Vector01

Kool...Wow how'd you getta away with scrollen that early? I would have got a smack in the head from the wife

Wonderful thought and great cut. More you do the better ya get.

Great work! That would look good on a mantle...Wife loves cats.

Thanks...Actually your not too far off. It's my rendition of the "Bass Harbor Head" lighthouse in Maine.

I looked thru my patterns and found a lighthouse I had did a while back. This had all the elements I was looking for. I wanted some curves, straight cuts, squares, etc. Loading a FD-PSR5 blade (my usual for 1/4" ply) I was off. I began cutting and noticed I was drifting off line quite a bit. Hmmm...I stopped checked my blade to square and my tension. Nothing wrong here. I quickly discovered that I was applying side pressure to the wood when I was cutting. Evidently I had developed a bad habit cutting with the Hitachi. The Hitachi was a lot more forgiving than the DW788. You can see these mishaps in the cut which I refer to as "artistic interpretation" or commonly known as "boo-boo's." Now I understood what they meant when they said that the DW788 cut aggressively. If you feed it material it will cut it Forward or sideways it bites hard Consciously trying to correct the side pressure issue while I cut I finished the piece. [attachment=0]First Cut.jpg[/attachment] I'm giving the DW788 a 90% I'm very pleased with the performance. All the errors were due to the operator not the machine. Onwards and upwards.

Hi Chance... Yep, another good idea. Funny thing is I hadn't really researched to see if a dust collector for this saw already exists. Oh well...I don't mind tinkering a bit

Thanks...My belief is when you buy a new tool all you should have to do is A) Read the instructions B) Take the neccessary safety measures C) plug it in (unless its cordless) D) Use the dam thing! Other than the stand and dust collection (personal issues) you shouldn't have to scrutinize every inch of the tool before using it. I havn't removed the rear case cover to check those areas. If I did the 30 day return policy will probably expire by the time I went through that too I don't think that it's an issue so much of design but more of quality control. I'm quite sure they (DW) don't have a team of experienced scrollers checking out the final designs. When you outsource overseas to save a few bucks, this is what you end up with. They sell say 10 saws and 5 are returned were's the profit in this. What type of reputation will they have? Then again there are a lot of DW788 owners that have had their saws for many years and have had no major issues and love the saw. I'm not going to stress too much over this. I'm going to give it a fair shake and see if it measures up. Like I said before...So far so good. Talking about lubrication points...According to the post I read they use sealed bearings. There should be no lubrication needed for these. Then again I saw a photo of a lower arm bearing that basically disintegrated from lack of lubrication. It can't hurt to put a few drops of "Break Free" on the pivot points and maybe a dab of bearing grease around the drive arms occassionally. Like the old addage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

After a few cups of coffee and some serious contemplation I came up with the "final solution" for my dust control problem. I designed a bracket on inkscape that would hold the vac hose under the saw table just a bit forward of the blade hole. It worked great. Collects 90% of the wood dust that falls through the table while cutting. [attachment=1]dustcoll2.jpg[/attachment] Blade alignment...I posed the question about the slight misalignment of the blade when viewing from the side at SSW&C. Evidently this is not a defect but inherent to the DW788 type 2. I was advised that when cutting tight corners on thicker woods just stop for a second before making your turn. In the event that the blade is over cutting this will compensate this. As a test for over cutting, I was told to draw a line on a thicker piece of wood from the edge of the wood towards the middle one inch long. Cut the line stopping at the one inch mark. Turn the wood over and measure the cut line. It should measure the same distance, one inch. I tried this and it was right on the money. If it's over cutting then that's a problem. Evidently there is no easy fix for that. The saw would have to go back for repair or replacement. [attachment=0]cut line.jpg[/attachment] Now...Other than mounting the light, I should be set to go. The true test of the saw will be in the cut. There will be a learning curve with the DW since it cuts more aggressively. I got plenty of ply to work with. Hopefully I'll have a cut for review in a couple of days...Barring any other issues.

Great design and cut. Puts a smile on your face.

