Customer Reviews

DEWALT DW746XB 10-Inch Woodworkers Table Saw with 30-Inch Fence

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My woodworking hobby outgrew my starter saw a few years ago, but circumstances did not allow me to buy a new saw until this year. Since I really wanted to take my time with this decision, I studied the market, put my hands on every saw I could, and read everything I could find on the web about table saw features. Since I work in a library, I also had access to every table saw review in most of the woodworking magazines.

Eventually I came up with the following criteria:

- I have a one car garage for a workshop, so space was a big issue. I was only looking at saws with 30" capacity to the right of the blade. I also limited my search to saws that could be pushed flat against a wall if need be. This left only hybrids and cabinet saws to consider.

- I wanted the most powerful motor I could get without having to switch to 240 volts, yet have the option to rewire the saw for 240v later if I so choose (thus eliminating 3hp saws).

- I wanted a solid fence that was accurate and DID NOT DEFLECT when locked down.

- I wanted some decent dust collection abilities.

- I wanted a quieter saw with less vibration than my old Delta contractor's saw.

- I wanted to spend less than $1000 to get the saw, yet have lots of options for upgrading/outfitting later.

Eventually I chose the DeWalt 746, and here are my observations:

The saw package arrived in relatively undamaged crating (seven days after I ordered it from Amazon), and the saw was in perfect condition. Here's a tip - I ordered this saw over the phone and was given the option to pay $25 to have the saw delivered on the ground in my shop - well worth it! Assembly was not too bad (3 hrs), but the manual could have been a bit better. In my mind it was a bit too small and the illustrations corresponding to each step of assembly were not always on the same page! This saw is heavy and the cabinet/stand is very stiff and strong. I feel that the base of this saw is a much better design than the open stand of my old Delta. The saw also runs very smoothly - it is A LOT quieter than my last saw and vibration is at a minimum. The motor is about as powerful as you can get while running 120v without popping breakers left and right (which I have read is a common problem with the 2hp motors running 120v). I have not had any problems ripping 8/4 white oak with a good sharp blade... Speaking of blades, the one that came with this saw is inferior. I will keep it just for those instances where I want to cut treated lumber for outside projects or some other such task not requiring precision or smooth cuts. I have always wanted a Biesenmeyer fence, but I read good things about the fence on this saw and was eager to try it for myself. I am pleased to say that it is a very sturdy (and heavy) fence with some ingenious features. Most importantly this fence operates very smoothly, it does not deflect when locked down, it was easy to adjust square to the miter slot and blade, and zeroing the fence scale could not have been easier. I did have to fuss with it a bit to get the fence face set 90 degree to the table, but once I got it there it seems to hold the setting well. Dust collection on this saw is absolutely excellent. I hooked up my Fein Turbo II vacuum and basically no significant sawdust escapes. I couldn't be happier in that department. As for safety features, I like splitters and hate blade guards so I was pleased to find that the splitter/blade guard on this saw is able to be separated (I did just that). The splitter is easily adjustable and works well.

As far as downsides go... Well, as I mentioned earlier the assembly manual could have been way better and the blade that came with the saw is junk. Also (and I read this several places ahead of time) the table is not absolutely flat. Using a straightedge I found a couple of hollows in the surface. I don't think they are significant enough to throw off the accuracy of what I am doing with this saw, but be forwarned that if you use a tablesaw to cut something more intricate than tenons you may have a problem with this. Unlike other reviewers I didn't have too much of a problem with the steel extension wings that came with this saw. When installed properly are they perfectly level to the main table? Yes. Are they perfectly flat? No, but acceptible for what they are. I wanted a good saw that could be upgraded and these are good enough for temporary use. In fact there are a host of great accessories/upgrades available for this saw. I already ordered a cast iron router table wing (made by Bench Dog) and soon I plan to order the DeWalt cast iron wing for the other side of the saw.

