DeWalt DWS 780. why is the blade off center to the left side?

[Mountain_Lion]

Ok, no I meant that I can't believe that it was supposed to do that. I think someone replied to your post and said it was supposed to do that. I was meaning that I couldn't imagine Dewalt would intentionally make it so you just shaved off what you needed if it wasn't square. Thanks for the video though. Hopefully now you can get it fixed so you can use that sweet saw!

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

My apologies I am totally on the same page with you. Hopefully the one who said shaving the kerf plate was okay can see the video. Sorry about confusion.

[kruton]

No you are fine man. I have been doing some research to find myself a good miter saw and everyone really liked the Dewalt. Now once it's fixed I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the saw.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[Mountain_Lion]

No you are fine man. I have been doing some research to find myself a good miter saw and everyone really liked the Dewalt. Now once it's fixed I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the saw.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I absolutely LOVE this saw. Its like owning a lexus but because I am new to this type of equipment I dont know what is acceptable and what is not so I learn by asking questions. It feels expensive and very well put together. I made cuts and I was absolutely stunned how perfect they were. It was as if someone had sanded, polished, and put a coat of gloss over the bevel cut I just made with this saw. I wish I could show you. I absolutely LOVE this miter saw. It definitely is my favorit but you know what? They still have some room to make their product even better. They can package it better. I would include 2 clamps not one as they have. Some DWS780s have minor cosmetic scratches (imagine your laptop having scratching when you buy it). Though this is not a laptop or far from it, I dont think it should have any scratches. Like an automobile you buy. Would you like scratches and visual imperfections on it? Neither this saw should have any but it usually does. The left throat plate on my saw came scratched up and its not a big deal but a little annoyng. I think they have a poor quality control. They may be more concerned with how the saw performs and that is a good and the right thing for them to be concerned but neglecting on little things is wrong. I like the bau house design which Steve Jobs incorporated into Apple's MAcBook laptops. What it means is that no part of the product or the design is less important than the other. i.e. all parts are equally important, YES even those that we do not see, including the internal parts which the operator usually does not see. They too have to be absolutely perfect. So this saw this division of black and decker (who apparently owns DeWalt) has lot more room to grow and improve on their product and they should. If I was them I would hire a japanese quality improvement consulting firm and some expert quality control folks and I wopuld hit it hard right in the very center of it. That's what I would do if I had it my way. But for now I am going to use this saw, carefully, find out as much as I can about it so I can fly this thing and try to make some money out of it and enjoy the process in the meantime! Cheers!

[roadhog96]

I'm the one that made the comment about the blade cutting the kerf plate. Don't take this the wrong way and try to understand what I'm saying. Your blade, no doubt is slightly touching the edge of the left plate when you bevel it to the right at 45 degrees. If you start the saw and run the blade down slow the saw teeth will create the required clearance by shaving off ever so slightly that little bit of material that is coming in contact with the blade teeth. As you know, the only reason it's hitting in the first place is because the blade doesn't have as much clearance on the left as it does on the right. If the blade was centered with equal space on both sides of the blade it may just clear both plates when beveled to either side. I really don't know why DeWalt designed it this way and I don't think the explanation I got from DeWalt is correct but it is what it is.

Plastic is a very soft material compared to wood. If you had cut a piece of wood at 45 degrees to the right and hadn't noticed that the blade made contact with the plate before you used the saw, you won't have noticed that the blade shaved the plastic as it cut through the wood. It wouldn't have done any damage to the saw blade or saw. But because you noticed this prior to cutting the 45 your reluctant to do it because you believe it's not the right way to solve the problem. DeWalt wouldn't design it so that the user has to cut it to fit, right.

Some kerf plates were made in a one piece design, they were plastic like the old Delta saw I had. You created the slot once the saw was set up properly by cutting through the plastic kerf plate. This method gave you the tightest clearance to the blade possible. Some saws have adjustable kerf plates. There are kerf plates available called zero clearance made specifically for clean 90 degree cuts without any tear out. But you really cannot bevel the blade with these plates because they are so close to the blade.

