Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Dewalt). This thread is read-only.
New member and table-saw beginner here. I just bought the dw745. The blade guard (pawls, knives) seem to be a little different than what I expected. They dig into the plate while adjusting the blade height. I wanted to keep the blade at the minimum safe height, but the pawls keep it at a pretty tall height. Is there an adjustment that I’m missing?
Also, the manual states that the blade guard assembly will be parallel to the table when installed properly. However, mine won’t get down that far, and I don’t want to force anything. The display model at the store looked like mine, which makes me feel a little better…but not much.
Thanks for any info
It is not as bad as you think. For starters there are several different guard designs that DeWALT has used. The oldest had 2 bolts and shims that held it on and kept it aligned behind the blade. The most recent is a modular design that allows you to keep a riving knife behind the blade if you have to remove the guard. Since you are a beginner remember that any time you are messing around the blade ensure the saw is unplugged.
It sounds like you have the saw fully raised and the anti kickback pawls are as close to vertical as they can get. What you can do is pull pawls up or to the rear of the saw as you lower the blade. Most of your cuts will be 1 1/2 inches or less so they don’t normally get that close to vertical and feel like they are trying to dig in.