When it comes down to it, I am very pleased with this saw. The features all met or exceeded my personal needs. This is important, because I have no doubt I could have gotten a saw that performed nearly as well for a lot less money, but it would have failed to meet one or more of MY criteria. As for the price - I bought mine at a time when the saw was on sale and the mobile base was included (see my separate review of the mobile base). The sale price coupled with Amazon's ongoing deal of 25 dollars off any order over 199 gave me this saw at more than a seventy dollar discount. If your needs are similar to mine, then take a close look at this saw. I highly recommend it!

Overall this saw is an excellent saw.. there are a few minor things that could have been improved, but every saw is going to have SOMETHING that could be better.

Setup was fairly easy, but still time consuming. A couple of tips on setup: 1.) setup the mobile base first, then the saw on top of that. This is because you have to lift the saw to get it on the mobile base. It's a very heavy saw that only gets heavier when you add the fence rails,etc... 2.) Extension wing setup. The extension wings are bolted to the main table in 3 places. Hand tighten all the nuts, then level the extension to the main table and fully lock down the nuts. If you try and tighten one side first, it will goof up the other side.

This saw is fairly quiet and vibration free, and the motor delivers enough horsepower for anything I have to give it. Do yourself a favor and upgrade the blade though. The stock blade is a general purpose blade that doesn't seem to cut as well as the Combination blade I replaced it with.

The fence is easy to get setup and works great! Some fence tips: 1.) don't overtighten the wing nuts that hold the auxillary fence on. The aux. fence face is aluminum and if you overtighten the wing nuts the fence face will bow.

2.) To set the fence parallel to the miter slots, First loosent the two bolts on the fence (as the instructions tell you), Next, loosen the wing nuts holding the auxillary fence face until the aux. fence face moves freely along the fence. Slide the fence over the miter slots so that the aux. fence face falls into the miter slot. Then push the fence until the aux. fence face is snug with the side of the mitre slot. Finally, tighten the bolts that secure the fence and reposition the aux fence face to the normal position.

3.) To re-install the fence after it's been removed for a miter cut or something, slide it on from the end of the rails.

The on/off switch is nice in that it's very large and easy to bump/kick off if you have trouble.

One major plus is that it's made in the USA.

The Splitter/ guard is a pain to install, but once it's aligned right, it's good. (Perhaps Dewalt could include an alignment tool ?)

One big recommendation is to get a surface protectant so that the table-top won't rust.

Overall this is a great saw with lots of power, good dust collection, and a good fence.

I have owned this table saw for just over a year. Recently I replaced the fence with an Accusquare. I also have the mobile base.
The Good.
1) Can be run on both 120 and 240V.
2) Once tuned up properly, can cut accurately
3) Easily moved around with a mobile base for cramped
quarters.
The Bad
1) Underpowered....this saw has bogged down and overheated the
startup and run capacitors three times....with 4/4 figured
maple and with 8/4 purple heart. After the breakers engage
you have to wait a bit before it will run again.
2) The fence is really not that well made. After ordering a
shim kit from DeWalt, I was able to square it up somewhat
but it was still bowed.
3) At the price, it should come standard with cast iron wings.
The Ugly
1) Adjusting the squareness of the table top to the blade was
extremely frustrating....and the use of Torx nuts everwhere
was sort of unusual as well.
2) Aftermarket accessories are limited.

Other
1) addition of an aftermarket fence is a good idea, IMO. I
chose the Accusquare from Mule Cabinet.
2) If you use zero clearance inserts, the addition of a
splitter can be problematic. The splitter from Microjig
works well for me....
3) generally, if you want to do accurate crosscuts, build a
couple of crosscutting sleds.
4) the stock blade is low quality though DeWalt has some
decent blades. I have a Forrest WWII and a Freud glueline
rip blade.
5) due to the limited horsepower, this saw most likes to cut
thinner stock in my experience.

As with most woodworkers, I thought long and hard before buying this saw. I have owned mine now for about 4 months, and have been using it frequently, so I feel I can make a credible review.

My saw arrived quickly and packaged perfectly. Everything was intact and went together quickly and easily. The instructions leave a bit to be desired, but they are adequate. The fence was tough to adjust, more on that later. The table is flat, and the stamped steel extensions do their job, but I am going to upgrade to the cast wings soon.

