DWS780 Slide question? Was this fixed w type 20 production?

I’ve researched the DWS780 Double Bevel SCMS and am VERY interested in this model.  However, a lot of early reviews stated the slide was very course and rough.  I was at HD yesterday, tried the floor model and yes it was un-smooth and very gritty.  Last night I read a review where someone liked the slide and specifically mentioned they had the Type 20 model. Is the Type 20 an upgraded version or something completely different?  If its a modified version was the slide mechanism improved over the Type 1?  Also (if this is a revised build) is there any documentation on what is different on the Type 20 version?  When I go back to HD, I’ll look to see which Type the floor model is.  When I get time, I’ll also download both breakdowns to see if part numbers are the same or different for the various slide components.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I’m interested in this also. Right from the start I thought the slide was rough feeling. The saw itself is a fine tool but it just don’t feel as smooth as I think it could be. I was in Lowes one night and started checking out the other saws for comparison. Next time your in Lowes check out the DWS780 equivalent Kobalt saw, it glides so smooth there’s hardly any resistance. Their slide system puts the DeWalt to shame, just saying.

We have 2 DWS780’s and have not had any slide issues.  might have been only in a few saws.

Thank you!  Glad to see that I’m not alone.  I posted this same complaint on the old Dewalt Owners Group way back when with no real resolution.   I was in HD just last night buying some battery packs and again pointed out to the tool mgr just how badly the floor model slide worked.  His comment – he hears this too often about this model.   

 

I bought my DWS780 in December, 2011 (?) at Home Depot, so I definitely have an early production model.  They were being sold concurrently with the old 718, but I liked the higher rear fence, the deeper throut and the LED blade cut guide.  And while the’d cut the price on the old saw to move them out, they were including the #726 rolling miter stand with the new model for $550, so I couldn’t pass it up.

 

I returned the first unit because the slide chattered like crazy.  The replacement is better, but certainly no prince!  Following recommendations I’ve tweeked  the allen (?) head adjuster, waxed & oiled the slides and bearing.  I see no imperfections on the rails, so it has to be internal.  I’m an engineer and ‘handy homeowner’.  So far I’ve used the saw for 3 rooms (about 600 sqft) of 12mm Pergo (with 96 tooth laminate blades), several rooms of crown and base moldings, and a bunch of smaller hobby stuff with the OEM blade.  So the saw is still young by ‘real users’ standards.  It’s maybe a little better with use, but the occasional chatter of the slide can definitely be seen in the finished cut edge.

 

I’d sure love to see a solution!        

I just got mine this past nov and haven’t noticed…

not enough missing fingers for a recall?

My bro, dad, and myself all have one and haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Not the smoothest saw available, but it’s not the most expensive either.

I love my saw, it slides as smooth as butter.there is a small knob that adjust tightness. It also maybe just preferance.

I haven’t noticed this issue either, I will Check again compare it to the other brand saws.

It would be great to know that newer saws don’t have this issue, or that the majority of 780’s produced are good.  But if you want to see what some of us are fighting, stop into a HD or Lowes and give one a push.  Retail stores typically put out a floor display unit from the first-of delivered, and that bolted-down example stays there for the sales life of the product.  I’ve tried them at a number of stores, and too many of them feel like mine!  It’s kind of sad, as I want to love the beast.  It’s a great saw with the exception of this issue.

 

BTW, that black knob up top is a lock, and not a drag adjustment!  But right near it, IIRC, is an allen or torx inset screw that adjusts bearing preload.

I have heard people complained about this before and worried about it when I purchased my saw, but never noticed a problem. mine was purchased in the last couple of years, when did u purchase yours. Just wondering maybe they solved the problem and maybe it was just hit and miss.

I personally own one (2 years now) and I owned the prior model with the rails over/under. My company owns 4 for the field installers & 8 are part of the indoor millwork shop supplement

 

I have heard complaints about the unit moving too much left-to-right at full extension (or ‘draw’) and have compared it to all our other sliding miter saws (milwalkee, hitachi, festool kapex) and have noticed they all ‘move’ the same amount

 

I have also heard this complaint about the ‘gritty-ness’ on the slide action, I have only noticed this when there is exceptional amount of sawdust/debris that accumulates on the saw itself

 

the most common products we cut (ultra high end finish work only) are: pre-finished hardwoods, hardwoods, poplar, veneers, finish plywood

 

as for my company, it is well known that the blade is 50% of the saw’s performance, as it’s the only thing making contact with your product (like tires to a car). considering our materials, a 100 tooth H-ATB (between 0 -to- 10 degree) thin kerf blade or a ATB-R  will perform flawlessly. typically, tenryu brand is preferred, then Dewalt (good luck finding their AWESOME 100 tooth ATB-R blades), finally Frued… since my company would never consider buying a Forrest blade for their cost.

 

some of the Pro’s/Con’s for why we chose and continue to use them:

Pro’s

– light weight, though 56 lbs is heavy, it’s one of the more lighter 12″ sliders available considering it’s size

– minimal maintenance, we re-square/align the miter saws and table saws about once every 3-4 months, the Dewalt dws780 models are often the ones that do not require any adjustment or if they do, it’s the fastest and easiest ones to do so

– they are the most compact when fully collapsed, for transport turning them full right (60 degrees), with the head locked down and slide at it full forward… these take up the least amount of space or any of our other 12″ models

– largest cutting capacity: if you haven’t checked yet, it has the largest cutting capacities of all the ones we use, extremely handy when needing quick cuts for making jigs then switching to large 6 1/2″ crown then back again

 – then light, never thought I would like it, now I struggle when I cant have it

 

con’s:

– it takes about 36″ from wall to tip of the mitre locking handle to the rail pushed furthest back to  fully operate properly & comfortably @ 90 degree cuts (with dust bag), so if you want to set it up in a hallway that’s 42″ wide… think again, or else I hope you’re a wirey fellow

– it’s a belt drive motor, so if you are using a not-so-good brand blade or a dull one, you may have to get the motor to full speed before you make your cut(s) to achieve decent results

– …it’s a 12″ saw, a lot of deflection can occur if you force it… again, the blade makes all the difference

 

FYI, I have never met any one who owns one or uses one and says, “this thing stinks”

 

good luck

Welcome to the forum Chris

The good part is that not too many of you have experienced this.  The bad part is that I’ve got one.  I can only suggest that you stop into a few retailers and slide one for yourself.  If you are really unlucky, you’ll find one like mine!  I’m long out of the warranty and regret that I didn’t make a fuss to Customer Service when it was.  So be it.  I hate to shotgun this, but I’ve considered looking for an exploded diagram for this saw and possibly ordering bearings for a home rebuild.  Can’t be much worse than doing a CV joint on a car, eh?  😉

 

One of these days I need to snap a picture of the dust collection adapter I made for connecting my shop vac.  I guess I should contribute something positive to this forum.

look on Ereplacement parts.com just type in the model and it will provide a full exploded view

 

it’s likely your bearings are problematic or one cracked grinding against the others

Well fibber it will be interesting to hear how u make out. Need to get some photos when u do repair.

Thanks chrism for the info good know if I ever need to look for parts and welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum Chris

For my DSW980 Type 1 the diagrams from the factory were better than what they had up on ereplacementparts.com

http://servicenet.dewalt.com/Products/Detail?isId=true&productNumber=DWS780&selectedType=23480

 

For reasons unknown both the support bridge/rails and the linear bearings are both shown on the exploded parts diagram as “170”.  Eparts only shows the full part number and price for the support, whereas Dewalt has both.

 

170 N084698SV   SUPPORT HOUSING Incls. rail 1 $129.81  

 

170 N395710   LINEAR BEARING KIT   1 $47.50

 

Net is this won’t be a cheap experiment….

 

EDIT:

 

OK, this is getting interesting.  If I change it from Type 1 to Type 20 on the Dewalt site it updates the ‘default’ drawings, yet the .pdf downloads remain as they were for the Type 1.  On the ‘default’ drawings for the Type 20 I now only see one ‘170’, with a different PN & price:

 

170 N157708   SUPPORT HOUSING   1 $194.25

 

Did they revise the whole assembly?

Maybe they did resolve problem. Beautiful Sheperd by the way fiber.

I may have to take this discussion to Dewalt’s Customer Service in order to get a clear picture on how to proceed. 

 

Thanks!  I lost my beautiful boy to Bloat.  The FedEx and mailman used to ring the bell and ask if Madison could come out and play.  He was just that kind of gentle giant.  This pix was taken at my daughter’s preschool where he was ‘pet of the day’.  We now have a silly yellow lab.  Nice dog but dumb as a rock.

Yea I lost my Shepard last May at the ripe old age of 13. He was gentle, but did get me in hot water a few times with the neighbors. I still a female German Shepard, and yellow lab.

Sorry to hear of your loss of your beautiful GSD. They are amazingly intelligent and loyal (and talkative) creatures. We currently have a small female GSD and a larger lab/GSD mix. Although my wife and I wait an hour or so to let them out after eating, I still worry about bloat sometimes as the young one still romps around inside like a puppy even though she is coming up on 3 years old. I actually wish I had her stomach tacked down when she was spayed because she can be so hyper at times.

I’m sorry

Fibber2 wrote:

For my DSW980 Type 1 the diagrams from the factory were better than what they had up on ereplacementparts.comhttp://servicenet.dewalt.com/Products/Detail?isId=true&productNumber=DWS780&selectedType=23480

 

For reasons unknown both the support bridge/rails and the linear bearings are both shown on the exploded parts diagram as “170”.  Eparts only shows the full part number and price for the support, whereas Dewalt has both.

 

170 N084698SV   SUPPORT HOUSING Incls. rail 1 $129.81  

 

170 N395710   LINEAR BEARING KIT   1 $47.50

 

Net is this won’t be a cheap experiment….

 

EDIT:

 

OK, this is getting interesting.  If I change it from Type 1 to Type 20 on the Dewalt site it updates the ‘default’ drawings, yet the .pdf downloads remain as they were for the Type 1.  On the ‘default’ drawings for the Type 20 I now only see one ‘170’, with a different PN & price:

 

170 N157708   SUPPORT HOUSING   1 $194.25

 

Did they revise the whole assembly?

Any updated info on this project yet? I’d be willing to bet that all the DWS780 slides feel the same, it’s the bearings their using. Its not that it’s really bad but is noticeable especially if you have something better to compare it to. I posted how when I tried several saws in Lowes and the Kolbalt slide slide was so much smoother. I’ve used my 780 all last summer and dont have a problem with it but it feels just like the store display saw. It feels like when it slides the bearings are gritty and like that from day one. Not smooth with very little friction like you would expect. If everyone that thinks their 780 is fine but had the opportunity to compare theirs to say the Kolbalt saw they would agree there’s quit a difference in the way the slide feels.

I noticed the same thing when I went to buy which is why o went with the hitachi 12 inch saw. I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to whoever is looking for a new saw!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve been doing some searching on this subject and basically there were a couple of comments made about the bearings being on one slide is what’s causing the problem.

Even the type 20 updated version still shows only one slide with a bearing and different part number.

The saw apparently only has bearings on the right hand tube. When you lower the head it torgues the crap out of the slides making it difficult to slide.

When you lower the blade and try to make a cut the motion is so jerky – the bearings are grabbing because they are being torqued off to one side.