Looking good. What boo-boo? That's called artistic interpretation That's what I tell myself anyway

Thanks...Since I have to work in the kitchen I'm careful about making a mess I found that strange (no vac hookup) on the saw. DeWalt designed those fancy blade screws and no hookup? I've got another idea I'm working on. Dust just drops through the table and onto the bevel lock knob.

Coming to the finish line...Dust collection. Big issue for me and especially the wife. The Hitachi had an extension from the lower body that I could connect my mini-vac to. Nothing on the DeWalt. So for a temporary setup I screwed one of my Vac accesories to the table below the bevel adjustment (see pic). Will do until I come up with another method. [attachment=0]dust coll.jpg[/attachment] Vibration...Nothing very noticeable until I set the speed from 6-max. I think this might have to do the fact that the stand is lighter than the factory one, it's on wheels and not directly contacting the floor. Knocking...No unusual noises running from low to high speed. Cutting...Still playing with wood, blade and speed combinations. I normally ran the Hitachi at between 50-60% speed for most of the stuff I cut. So I set the speed to 5 on the DeWalt. Tried cutting on some 1/4" ply. A little to fast...Got away from me a few times Cut the speed down to 3 and had much better control. I'm gonna spend a few days cutting on scrap before I tackle a good pattern. Need to get the feel of the saw. That's it for now. Hope this helped the new DW owners. Something comes up I'll let you know.

Anybody bored yet? OK...A note on the blade screws. I noticed when stoning, the machined pins in the blade screws? I figure the logic behind that was once the pin contacted the screw it would not turn, preventing blade twist. Betcha it looked great on the drawing board I went ahead and tried something I did on the Hitachi. I removed the thumb hold down screw and tried it in the blade holder. It worked. A good idea in case you need a blade screw in a pinch. The hold down screw has a much wider contact surface than the pinned blade screw. Hmmm...Very Interesting. Distance between blade holders...I had no issues with this. Plenty of extra blade beyond the blade screws on both upper and lower holders. So far so good Tensioning lever...Another common problem is maxing out the tension on the lever to tension the blade. No problems so far. I get proper tension on the blade at #2 setting. Theres an easy fix if needed by adjusting the tension rod. Upper arm lift...No mechanical issues. Although you need three hands to lift the arm, hold it up and feed the blade into the hole. I came up with a quick fix. Made a simple hold up from scrap oak (see pic). Works great. I don't think I'll even need an "easy lift."

Thanks...I don't know the brand name on the magnifier lamp. My wife picked it up at Harbor Freight last year for $9.99 dollars (on sale). http://www.harborfreight.com/

Thanks Kevin: I'm using my manual chair until they fix my power chair (again ). Scrollen and burning keeps me sane and busy. With my stand now setup, just need a pillow for a little lift. Short of getting shot in the head, ain't too much I can't figure out a solution for.

After a multitude of delays I finished the stand today A few simple modifications to the old stand and I'm ready to go. I have a simple pattern for tommorow...A stand that will hold the upper arm in the lifted position. I'm not modifying the saw until the 30 day return policy is up. Hopefully I won't have any major problems with the saw within that time period. [attachment=0]DWstnd.jpg[/attachment]

Not a major problem...I did run into a more serious snag. Went to setup the stand and it's gonna be too high. Top of saw table comes to my chin when I'm in my wheelchair:grr: I kinda expected this. My plan was to cut down the legs but this would take me forever with my dremel. Simple fix...Use my old stand with some minor modification. I'm hell bent on doing some cutting tommorow!

Saw Table...The table must weigh as much as the saw No suprises here. Placed on the rear pivot installed a blade, aligned the blade to the blade hole in the table and screwed it down. The table adjusted easily for bevel cuts. The only issue is that you can't get a full 45 degree right tilt because the blade screw stops the table (as noted in the manual). Squaring the blade to the table...Set the table to zero and used my 2" machinist square to check the blade. No problem. I did note that when viewing the blade from the side with the upper blade arm up the blade was slightly off (see pic) Unlike some other saws the blade holders on the DeWalt are fixed to the arms they do not pivot/swing freely. This probably accounts for the slight angle in the blade. I thought this might present a problem when cutting sharp turns, circles, etc. I took a piece of 1/4" ply and cut a few basic shapes (circles, squares, etc.). I didn't have any problems. Although I won't be able to give it a good test until I get it set up on the stand. Speaking of which...Time to set it up. Later!

