Radial arm for melded arrays

[Jon Barnhardt]

Has anyone tried to use their radial arm saw to cut tweeters for a straight or melded array? (with the right blade of course)

I was pondering a way to skip the whole "change the table saw blade" step all the time and figured a dedicated saw may work better.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Has anyone tried to use their radial arm saw to cut tweeters for a straight or melded array?

A sliding compound miter is better and more versatile.

[Bruce Weldy]

Using a radial arm for that scares the hell out of me. Much rather have a piezo locked into a jig moving across the blade than moving the blade through plastic while holding it.....

I never changed blades when I cut mine. A good carbide tooth combination blade works fine on the Piezos.....

[Jon Barnhardt]

Using a radial arm for that scares the hell out of me. Much rather have a piezo locked into a jig moving across the blade than moving the blade through plastic while holding it.....

I never changed blades when I cut mine. A good carbide tooth combination blade works fine on the Piezos.....

I was thinking of making a jig that would enclose them and leave them no where to go...

Never tried with the same blade... Might have to give that a spin.

[mr.lussier]

Personnally I used my table saw for the lenghtwise cuts and a sliding compound miter saw for the angle cuts. But honestly when I look back at it the safest, quickest, and most uniform way to do it is probably on the table saw with Bill's piezo cutting jig... Next build I'll probably try it.

What kind of blade did you use ? The blades that give nice cuts on BB (combination, atb or Hiatb with lots of teeth) will work fairly well with plastic, as long as you get the feed rate correct. You have to go slowly to prevent chipping, but fast enough to prevent heating and melting of the plastic.

A sliding compound miter is better and more versatile.

However a good radial arm saw is superior for dados or wide crosscuts. If one have the space for both, they sell cheaper than dirt these days...

[Bruce Weldy]

However a good radial arm saw is superior for dados or wide crosscuts. If one have the space for both, they sell cheaper than dirt these days...

Other than dadoes on long boards, there's nothing I can't do with my miter saw and table saw.....that's why I sold my radial arm. I always found it to be a scary tool compared to the table saw or miter saw. While more time consuming, dadoes can be done with a router if need be.

If you already have one, fine.....but, I certainly wouldn't suggest that anyone buy one. Too many other good places for workshop dollars.