The fence. And here's the rub. As noted by other negative reviewer's, a saw is only as good as its fence. Apparently Dewalt made some of these with bum fences, so if you call dewalt with a fence complaint, they will immediately offer to send you a replacement for free, which I did. The first fence had a slight bow in it with the middle pushing in toward the blade slightly. I'm talking about maybe 1/64th over the full 31" length. Also, the way the fence is designed, you are supposed to square the fence to the table by pushing it sideways and tightening the torx screws. Well, in order to get mine square, I had to push pretty hard, but I did eventually get it squared to the table...at least when I checked beside the torx screws. At the far end of the fence, it was still out of square about 1/32. Square at one end, not at the other...yep. It's twisted slightly. "How do you fix that?" I thought, and called dewalt. My new fence arrived quickly, and...exactly the same. Still slightly bowed and twisted when aligned. Bah! I was frustrated with Dewalt for a few days there.

Then it occurred to me as I was building a custom fence for my miter saw. In order to get the fence perfectly aligned I was shimming it with playing cards and paper to get it perfect. "That's how you fix it. You shim it!" Duh. I went to the saw, loosened the 3 T-knobs that hold the fence face on (not the torx screws, this doesn't change the parallel to the blade), and with a single playing card torn a few times and some paper, I had the fence dead perfect in 5 minutes. Perfectly straight, perfectly square. Ahhh, bliss.

Sure, it isn't fun to have to shim your equipment to get it right, but there are very few saws out there that are truly perfect, especially in this price range. It's an easy fix, so shim it and shaddup. Most folks will want to build a sacrificial fence anyway, so just shim it when you put it on. Dewalt is kind enough to use a piece of MDF in the packaging that you can use... (and I did!)

Last thing on the fence. Except for the above issues, this is really an excellent fence. Mine stays parallel to the blade dead on. I don't even have to use my tape measure, I just set the fence and cut, the results are perfect and completely repeatable. Now that I have the face aligned, it truly is a dream to use.

Dust collection. Comes standard with a 90 degree elbow on the dust port that a few people have commented on. If you take this off, dust shoots a few feet out of the back of the saw making a huge mess. If you leave it on, it stacks up on the floor under the saw in a relatively neat pile. Hence the elbow. If you want to hook to a dust collector, remove the elbow and replace it with any 2" to 4" adapter. It fits perfectly, takes literally seconds to install, and works great. No complaints on the dust collection.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase, and would do it again today. I am replacing the standard throat insert with a zero clearance. Do NOT buy the dewalt dado insert, as it rattles and is basically a waste of money. The miter gauge isn't great, but decent. I don't trust it for miters anyway, because that's what the miter saw is for. Mine came with a free mobile base from amazon, which is super high quality, tough as nails, and a breeze to install and use.

Why four stars? The fence, of course. It has its problems, but they aren't fatal flaws. If there wasn't a reasonable fix for it, I would have to go 1 or 2 stars, because I agree; A saw is only as good as its fence. Well, with this saw, a few shims and a little patience, you'll be chuckling every time you hit the start button.

So many features about this saw impress me but I will try to be brief.

- Power: This saw has all the power you need in a small shop and more to spare. Nothing seems to slow it down, not even for a brief moment.

- Smooth: This goes for the saw itself (no vibration) and for the cuts it makes. I use the blade that came with it for most of my cuts and I never have to sand or plane any of the cut faces. I made a zero clearance insert for it and now it even cuts the cheapest, thin plyood without chipping or noticable marks. I bought a Freud blade for the cross cuts but have not had to use it yet.

- The fence: Smooth-sliding as other reviews mention, very accurate, extremely easy to operate and calibrate.

- The table: Solid and smooth table. The wings should probably be upgraded since they are not as smooth as the main table (made out of sheet steel rather than the cast iron as the rest of the table.

- The controls: just what you need and right where you need them. Large power switch that is easy to bump off with your knee in an emergency. Smooth solid controls for the blade height and angle.