Happy to help...Unfortunately there's no info in the manual about those issues. If they (DeWalt) had added some basic blade adjustment procedures in the manual it would prevent a lot aggravation for the customer and less calls to technical support. If you havn't already, check out Rick's scroll saw site. That's where I found most of the fixes. http://www.scrollsaws.com/ http://www.scrollsaws.com/SawReviews/DewltTuneUp.htm Parts blow up.... http://www.toolpartsdirect.com/cgi-bin/ ... 788_TYPE_1

Was mounted to the saw just behind the lower blade holder (see pic). No mention in the manual (not suprisingly). All I know it gets in the way when installing a blade in the lower holder. Like the hold down...It's going in a drawer. [attachment=0]DW3.jpg[/attachment]

Got it last night. I would try emailing or writing letters to DeWalt about availablity in the U.K. I can't believe they (DeWalt) are passing up on possible sales overseas.

That's a keeper for sure! Great work.

Blade alignment/centering...I went ahead and did the lower blade holder screws as mentioned previously. Now for alignment. I tried using a feeler gauge to set the set screws but that was not accurate. The feeler gauges didn't fit well in the blade holder slots. I went to the trusty toolbox and found my 6" dial caliper with depth gauge. This should do it. I screwed in the set screw so it protruded into the blade holder slot in the upper holder and gave it a quick look see. I installed a blade and snugged down the blade tightening screw. Looked about centered to me. I then used the depth gauge on the caliper to measure the depth of the set screw. I simply set the depth gauge in the hole at the rear of the screw and slowly pushed in the depth gauge in until the bottom of the caliper sat flush on the left side of the blade holder (see pic). [attachment=0]DW2.jpg[/attachment] I did this four times just to get an accurate reading. It came out on this particular saw to .270 thousandths of an inch, just a hair over a 1/4 inch. Since I had measured the overall length of both set screws previously I just set the bottom holder set screw the same distance. I went ahead and reinstalled the blade set the tension and voila...No twisting or slippage of the blade running the saw from low to high speeds. More to come....

Well UPS showed up at 6:30 p.m. (finally). Luckily I had a friend over to help unpack it. Got it on the Kitchen table...It's a monster! Made the little Hitachi look like an infant. Nice finish, no knicks or dings. It was definitely a new "in-the-box" saw. Thought I'd take a break from setup and share what I've found so far. Two of the most common complaints I've read on this saw are 1) blades twisting while installing 2) blades slipping from the holders. According to the manual it's ready to go...Install the table and a blade. So before I installed the table I loaded a blade according to their directions. The blade set flush against the inner left side of both holders. The blade was definitely was not centered in the blade holders. The blade twisted while I was tightening and it slipped out from the lower holder when I ran it...Hmmm? No problem...I removed the blade and took a closer look at the blade holders. The blade set screws where not protruding into the blade holders. I removed both the set screw and the blade tightening screw from the upper holder. I checked the contact surfaces on both. There was a tiny shiny spot in the middle on both screws. The only contact on the blade was being made on the "high spots" on both screws. Simple fix for that...Took my arkansas stone and stoned both contact surfaces flat. Cleaned off the oil from all surfaces (including threads in blade holder). I also noted that removing and cleaning the set screw removed a lot of the loctite from the screw. Since I didn't have any loctite (blue) on hand I used the old teflon tape trick till I picked some up. Blade alignment/centering...To be continued.

Yep...Grizzly (Carol) was very nice. I lucked out that I live only two states from their PA distribution site. It's 3:06 p.m. and UPS guy ain't here yet It's out for delivery (according to tracking). I'll probably be the last stop Might be a late night tonight