DeWalt DW745 - 10" Compact Job Site Table Saw

My experience with DeWalt table saws goes back to Elu, and I am happy to say that I still have one running perfectly. The basic design of the new DW745 owes a lot to that heritage but you can see how the design has evolved to produce a more user friendly machine.

The first thing I noticed is that at 22kgs it is a good deal lighter than any of its predecessors and a one man lift. The saw is housed in steel roll cage for that time when you drop it down the stairs. Will it survive? I didn't try it. I was glad to see that the new saw has built in hand holds so dropping it is unlikely but it is a pity that DeWalt didn't’t think to put two wheels on the stand so you could fold it with the saw still attached and wheel it in and out. In these days of urban congestion you often see tradesmen dragging tools and equipment the length of the street. There are big rewards waiting for manufacturers who address this problem in their design. Out of the box, the set up time for this machine is very short. The guides are factory set but naturally I checked them anyway and they were spot on. The fence adjustment is a rack and pinion device on both side of the table. As you wind the handle it moves smoothly up and down and remains square to the blade. The brilliant innovation means that you won't get pinching and jamming due to a tapering fence. The measurement gauge gives an accurate indication of the rip width when the fence is on the right but if you want to be a big girl and use it on the left then you will have to get your tape measure out.

Once you have the fence set you can lock it with the small lever at the side which stops the rack moving. The motor is 1700watts which I suspect is the same motor that it used in the flip-over saw and from my experience this can struggle ripping down a length of 50mm thick sawn softwood. The depth of cut is 77mm which is slightly less than the flip over. The blade is a 250mm Series 30. If you want to bevel cut you simply slide the handle at the front and lock it on the required angle. It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to use this saw as a serious cross cutting saw. There are better saws in the DeWalt range for cross cutting and cutting long pieces in this way can result in kick back. You can cut short lengths and moldings using the bevel slide set at 90 degrees but on the cross cut this is about the limit. A table saw, to my way of thinking, is really about ripping rather than cross cutting. The fence is extendable over the back of the table to handle longer work pieces. You should also avoid freehand cutting on a table saw. I did meet a man once who did this regularly until the work piece kicked backed and took his fingers with it. A push stick is provided so there is no reason to get your fingers anywhere near the blade.

When using a table saw many people simply set the blade high. This means that you only have two teeth working at any one time. If the blade is set lower to the tips of three teeth are just showing through, you have more teeth taking smaller bites. Having run this saw for a couple of weeks on site it soon became very popular with the guys who tried it and if you can afford two saws this saw plus a mitre saw will cover just about every eventuality. It might seem extravagant to have two saws set up on site but it is a sign of the times that this saw is no more expensive than my old Elu was all those years ago, which in real terms means that they have come down in price as the production has moved east.

The saw is none the worse for that because it appears that the quality control is there and it has a really great bit of design. You are getting more for your money, rejoice!

• DEWALT POWERTOOLS  -  Find out more about the DW745 on the DeWalt web site.