- Solid machine: This is a very solid and heavy machine that will serve you for a long time if you take care of it. Make sure you get the deal with the mobile base (see heavy above) which is so smooth and easy to operate.

There are some features that I would like to see improved. These are few and none of them diminish the value of this saw but I wanted to include them for completeness.

- The splitter and guard assembly is one piece that has to be removed by using wrenches. This is inconvenient and time consuming when you need to remove them for dado cuts (or other non through cuts.) There are splitters that you can buy which do not require tools for removal and installation and DeWalt should learn fron them. Also, the splitter should be seperate from the blade guard so the latter can remain in place for non-through cuts.

- The wings that come with the saw are made of sheet steel and not cast. There are optional ones that you can buy from DeWalt but they should be part of the saw to begin with.

I have a (one car) garage shop and this saw fits great. The mobile base is a must. The setup took about two hours and was a little confusing, but nothing I couldn't figure out. One thing is that the wrench they included didn't fit the bolts well (too big). Squaring everything perfectly was a bit of a challenge, but now that I have everything set it seems to have stayed square. I was pleased to learn that the table is quiet so I won't bother the neighbors in the condo complex. I admit I have only used a couple table saws in my life, but I haven't found anything to complain about yet. Overall a good buy for the bucks.

I just got back into woodworking recently and purchased this table saw. I have a friend who is a contractor and he said it is very important to have a solid table saw with a good fence for accurate cuts. I did a lot of research and found this to be the best saw. It has a wide arbor mouth that makes it easy to change the blade. It is left tilt which is more stable, and the motor is induction type, which is the safest and least likely to burn out, and the on/off switch is right next to your left knee so you can turn off the table saw easily after a cut.

I've used this saw for miter projects by adjusting the blade to 45 degrees and they've been dead accurate. You really don't need an expensive Biesmeyer fence or other aftermarket fence. The one that comes with this saw is more than sufficient. You should get a different miter for cross-cuts. I recommend the Rockler adjustable miter. It's more than good enough for a hobbyist (no need for sliding tables or expensive Incra miter). You will need to get some decent saw blades. I picked up a Freud ripping blade and cross-cut blade and they've been fantastic. You'll also need a set of dado heads. I got a nice set for about $80. With this I would strongly suggest the dado head arbor plate, or you can use a zero clearance plate - I did this and used 1/2" dado head setup which is the one I use the most. This makes for extremely smooth dados and rabbets.

I also highly recommend the mobile base that is available. I did not find it necessary to purchase the cast iron extensions. The sheet metal extensions are fine for me. I'm just a hobbyist and don't have the extra space anyway.

I have owned my DeWalt Woodworkers Saw for about two years now. If you plan on moving this saw from job to job like a contractors saw then think again. It may be called a hybrid but it is heavy enough to require at least two people to move it with all the rails and wings removed. It is lighter than a Unisaw that takes four people to move.

I replaced my old Delta Contractor saw that the roofer broke by throwing a 10' 2x6 off the roof endo. It broke the cast iron table in half.

That saw was old and tired anyway. I had been using a Unisaw for the past three years for a job saw doing fine woodworking on high end homes. When I first used the DeWalt I noticed that it did not have the power of the Unisaw but it did have a precision fence and a smooth vibration free feel similar to the Unisaw.

I had to shim the fence a hair to make it flat. Squaring the fence to the table was an odd procedure but seemed to work and the fence has remained square since then. The fence locks down securely without deflection at least as good as the Biesenmeyer fence. A nice feature is that the face of the fence can drop down to the table for ripping thin sheet goods so the sheets won't slip under the fence. I have been using the saw for all my finish carpentry in several fine new homes. I also use it for heavy ripping of salvaged wood that I use for exterior trim. I am very happy with this saw. Considering that I have to move it occasionally to a job it is a good comprimise between a heavy cabinet saw and a contractors saw. It can be hooked up to a vacuum for dust collection with success and that is not an option with a contractors saw. I think DeWalt has listened to woodworkers and came up with a lot of innovative features that make this saw a pleasure to use.

