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De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

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De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 01 Jun 2016, 12:19

De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

I bought the saw at a Pick-n-Pay Hypermarket in 1996 on a ‘special’. Paid ZAR3,966.98
(I kept all the documents for insurance purposes)

The local De Walt agents offered a 2 day hands on course on using the saw and also maintenance.
The maintenance consisted of taking their saw to pieces and re-assembly. I made copious notes which I later typed up and kept in plastic sleeves. The MS-MD Book.

There is an annual service (in my case about every 5 years) except for the table alignment which needs to be checked attended to regularly.

The table is very sensitive to bumps and can push the levels out.

The last major service was in about 2005 (red face) :oops:

In one of the wooden chests in the garage is a tray with the spanners, allen keys and service manual as well as all the other spare parts for the saw.

The extension arms, nuts & bolts, bottom blade guard and adjustable fingers for ripping.

When we moved, the saw was located in its slot in the new garage and nothing else done. So, a year later when I got fed up with sawing by hand, the big maintenance day arrived.

The top was still all loose and stacked against a wall out of the way.
Get the tools and the MS-MD book. (Monkey See Monkey Do) and start stripping.

Image

Lay down some old rags on the big table and keep all the parts together, the biggest and heaviest being the motor and carriage. (Remember to first remove the blade!!!!!)

Image


Image



Then off comes the arm. You are left with the top frame and the back shaft.
The back shaft is cleaned with mentholated spirits (the purple kind that the hobos drink!) and then lightly greased with Vaseline. I made a cloth cover which fits around the shaft keeping it clean from the saw dust.

Image

The tension on the shaft is adjusted by some locking nuts at the back. It needs to wind up and down effortlessly.

Image

Next the arm

The rail-slots are also cleaned with the meths and the rest vacuumed and wiped with a damp cloth.

Image

The lock lever and mitre latch are also taken apart and cleaned.
The arm can go back onto the shaft and wait for the carriage to be cleaned.
The tricky one – the top of the carriage, yoke, with the bearings.

You have to follow the instructions very carefully on removing the lock arm so that you do not destroy the star washer. Once that’s off, then 2 nuts to loosen and the top is split.
This gets vacuumed. The bearings are also cleaned using the meths. (you can get high on the smell!)

At the same time vacuum all around the motor. I also used a paint brush to loosen any stubborn dust.
To reassemble the procedure is reversed and remember the star washer can only go on one way.

The carriage can now be rolled into the grooves on the arm. The carriage weighs a few Kg’s and needs to be handled carefully.

The final adjustment on the carriage is on the third eccentric bearing which can be adjusted from the outside.
It sits behind the rip scale pointer

Image

The yolk should move freely back and forth.

The yolk with the swivel latch above the motor.

Image


By now its beer time, so tidy up and leave it till the morning.

Setting the table.

This is best left until you are calm with lots of patience.

Image

Step 1 is to flip the motor over by 45 degrees, then adjust the height so that the shaft just touches the top of the extended frame. The arm is then swung from side to side across the frame and the frame adjusted where necessary.

When you are satisfied, the table can now be bolted on. The above procedure is then again performed across the table top, adjusting the screw in the middle.

The blade is examined for wear and tear, and looked ok except for being dirty and gunged from sawing pine.
Into a bucket with some warm water and Super 10, an old nail brush, and some elbow grease.
Came out looking very good indeed.

The blade is fitted back onto the motor. The cover is left off as one now needs to set the blade vertical to the table using metal engineer squares.

Now the tricky part of setting the blade 90 degrees to the fence.
A nice big engineers square and the blade next to it.
The mitre latch is adjusted either left or right until the blade runs all the way next to the square.

When adjusting, cover the blade with a cloth in case your hand slips. (my right arm has 6 very nice scars from the blade)

The final task is fitting the arm cover and adjusting the pointer on the mitre scale to the 0 degrees position.


The POP (proof of the pudding) is cutting some stock and checking against the squares. This will be done when the dust extraction is fitted.

