Replies

1. 
   mike4244 | Apr 24, 2006 08:52pm | #1

   The saw is manageable without the motor,etc. Usually the best way is to tip the saw upside down,the top is the heaviest part. Temporarily fasten a couple of 2x6 or what ever you have on the treads.With help ,one man on the stairs in front of the saw,the other behind at the landing. Work saw top onto the planks and slide down.Then tip the saw onto it's side,then up to the correct postion.If you use a mobile base, install it now.

   mike

1. 
   johnlill | Apr 24, 2006 11:32pm | #2

   Thanks, Mike! Sounds manageable.

   John

2. 
   JohnWW | Apr 25, 2006 12:10am | #3

   John,

   We have the new PM-2000 in the Fine Woodworking shop for a tool review so I took some measurements for you.  The basic saw is 24" wide by 30" long, by 34" high.  There is nothing you could remove that would appreciably change the size.  The only things that you have to add to the saw are the wings, fence bar and motor cover.

   Removing the motor would be a fairly difficult job and I doubt that it would be worth the trouble for the weight saved.  Removing the saw's table would be a far easier way to remove about the same amount of weight, and it would make the machine less top heavy.

   I strongly suggest, from experience as an EMT and machinery rigger, that you do not place someone you like downhill from a 500 pound machine.  Use ropes so they can brake the machine from above or, even better, use a come-along for a controlled descent. 

   I also wouldn't flip the machine upside down, there is at least a small chance that the trunnions or other castings could be damaged.

   John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine

1. 
   bob k | Apr 25, 2006 12:56am | #4

   John:  I just went through the same experience.  I borrowed a hand truck and strapped the saw to the truck with two webbed straps that I use to hold my canoe to the top of the car: the kind that have a sprung closure to really suck it tight. With the wheels underneath and the handles above, two of us got it down pretty easily without taking it apart. The truck gives you all kinds of leverage.  Good luck.

    

   Bob K

2. 
   johnlill | Apr 25, 2006 01:55am | #5

   John,

   Thank you so much for taking the time to measure and for the tips. That's great customer service! Now maybe now that you are done testing, could you just ship the saw to my house? :)

   BobK - thanks to you, too, for the tip. I'm thinking I'll use an appliance dolly with ropes as John W suggested.

   John L

1. 
   mike_b | Apr 25, 2006 12:26pm | #7

   I brought a 66 down steep basement stairs using BobK's method and it worked pretty well. I had help from two friends and the three of us got it down, but it wasn't a total walk in the park. That was 18 years ago -- three guys may take it back out someday, but it won't be the same three guys.Mike

   Edited 4/25/2006 7:06 am ET by Mike_B

3. 
   loucarabasi | Apr 25, 2006 08:52am | #6

   Hi John, I cant for the life of me get my radial arm saw square. Ive used all adjustments and still can't get it right. Any ideas why?

   Thanx, Lou

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 25, 2006 06:33pm | #8

   When I sat down to write my book on tuning up power tools I quickly decided that I wouldn't cover radial arm saws because they have a fair number of unique problems.  There are number of reasons why they are difficult to tune:

   1.  Radial arm saw's from different manufacturers are so varied in design that you can't give a general set of instructions that would work with most saws.  Tuning up a DeWalt is very different from tuning a Craftsman saw, each would need their own chapter of instructions specific to that saw alone.

   2.  Radial arm saws, because they have so many moving parts, tend to get loose or worn far faster than most other shop machines, and once they get that way you first have to spot and solve the cause of the looseness before you can try to do a tune up.  Also radial arm saws are fairly fragile, it is easy for them to get bent or otherwise badly knocked out of line, typically the damage occurs when the machine is packed up and moved from one shop to another.

   3.  A number of the lighter weight radial arm saws are just too flexible even when they are set up properly.  With these saws you can spend a morning tuning them up and still not get really good cuts.

   4.  The alignment of the post to the table surface and the arm to the table surface are difficult to measure accurately and adjust, but they are critical to to getting the saw to work well.  I know how to check them on various machines but it is difficult to do and even more difficult to describe in a book or magazine article, especially since different machines will need instructions specific to that model only.

   5.  A full tune up for a radial arm saw starts with checking and adjusting the table and proceeds up the post, out the arm, and then down to the more obvious adjustments to the head.  There are probably fifteen to twenty alignments to check and adjust on a radial arm saw, versus just 3 or 4 on a table saw.

   Having said all of this, I'm still willing to try to get you at least started in the right direction.  If you can tell me the make and model of your saw I'll give you some ideas and procedures.

   John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine 

1. 
   mike_b | Apr 25, 2006 07:39pm | #9

   John,All good points, and I don't want to distract from the issue at hand (though we seem to be off the original thread), but I'll add my two cents as the Radial Arm is a sentimental favorite of mine. I've had a Sears RAS for almost 25 years, and for a long time it was my only real woodworking machine, so I did everything with it. If extreme, sustained accuracy is not essential to your work, it's a wonderful tool, if a little scary at times. And, now that I have a table saw and other real equipment, and don't rely of the radial arm for all tasks, I've found that the it can be an extremely accurate one-trick pony. With a well built table and fence, some serious adjustment and a super high quality crosscut blade, I leave it set for straight cuts at 90 degrees and it's dead on accurate -- I just don't ever move it. Perhaps a single function tool is a luxury most don't have, but as I said, "sentimental favorite." And, if you can work safely on a radial arm, you can work safely on just about anything. Anyway, one man's opinion.Mike

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 25, 2006 10:07pm | #10

   I can't argue with anything you said, my first professional shop was built around a radial arm saw, but they are by far the most difficult saw to line up and keep lined up.

   John W.

2. 
   mike_b | Apr 26, 2006 12:45am | #11

   I couldn't agree more, hence my saw's one-trick pony status. Though I do think that the lower priced models, like mine, have given the tool a bad name. There is just so much flex in the stamped steel arms with runners compared to the cast iron versions on older DeWalts and Deltas. I would advise anyone with a lower end machine to invest heavily in a really good crosscut blade. Before I bit the bullet and got one, my blade wandered all over the cut, I assume, because the arm is just not rigid enough to compensate the blade wanting to climb/walk through the board. Now, it's dead on -- the most effective change I ever made to the saw. Anyway, I'm beating this subject to death, so I'll bail out. Thanks for your thoughts, John.And, Johnlill, best of luck in getting your new table saw into the basement.

3. 
   EdHarrow | Apr 26, 2006 05:36am | #12

   When we bought our house one of my 'gotta haves' was a walk-out basement...  Of course there has been a time or two I wished that door was a little bit wider ;-)

4. 
   genec | Apr 26, 2006 05:16pm | #13

   I used a extension ladder with a pice of plywood for the tool to ride on
   put a 4x4 across the out side door, hooked on a come along to it and did it by my self. the ladder spreads the weight out over the intire flight of stairs. never trust anything stay to the side or above the tool.

1. 
   81treehouse | Apr 27, 2006 04:29am | #15

   I'm impressed.  Should work just fine!

    A bad day woodworking is better than a good day working -- yes, I'm retired!

5. 
   bobpowers | Apr 26, 2006 05:43pm | #14

   I had my Unisaw shipped to a local mover. They sent some young men with very thick necks to my house who carried it down the stairs to the basement. Cost? $100.