Hi,

I purchased this saw about 3 months ago. I have always been interested in woodworking and this year I decided to pursue it as a hobby.

I am the type of person that needs to research everything TO DEATH before making a purchase. I asked friends and family and read every review I can find on the Internet.

I ultimately chose this saw for three reasons:

1. PRICE -- I'm sure I could have purchased a very nice portable (think Bosch 4000) for around $500, and I'm sure I could have purchased an amazing cabinet (think Powermatic 1660802K) for around $2,000. Since I considered myself more of a novice "woodworker" than a novice "do-it-yourselfer" I wanted something that resembled a cabinet -- without breaking the bank.

2. STYLE -- It is considered a "hybrid" -- a cross between a contractor's saw and a cabinet saw. It's not fully enclosed like a cabinet, but it is partially enclosed and there's an integrated dust port. Since my shop is in the basement, I wanted to catch as much dust as possible. This easily attaches to my Shop Vac. I still have to sweep up after, but it does a good job.

3. REVIEWS -- The excellent reviews on Amazon.com.

Mine came with the mobile base and I wouldn't buy this saw without it. It makes moving the saw very easy.

I had a friend (a professional cabinet maker) help me assemble and align it. It took us about 3 hours from start to finish.

As other reviewers have stated, it would be nice if it came with cast iron wings -- but they can be purchased separately for about $85 each.

Too essential accessories: the Forrest Woodworker II blade and a link belt. With these two items your cuts will be very smooth!

A very nice accessory for someone that (a) wants a router table but (b) has very limited space (maybe a small basement shop) would be the Bench Dog 40-031 ProMax Cast Iron Router Table/Table Saw Extension.

Happy Woodworking!

DeWalt's trying to position this saw as the best price/performance option between the lower cost contractor's saws, and the more expensive cabinet saws from Delta and Powermatic. There is a gap in the market there, but this saw's not the answer.

It has some plusses. The design is a big improvement over most contractor's saws, with the engine cleanly beneath the table, the oversized on/off switch in a place where the saw can be quickly shut down without distraction. The motor has been sufficient to rip 3" purpleheart when combined with a Forrest II blade.

It has considerably more serious drawbacks.

First, and most important, the fence is very poor. It's made out of stamped steel and aluminum, and the design is such that there are strains in every direction based on the cam and the torx screws. It's extremely difficult to align the fence, and once done, the fence creeps out of alignment after just a few cuts. And no table saw can be better than its fence. I removed the factory installed fence and replaced it with a Biesemeyer.

Second, the stamped wings are cheesy, and designed that they can't really be set up so they're flush and flat. It may appear like it's an upgrade from your old Craftsman or contractor's saw, but it's not. I re-machined one of the wings after adding some bracing, and built a cabinet with melamine top for the other side.

Third, the dust collection is very poor. The small pipe (it really should be a 4") is just kind of stuck there, and installed at an angle, so dust collection setup is both difficult and ineffective. I built a collector out of old vacuum attachment, and hooked it up to my 4" pipe. It's not perfect, but it's at least acceptable now.

Fourth, the blade guard and kickback pincers are extremely cheesy. A behind-the-blade splitter is not available on the aftermarket. You will be tempted to just remove the mechanism, something we all do but shouldn't. I use a rigged up set of Grip-Tites that I bought here on amazon as a blade guards and anti-kickback pawls.

In short, I wanted to get a cabinet saw, decided to save the money and go with the 746 "Woodworker's Saw". Instead of saving me money, I've spent in excess of $700 on upgrades, and countless hours to create a saw that's effective, reliable, and safe. I should have remembered my first Woodworking Instructor's advice that "Only rich people can afford to buy inexpensive tools." It's been a great learning experience, but I wanted a great saw, not a lesson.

I would advise people to either save up for a Powermatic 66, or buy used. There are really great used saws available; a used Delta Unisaw or Powermatic would be a far better purchase than this offering.