The Dewalt DW745 portable table saw, which regularly sells for $300, sometimes more, is currently on sale for $270.
That’s a great price for a fantastic saw. It’s got a 20″ rip saw capacity, and a nice geared fence system.
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The folding stand is an optional (read extra) purchase. There was an even better deal last holiday season, where the saw and stand were selling as a bundle for $299. The next holiday shopping season is more than 5 months away, and there’s no guarantee that the same promo will come around again. (In other words, this is the best deal that might come around for a while.)
Update: The saw with stand bundle is also on sale, see below.
Sale Price: $270
Buy Now(via Amazon)
More recent models have greater rip saw capacities, and maybe more power. Some of the larger models have dado blade capacity, but this one doesn’t. But for the price, and what this portable table saw can do, it’s one of the best DIYer or hobbyist woodworking table saws out there.
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Update: The saw with folding stand combo, model DW745S, is also on sale, for $299 at Acme Tools.
Buy Now(via Acme Tools)
A W
I have this saw, and love it. The rack and pinion fence system is amazing.
It will not do dados, and the 20″ rip capacity is sometimes limiting, but for general homeowner use, this is a very good value, and a fantastic first table saw.
Ecotek
What he said. The fence is super fast and dead on accurate, always. Only 20″ rip, but it’s a portable saw. Its small enough and light enough to haul around to jobs and do almost anything you ask of it. It does what it’s made for tremendously well.
Koko The Talking Ape
Wow, but that table is tiny. Have either of you tried rigging some kind of table extensions?
Ecotek
Not me. I have a contractors saw at home for bigger stuff. I don’t use the DeWalt for sheet cutting much. Mostly trim work, ripping lumber, stuff like that. It really is accurate to well under a 1/16″. I have a Carpenters roller stand if I’m ripping longer stuff. I don’t see why you couldnt setup a larger table or something you could set it to. I’ve seen lots of stuff like that online. I hope that helps. Take care.
fred
I was sometimes asked but always loathe to recommend a table saw as a Father’s Day or Holiday gift unless I knew that the recipient was up to using what can be a dangerous piece of machinery in untrained hands. This is a nice saw for its diminutive size – but it is not a toy and deserves respect in its use. Actually, because of how close to the blade your hands might be on a small table saw, how small the table is to adequately support larger work pieces and how underpowered the motor sometimes is compared to the tasks sometimes asked of it – I sometimes think that a small jobsite saw may be more dangerous than something like my Unisaw.
Julian
I have had one of the earlier versions for six or seven years now. Used mainly for home reno work and sometimes some (theatre) scenery building. Just last week used it for fence rebuilding and ripping down to width many, many fence boards. I have even used it with a more than one blade – bad but quick way of making rough dados.
Yes it is possible to do bad and dangerous things with any spinning blade HOWEVER I love it. Treat it carefully and look after where your fingers are and it will do well.
Julian
A W
Your advice is prudent as usual, Fred.
I feel like, for the beginner, a very important safety element is keeping the fence parallel to the blade. I personally would recommend a table saw with a good fence system over almost any other safety feature (possibly including flesh detection). So, DeWalt, Hitachi, or the new M18 saws would be my personal list of saws for a beginner to look at.
For an entry level saw, I wouldn’t look below this price point.
clf28264
I own it, with proper respect and care it’s a solid starter saw. The lack of dado is what let’s it down in my opinion as it’s limiting for a home hobby shop. Dust collection for the saw is mediocre with a shop vac and cyclone. I assume a better dust collector would aide pick up. Also, pick up a better combination blade since the one it comes with is rather poor.
Todd
I’m not sure why dewalt lists this saw as only having 20″ rip capacity. I have the saw and added a second set of fence “pins” (cap head screws) at the furthest point I could get fence to remain square to the rails and it gives just a hair over 24″ to the right of the blade. Maybe it was a stress issue on the rails? I’ve ripped many sheets of 3/4″ mdf at 24″ and its held up fine.
As for not accepting a dado stack, that is true. It will, however, fit a box-joint blade set which typically cut ~1/4″ and ~3/8″ so you could do a 1/2″ 5/8″ or 3/4″ dado in two passes. I use the saw on site, so if I’m having to make a couple grooves or dados I’ll just use the router and guide rail.
This is a great saw, arbor is true enough, its a bit quieter then the Bosch compact jobsite saw, it’s lightweight, the rack and pinion fence has never needed readjusting in 3 years of daily use by myself and two coworkers and occasionally other carpenters (and it gets tossed around in a truck, rolled up and down stairs on Dewalts rolling stand).
All that said, I would echo what Fred said. The infeed on this saw is very short, and you only have about 5″ of fence and ~4″ of table before your workpiece contacts the blade so if you’re inexperienced with a table saw, or rushing, you can get yourself into trouble. A larger saw with 5-6″ of infeed and longer fence is “safer.”
Jeff Mootrey
Could you elaborate on extending the the fence another 4 in?
Todd
If you notice in the first picture, the fence is not close to the end of the extension rails which IIRC is where it came installed from Dewalt. If you move the pins or add a second set (cap head screws and a T-nut) to about 3″ before the end of the extension rails you can lock the fence down at the end of the rails.
I have not compared the 745 and and the 748 side-by-side , but I have a sneaking suspicion that all Dewalt did to the 748 to claim “greater rip capacity” was add this second set of pins to the exact same rails.
You can see the second set of blade-right pins in this picture:
https://homefixated.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Unboxed-800×400.gif
A W
Mine fits at 23 3/4″ at the furthest point it will clamp consistently.
Rami
Yet again I envy the tool prices in US. That same saw costs 775€ ( about 915$) here in Finland.
Blythe
Its a great saw, use it often. I’m always jealous of these sales, wish I would have waited for the stand bundle when I bought mine, and I haven’t bought it separately because $70 seems like a rip off.
To the people complaining about dado capability and small table size-you have to remember that dewalt designed this to be a carpenters saw, so portability is the paramount quality. If you are a hobbyist looking for a garage saw then look on Craigslist for something with a large cast iron table. You will be happier with it, and the “hybrid/contractor” style can be had for $100-$150
ktash
Here are some ideas for extensions and other enhancements for this saw:
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/137626
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/171410
https://www.instructables.com/id/Outfeed-Table-for-Dewalt-Table-Saw-for-10-includes/
I’m thinking of making the extension at the last link. Not expensive, easy to make, very portable/storable, plans are included in pdf and sketchup. There was one comment that one measurement didn’t fit, so I’ll be checking it against my saw.
Wayne
I used to have one of these. I started woodworking as a hobby with it. Bought it in 2014 for $220 around the holidays, then sold it two years later on Craigslist for $220 haha.
It’s a great starter saw if you can’t afford something bigger. The area in front of the blade was always my biggest issue with it. It makes it hard to get straight cuts on long pieces of wood. The fence is amazing though. It also had more power than my current Delta 36-725. The delta bogs down easier even though it’s better in every other way.