DeWalt Benchtop Saw

[Jay Knoll]

Hi everyone

Before I got serious about doing better woodworking (and before I started participating in SMC and seeing all the wonderful equipment you people have) I bought a DeWalt Benchtop Table Saw.

Since then I've acquired a great SCMS, band saw and the Festool Guided Saw system.

So, I see my use of the DeWalt becoming more infrequent -- maybe cutting shoulders on tenons, drawer dados etc.

Before I purchased the additional equipment, I made a new stand for the DeWalt, from Norm's website. In retrospect it probably was a mistake, I don't really need the wide support to the right hand side of the saw. So, I'll probably take it apart and build a smaller roll-around stand for the saw.

That being said, does anyone else own one of these saws? What have you done to improve performance/accuracy?

I don't have the space for a big cabinet saw, and with the other machines I have I don't know if I need one.

I look forward to your thoughts/comments

Jay

[Joanne Adler]

Jay,

When I was first starting out, I got the Bosch worksite/benchtop saw. I had looked at the Dewalt, too. The Bosch was extremely accurate out of the box. I did splurge for a Forrest WWII sawblade for it, even though the stock Bosch blade was pretty good. I opted for the thin kerf version, since it was only a benchtop saw. I made zero clearance inserts for the main blade and for dado blades, too. I bought a better miter guide. I built a cutoff sled. I built a neat boxjoint jig. Loved that saw and did very well with it until it developed a weird problem with the arbor nut. I still liked the saw, but I traded up to a contractor saw. I think the zero clearance inserts and accurate jigs helped improve the saw the most.

[Jim Becker]

The single bigest thing you can do to improve the accuracy of your saw is equipping it with a "real" fence, such as the system from Rousseau. IMHO, of course.