owned any mahogany though, so you know where that is coming from. Purely jealousy. (-:

Can I ask one small favor of you for a future post? When you get your carriage bearings in, do you mind giving them a spin and doing your best to describe how freely they turn? I'm trying to clean my old bearings as opposed to buying new ones, but I'm not having much luck. I'm just trying to figure out how good I really need to get them to justify reusing them.

Keep up the great work. This is going to be an awesome machine when you are all done. I need to get back on mine. Soon enough I suppose.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

Neil how much did all those parts cost?


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

just an after thought, if you did see any warping which i doubt will ever happen…you could router a channel in between the verticals and glue a square piece in there…get what i mean…but this looks so good…...i think the last best thing you could do to thise set up after you replace parts that is….is to get it powder coated…what a beautiful saw…you did good on this one…...grizz-bob


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

I do see what you mean, and …. Thanks, Grizz !

There are a FEW TINY high spots, from my quick check, but … nothing that the ROS won't clean up in a jiffy. Yet another great reason for that sacrificial top: sanding IT is easy.

I also think that the people who started with two sheets of MDF … may have had the right idea. The ply is NOT dead flat. VERY, very close, but ….

I'd love to powdercoat it. Absolutely.

I mean …. come on … seriously:










I'll be keeping that idea on the list of …. "If I ever get any actual money …." projects


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## gwgreece (Feb 20, 2010)

Hi everyone. Interesting comments and was wondering if anyone can help me with a bit of a problem I am experiencing. I bought a DeWalt 125 Powershop (seems to have been made in Italy) from Ebay UK a couple of years ago and brought it to Greece where I live. I also bought a dado set, as my main purpose for this saw was to make teak grating for yachts. It sat for a while, but over winter I have studied 'Setting up your RAS' and a number of other publications in an attempt to overhaul it and set it up accurately (absolute necessity when making grating). My problem is that on a cross cut (at 90 degrees) I get a very slight curve in the cut….... I have re-set the carriage bearings in the arm and so there is no clatter or movement as far as I can determine I have also done most of what is explained in the publications, and while much improved, is still not 100%. In the setting up publications mentioned above, it talks about 'toe and heel' calibration in horizontal and vertical positions. BUT my DW 125 doesn't seem to have the adjusting screws mentioned to do this, so assumed improvements on the saw made this adjustment unnecessary. Or did I miss something? This adjustment is not mentioned in the owners user manual/instruction (which I managed to download from internet). Also this RAS does not have 4 bearings in the arm, but two on the left (looking at it from forward) which are fixed and one on the right, which as mentioned above I have tightened up to get rid of the previously existing slop, which would affect a cross cut. Getting bits/spares is impossible here in Greece and wood either solid or laminates are very limited. I know the table has to be 100% flat which I have done my best to do using reclaimed 1 inch laminate boards (ex office furniture) and have tried to level it best I could using an orbital sander. I would have liked to sand it using the sanding accessory which not available here and nor can I find it over internet. So there may be an 'ever so slight dip in the table'. Would this cause a slight curved cut? I wouldn't have thought so, as surely the cut would just be slightly higher/lower over the whole kerf. If anyone has any ideas on this problem or has experience of the DW 125, I would very much appreciate their help. Apart from all of the above, I must say I never realised how versatile these machines are and am looking forward to trying out some other techniques on it and meantime, I fitted it with a quality cross cut blade and would like to use it for such cuts instead of my Bosch chop saw, but for that bloody curve in the cut….........


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## MedicKen (Dec 2, 2008)

This is useless without pics


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## gwgreece (Feb 20, 2010)

sorry, I didn't think of taking pictures. Not sure how to upload pics, but will try as soon as I can.


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## gwgreece (Feb 20, 2010)

I was recommended to visit a site specialising in DeWalt RAS and found a lot of very friendly helping people who sorted me out with my problem plus gave lots of advice. Hence there was little point in posting pictures as I overcame the problem. thanks though for your interest. Regards


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