Thread: Riving knife for RAS

We had a 80s Dewalt RAS which we sold 7 years ago . Not sure its the same model and I never remember seeing the parts your after with our saw . I just asked , a few days back if they may be in a box of parts that was on a shelf and they are not . And I just asked a mate who sold me the saw 20 years ago if he may have them still. It may be they were never given to Me in the first place . He wants a picture and says they may be at his Mum's.
Its a very very slim chance , he's going to have a look next time he's there.
Just though Id let you know anyway that we're thinking of you

Rob

G'day Rob,

Thankyou so much for going to all this trouble!

I have managed to purchase the anti kickback parts finally, but still no luck with the riving knife. Here is the only picture of a similar saw with a riving knife that I have been able to find.
I know its not much to go by, the exploded diagram that Warrick posted earlier shows a bit more detail.

Thanks again for thinking of me really appreciated the support from you guys!dewalt-1370-12-305mm-diameter-radial-arm-cross-cut-saw-p10415080_4.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD5yhfH-RNk

https://www.toolsandpartsdirect.co.u...1240/I168B.png

I think your best bet is to find yourself a piece of steel the correct thickness and cut one out yourself, it's not hard to do. I made one for my table saw.

Make a mock up of cardboard til you get the shape you like/fits and then cut it out of steel

Rick

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the video clip, gives me an idea to work on. Will give serious consideration to your suggestion just need to work out how to fit it to the guard and raise and lower it.
Will keep you posted of any developments. Still going through the pdf you sent me, really informative!

Thanks, Jules.

Originally Posted by Notthemama

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the video clip, gives me an idea to work on. Will give serious consideration to your suggestion just need to work out how to fit it to the guard and raise and lower it.
Will keep you posted of any developments. Still going through the pdf you sent me, really informative!

Thanks, Jules.

Is this the same as yours ? if so do you have the aluminium half moon shape bit ?

50603686_2255767161415962_7063619342327349248_n.jpg

G'day Rick,

Yes its the same as mine. Dont have the aluminium shaped bit, have managed to order that that along with the other fittings that go with it from the uk shop you suggested. I know I cant get the riving knife so will have a go at making one, thought I would use an old saw blade as the thickness should be about right. Will post photos etc., as I progress. Thanks again for all your and everyone elses help, great bunch of guys!

Cheers mate.

That's a good start
The correct thickness of a riving knife is slightly thicker than the blade thickness but thinner than the kerf
Good luck with your endeavour

Rick

I have a DW 740 currently in storage and it came with a riving knife, but also with a mandated Australian style blade guard that flops around like limp spaghetti and has no real facility to mount a riving knife accurately in the correct position. I did try to install the knife soon after buying the saw second hand about 10 years ago, but it mounted a fair way behind the blade and offset to the side of the blade making it useless to man or beast. The saw and its accessories are currently stored 14 feet above the floor and the small electric fork that put it there currently does not have working batteries so I cannot access it at present.

The Aussie guards have a cast alloy upper portion generally similar to the guards used elsewhere, and instead of the opening shutter style lower guard, a sheet metal skirt about 150mm high that surrounds the blade on all sides, but can be moved vertically and fixed inside the cast upper portion to adjust the amount of exposed blade available for making the cut. In theory it might be a working solution, but it is a pain to adjust because it binds on the upper casting, and it offers minimal to no protection from the portion of blade that is exposed for the cut, and the upper portion of the guard does not mount in a truly stable fashion to the motor due to poor pattern making and casting.

The rusty part shown in Stewies second pic is the anti Kickback pawl system, which is also a compromise compared to a table saw because it needs to be set accurately to work and has little tolerance for clearance between pawl pivot pin and top of material, so needs frequent resetting as material dimensions change.

G'day Malb,

Not really familiar with the DW 740, sounds like the whole guard system hasn't been engineered very well.

The setup for my saw I believe is very different to yours, please correct me if Im wrong!
I can fix the guard in a firm position so I assume that the anti kickback and riving knife setup, when I get the parts wont present a problem.

Cheers,Jules.

G,day guys,

Update on my RAS journey.

I have managed to purchase almost all the parts I needed except the riving knife. I managed to make one myself as Warrick suggested out of an old saw blade.
Attaching it and aligning it with the blade took a reasonable amount of time with various shims. I also shimmed the guard where it sits onto the body as it needed to be tight with no movement as the riving knife is attached.

I also made a Mr. Sawdust table and aligned the saw to it so now am ready to start safely building some projects. Her are a few photos of my progress.IMG_0665.jpgIMG_0666.jpgIMG_0667.jpgIMG_0668.jpgIMG_0669.jpg

Looks good Jules,
does the riving knife retract out of the way for cross cuts or do you have to remove it?

Rick

G'day Rick,

Yes the riving knife does retract out of the way, had to make some special knobs as couldn't buy correct ones. They do the job well and are easy to use.

Now can use the saw as it was intended.

Cheers, Jules.IMG_0670.jpg

Originally Posted by warrick

Looks good Jules,
does the riving knife retract out of the way for cross cuts or do you have to remove it?

Rick

Hi Rick & Jules

Why would you want to remove or retract the riving knife for cross-cuts? I never bother.


Cheers

Graeme

It gets in the way, it's a pull cut
Rick