Wadkin radial arm saw - is this any good?

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Peter G Denmark

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Hello woodworking friends.

I've been offered an older Wadkin BRA 14" radial arm saw for 250£. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I've seen all episodes (i think) of New Yankee Workshop, so i have a basic idea what a radial arm can do, but i don't have any first hand experience.

I have a cheap mitre saw, and was looking at getting a better DeWalt compound mitre box, but now i'm thinking that the radial arm could be an alternative.
I know it's a big and not as practical, but being an enthusiastic woodworker, my thinking is, that i can get a professional tool with loads of applications with this offer, and regular mitre saws are easy to come by later.

But maybe it one of those tools you think you're going to use a lot, but end up just taking up space?
 
I think its each to their own, I have a RAS and wouldn't be without it, but others would prefer a good sliding compound mitre saw, but I have both, the RAS in the shop and the other for site work.

If thats in fully working order thats a great buy for the wadkin.
 
The BRA cross cut is one of the best on the market but I would sa that I'm an ex Wadkin engineer.
They are very solidly built and much better than just about anything you are likely to find new. One of the main advantages are the slide rails are not part of the main arm casting so when the rails become worn they can simply be rotated 180 degrees if this hasn't already been done or they can replaced.
The electrics are basic and rarely give any major grief.

For £250 I'd say it's a steel even if you have to spend a bit of time getting it up to scratch. Most dealers would sell them for a minimum of £1650 I have recently seen a fully refurbished bra go for close to 5k
 
Thank you very much.

Well - that settles it then. I'm going to buy it. £250 isn't going to kill me, and from what you say, it shouldn't be to hard to sell it again, if i grow tired of it :).

I must admit, i havn't seen it live. The seller lives 400km from here. But i had him send me a video of him making some 90 degree and compound cuts, and holding up a square to it. It seemed fine.

If something is wrong, it's good to know it's pretty basic, since i'm a pretty decent welder.

Warms my heart when people tell my i've made a steal. Wadkin seems to be my ticket. Bought an ags 10" table saw for £170, and had the table and wings milled 100% flat for another £60. A good cleaning, a few coats of paint, and i now have a mint Wadkin ags 10 for £270 (with a 20mm arbor, which sucks, but guess you can't have it all).
 
Peter G Denmark":12zx1sl2 said:
Thank you very much.

Well - that settles it then. I'm going to buy it. £250 isn't going to kill me, and from what you say, it shouldn't be to hard to sell it again, if i grow tired of it :).

I must admit, i havn't seen it live. The seller lives 400km from here. But i had him send me a video of him making some 90 degree and compound cuts, and holding up a square to it. It seemed fine.

If something is wrong, it's good to know it's pretty basic, since i'm a pretty decent welder.

Warms my heart when people tell my i've made a steal. Wadkin seems to be my ticket. Bought an ags 10" table saw for £170, and had the table and wings milled 100% flat for another £60. A good cleaning, a few coats of paint, and i now have a mint Wadkin ags 10 for £270 (with a 20mm arbor, which sucks, but guess you can't have it all).
Click to expand...


good for you mate, Can't you weld a spacer on to the AGS, this is what i did with my BGP 60", and it worked a treat.
 
Though about the spacer idea, but i use dado blades with it, and stacking spacers, (which i would then subsequently need to do) didn't work.
The spindle nut is only 32mm in diameter, so it couldn't grap the blades properly, and with the flange mounted, there was only room for 11mm of blades.
I've thought about buying a 5/8 inch flange, and tapping a 20mm x 1,5 LH thread in it, and using the flange itself as a spindle nut, but the tap and the flange would be pretty expensive.

Found a nice canadian firm, that made me a 20mm custom bore dado set, for less than an of the shelf freud, so adapter bushings are fine for other blades for now.
 
@MisterFish

The blades are still in transit, so that's why i didn't post it in my dado blade thread yet. They are called Dimar Canada.
As soon as i recieve the blades, i will post a picture i the priginal post, and futher info.

Funny thing is, that the RAS i'm about to buy, has a 25,4mm arbor HAHAHA. So i might have to give them a call again.

Best
Peter
 
Dado sets for wadkin crosscuts come up on ebay for time to time, I have just bought one this week, for 99p plus £12 postage, it is bit of a gamble as it needs a few new tips, but a that price I was prepared to take a gamble and hopefully my saw sharpeners can sort it.

We shall see.

The other way is to buy an adjustable groover with a 30mm bore and a reducer which are available off the shelf.

Tom
 
Hey Tom

I would be very interested in knowing where you find a grover (i'm assuming it's the same as a wobble blade) in the UK, with a 30mm bore?

The reason i was bitching, was, that i now need two dado sets instead of one. I'm not a professional, so two dado sets seems like overkill :).
 
Thanks Tom.

They look really nice, but out of my price league i'm affraid.

But if you ever need a Dado Set, i would email Dimar Canada. Very polite and helpfull, and it was the owner of the company that got back to me. Very reasonable prices, even with the custom bore. They are not a webshop, so payment was a wire transfer, which is allways bothersome, but other than that a pleasant experience. On their contact form, there were dealer, retailer and end user options, so apparently, they are set up to take private requests.
They even do a 12 inch dado set. But check out their product here:
http://dimar-canada.com/products.php?m=56&idp=32

In comparison i wrote Freud customer service 3 times, with no answer - guess requests from private woodworkers isn't important enough to bother with.
 
Hi just wanted to know how you got on with the wadkin radial arm saw and wondered if you have any photos of it in your workshop?
 
I have two Radial arm saws but unfortunitely not Wadkins. I use one as a cross cut saw and the other with a stacked dado set on for trenching and some tennons. Wouldn't be without them. I also have a large SCMS which I use on site if needed and to make angle cuts. Wadkin is one of the best you lucky devil.
 
If it is made by Wadkin then you are buying something which will never let you down . I have used Wadkin for all my working life and it is ultra reliable ,solid,simple to use and bomb proof . No plastic handles to break ,no flimsy guards either . I cannot speak highly enough of the quality . Far bettter than modern stuff IMO !
 
All the machinery that i use at work are wadkin :D I would like to get some for my home work shop but am not sure how well they would work from a 3 phase converter as i don't have a 3 phase supply. Any thoughts, and can you still get parts for them now that they are no longer in business. And any advice on how to fit a dc brake to them as i have seen some on ebay quite cheap as they don't have a brake.

Ashley
 

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