Thread: 1963 Dewalt model number 500274 RAS- should I buy?

I have two early 1970's vintage DeWalt RAS's, one my Dad's circa 1972 purchase iirc, that worked very hard for 20 + years on home construction sites in the days when we cut house frames on site with "trenched" top & bottom plates, then its last few years in a commercial setting in a Truss Plant cutting webs and wall frames. The other came from a family friends Cabinet Maker shop, so much less wear & tear on that one almost pristine compared to Dads RAS. Both perform very well, though the stops on the radial arm on my Dad's are quite worn from lots of use. Dad's is with a mate, the other sits here with minimal use these days, but still very handy to have.

They are quite powerful machines and deserve lots of respect! A famiy friend lost all fingers & most of his thumb on his LH, from not readjusting the blade guard down after moving to thinner stock while ripping timber. All gone in the blink of an eye. If it comes with the "trenching head" I would very strongly urge you not to "play" as it can be quite dangerous in unskilled hands. Its a beast of a thing and will climb up over the stock.

My only reservation about these older saws is that the electrical insulation does break down on them. They can handle the wear & tear! My brother in law is an industrial electrician with motor winding experience etc, so I asked him to do a safety check on both. One was suspect so he rewired the cables from switch to motor, replaced the lead and also checked out the windings etc on the motor. We did the other as well as a precaution.

I would strongly advise having at minimum a "Test & Tag" done before putting it into service.

Seeing you are in the US, it may be different. I only sold mine 2 years ago as it was just not accurate enough for me. As Moby said, they can climb over the piece you are cutting and it can be quite frightening. The guy who taught me always had the saw head extended out and when turned on pushed the blade back into the wood being cut.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Seeing you are in the US, it may be different. I only sold mine 2 years ago as it was just not accurate enough for me. As Moby said, they can climb over the piece you are cutting and it can be quite frightening. The guy who taught me always had the saw head extended out and when turned on pushed the blade back into the wood being cut.
Rgds,
Crocy.

That is realistically possible with most of the old DE Walt saws.

Originally Posted by flydjb

can someone try and educate me a tad on this model number 500274, and if it's a good model to pursue? Got a chance to buy on CL, and price is $150. Says its in great condition, and it does look like it's been well cared for in the pics. Not sure what exactly to look for in these, or basically, are there models and or years to look for, or stay away from with these old Dewalt RASs?

I'm just planning on setting it next to my new dewalt SCMS on a long bench, and mostly use it setup for dedicated dadoes.
Thoughts?? Appreciate ANY & all advise. TY!! Dave

I had one of those 'You can do anything' radial arm saws from Craftsman, 1971 vintage. Most would say that Craftsman (Sears) lied, but the saw could do almost anything. It is just that a very important word was left out of the 'You can do anything' claim and that was SAFELY. Consumer Reports said that it was one of the best RAS around at that time.

You already have a SCMS and if that accompanies a table saw and your collection of tools is lacking a RAS, then go for it. If you do not have a table saw I think that the money would be better utilized by purchasing a table saw. But I will catch a lot of poop from most RAS aficionados.

I survived 30+ years of using my Craftsman RAS and still have all ten. IMNSHO, cutting dadoes on the table saw is a lot safer and easier to control the timber during the cut.

Just an interesting side note about the RAS in general.
A few years after purchasing my RAS, I had encounter with a power company high voltage engineer. On his left hand all the tips of the fingers were missing at about the middle finger knuckle. I asked how he did that. He explained that he had purchased a new Craftsman RAS and was setting it up. He was making the initial scoring cut in the table top. The blade jumped forward and sliced the tips of his fingers. He told me that after his fingers (or what was left of them) had healed, he put the saw in the trunk (boot) of his car and took it back to Sears. The local Sears manager had several employees take the saw out of the trunk and his purchase price was refunded plus a few hundred in credit to his sears credit card.

According to a colleague who works for Workcover NSW, formerly the Department of Industrial Relations, he tells me that all radial arm saws are now banned in workplaces, just too many accidents with them. He has seen many of them removed and thrown in the scrap metal bin. The old man had a couple, just for rough cutting stock to length, and it was one machine that he would never allow me to use, he’d seen many accidents with them.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

just for rough cutting stock to length

" rough cutting stock to length " Love those words.

At school, we have a DeWalt RAS. Vintage, ancient, whatever. The only thing that student were allowed to use the DeWalt for was to rough cut to length.
The school, a Community College, has not had an amputation in over 30 years.