New DeWalt

[browders]

I just replaced my 10 year old DeWalt with a brand new one. Looks the same and saws great. One thing I noticed is that the gap between the upper and lower blade clamps is somewhat greater on the new saw. The blades fit in there, but just barely. Is that a change they made, or is something amiss with the saw?

Thanks,

Jim

[kmmcrafts]

Maybe the tension rod is too tight.. or maybe too loose on the old saw.. I think they would want the rod adjusted so the upper arm would be parallel to the saw table when the arm is all the way down without a blade in it.. At least that is how it's done on the Excalibur saws.. The issue is on the DeWalt you have to take the tension lever and the top switch plate etc. apart to make any adjustment to it... where a Excalibur or similar saw has the knob at the back of the saw to adjust that.. 

If it saws alright and the blade fits.. maybe just use it unless there is a issue. maybe eventually it'll wear down enough to be like the old saw, 

[OCtoolguy]

What Kevin wrote is correct. The distance between the upper blade holder and the lower blade holder should be just about what the length of the blades is. If it's wider, that means the tension rod is too short or the tension lever is not returning to the OFF position. Either way, it's an easy fix. The is a lot of info on your saw at scrollsaw.com. Many of the Dewalt inherent problems have been written about there and how to fix them.

[Gonzo]

Congrats on the new saw!

[redwine]

Maybe I shouldn't chime in on this topic, but it just doesn't make since that buying a new saw that has been manufactured for many years using the same drawings of the original saw that was developed in Canada so many years ago, that you have to work on right after it is taken out of the box in order to make it right just isn't right!  It does make since in a way, the saw is built over in China, packaged and ship over here to the states and it is possible that in the transport parts can become loose or even tighten so as not to work like it should! In my case after I decided  to upgrade to a "high end" saw  after buying a Dremel saw that HD was selling at half price to bring in their own line, I went back to HD to price the Dewalt saw knowing what the street price was at the time, HD would not come down from the suggested Manufactures price well over $700!  I ended up buying the Delta P 20 at a very good price in the range of $375 or so from Lowes!  I still have the saw although the parts needed to get it back into operation are no longer available unless I have a machinist make up the parts which will be very expensive!  At least there wasn't any problem with the saw when it was unboxed and set up on the stand that was also included, It was ready to go once I put a blade and started the process of cutting! Granted most of it was from overseas but as I remember not from China! This is just my 2 cents worth and as we all know that is not much!

Erv

 

[browders]

Thanks for all the replies. After using the new saw it seems to cut just fine. I think I'll just go ahead and work with it as it is. It will just be a matter of dealing with the blade placement in the clamps. I suppose even this old dog can add one more trick to his bag.

Jim

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, redwine said:

Maybe I shouldn't chime in on this topic, but it just doesn't make since that buying a new saw that has been manufactured for many years using the same drawings of the original saw that was developed in Canada so many years ago, that you have to work on right after it is taken out of the box in order to make it right just isn't right!  It does make since in a way, the saw is built over in China, packaged and ship over here to the states and it is possible that in the transport parts can become loose or even tighten so as not to work like it should! In my case after I decided  to upgrade to a "high end" saw  after buying a Dremel saw that HD was selling at half price to bring in their own line, I went back to HD to price the Dewalt saw knowing what the street price was at the time, HD would not come down from the suggested Manufactures price well over $700!  I ended up buying the Delta P 20 at a very good price in the range of $375 or so from Lowes!  I still have the saw although the parts needed to get it back into operation are no longer available unless I have a machinist make up the parts which will be very expensive!  At least there wasn't any problem with the saw when it was unboxed and set up on the stand that was also included, It was ready to go once I put a blade and started the process of cutting! Granted most of it was from overseas but as I remember not from China! This is just my 2 cents worth and as we all know that is not much!

Erv

 

I have yet to buy any saw that was ready tuned and ready for work straight out of the box.. with the exception of the Hawk.. the two new Hawks I purchased was in fact tuned and square blade to table ext.. but Hawk also test every saw before it leaves the factory.. and the owners ( small family business ) are scroll sawers too so they know how to use the saws.. I believe Ray at Seyco also tunes the saws before they are sent out.. Not sure about Hegner but I assume they might be tuned too.. My point is.. you really do get exactly what you pay for when buying the mid range or lower saws..  

My new table saw, miter saw, bandsaw, and not a single scroll saw was exactly tuned and running true aside from those mentioned above .. That said, yeah it would of worked straight out of the box.. just not work correctly.. I expect that I would have to tune any new saw purchase.. The people making them are just assembly line workers and probably most don't even know how to use one of the saws they are making.. 

[BadBob]

I have never had a tool with moving parts that did not require adjustment/alignment. YouTube is full of videos on how to do this with various tools. I keep a square on a magnet on the front of my scrollsaw to check blade alignment and a 10mm wrench for adjusting the clamps. Yesterday, I discovered my lower clamp was out of alignment. It had moved so far to one side that I could not get the blade in. It was tight, so I don't know how it moved. Fortunately, I was not cutting puzzles.

[kmmcrafts]

25 minutes ago, BadBob said:

I have never had a tool with moving parts that did not require adjustment/alignment. YouTube is full of videos on how to do this with various tools. I keep a square on a magnet on the front of my scrollsaw to check blade alignment and a 10mm wrench for adjusting the clamps. Yesterday, I discovered my lower clamp was out of alignment. It had moved so far to one side that I could not get the blade in. It was tight, so I don't know how it moved. Fortunately, I was not cutting puzzles.

The locknut on the Pegas chucks is a joke.. Sorry but this is one minor flaw of the Pegas chucks.. They think because they put that locknut on that the set screw will not turn.. I ran into this same thing with my chucks.. I also didn't like the long screw and the nut just gives added weight to the chucks.. 

Now that you have it back to square keep an eye on it because it'll move again on its own.. What I did to combat that issue was remove the locknut and set screw and used a shorter one from a Excalibur and use blue loc-tite on it.. no issues after that.. For some reason the threads tolerance on the locknut and the set screw tend to be on the loose side which allows the set screw to spin still.. Probably in my own head but I swear the saw runs even smoother without the added weight of the locknut and longer set screw, LOL

[BadBob]

39 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

What I did to combat that issue was remove the locknut and set screw and used a shorter one from a Excalibur and use blue loc-tite on it.

Loctite was the first thing I thought of.

[OCtoolguy]

6 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

The locknut on the Pegas chucks is a joke.. Sorry but this is one minor flaw of the Pegas chucks.. They think because they put that locknut on that the set screw will not turn.. I ran into this same thing with my chucks.. I also didn't like the long screw and the nut just gives added weight to the chucks.. 

Now that you have it back to square keep an eye on it because it'll move again on its own.. What I did to combat that issue was remove the locknut and set screw and used a shorter one from a Excalibur and use blue loc-tite on it.. no issues after that.. For some reason the threads tolerance on the locknut and the set screw tend to be on the loose side which allows the set screw to spin still.. Probably in my own head but I swear the saw runs even smoother without the added weight of the locknut and longer set screw, LOL

I've never experienced that on either of my saws.