Radial arm saw converted to router table.

[jack12345]

I have a old Sears radial arm saw that has a bad motor. Has anyone put a router in place of the saw motor? It looks like to would do a great job for straight line routing .Suggestions please. Thanks.

 

[Bob Huntress]

I've seen a few use drill presses to router, but never seen anyone use a radial arm saw.

 

[Slowpoke]

The original motor will rotate so the spindle is down. It can take accessories like a planer and router bits. But the speed is too low for good router work. You might be able to work up a holder for a router to replace the old motor. Maybe use part of the motor case after removing the guts.

 

[VaTom]

Attaching your router for overarm routing might be a challenge. Remember, you need to be able to change bits easily. The lift/drop saw mechanism would be nice. Don't imagine you'd want the tilt feature often. If the arm is rigid enough, you could also pin route.

My very old radial arm saw, Sears or MonkeyWards I forget, doesn't have the rigidity of my overarm router. Quite sure I wouldn't be happy with what I got.

Straight line panel routing is very simple with a shooting board, or even a clamped straightedge. If the panel's large, much easier than trying to feed it through your radial saw table.

 

[oleblu]

There used to be an "adapter" you could buy (don't remember who made them, Sears, maybe) that bolted on in place of the blade to hold a router on a radial arm saw.
If a guy was handy with a welder, one could be made without too much work.
My e-mail is open if you want more details.

 

[Pooh Bear]

I have seen this done before (in a book).
I saw some interesting things that could be done with an over arm router.
Now if I just knew where I put that book.

I think it was a Popular WoodWorking Yearbook, sometime around 1987.
They used to give them away every year at the ShopSmith shows.

Pooh Bear

 

[Anonymous-0]

Jack I know where you are coming from as I have had thoughts about this myself"But". I once bought a "Planer" attachment at a wood workers show and installed it on my Radial Saw as instructed,Set it all up to run some Rgh.Cut Lumber through it and started to feed the board into the Planer and boy was woke up. Splinters,Dust and pieces of Wood came at me super fast and my shop was covered with the stuff that this little 4" around Disc with 3 Cutters attached generated. My point is it is not a good idea to try to convert a Radial Saw Arm to a dedicated Over Arm Router operation. After that little experience I would not operate any Machine in that way because of the lack of Safety Controls and Dust collection . You are mainly not protected from any of the airborne debris such a Machine generates . There are Machines mfg. for this particular task on the market but they carry a hefty price tag.They also have good Safety features and Debris control is mostly good. In MHO JC.

 

[Bud in FLA]

Seems I have a similar problem as of this morning. I knew the bearings were going in my old saw but this morning I "let the smoke out of the motor" and there ain't no kit to replace it with! The drive end of the rotor can't be removed to replace the bearing so it was a "run it till it pukes" deal, anyway. It did, too!
Now for the good news - While hunting a replacement motor on-line I found several links that eventually got me to the "Emerson Recall Site".

Here's the link - http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/

My saw is a 12" model 113.29500 - about 12 to 15 years old. Due to the recall, they'll send me a box for the motor and carrage assembly and I'll sell it back to them for $100. Not bad for something that can't be fixed, anyway! Hope your's was part of the recall, too!
You'll still have the table and arm assembly to tinker with. too.
Here's some more recall info someone may find useful -

http://benchnotes.com/Tool%20Recalls/tool_recalls.htm#Craftsman%20Radial%20Arm%20Saw

 

[Rod in Smiths Falls, ON]

When the motor failed on the newer of my Sears Radial Arm Saws I found a surplus unit in Kentucky advertised on some earlier version of eBay.

For $40. and shipping the guy sent it along. Unfortunately it was the bi-voltage model for the double-yoked saw, while my electronic model had the single yoke.

A pal with a machine shop decided to modify things, so he pressed the motor out of the bearings and into the ones which fit my saw. 1/4" too long? No problem. Spread things out to fit. Two capacitors instead of one? Cut a hole and hang it over the side, glued on with a piece of walnut and epoxy.

Sound crazy? I've used that motor since 1996 for heavy ripping jobs like making trailer-loads of wooden stakes for tree planting. It wasn't much of a saw before, but with the new motor it's a workhorse.

 

[Rod in Smiths Falls, ON]

That planer head is a real adventure, especially if you don't have the rubber moulding head shield that fastens on in place of the regular blade cover.

The big problem with using the Sears saw as a router, shaper or planer is that the arm really isn't that strong, so any heavy application will seem very scary. It's hard to do a good job with the cutter heads, but if there isn't another way to do it you just hang in there and count your fingers regularly.

I made a lot of blind horizontal 3/4" dadoes for thermal panes with the saw before a good shaper came along.