Anyway getting back to the issue, if you don't want the blade to remove that little bit of material on the left kerf plate because you think it might ruin the saw or blade you better hope you never need to bevel cut a 45 to the right because there is no other way to over come this from what I can see. I'm sure everyone who ever used this saw did this without even realizing that the blade hit the kerf plate. Every DWS780 I've looked at has the same clearance as yours. I bet if you used a non carbide tip blade it would just clear it. It was probably designed with a regular blade installed and no one ever gave any thought to whether it would clear a carbide blade.

Seems I find fault with everything I buy. I'm always wondering why they designed something they way they did because it's not aways the best design. I modify just about everything and make it perform much better than original. DeWalt is no different than most companies. They manufacture a quality product for the most part the least expensive way possible and have it perform within specs and make as much profit as possible. Yes, I've found fault with DeWalt tools also. It's a fault I have but at the same time a gift. I wish I could have had a career improving on manufacturing designs, I would have enjoyed the challenge.

[Mountain_Lion]

I think it is very simple. DeWalt representative told me it should be centered and said there's not much he can do over the phone and asked me to bring it in. It' s a hussle so I first checked if people like you knew how to fix this. Apparently this is a subject to a debate. So I will take it to DeWalt just to be absolutely sure. Not a big deal. And I do not think allowing the blade to shave off the left kerf a little is a good idea, because there is limited space under the kerf plate and it may be just enough space for saw to clear other parts of the inside only if it is centered. If it is not centered it may actually hit the metal part under the kerf plate. One should never attempt to modify their saws kerf plates this way. I doubt that DeWalt wanted people to shave off even a micrometer of its kerf plate.  Everything is done by computers nowadays and everything should be precise. Now if for some reason the kerf plate itself was not simetric and you could see it was wider then it should be, I would then think shaving some off in order to center it would be okay but the way you are saying I can't agree. Thanks!

 

I'm the one that made the comment about the blade cutting the kerf plate. Don't take this the wrong way and try to understand what I'm saying. Your blade, no doubt is slightly touching the edge of the left plate when you bevel it to the right at 45 degrees. If you start the saw and run the blade down slow the saw teeth will create the required clearance by shaving off ever so slightly that little bit of material that is coming in contact with the blade teeth. As you know, the only reason it's hitting in the first place is because the blade doesn't have as much clearance on the left as it does on the right. If the blade was centered with equal space on both sides of the blade it may just clear both plates when beveled to either side. I really don't know why DeWalt designed it this way and I don't think the explanation I got from DeWalt is correct but it is what it is.

Plastic is a very soft material compared to wood. If you had cut a piece of wood at 45 degrees to the right and hadn't noticed that the blade made contact with the plate before you used the saw, you won't have noticed that the blade shaved the plastic as it cut through the wood. It wouldn't have done any damage to the saw blade or saw. But because you noticed this prior to cutting the 45 your reluctant to do it because you believe it's not the right way to solve the problem. DeWalt wouldn't design it so that the user has to cut it to fit, right.

Some kerf plates were made in a one piece design, they were plastic like the old Delta saw I had. You created the slot once the saw was set up properly by cutting through the plastic kerf plate. This method gave you the tightest clearance to the blade possible. Some saws have adjustable kerf plates. There are kerf plates available called zero clearance made specifically for clean 90 degree cuts without any tear out. But you really cannot bevel the blade with these plates because they are so close to the blade.

Anyway getting back to the issue, if you don't want the blade to remove that little bit of material on the left kerf plate because you think it might ruin the saw or blade you better hope you never need to bevel cut a 45 to the right because there is no other way to over come this from what I can see. I'm sure everyone who ever used this saw did this without even realizing that the blade hit the kerf plate. Every DWS780 I've looked at has the same clearance as yours. I bet if you used a non carbide tip blade it would just clear it. It was probably designed with a regular blade installed and no one ever gave any thought to whether it would clear a carbide blade.

