DeWalt 788 saw question

[todddyer]

Howdy all,

 

I have not been scrolling very long so consequently, I am pretty newbish.

 

I have a DeWalt 788, and I am working on a stack cut project that requires a perfectly square blade. I can adjust the table to square up the blade from side to side, but front to back I notice that the blade is a few degrees off when I check it with a small square.

 

There is a little bit of play in terms of how I set the blade into the seat and tighten it up, but not enough to get the blade to a perfectly square position.

 

I don't see a straight forward way to make any adjustments to my saw to square up the blade in the front to back direction.

 

Any DeWalt owners ever struggle with this and can offer any advice / tips?

 

Appreciatively,

Todd

[chippygeoff]

Hi Todd. I have a Dewalt 788 and unfortunately there is not a lot you can do with the fore and aft movement of the blade, it is one of the quirks of a scroll saw. I also have an Excalibur 21 and on this one you can adjust this movement. You can play about with the blade clamps on the 788 by checking the the end of the T bolt is square and not burred over and set the grub screws on the other side correctly. I slide in a piece of steel thats a snug fit and then tighten the grub screws so they just touch, do this top and bottom and it may help a litle bit.

 

Geoff.

[Bill WIlson]

Todd,

 

What you are describing is a problem that many DeWalt users have experienced in recent years. Not all DeWalts exhibit this problem. I have a Type II that cuts perfectly vertical and I've never had to do any modifications or adjustments to it. I believe the problem is in manufacturing tolerances allowing a cumulative error to occur in some saws where the top blade clamp is actually positioned slightly forward or behind vertical, when compared to the bottom clamp. You are correct in that there is no adjustment within the saw that will allow you to easily correct this problem, however, I've read on Rich Hutcheson's website http://scrollsaws.com/ of a fix that seems like it can be readily performed by the user. Take a look at the DeWalt Tune-up page on Rick's website and scroll down a ways until you find the section called Front to back blade movement fix; DW788 blade forward travel

 

Good luck!

[todddyer]

Thanks guys for the tips & references

 

I kind of figured there wasn't much to be done from an adjustment perspective. I read the article that you posted Bill, and tearing my saw apart and retapping screws sound like a scary proposition for me

 

I like the idea of opening the bolts up in the clamps wider and fitting a small steel jig inbetween the blade and the bolt to provide a little bit extra length. This is what I will try tomorrow morning. Now just need to figure out what to use for the jig

 

Thanks all

 

-Todd

[elum]

I am one of the many that had the front to back adjustment problem with the DeWalt 788. I had tried every thing I could think of to adjust the table. I ended up going to Rich Hutcheson's website http://scrollsaws.com/ and used the "tune up" process of slotting the screw holes. It made a world of difference. So just letting you know, it worked for me.

[qlty]

When I put a new blade in my 788 I put it in the top clamp first you can then adjust the blade end to sit square in the back of the clamp,I then lower it in to the bottom clamp and tighten it.After that I always feed the blade from the bottom of the work and have never had a problem of it not cutting square.

[amazingkevin]

Lots of tips and tricks with the dw788.best one that I used was take it apart  and grease all the bearings I could get to with Valvoline synthetic grease.My  saw is wore out badly but after the grease job its almost like new again.There was only two bearings I could not get out and one of them was worn real bad in the front lower of the saw.not that this has anything to do with the question here but every little bit helps!