Rapid PK-100

[DennisCA]

Here I am again with another table saw thread, found a TS of the brand Rapid PK-100. I haven't found any english info on them, they seem popular on german sites and old ones tend to go for €1100-1300 depending. I found myself one in Sweden for a better price than that, and I am very interested in it, 3-phase motor, 12" blade but will take a 10" just fine too (75mm depth of cut with 10"), 250kg or there abouts.

What little I've heard is that it's a very good saw and I will probably buy this one unless some screaming deal jumps at me very soon. I like the built in boom-arm, that's definitely gonna be useful. Sliding table and slots on both sides of the blade. A lot of the european saws I see only has one slot, or they have no slots as they are so focused on the use of a sliding table or other method I believe.

But it seems quite rare in english speaking circles so I was curious to see if anyone here recognizes it, has one, etc?

 

[Shrubby]

If I wanted a classic dimension saw the Rapid is the one
It's one of the few quality machines of that style still in production
Matt

 

[DennisCA]

Interesting term that, classic dimension saw. I am new to woodworking and the terminology, I'd like to know what classic dimension entails, what other styles of saws are there and how does a modern saw differ?

 

[cerdeira]

I think "dimension saw" is a british term, and to my knowledge, means a small/medium sized saw mainly used for cutting solid timber to size (think of sizing the components for a project) as opposed to a "panel saw" which is bigger and more suited for handling large man made boards. There's also the "rip saw" which takes very large blades and usually has a fixed arbour (non tilting) and is used to rough saw (rip) planks.

 

[DennisCA]

Well the saw arrived last night. Managed to get it inside by myself. I had to remove the sliding table and blade guard.

Cleaned off the worst of the rust with ballistol and newspaper rags (all I had, still a good improvement, I am open to tips on cleaning off rust, will probably use my soft steel brush, actually meant to use it for rust bluing items, but after having already used it with oils to clean rusted items I think it's no longer food for that)

The blade that was included is a 10" 80 tooth blade, guess it's a dedicated cross cutting blade then.

Up and down adjustment is done via the wheel handle, blade tilt is done with the handle, first you unlock it, then you move it and lock again.

Rip fence wobbles at the extreme edge but when you lock it up it goes solid:

Wooden insert, whatever metal factory one they had is gone (though I was told this might be factory). I have lots of these MDF pieces left over, I was thinking it could be good for new inserts? Maybe also for jigs and runners?

Garage is also currently an unfinished mess, it's just a lower priority than the house itself so it'll look like this for a while to come.

 

[pcb1962]

Too late now, but the best way to clean the rust off the cast iron top without damaging it would have been electrolysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKZv14-K71g

 

[DennisCA]

Well that's beyond me anyway

 

[Shrubby]

That looks a great machine Dennis
The blade looks like it might be a triple chip design (every other tooth has mitred corners) for aluminium and plastics
To clean rusty flat surfaces I scrape with a single sided razor and then rub with fine grade mirlon/webrax/scotbrite pad and some paste wax - this preserves the manufacturers finish if it was planed or ground to reduce friction
If you're new to machinery have a look for the local safety body for woodworking - they should have a download page for table saws or read the UK's WIS16 or the German BG Holz stuff
Matt

 

[DennisCA]

I took a look at the sliding table (I have literally not had the time to look at it more closely until now) and it does not have an angling capacity. I am wondering what would be the best way to add this ability? I am thinking perhaps a conventional sled riding in the tracks, then I just use the sliding table to move the sled.

The whole table almost becomes superfluous with a sled as anything but an support table though, one that takes alot of space in front and back of the saw due to the tube it slides back and forth on.

Given what I've heard about the sliding table being gods gift to men and how backwards americans and their sleds are, I'm just not seeing it.

 

[DennisCA]

I've assembled the sliding table and been using it and I retract what I said. A sliding table is a fantastic thing to have.

Been using it to cut trimmings for the doors, before I assembled the table I was using a miter box and it wasn't easy to align the pieces and cut them properly, had to use clamps and improvised supports. With the sliding table I just set it to the length I needed (213.5cm) and just jammed both trimmings against the table fence and stop and run them through, instantly two identical length cuts.

Also very useful for cutting the moldings for the floor which need to be mitered,

From the other side:

The suspension mechanism

Table rides on ball bearings

In standard mode it'll cut up to almost 150 centimeters (almost 5 feet I guess), but it can be extended up to 250cm (8 feet)

The one snag with this is that the front rollers don't touch the rail unless you press down on the front when cutting and if you don't press down on the front the table is not square.

 

[Harbo]

That looks like a very well made piece of machinery?

Rod