Radial Arm Routing

[Grahamshed]

I have an attachment for my radial arm saw that will allow me to fit a router rather than the saw blade. This would hold the router right way up rather then upside down like a router table.

Has anyone used one of these, is it workable ?

 

[kirkpoore1]

I have never actually seen one of these, though I have heard of people making them. I haven't heard of anything bad about the results. I actually like the idea a lot for certain items (routing dadoes, etc). For use as an ordinary overarm router, I think it would be hard to see what you're doing. You'd also want to rig up some kind of guard and dust collection port, since I doubt that the regular ones would work well under the circumstances.

Kirk

 

[Dodge]

I have an attachment for my radial arm saw that will allow me to fit a router rather than the saw blade. This would hold the router right way up rather then upside down like a router table.

Has anyone used one of these, is it workable ?

Yep I've got one and regularly use it on my dewalt 1251. Mounts where the blade guard sits and with the blade removed. I use mine with a Trend T5 and it is fantastic for doing stopped housings.

Wouldn't be without it! Oh and yes the router is mounted the right way up.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I had one when I had a RAS.
They are good for things like housings, but they are not very stable vertically. That is to say that there is noticeable play in the vertical position, especially at the end of the arm. This means that the bottom of the housing will not be as smooth and flat as one might wish. But if that is not important, it's a very good way of doing the job and considerably safer than using a dado blade without guards.

S

 

[Grahamshed]

Thanks for your comments guys. I was thinking I could also use it for edge shaping etc with a slight change to the RAS fence.

 

[Dodge]

I had one when I had a RAS.
They are good for things like housings, but they are not very stable vertically. That is to say that there is noticeable play in the vertical position, especially at the end of the arm. This means that the bottom of the housing will not be as smooth and flat as one might wish. But if that is not important, it's a very good way of doing the job and considerably safer than using a dado blade without guards.

S

Steve I'm afraid I have to disagree - I find mine to be very stable and the housings are left with exceptionally clean bottoms, taking too heavy a cut at once will cause "chatter" which may be what you experienced.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Sounds like your RAS is set up better than mine was!
S

 

[Lee Brubaker]

I have made a mount for my 1 hp. router which fits onto my 1958 AMF Shop Mate RAS in place of the blade. Never have experienced "chatter" described in one of the previous posts. Some of the things I have used it for is machining router table bit inserts . The under side of the insert is rabbetted to bring it precisely flush with the base plate surface & is off set & tightened into the base plate with a two prong wrench eliminating the use of screws which again must be precise or it wont tighten into the base plate properly.
Also have used it to machine the 24" wheel when building my wife a spinning wheel as my lathe does not have outboard turning capability. Countless other uses for the set-up & I have found it very handy.

Lee

 

[mike s]

i have heard about these jigs too
i want one for my RAS
do you have a picture of it or something similar?

 

[Grahamshed]

i have heard about these jigs too
i want one for my RAS
do you have a picture of it or something similar?

I will take one and see if I can work out how to upload it.

 

[Grahamshed]

OK, not very good pics but see if I can load them

The attachment just hooks over the guard mount ( when the saw blade and guard are removed ) and the router attaches with its guide rails.

 

[Grahamshed]

Didn't work did it

 

[MickCheese]

Didn't work did it

Nope

 

[misterfish]

Have a look at chapter 8 of the DeWalt Powershop book - it shows the smaller version of the bracket and its use. There is also a larger bracket available for some bigger routers. It's a useful book that gives info on all the uses that DW designed their old RAS for as well as extra set up routines not included in the basic manual provided with the machine.

http://www.drosera.f2s.com/RAS//DeWalt_ ... ndbook.pdf

Misterfish

 

[mike s]

are the brackets still available?
i lack the metalworking skill and equipment to make one

 

[misterfish]

Yes. The larger DEW DE1212 is 'easily' availiable http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/sn/DEWDE1212 or maybe http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DeWALT-DE1212 ... 0373730199 . The smaller DE3453 is sometimes offered on Ebay eg, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dewalt-DE3453 ... 0936888573.

Misterfish

 

[mike s]

thanks for the links
any idea if that DE3453 bracket would fit the dw125?
looks like it would but the measurements could be slightly different

 

[Grahamshed]

thanks for the links
any idea if that DE3453 bracket would fit the dw125?
looks like it would but the measurements could be slightly different

I have mine sat on the desk next to my computer. If you tell me what you want measured........

 

[misterfish]

I've got a DW1250 and I've also got a DE3453 and that fits that fine. There are very few differences between the 125 and 1250.

If you look at the link I posted earlier in the post ( http://www.drosera.f2s.com/RAS//DeWalt_ ... ndbook.pdf ) you will see that page 6 illustrates the DW125 as one of the models it covers and page 64 illustrates the bracket. In fact pages 64 to 74 show the set up and uses of the bracket with a suitable router.

So yes it will fit - just hope the bidding doesn't go up too much.

Misterfish

 

[Risky Duckfeet]

Out of interest, does anyone know if this mount will attach a dw625 to a dw728? Are we still talking about the de3453 mount?