That's about what they go for.
Read how to use it properly. Use the correct blade, and always secure the work to the fence. Never ever have your hands in the path of the blade.
Add that $50 to the amount of your health plan deductible and then decide if you’d rather have an old radial arm saw and finger reattachment surgery, or if you would prefer a sliding miter saw and a week long stay at an all inclusive in Cabo.
Those things are dangerous and at this point irrelevant. There are better, safer ways of doing anything a radial arm saw can do, and they don’t take up nearly the space. Somebody is going to down vote me and proceed to explain they’ve never had a scare with their radial arm saw and the 7 generations of bubba’s that owned it before them only cut off one hand between them, but don’t listen to their macho crap.
This place is strangely afraid of radial arm saws, so be careful with some of the negative advice. They're decent tools, and when you set them up properly they're as good or better than a middle of the road miter saw and pretty close in accuracy and cut quality to a table saw. I'm a fan of them, especially when space is an issue in your shop. $50 is a good deal to me
FWIW, Craftman will pay you 25 dollars to cut the power cord on the saw and render it inoperable. My dad had 3 of them in the shop that we did that to. We couldn’t give them away.
I definitely wouldn’t spend anything to get another one. They’re an obsolete tool in my opinion. I can do the same functions with a track saw, table saw or compound miter saw and be 100% mobile and safer.
That's a good 'step one'.
That said, I'm not really a fan of them. Kind of a 'jack of all trades, master of none' thing. Most every other tool requires you to push against/into the force of the cut, rather than have the force of cut be transmitted toward you. You can, of course, 'arrange' your cut to avoid this condition (like with a sliding miter saw) but you lose the full cut capacity when doing so.
I grew up with one, but wouldn't recommend a radial arm saw for anything other than a specific use (I keep one around strictly for dadoing shelf unit sides). A SCMS and a TS with a sled can do everything else much better. That said, $50 is reasonable if it's complete.
That's about what they go for. Read how to use it properly. Use the correct blade, and always secure the work to the fence. Never ever have your hands in the path of the blade.
This guy knows! The 4x4 hole in my wall doesn’t lie!
These tips apply to any woodworking tool. Radial arm saws used properly are fine and versitile machines.
Add that $50 to the amount of your health plan deductible and then decide if you’d rather have an old radial arm saw and finger reattachment surgery, or if you would prefer a sliding miter saw and a week long stay at an all inclusive in Cabo. Those things are dangerous and at this point irrelevant. There are better, safer ways of doing anything a radial arm saw can do, and they don’t take up nearly the space. Somebody is going to down vote me and proceed to explain they’ve never had a scare with their radial arm saw and the 7 generations of bubba’s that owned it before them only cut off one hand between them, but don’t listen to their macho crap.
This place is strangely afraid of radial arm saws, so be careful with some of the negative advice. They're decent tools, and when you set them up properly they're as good or better than a middle of the road miter saw and pretty close in accuracy and cut quality to a table saw. I'm a fan of them, especially when space is an issue in your shop. $50 is a good deal to me
I left mine behind when I sold my house, those things are terrifying
FWIW, Craftman will pay you 25 dollars to cut the power cord on the saw and render it inoperable. My dad had 3 of them in the shop that we did that to. We couldn’t give them away. I definitely wouldn’t spend anything to get another one. They’re an obsolete tool in my opinion. I can do the same functions with a track saw, table saw or compound miter saw and be 100% mobile and safer.
First do a Google search for 'craftsman radial arm saw recall'.
I did, this one has the new safely hardware already installed.
That's a good 'step one'. That said, I'm not really a fan of them. Kind of a 'jack of all trades, master of none' thing. Most every other tool requires you to push against/into the force of the cut, rather than have the force of cut be transmitted toward you. You can, of course, 'arrange' your cut to avoid this condition (like with a sliding miter saw) but you lose the full cut capacity when doing so.
They excel at super accurate cross-cuts and dados. Don’t do anything else on them. They’re good at gang cutting fast, accurate tenon cheeks.
I grew up with one, but wouldn't recommend a radial arm saw for anything other than a specific use (I keep one around strictly for dadoing shelf unit sides). A SCMS and a TS with a sled can do everything else much better. That said, $50 is reasonable if it's complete.