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I first tried this D24000 slide table wet tile saw at a DeWalt press and dealer preview, and have been itching to get my hands on it ever since. Many tile saws on the market struggle to cut a larger tile on the diagonal for a mitre, and as the fashion is for everything difficult, I am finding more and more call for diagonal layouts.
The cantilevering rails system allows the carriage extra travel for increased capacity, allowing tiles of up to 610mm to be rip cut and 450mm on a mitre. Depth of cut is 95mm, allowing other building materials to be cut such as granite, slate, limestone, marble, paving slabs and mono blocks. The head can also be bevelled and locked on at any angle between 0 and 45 degrees. The saw also has a plunge facility allowing plunge cuts in tiles for electrical sockets. To test the extreme limits I cut a whole load of 600mm concrete paving slabs for a patio, and though I had to take it gently and not force them through, it worked very well. It is certainly much easier on the back than using an angle grinder, a good deal quieter and dust free.
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Of course it is one thing to cut a large tile, and another to cut it accurately. With some tiles costing six quid a pop you can’t afford to make too many errors. Dewalt ACCU-TRAC™ rail system is said to achieve 0.8mm over a 450mm cut. Anyone looking for more than that in a tile is in the wrong game. Why else have grout? The guide rail is made of stainless steel unlike some of those cheap Spanish machines I have seen rusting away. The sliding carriage has a sealed bearing system which produces precise movement, and requires no lubrication. |
Having the rail on the frame alleviates the need for daily calibration. When you do need to true them up, the rails have micro-fine tuning screws for quick and easy vertical and horizontal adjustment. I just laid a square down to check the blade and away I went. There is a cut indicator on the table for easy line up of cuts from blade to fence. There is a very clever flip over guide for mitres, which allows you to engage the guide as you need it, rather than set up for all your mitres at once. |
The built in water pump directs water through dual water nozzles which can be adjusted to spray directly on to the point of cut, limiting mist and dust from the blade. The detachable side and rear water trays capture the water, and direct it straight back into the base pan of the machine to be re-circulated by the pump. Judging by how little you need to top up the water reservoir, this works very well. What is unforgivable is the small clip-on filter on the pump inlet. The plastic lugs broke on the first day and after that I held it on with a piece of wire. The wire works fine but I can see people who don’t own the machines losing the filter and just not bothering to replace it, which is a very quick way to ruin the pump. It annoys me to see good machines let down by little 'bought in' items like this. If DeWalt did design and build the pump, which I doubt, then they should find the person responsible and kick his/her backside. If this is going to be a serious site tool, then it needs to be robust right down to the smallest detail. |
What is very remarkable is that whole thing weighs just 32kg. The alloy castings make it extremely portable for a machine of its cutting capacity. Other machines I have tested of this capacity are much heavier. The machine and attachments are easily transported onto the jobsite with the minimal of fuss. |
The machine comes with a porcelain blade, which can be used to cut a variety of materials including tiles and concrete, slate, marble and granite. Also available, as an extra, is the ceramic tile cutting blade and the D240001 leg stand plus water catchments trays for catching the spill off larger tiles. |
Specification |
- Model - Dewalt D24000-GB
- Power Input - 1600 Watts
- 110 and 240 volts
- Wheel/Blade Diameter - 250mm
- No Load Speed - 4200rpm
- Depth of cut - 95mm
- Max. Crosscut Capacity (tile at 90°) - 610mm
- Max. Crosscut Capacity (tile at 45°) - 450mm
- Plunge Feature
- Width - 690mm
- Length - 860mm
- Weight - 32kg
- Cutting disc included
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