Thread: Help please: Paulcall Radial Arm Saw blade alignment & user manual

I have a 12" Paulcall RAS take the blade off and check the spindle run out if that is OK then it is either the blade or the flange, take the blade and outer flange off, check the fixed flange, be sure there is no foreign matter or any raised sections on any of the mating surfaces, fit a known flat blade ( just because it is new does not mean it is flat ) and check run out, as for a manual good luck, The adjustments are all pretty obvious if you have a good look at the machine.

Thanks China for that advice, I'll take a good look at the saw tomorrow.
I did notice some light corrosion on the face of both flanges when I put on the blade, so perhaps this could've stuffed up the alignment. I'll have to think of some way to remove this corrosion without damaging the mating surface.
If it is the spindle or 'inner flange' (the one closest to the motor) that isn't aligned properly, is there a way to adjust this? It doesn't look like there's any adjustment for the spindle angle except for 2 screws on the left-hand-side of the motor (I don't want to mess with these unless I'm 100% sure of what they're for).

Cheers,
timber-turner

Judicious use of some wet&dry while the motor is running would remove the corrosion, if either flange is warped the only sure way to restore them would be re machining as far as I am aware there is no adjustment for the spindle or the flanges
it has been a while since I have had the blade and guard removed. Inner flange fits on the shaft which is the motor armature, if that is bent then a old school electrician could probably straighten it, it would require dissasembly of the motor. My thoughts are it will be the flanges or the blade.

I took a look at the RAS today... it seems that the blade wasn't dead flat and the spindle/flange were out of alignment by a fraction. I ran the saw without the blade and nut attached, and noticed that the spindle/flange wobbled a bit.

But when I tested this, it lead to another problem... the motor suddenly cut out and started smoking!
Prior to this I've run the saw with the blade numerous times with no issues at all.

So it looks like an electrician is going to have to take a look at it anyway. Knowing my luck it probably isn't fixable, or would cost too much for what the RAS's worth.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed

Cheers,
timber-turner

Depending on why it smoked sometimes it can just be brushes, other times a complete rewind, I suppose you then have way up the cost of the rewind against the cost of replace the entire unit
I have been using mine, for over 13 yrs, so they are a well built machine, I would would choose the rewind

Alrighty, an update: the RAS is now working! I tried turning it on again with the blade fitted, and it ran smoothly with no issues.
I'm guessing that when I ran the saw without the blade last time, the smaller load caused the motor to run faster than usual and trigger the thermal overload or some other safety device.
I'll still get it tested and tagged by an electrician though.

Cheers,
timber-turner