Dewalt 788 over-under cut problem

[griley]

Hi,

I bought a dewalt dw788 last fall. The blade lines up fine and runs parallel left and right while running. However at the top of the stroke the blade comes rearward 1/16 to 1/8 inch from the bottom of the stroke. Which means you can't back into a cut with the back of the blade because of the piece vibrating from the back and forth motion of the blade. I'm talking blade movement forward and back. I believe they call this condition over and under cutting. Is this a common problem with the dewalt? I can't find anywhere in the manual on correcting this issue. Has anyone here dealt with this problem? The blades are in correctly as far as I can tell. I have an old delta and I can sit a piece of wood against the back of the blade and start it and the wood will move backwards about 1/32 inch at most. With the dewalt it pushes back almost 1/8 of an inch. I hope I have made myself clear. Any advice and or feedback appreciated....Thanks Gary

[Travis]

Hmmm...that seems pretty excessive. I haven't heard of DeWalt having that problem. It is typical of scroll saws to have a little bit of the rocking you described. I believe its the mechanical circular action of the motor translating into a vertical motion. But I never heard of it being that extreme. Hopefully someone who owns a DeWalt will have some insight. I'd love to know what you figure out if you get it solved.

[Barry5180]

I haven't heard of a DeWalt having that problem either. The design of the DeWalt is setup to eliminate virtually all of the rocking motion associated with most saws. If you're have that pronounced of an issue, I would be inclined to think that the blade holder assembly is not aligned on the arms correctly. This may not be something that you can adjust yourself. I don't own a DeWalt yet, but that seems where the problem would be to me.

 

Barry

[griley]

I wrote Dewalt about this problem right after posting here. They replied today:

 

"My product managers suggest getting the saw into a service center for evaluation. They tried to simulate this problem on their saws and were not able to come up with a solution."

 

I am using the saw to much to take into a service center 70 miles away. I will try to get it in sometime this spring. Just wanted to keep those interested up to date.....griley

 

 

Hi,

I bought a dewalt dw788 last fall. The blade lines up fine and runs parallel left and right while running. However at the top of the stroke the blade comes rearward 1/16 to 1/8 inch from the bottom of the stroke. Which means you can't back into a cut with the back of the blade because of the piece vibrating from the back and forth motion of the blade. I'm talking blade movement forward and back. I believe they call this condition over and under cutting. Is this a common problem with the dewalt? I can't find anywhere in the manual on correcting this issue. Has anyone here dealt with this problem? The blades are in correctly as far as I can tell. I have an old delta and I can sit a piece of wood against the back of the blade and start it and the wood will move backwards about 1/32 inch at most. With the dewalt it pushes back almost 1/8 of an inch. I hope I have made myself clear. Any advice and or feedback appreciated....Thanks Gary

[Firedkm]

Yes they have had a problem with this. I had it on my saw and was able to reduce it the problem.

 

1. The lower blade assembly. There are 2 allen screws that hold this in on each side. Loosen them up.

 

2. The blade assembly will actually move back and forth just a little bit. I pulled mine out and this helped my cutting.

 

3. Tighten the screws up and do a test cut. You will have to play with this to see what position works better for you.

 

Good luck

[Sparetime Scroller]

Gary-

I had this problem with my Dewalt that I bought about a year ago. I had it to a service co. and they didn't help at all. I asked about it on another forum and they suggested a fix like the one Dale said, but took it one step further. I took the two screws out of the lower blade assembly and used a Dremel tool to grind the hole forward by about 1/8", pulled the blade assembly forward as much as I could, and put the screws back in. The saw has worked beautifully ever since. There is hardly any "bounce" against a piece of wood placed on the back of the blade.

 

I hope I explained it well enough for you. If you have any questions about this let me know.

 

Ray F

[griley]

Thanks for the advice, I will certainly give it a try I'll let you all know if it helps.

This problem is the only thing stopping it from being a great saw.....griley

[griley]

Firedkm,

I tried your suggestion and it did improve a lot. I think I just don't have enough adjustment to eliminate the problem.

 

Sparetime Scroller,

I am going to try your suggestion about grinding a bit more hole. I am just waiting until I get a new clamp ordered in case I mess up. (As I usually do)

 

Sorry for the delay in letting you know how it worked out......Gary