Image

Image

I made a ‘hood’ from 3mm MDF which rests on a shelf fitted to the back frame.
In the shelf, in line with the blade, is a 100mm plumbing fitting which tapers down to 50mm and is attached to some 50mm irrigation pipe running down and under the frame.

Image

The big gap is due to not having the fence in place.

The big vac pipe then fits into this pipe. It catches probably about 75% of the dust. I still need to fit the rubber connections to the pipe.

Image

(The rope holding the pipe is temporary as I first want to see how well it sucks from this new position. In the old workshop the pipe ran 3m to the vac)

The saw drops a lot of dust through the table holes onto the shelf at the bottom. What I might do is fit a catching tray under the top frame and link it to the 50mm pipe.

The final work on this saw is the levelling of the work bench top to the same level as the saw top.

Thank you for reading.
Cheers
Phil
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby RogerS » 01 Jun 2016, 13:15

Lovely job, Phil, and delighted to see you back again.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby DaveL » 01 Jun 2016, 15:45

You are very thorough, that saw should go on for ever, after being treated so well.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 02 Jun 2016, 11:01

RogerS wrote:Lovely job, Phil, and delighted to see you back again.



Thanks Roger.

Good to be back although the mind is still not settled, still very anti-social.

Cheers
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 02 Jun 2016, 11:02

DaveL wrote:You are very thorough, that saw should go on for ever, after being treated so well.



Thanks Dave. I hope it lasts my lifetime.

Cheers
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Andyp » 02 Jun 2016, 12:36

It does look a goodun, they still go for some serious money in the UK too.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Newbie_Neil » 02 Jun 2016, 12:45

Phil, your attention to detail is incredible. Neil
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Commander » 05 Jun 2016, 21:34

Thanks for the write-up Phil, it always makes for interesting reading. A machine thats setup properly and maintained to a high standard is always a pleasure and should keep going for many many years. :D
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 06 Jun 2016, 14:20

Newbie_Neil wrote:Phil, your attention to detail is incredible. Neil


Thanks Neil.

I can be a real PITA even to myself. :D :oops:

Cheers
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 06 Jun 2016, 14:21

Commander wrote:Thanks for the write-up Phil, it always makes for interesting reading. A machine thats setup properly and maintained to a high standard is always a pleasure and should keep going for many many years. :D



Erich, we will see how good the maintenance was when I start cutting.

Need to source some MDF strips for a fence first.

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Commander » 06 Jun 2016, 16:27

Phil wrote:
Commander wrote:Thanks for the write-up Phil, it always makes for interesting reading. A machine thats setup properly and maintained to a high standard is always a pleasure and should keep going for many many years. :D



Erich, we will see how good the maintenance was when I start cutting.

Need to source some MDF strips for a fence first.

Cheers
Phil


How much MDF would you need? I have some 16mm MDF that I have left over from a project, its normally a bit steep buying a whole sheet if you only need a small amount.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 07 Jun 2016, 06:49

Hi Erich, 16mm is the right thickness.

The fence is 860mm long and can be between 60mm and 80mm high.

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Commander » 07 Jun 2016, 16:37

Phil wrote:Hi Erich, 16mm is the right thickness.

The fence is 860mm long and can be between 60mm and 80mm high.

Cheers
Phil


I think I should be able to assist with that, I will go check and let you know.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 11 Jun 2016, 08:42

Thank Erich, much appreciated.
(apologies for not replying, back at work and no time for surfing)

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 23 Sep 2016, 08:50

Big thanks to Erich for his kind donation of some MDF for my fence. :eusa-clap:

I cut off 2 strips for fences (different widths) on the table saw, and then trimmed to length on the RAS.

The saw really struggled to cut through the MDF, with lots of smoke and burning. :o
Yes, I did cut slowly.

Any suggestions on why I am getting this burn?


Image

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Rod » 23 Sep 2016, 10:24

Blunt saw or wrong type?

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 23 Sep 2016, 13:59

Rod, it is a 40 tooth cross cut blade, which was cleaned up when I did the saw.

Last time I used it was on some pine and thick ply without any problems (before we moved).

If this is what it does to MDF I shudder to think of what it's going to do to oak, mahogany and teak.

