Hey everyone! I've recently picked up a Dewalt 7485 job site saw and I've been really pleased so far. I followed the manual's instructions and confirmed that everything is square, and I even checked out a Katz Moses video on maintaining table saws. Everything looks good in terms of being at 90 degrees and parallel to the runners. However, I'm struggling to make straight cuts, especially with plywood panels. I don't have space for an outfeed table — I usually just use sawhorses and a plywood table to support the lengths I'm cutting. Yet, my cuts never seem to be square. Could it be my support method? Also, I noticed my riving knife seems a bit bent toward the fence instead of being inline with the blade. Is that typical? I've faced some binding issues when cutting longer pieces too. Any advice would be appreciated!
5 Answers
It sounds like your fence might be the culprit. I've had a similar issue where the stock fence wasn't accurate. A good fix is to use a board: after making sure your blade is set to 90 degrees, run a cut against the fence, then attach that board to act as a more reliable fence. That can really help with your cuts being square!
Interesting! I didn't have issues with mine, but I made sure to align it properly. Maybe it just needs some tweaks.
Did you ensure the fence is squared properly to either the blade or miter slots? It's crucial to check that using a reliable tool. Also, applying too much pressure against the fence might cause it to bow out, so keep an eye on that. And about your riving knife, it should indeed be parallel to the blade to work effectively!
That’s a bit strange — if the blade is parallel and not binding, you should be getting square cuts. Have you looked into the blade you're using? Sometimes the material can be the issue too. I dealt with some melamine sheets that had too much internal stress, and no matter how much I adjusted my saw, I ended up with off cuts because of that. Try a different material to see if that changes anything!
I faced a similar situation before. I ended up investing in a dial indicator kit to help me figure out my alignment issues more accurately. It's super handy; if you're planning to keep this saw, I highly recommend getting one, as you'll need to keep checking the alignment over time! I also find it helpful for my router table.
You might want to try pre-cutting your pieces slightly larger and then making a final trim cut for precision. Additionally, adding a removable T-track to your fence might give you better support for longer pieces, like the bow fences do. That could improve your cuts too!
Great thinking! A jig can work wonders for all kinds of problems!