Seems I find fault with everything I buy. I'm always wondering why they designed something they way they did because it's not aways the best design. I modify just about everything and make it perform much better than original. DeWalt is no different than most companies. They manufacture a quality product for the most part the least expensive way possible and have it perform within specs and make as much profit as possible. Yes, I've found fault with DeWalt tools also. It's a fault I have but at the same time a gift. I wish I could have had a career improving on manufacturing designs, I would have enjoyed the challenge.

 

 

[Illini]

My DWS780 is not centered between the kerf plates, either. You can see in the first picture how it is more to the left. But that being said, it does not hit when doing a 45° angle from the right (or from the left). I apologize for the photos being rotated, I'm not sure why it is changing the orientation of the picture.

[Illini]

I forgot to add that I'm very interested in seeing what Dewalt says to you about the blade needing to be centered between the kerf plates when you take it in.

[roadhog96]

My DWS780 is not centered between the kerf plates, either. You can see in the first picture how it is more to the left. But that being said, it does not hit when doing a 45° angle from the right (or from the left). I apologize for the photos being rotated, I'm not sure why it is changing the orientation of the picture.

Have you actually ever cut a piece of wood with the saw beveled at 45 degrees or are you just setting it up to check to see if it will hit if you ever tried it because of this topic?

[Mr. Yellow]

I remember an earlier topic about this and I checked my DWS780 which happens to be off-center as well. It's no big deal really.

You can cut at any angle and it won't shave off anything from the kerf plate or anything underneath there. In case you wanna find out, just unscrew the kerf plates, bevel the saw up to 45 and pull it down (not running) to see if it will hit anything...

[Illini]

Have you actually ever cut a piece of wood with the saw beveled at 45 degrees or are you just setting it up to check to see if it will hit if you ever tried it because of this topic?

. I was just setting it up to reassure the OP that the blade should not hit when beveled at 45 degrees (even if the blade is slightly offset when at zero). I offered the photos up as a comparison with the video he made. For what it is worth, I can make cuts with the saw beveled at 45 degrees without issue.

[roadhog96]

. I was just setting it up to reassure the OP that the blade should not hit when beveled at 45 degrees (even if the blade is slightly offset when at zero). I offered the photos up as a comparison with the video he made. For what it is worth, I can make cuts with the saw beveled at 45 degrees without issue.

Did you ever check to see if the blade made contact with the kerf plate before the first time you ever made a bevel 45 cut? The reason I'm asking is once the first time a cut is made the blade will never come in contact with the kerf plate because it would self clearance itself without you even knowing it. The blade barely catches the edge of the kerf plate. If you apply very little down pressure to the handle as your making the cut, there's a slight flexing, enough that the blade will miss just the kerf plate. I bet most people have a tendency to pull down on the handle harder than the realize when operating the saw and it never touches. If you move the saw through the motion of making a bevel 45 cut without pulling down on the handle does it hit? In other words, move the blade forward the table at that angle without pulling down on the handle, push it from the top going at the same angle as the blade is traveling.

[Illini]

Did you ever check to see if the blade made contact with the kerf plate before the first time you ever made a bevel 45 cut? The reason I'm asking is once the first time a cut is made the blade will never come in contact with the kerf plate because it would self clearance itself without you even knowing it. The blade barely catches the edge of the kerf plate. If you apply very little down pressure to the handle as your making the cut, there's a slight flexing, enough that the blade will miss just the kerf plate. I bet most people have a tendency to pull down on the handle harder than the realize when operating the saw and it never touches. If you move the saw through the motion of making a bevel 45 cut without pulling down on the handle does it hit? In other words, move the blade forward the table at that angle without pulling down on the handle, push it from the top going at the same angle as the blade is traveling.

good question. I actually did make sure that the clearances were okay before I ever used the saw. This was my first compound miter saw, and I had concerns about the slides on the Dewalt because of some comments I'd read, so I make sure that I checked everything out extensively when I initially bought it. That and the fact that the offset blade concerned me when I bought it. I understand completely where you are coming from regarding the kerf potentially being cut on the first 45 degree pass, but that wasn't the case for me.