(And yes it is mounted the correct way round :lol: )

I still have the old blades somewhere ................ ????????????

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby TrimTheKing » 23 Sep 2016, 18:21

That looks like the blade isn't aligned properly to the fence or whatever guide you were using.

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 24 Sep 2016, 07:22

TrimTheKing wrote:That looks like the blade isn't aligned properly to the fence or whatever guide you were using.

Cheers
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That thought had crossed my mind, so I banished it and went into self denial :( as it is such a ballAke to set it.

Suppose I will have to bite the bullet and do it. Maybe next weekend.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Mike G » 24 Sep 2016, 07:45

I have one of these saws (the same model). Excellent and really useful saw when it is set up correctly, but if it bites into something and twists itself out of alignment you can bugger about for half an hour trying to get everything right again.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby 9fingers » 24 Sep 2016, 11:11

+1 the plane of the blade must be perfectly aligned with axis of the arm to prevent burning.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 24 Sep 2016, 14:19

Mike G wrote:I have one of these saws (the same model). Excellent and really useful saw when it is set up correctly, but if it bites into something and twists itself out of alignment you can bugger about for half an hour trying to get everything right again.


Mike, what I found over the years that even bumping the table has issues let alone the blade biting into something very solid.


9fingers wrote:+1 the plane of the blade must be perfectly aligned with axis of the arm to prevent burning.
Bob

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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Commander » 26 Sep 2016, 07:24

Glad to see some progress on this Phil! Sounds like the RAS is a very sensitive piece of equipment, I have never had any issues cutting the MDF on my TS or with my circular saw, so an alignment problem may well be the cause.
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby Phil » 18 Oct 2019, 20:04

I want to build some shelves in the garage. Will do a separate thread.

BUT …………..

I need to take a couple of steps back and address the RAS alignment problem. See other thread from not so long ago. (September 2016 - actually very embarrassing) :oops:

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1906&p=28544&hilit=ras#p28544

Setting the 90 degree to the table is easy. Remove 2 screws and take off the angle indicator plate. Then loosen the screws, tilt until the blade is 90 degrees, then tighten up and replace the plate.

Next set the 90 degrees to the fence. I hate/detest this part of the maintenance.
It requires loosening the adjusting nuts on the back of the arm.
First take off the blade guard, and cover the blade with and old towel. This is just in case your hand slips while loosening the nuts. Yes, I have the scars from 20 years ago.

Setting_Blade_2.jpg
(23.64 KiB)



Setting_Blade_1.jpg
(36.27 KiB)




Consult the Ms-Md manual. (Monkey See - Monkey do)

MS-MD_Guide.JPG
(18.86 KiB)



Check which side of the alignment is out. If left, tighten right or visa versa.

Easy, even a kid could do it, so why can’t I get the setting right?

After each adjustment, do a test cut using some hardboard and check against the square (large engineers square).

After the fifth cut, the temperature is rising, the language deteriorating and frustration level off the dial.
Take a couple of deep breaths, make some coffee and take 5 minutes.

Stand in front of the saw, read the manual again.
Then the penny dropped the flood lights came on and I felt like a real twit.
The saw left is my right and the saw right is my left. Stupidly embarrassing. :oops: :oops:

Another 2 adjustments and we are 90 degrees to the fence. Do a test cut on some MDF. Burn, burn and smoke. Sh!t, sh!t. No time to carry on messing around, need to saw the frame timber.

Cutting

The 45X45 uprights are cut 1830mm long. 10 Of them.

This is a small cut through softwood, BUT, smoke and burning!!

Just 10 cuts, persevere.

Just out of curiosity I removed the blade. 60 Tooth cross cut blade. Dug into the one shelf looking for the old blades.

Found a 40 tooth rip blade which still looked ok, and fitted it.

First cut, smooth and easy, like cutting through butter. I will do another blade alignment check when finished with the shelves.

Thank you for reading
Phil
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Re: De Walt RAS 1251 – Service

Postby DaveL » 18 Oct 2019, 23:40

I hate say this but looking at one of those pictures, I think you have the blade on backwards, the teeth should face the fence at the bottom of the blade.
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