Ryobi protable radial arm saw

[Guest]

Anybody

About 15 years ago, Ryobi was selling a portable radial arm saw. I had plans to buy one but never did. I always wondered why I never saw one in use.

Has anyone used this tool?

Bill P

[Guest]

Re: Ryobi protable radial arm saw

I've got 1 in my garage. Don't know the last time I used it. I would say a sliding compound miter saw has taken over wide board cutting that this did. I like mine ,just haven't had a jobs to use it.

[Guest]

Re: Ryobi protable radial arm saw

Steve

Thanks for the response. Please see a new post “To slide or not to slide”.

Bill P

[Guest]

Re: Ryobi protable radial arm saw

I know this is a late response, but I've never been to this board before. I bought one of those Ryobi's (I believe it was an RA-200). Was never so happy to get rid of any tool before. The head mount was not rigid, you had to literally have an extremely firm grip on the handle to keep it from rocking due to motor torque. Then, it was still almost impossible to maintain a square cut (vertically square) since the mount had some play in it. No adjustment was available for this motion. Then, later developed problem with the post and vertical adjustment. To take out 'play', I had to tighten the post mount to the point where the saw no longer wanted to smoothly raise or lower. It did have plenty of power, but was only good for rough framing where you may have a little margin of error. When using the 'router' collet end, there was so much play in the mount that the tooling edges were wavy and not smooth at all. Finally sold it in a garage sale and was so happy to see it go- felt sorry for the guy who bought it, though and even told him of it's problems. If you do any work requiring absolute accuracy (finish, trim, etc.), not many R.A. saws will perform any way near to a miter saw. I hate to ever kncok or slam any one's tools, but the Ryobi R.A. saw I had was not worth owning. They made a later version and maybe took care of the headaches or else I just got a 'bad one'. I never got the chance to try the later version and I recall seeing some of them in discount tool catalogs, being sold as "reconditioned". Greg

[Guest]

Re: Ryobi portable radial arm saw

I experienced the same problem with my RA-200 and then some.

It was impossible to cut a square cut as the head moves with the torque. Tighting the adjustment to the head helps but if you hit a knot hole it will cause the head to shift and change the angle once again.

I had a fatal error happen two weeks ago. The head literally came off the overhead arm and started cutting arcs on the top before I could get it turned off. Needless to say it got my attention very quickly. The mounting housing (same as the motor housing) broke off several pieces and the motor just dropped off the overhead arm.

I cannot remember how long I have had the saw but know it hasn't been used more that 20 hours total. I highly recommend buying a saw with a metal housing versus the plastic housing the Ryobi has. I have several Ryobi power tools and have not had any problems. This one could have taken my hand or arm with it so I call it a fatal issue. I will never buy another plastic product with this type of use again.

[Guest]

Re: Ryobi portable radial arm saw

I need the motor housing for one of these RA200 radial arm saws. Does anybody have one? 8 1/4 inch.