[roadhog96]

good question. I actually did make sure that the clearances were okay before I ever used the saw. This was my first compound miter saw, and I had concerns about the slides on the Dewalt because of some comments I'd read, so I make sure that I checked everything out extensively when I initially bought it. That and the fact that the offset blade concerned me when I bought it. I understand completely where you are coming from regarding the kerf potentially being cut on the first 45 degree pass, but that wasn't the case for me.

The question now is why are some just catching on the edge? I don't remember seeing anything in the owners manual related to to an adjustment if your saw had this issue. I don't really see how you could adjust it even if you wanted to, if you moved it any ,it would throughout out somewhere else. I'm going to go through the set up instructions again to see if I can find anything on this.

[Mountain_Lion]

The question now is why are some just catching on the edge? I don't remember seeing anything in the owners manual related to to an adjustment if your saw had this issue. I don't really see how you could adjust it even if you wanted to, if you moved it any ,it would throughout out somewhere else. I'm going to go through the set up instructions again to see if I can find anything on this.

that would be awesome and appreaciated...

[Mountain_Lion]

My DWS780 is not centered between the kerf plates, either. You can see in the first picture how it is more to the left. But that being said, it does not hit when doing a 45° angle from the right (or from the left). I apologize for the photos being rotated, I'm not sure why it is changing the orientation of the picture.

I can see from these pictures that yours is in better postion than mine because you are not as much to the left as mine is. If my saw blade was or had at least one milimeter to the right I would clear it when making bevel cuts at 45 degrees. thanks for pictures. great help but as you can see from my video mine blade is way left.

[Nordraw]

Have you checked another saw that was on display in the store to see if it looked the same way? Bottom line, if you don't feel right about it take it back and get another one. If it's the same way then most likely you will have to live with it or go with another brand of saw. Doesn't seem right to me. But sometimes you can't get the same angles on a saw tilting both left and right.  Check the manual for stats on this to see what they say. Good luck

[Mountain_Lion]

My DWS780 is not centered between the kerf plates, either. You can see in the first picture how it is more to the left. But that being said, it does not hit when doing a 45° angle from the right (or from the left). I apologize for the photos being rotated, I'm not sure why it is changing the orientation of the picture.

Mine is way more to the left. your is more to the center than it is to the left, although it is not centered and it is to the left. Mine is very close to the left kerf plate and if I bevel it it slighly touching the kerf plate. I guess you got lucky. Thank you for posting.

[Mountain_Lion]

Have you checked another saw that was on display in the store to see if it looked the same way? Bottom line, if you don't feel right about it take it back and get another one. If it's the same way then most likely you will have to live with it or go with another brand of saw. Doesn't seem right to me. But sometimes you can't get the same angles on a saw tilting both left and right.  Check the manual for stats on this to see what they say. Good luck

None of the Display units at the stores have blades attached to them. Which is kind of annoying because you can not see that there is this exact problem with the unit. 

[roadhog96]

I've read through the set up instructions and it only covers how to set up the 45 stops. No mention how to correct and make adjustments if your blade doesn't clear the left kerf plate. It does mention kerf plate adjustment but that doesn't help when it's already as far to the left as possible, I didn't remember reading anything about this before and it's because there was nothing in the instruction related to it. I'm going to look the saw over real close to see if I can spot anything that might contribute to this problem. There has to be a reason some clear and some don't.

