4 All Dewalt RAS owners

[woodman]

Hello 2 U all,

I know its very saw point and here we go again, :evil:

but for those of you who have or have had a Dewalt RAS DW720 or equivalent, do they take independent made dado blades or just the Dewalt one?
I am getting conflicted replies from Dewalt re the DW720, one person says it has a blade brake and thus cannot take dado`s another says it can take the Dewalt one.

I notice several 1251 models are around for sale are they any different?
If you have personal experience in this regard I would be grateful for your comments please. :roll: 8)

My only other alternative is to buy one from Woodfords but a lot more money tho they DO accept dado`s.

Over 2 You.

K

 

[Scrit]

..... but for those of you who have or have had a Dewalt RAS DW720 or equivalent, do they take independent made dado blades or just the Dewalt one?
I am getting conflicted replies from Dewalt re the DW720, one person says it has a blade brake and thus cannot take dado`s another says it can take the Dewalt one.

I have just had 10 minutes with the DW rep and here's the gen from the horses mouth, so to speak:

DW have apparently obtained CE approval for their own 2-part dado heads when used on their own 16mm arbor braked 1.5HP RASs ONLY (Edit: in the current range that means ONLY the 250mm blade DW720K). The 2-part dado heads are as follows:

DE4710 overall diameter 175mm, width of cut 6 to 12mm
DE4720 overall diameter 200mm, width of cut 6 to 12mm
DE4721 overall diameter 200mm width of cut 10 to 19.5mm

To install the dado heads in the machine the riving knife needs to be removed completely (two knobs). The brass nut, arbor washer, blade and inner arbor flange are then removed and replaced by the special dado head inner arbor flange and the inner side of the 2-part dado head. The required spacer shims are mounted on the arbor and the outside part of the dada block is the mounted onto the arbor. Finally the brass nut is screwed onto the arbor WITHOUT the blade washer. If installed correctly this arrangement will withstand the braking cycle of a DW720 saw, although he did warn me that the anti-kickback pawls should be installed and correctly positioned.

So that's the DW "official" line. They don't support or recommend stacked saw dado heads as they can be very heavy and cause the nut to unlock under braking.

Hopefully having now (finally) gotten an answer on this dado wars will not break out...... again....... :roll:

Scrit

 

[woodman]

Scit,

Many thanks for that.

I don`t really want to go to the bother of having makeshift items manufactured or use something to do a job it was never intended to do.

Do all the older models have the same problem or did the blade brake come in recently?

I need to cut a lot of 8 x 4 sheets and have facility to dado 8 foot lengths as well using router is not really efficient enough. :arrow: :arrow:

 

[Scrit]

Do all the older models have the same problem or did the blade brake come in recently?

I need to cut a lot of 8 x 4 sheets and have facility to dado 8 foot lengths as well using router is not really efficient enough. :arrow: :arrow:

Sorry about that WM - but I was lucky enough to grab "the man with the yellow van" and get some first hand info off him - hence the completely revised posting

Braking on new saws became mandatory about 1999 (it's in a set of regs called PUWER 1998), although DW introduced them sometime in the early 1990s because the Germans changed their regs earlier than the rest of Europe. For a while DW withdrew their dado heads and they certainly withdrew the old dado guards as they wouldn't pass muster any longer. Confusion has reigned ever since - not helped by the fact that some of the "yellow" DW agents are a complete bunch of muppets who know next to nothing about static tools - as opposed to the older "green" DW sales outlets who were generally much more static machinery oriented. (Sorry, DW, but it's absolutely true)

Are you doing rebates on your 8 ft strips or are they true housings? For breaking down an 8ft sheet I can think of better ways of doing it than a RAS, same goes for rebates, but as usual it is all budget dependent :roll:

Scrit

 

[woodman]

Once again thanks for the info and I`m sure many others will benefit from this latest intell.

Combination of rebates and housing done at 8ft thus all required sizes available to perfect match when required, usually 5-8 ft lengths but width is difficult as router can be wider than board so too much messing all the time. Cutting at full length will be simpler and faster.
As you can see I am new to all this but am going at it full steam ahead as I have both the time and facility (workshop).

All help and advise is very much appreciated.
Am waiting for reply from Woodfords re their RAS`s and dado`s so if anyone has one of these saws please let me know your experience.
Tho dearer it seems it may be the better way to go.

Watch this space........

 

[Scrit]

Combination of rebates and housing done at 8ft thus all required sizes available to perfect match when required, usually 5-8 ft lengths but width is difficult as router can be wider than board so too much messing all the time. Cutting at full length will be simpler and faster.

Without knowing the nature of the product it sound more like something to be done using a router inverted in a table for the rebates and grooves. I would also baulk at doing an 8ft rip of an 8 x 4ft sheet of ply on a RAS - you will certainly need auxilliary supports front, rear and side to achieve this with any degree of accuracy

BTW Woodford's dado heads are a stacked saw type. Not really as safe as the 2-part shimmed block type IMHO

Scrit

 

[mailee]

I just thought I would add that I have an Elu 1251 RAS which does not have the braked motor. I also have a set of dado cutters for it but I can't for the life of me see how you can use them without removing the blade guard as it is too narrow? I have never used them because of this! Can anyone (Scrit) shed any light on this? :?: