Toy Road Grader

[Lee Brubaker]

A short while ago I posted a pic of a toy road grader with lugged "V" tread wheels followed in response to inquiries on how I made these wheels using a BS. Well.....last night I woke in the wee hours & was not able to get back to sleep so started to think about perhaps an easier way to make them. I have a radial arm saw and the first pic shows a wheel
pin mounted to a backer board which is clamped to the fence and aligned with the saw blade. The arm of the RAS is set 15 deg. to the right. The blade height is set to cut a 1/8" deep lug.
To cut the second wheel disc. the arm of the RAS is swung to the left 15 deg. The backer board reclamped aligning the disc to the blade. Both discs had the lugs plotted on them.
A 40 tooth finishing blade was mounted on the saw & the second pic shows the nice clean no chipping lugs.
This method is much faster than the case with the BS & no cleanup with a file is necessary.

Lee

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[wizer]

I suspect the safety police might have something to say about this. But before they rain on your parade, I think it's quite a clever idea. Well done Lee.

 

[Lee Brubaker]

Wizer: Ooops ! I should have mentioned in my post that for clarity of the photo I did not lower the blade guard which covers all but about 1/4" of the blade & also serves to vacuate the fine dust particles created during sawing operations. A lower vacuum port removes the heaver cutting chips.
I do not have a TS but also posed the situation to a friend that does. He
quickly came up with a method to cut the treads but it entails more fussing about than is the case with the BS so have not bothered to relay his produre to the forum.
I realize a lot of people do not own a RAS & due to a lot of negative comments concerning same they have never considered one. I bought mine new in 1958 & at the same time purchased a book on the RAS authored by a serviceman/representative of the American Machine & Foundry or orignators of the design & trade name DeWalt & prior to the sale of the product to Black & Decker.
In 52 yrs of use, I have NEVER experienced a kickback that got past the
blade guard or any of the other events that detractors of the RAS are fond of proclaiming.
In the meantime my RAS takes up a much smaller footpring in my small shop than would be the case with a TS while at the same time being able
to match the operations of a TS PLUS performing many functions not
possible on a TS.
My RAS STAYS IN TUNE. I can't say the same about asian made units
or those that may be available in the UK but not in Canada.
Hope this clarifies matters for you.

Lee