Here's the manual.

http://documents.dewalt.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/N112900,DWS780%20E.pdf

[glass]

just return it for another  90 day return policy  ifind dewalt's manufacturing uneven even on their good tools

[Mountain_Lion]

Have you checked another saw that was on display in the store to see if it looked the same way? Bottom line, if you don't feel right about it take it back and get another one. If it's the same way then most likely you will have to live with it or go with another brand of saw. Doesn't seem right to me. But sometimes you can't get the same angles on a saw tilting both left and right.  Check the manual for stats on this to see what they say. Good luck

display saws do not have blades installed. i took it back already 3 times and every single one I got as a replacement had even bigger issues. missing parts, older type, wrong parts etc. Other brands are bulkier and not better at all. Sometimes you cant but when the manufacturer says you can, you should be if you paid money for it. I checked the manual (of course) there is nothing in it about this issue.

[Mountain_Lion]

just return it for another  90 day return policy  ifind dewalt's manufacturing uneven even on their good tools

 

 

did that three times already, kind of getting old for me.... :-(

[Mountain_Lion]

that is brilliant. that would be awesome. two pairs of eyes better than just one. I have the manual.

 

 

 

I've read through the set up instructions and it only covers how to set up the 45 stops. No mention how to correct and make adjustments if your blade doesn't clear the left kerf plate. It does mention kerf plate adjustment but that doesn't help when it's already as far to the left as possible, I didn't remember reading anything about this before and it's because there was nothing in the instruction related to it. I'm going to look the saw over real close to see if I can spot anything that might contribute to this problem. There has to be a reason some clear and some don't.
Here's the manual.
http://documents.dewalt.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/N112900,DWS780%20E.pdf

[roadhog96]

Ok I said I would take a closer look and I've finally got around to it. I've been busy right up till dark and by the time I'm showered and sit down its been around 9:30-10:00 every night.

I would rather be looking this saw over in natural daylight then in a dark basement with artificial light but right now I don't have a choice,

I attached some pictures to show the area that I want to mention. The slide assembly is a two piece design with the saw being attached to the upper bracket and the bottom bracket is attached to the slide rails. The two brackets are assembled on a common shaft with a torsion spring that sits between the two sections over the shaft. The upper bracket that's attached to the saw has two set screws on the back that lock it to the shaft. This is the only adjustment I can see at the moment. It looks like mine is more to the right than the left. If I was to move it to the left it would give more clearance between the blade and left kerf plate. The saw blade is 90 degrees to the table so the adjustment has to be a horizontal adjustment so that it doesn't effect the 90 degrees. It doesn't look like even by moving it to the left will be enough to center the blade but I haven't tried it either. The torsion spring is nothing you want to mess with. One end pushes up against the bottom of the saw and the other end pushes down against the slide base. It's under a great deal of pressure so that it holds the saw in the up position. It looks like this is the area that affects the blade placement. Right now mine is slightly to the right and not perfectly centered. The ends of the upper bracket appear to have a beveled outer edge so that it can clear the bottom bracket if it is moved toward either side. From what I can tell this adjustment would effect nothing other than were the blade is positioned between the kerf plates. The only other possibility would be the way the motor is attached to the upper bracket. If there is room for any movement so that the motor can be adjusted to the right which would also give more clearance between the left kerf plate. I cannot see good enough in a dark basement with the light if this can be done. I'm curious enough about it so I'll be checking this out when ever I can find the time to haul it outside were I can see things better.

I have no idea why the second picture is turned sideways. I tried uploading them twice and each time it turns the second photo. It even changed the order of the way they were uploaded. I took all the photos the same.

[glass]

The most important thing is the blade is parellel or in perfect alignment with the slides. There is a check for this. Set up the saw so it makes perfect 90degree cuts. Take a 14" wide board and clamp it. Pull saw head to full extension and make a plung cut and pull head up and make a plunge cut with the head pushed all the way back. The cuts with a square should line up. The blade being to the left or right should only affect how much you have to pitch or turn the miter detente plate as it does have some fore and aft mo ability. The blade could be so far to the left or right that you are unable to adjust the detente plate enough.