radial saw blade use

mtclay1 | Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on December 10, 2010 03:19am

have a 33-410 16″ radial arm saw. I want to use a 12″ or 14″ blade instead of the 16″ current blade.delta says only use the 16″ blade, and they reccomended a delta 35-704 tcg 100 tooth blade. Delta says i cant make this saw a 12″ blade saw by changing the the blade and only to use th 16″ blade. Anybody have experince with this move? I only cross cut with this saw, plwood, 2×4,4×4, soft and hardwood. dont need the depth that the 16″ blade will do. i feel its safer , and better cuts are made with a smaller diameter blade. Also blade reccomendations would be helpful here. the safer the better, dont like the wood grabbing, specially with the larger blade .Thanks Clay

Replies

RalphBarker | Dec 10, 2010 06:27pm | #1
Reach

I'm guessing that the column won't lower far enough for a 12" blade to work (only makes sense). I suppose you could add 4" to the table and fence, thereby raising it up to where the 12" blade would be, but that might create other "issues".

A 16" RAS commands a lot of respect due to the size of that huge blade, and the thought of how much flesh it could eat in one gulp. But, in reality, it's probably no more dangerous than a 10" or 12" RAS.
hammer1 | Dec 10, 2010 11:50pm | #2
I take it you don't have a 12" blade to try out? If the saw will lower enough, I don't see why a smaller diameter blade wouldn't work. It may restrict you for beveling and the company may be worried about the guarding fitting correctly. Negative hook blades make a big difference in self feeding of radial arm saws. You always want to have a straight arm, locked elbow when using a RAS, regardless. 16" are going to be a little harder to find. You don't need a high tooth count. Forest City might be able to help you with a 16" negative hook blade. Royce Ayr S-23N

http://www.forestcitytooling.com/
oldwindowguy | Dec 12, 2010 08:49pm | #3
My main saws, a DeWalt radial arm and a Beach table saw, both take blades to 18". I find I prefer to run them both with 14" saws. Any arbor motor running on line frequency is going to spin 3600 rpm, so blade speed can't be the issue with changing to a smaller size. You do lose depth of cut with the smaller blades on a large diameter arbor motor. I can't cut over 8/4 on either saw without going to a 16" blade. Lots of people prefer to run dado heads with smaller diameters on radial arm saws, so the columns are usually designed to drop lower for that.

I've found negative rake saws useful for cutting aluminum extrusions but not for any form of wood or wood composite I've had to saw.

The smaller saws are more forgiving on blade alignment since the cutting arc is shorter. I'd go for it with a 14" saw.
BruceS | Dec 15, 2010 09:31am | #4
Tip speed
The rub with going smaller is tip speed and the number of teeth passing a given point per second. And the quality of cut and feed rate. The difference between a 16" and 12" tip speeds is going to be very noticeable. You'll have to do the math.

#of Teeth/circumference/RPM