Radial Arm Saw (ras) tune up

[bogydave]

My ras is 29 years old. A 10" craftsman 2.5HP. I've use it for everything.
House additions, gararge & the shop I just finished & several woodworking projects. I align it every now & then. I never notice how worn it was till I got on this furom & heard you guys talking about tuning & adjusting your tools. I had saw marks in cross cuts even using a good blade. I decided to replace the carriage bearing & guide rods (found a set on ebay).
I just got them today, so after the Steelers lost, I went to the shop & installed them. WOW. I'd forgot how smooth it was supposed to be. Made a few cuts & got a mirror finish on the end of a maple board. The guide rods were so worn they had groves & the roller were just as bad. It made the Steeler loss almost go away. Now I'm thinking the motor bearings may need replaced next.(but I can't here the hi-pitched whine as bad anymore, but my granddaughter does, What....)

My planer & jointer blades are getting sharpened. Another item I never thought about til I joined this forum & did a search for jointer & read about tuning it up. I checked the jointer infeed table for level & it's not. Got the book ,started adjusting, QUIT (*?*^$@&@!).
Will get back to it when I get the blades.

Anyway, I learned that every now & then doing a tune up on on tools can make all the difference in how it performs (I thought I had bad blades on the ras). Don't wait 29 years to do a tune-up.
Thanks to this forum my tools are or will be allot more fun to use. (when the jointer get tuned)

[Don]

Changing the guide rods on the radial is something that all need to look at on an older saw. Most cross cuts on the radial are short and the rods will wear in that area only. I've even simply swapped them end for end. Some of the older Craftsmans would allow you to even "roll" the rods 180 degrees and you were good for another ten years.

I've always said that a machine that has more than two moving parts has a personality. Once you know and understand that personality you can really make it sing. To me, tuning up machines is more important than spending time tuning up hand tools. The machine will do more work.

dawjr

[jcclark]

Just a thought along the same subject.:)

I've noticed the bearings on import tools are usually not very high
quality, especially the cheaper tools.
I have replaced the bearings on all my stationary tools and noticed a big
improvement. They run smoother, quieter, and cut better.
The bearings are relatively inexpensive and easily found at any
bearing supply store. (Most bearings are universal world wide).
Usually 3 to 7 bucks a bearing.
If any of you have a import or older machine, consider replacing them,
it's a cheap upgrade that can really improve the performance.
And they're usually easier to replace than you'd think.:cool: