DEWALT DW788 1.3 Amp 20 Inch Variable Speed Scroll Saw

Customer Reviews

Dewalt Scroll Saw

2007-05-13
Smooth cutting, large table and easy blade change. all in all a very good tool

Great scroll saw

2007-03-08
I am so happy with this scroll saw. I had a Craftsman for years and it was time for a new one. The blades kept breaking all to often and the vibration was terrible. The Dewalt is really worth the extra money. It runs really smooth and I haven't broken ANY blades so far. I almost purchased one of the $1000 plus ones and I'm so glad I didn't.

Best Scroll Saw with the Best Price!!!!

2007-03-08
It is an excellent scroll saw at an excellent price. I am very pleased with it, very little vibration. Far cheaper than some scroll saws similar to it, such as the excalibur.

nice machine

2007-02-13
I have owned this saw for a couple months. I have played with it enough to get a feel for it but I have not worked with it enough to be an expert.

Strengths:

1) The cast iron table is nice (large and smooth)

2) The saw doesn't vibrate hardly at all in fact I don't even have mine mounted yet. I have simply put it on a work bench and the saw stays put.

3) The saw does make very nice cuts

Weaknesses:

1) It's heavy for moving (is also part of its strengths)

2) It seems to be a little underpowered for larger stock

Overall it is a nice machine with a fairly hefty price tag.

Good saw, but does have vibraton

2007-01-29
A year ago I purchased a very cheap ($50.00) scroll saw to see if I would like scroll sawing as a hobby. I did, so this year I decided to upgrade. Prior to purchasing my new scroll saw, as my Christmas present, I thoroughly read all the reviews I could get. After careful review it looked like the hands down winner in my price range was the DeWalt DW788. A number of the reviews indicated that the saw had minimal vibration compared to other saws, along with a number of other good features. Some reviews indicated you could balance a coin on its side. Contrary to the reviews, my saw definitely has vibration. Even more that my cheap $50.00 saw. I went to the Baltimore Woodworking show in January and discussed my concern with a DeWalt Service rep. He recommended I bring the saw into his service shop, but he was from Pennsylvania, so he recommended I take my saw to the DeWalt service shop in Baltimore, which I did. Unfortunately the service rep that looked at my saw was obviously not familiar with scroll saws. He didn't even tension the blade while he was trying it out! When I did tension it he kind of gave me a dumb look. Anyway he said there was nothing wrong with my saw. Other than the vibration, which I can live with reluctantly, I do like the saw, and it's other nice features. Especially, the ability to swing the arm up to thread the blade into large pieces.

Great Guy Toy

2008-07-03
This was for my brother's 70th birthday, he is having a great time. He is really excited about the ability and ease of this instrument.

Scroll Saw

2008-05-27
My saw is bench mounted and is very steady when cutting. Quality piece of equipment.

Two dead Ducks

2008-02-21
I use 2 of these at a middle school woodshop. We have had nothing but problems with them. Now before you think it is because of the hours of use, let me explain. When they are running, they are only on for two hours 4 days a week. Within the first 2 weeks, they both died. The repair shop took their time (3 months) to fix and then they broke again a month later. Back to the shop and 4 more months! Both circuit boards went out and the linkage get very sloppy. I just had another circuit board go out this week. I wish I could replace these, any ideas?

Not the same saw

2007-12-30
I used to demo these seven years ago and was really excited about getting my own. They were very close to Excalibur then and were more than half the going price. After taking it out of the box I noticed the extremely poor job of milling on the table top. I was going to deal with it latter but after setting it up the variable speed control was not variable at all. No matter what I did it would not change speed (it looked to be stuck at at the low setting) and it is going back. On closer inspection the seam of the casing also seemed to be off and I could see clear gaps (1/32 to 1/16). The box was not dented and was in perfect shape so I don't believe it was done while shipping. If the next one is milled in the same manner I am going to go with an Excalibur, I have seen Dremel and Craftsman with better milling and finishing at half the price. Very disappointed and would never buy over the internet or without examining it at the store first, including turning it on and playing with the variable speed dial..

DO NOT BUY THIS SAW

2007-08-09
If you are a hobbyist, and you don't have plans to ever cut anything thicker than 1/4 inch, then you don't need this saw anyway. If you want to do quality work, you don't need this saw. If you want to pay a high price for extremely bad quality control, then this is the saw for you.

Older models of this saw aren't so bad, older as in over 6+ years old. I purchased mine about 4 years ago, and the arms aren't even the same length. You can't get the blade square to the table. The top arm is literally longer than the bottom arm. How do you possibly miss something like that during manufacturing? Complaints from others includes a non-flat cutting table, too much distance between the arms making blade insertion difficult, or in some some cases, preventing it all together.

The original design of this saw was excellent. Too bad that Dewalt can't figure out how to successfully manufacture it.

If you think your saw is okay, you might want to tension up a blade and check it for square, side to side and front to back. You might be surprised at what you find.