Dewalt DW721K 230 Volt Radial Arm Saw Reviews

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Good Points: Free standing radial arm saw with 610 mm of crosscut capacity, 870 mm of rip capacity and 90 mm depth of cut.Comes complete with tools for making adjustments / changing blades.4m heavy duty power cord.Full service facility and spares available from Dewalt approved distributors.2000 watts power.Spindle lock for easy blade changes.Good dust extraction keeps the saw and work space relatively free of dust even when not using a powered extractor.Easy to make adjustments and keep clean.Soft start (more suited for portable power tools).Good castings / mouldings.Sturdy and stable. Good design and construction. Good choices of materials.Good finishes.Attachments available: DE1212 Router chassis bracket - takes 620, 621, 625, 626 etc.DE3450 Mitre fence - allows compound mitres etc.DE3749 - Sanding and dado guard - (Dewalt... I have no idea what this does, or what it is for).DE3754 - Automatic Head Return Spring (Dewalt... it does already have one!).

Bad Points: There were no screws & nuts, in the blister pack, to hold on the main control box (50mm x 6mm x 1.0mm pan-heads).Power cord routing differed slightly from that shown on the diagrams.Detailing in the manual of the head return spring mechanism assembly was missing.Unable to find stockists for standard blades (300mm x 25mm x 3mm +10 ), let alone; alternatives!Information on available attachments is "sketchy".

General comments: The Dewalt DW721K 230 Volt Radial Arm Saw easily requires 1.5m square of workshop space to sit in! Also when delivered it weighed in at 167kg. Since space is a premium, in my workshop at least, I fitted it up with some braked swivel castors from screwfix (75mm rubber tyres) fortunately the fixing holes lined up correctly in the top castor plates and the bottom of the legs. The main "unit" parts were pre-assembled, but the the leg-stand needed putting together, the motor, guard, blade, control box, etc. all required fitting.Single speed. Good cable routing means less chance of injury / accidents.The adaptable bench top is made from 25mm high density MDF and comes with optional extensions to extend the width of the platform. Sections are put in / taken out and held by supplied clamps on the machine frame. This enables the bed to take the optional (not supplied) DE3450 mitre fence, which allows one to cut compound mitres.The DE1212 Router chassis bracket is basically a 4mm thick, mild steel, four sided box that accepts the router through their fence rail holes. A bit pricey, I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. It does look promising though and may well turn out to be a better router table than my Trend PRT.Upon receiving my DW721K saw; I checked it for squareness on all angles and found it was running out a bit on all. Adjustment is easy and detailed well in the manual. After calibrating it, with a square, it cuts beautifully.The power control switch (not dead-man's) is well placed, aptly, just above the handle and very well designed and thought out. The main arm is cast iron with strong, well placed webbings. The arm accepts the motor housing on, four, sealed roller bearings and slides very smoothly indeed.This saw does "true" depth cutting - parallel even cuts, rebates, etc. if you have a workshop this is the saw to get. It does as much as any saw can do, and then some. And then even more with the optional attachments.Expensive, heavy, large footprint, big jobs. Not suitable for DIY. "Full blown" professional workshop kit. Well done Dewalt!