I bought a 744 after trying out the 745 and decided I would like the larger fence. The 744 I received from an online source (Tyler Tools) had a serious blade wobble and when set at 45 deg. the blade would contact the plate. The box it was shipped in looked as if it been hit by a semi! I called the Dewalt center (Seattle for me) and they traded me for a brand new model which works flawlessly. They told me some versions of the 744x are on recall so watch out. I haven't found any information online about the recall except for a posting in Australia. Had I not been near a Dewalt center I would have been hit with some serious shipping costs so be careful before you order a 744x. DEWALT DW744X 10-Inch Job-Site Table Saw with 24-1/2-Inch Max Rip Capacity
I had purchased a small contractor DeWalt 745 saw. It was a great little saw. But I wanted the larger 744x unit. I need a bigger fence area. Got the first 744 and it had a problem with the rack and pinion fence. It was so tight It wouldn' move. Tried adjusting it via the owners manual to no avail. Amazon shipped another unit and to my dismay it also had a rack and pinion AND fence problem. The fence would hang on the right miter slot. And the pinion gears jumped off the track when trying to adjust the fence. I'm very dissappointed in the factory setup on these saws. Poor quality control. I believe once I get beyond these poor factory quality issues I might have a good saw. But frankly, I would think twice before purchasing a DeWalt saw agaain . . .
This saw cuts with ease. The ability to rip up to 24.5 inches has already come in handy in the first week of using it. It makes it easy to cut plywood by your self. and the gaurd once set up makes consistant accurate cuts every time. I do not even measure the wood, I just set the table up to the correct size and rip the boards. Purfect every time.
I bought this saw primarily as a job site saw but it has seen some service in the workshop as well. It is ideally a two man lift not so much because of the weight but because it's awkward to man handle on your own, owing to the large table. I also purchased the additional outfeed and side supports which are great but they also add weight to the saw which have made it even heavier. As i work on my own the additional 30 inches of outfeed support has to be balanced against the extra weight.
The saw sits securely on the stand and has all the power anyone should need in a contractor saw. The rack and pinion fence is excellent and the best on the market in my opinion. I place the fence on the right hand side of the blade so the rip scale is set for me, anyone who sets the fence on the left will have to use their tape measure. The rip scale was out by a 1/16 of an inch and the fence was a 1/32 of an inch out of parallel with the blade. The mitre gauge seems as on all contractor saws to have been a bit of an after thought, there is a 1/16 of an inch of slop between the gauge bar and the gauge slots. This is not a huge issue for me as i rarely use it, when i do use the mitre gauge i push against the side of the mitre slot nearest the blade when making a cut.
There is onboard storage for spare blades and blade spanners, it's a pity Dewalt couldn't have included a cord wrap and onboard storage for the mitre gauge. There is an aluminum shield with a rubber extension which covers the bottom of the blade underneath the saw, this seemed to be holding the sawdust and overheating the motor. I removed it, it might be intended to be left in place if a shop-vac were attached to the dust port. I also removed the blade guard and the riving knife, these imo are workshop acessories.
The threaded bar that is attached to the handle that raises and lowers the blade is exposed, hence the threads get clogged with saw dust. Making it almost impossible to raise and lower the blade, i modified a piece of plastic tubing with a slightly larger diametre than the threaded bar by slitting it down the middle and slipping it over the bar. This has kept the saw dust off.
In conclusion i would'nt advise someone working jobsites on their own to buy this saw, it's just a bit too heavy and awkward. Ideally i'd leave the DW744 in the workshop and buy the DW745 which has the same size motor but with a reduced rip capacity and hence smaller table.
Just a little update on the above, the fence on my saw has a tendancy to drift towards the back of the blade which burns my stock as it clears the blade. This always seems to happen no matter how many times i re-adjust the fence. There are two 10mm bolts under the fence at the back of the table which need to be loosened to adjust the fence for parrallel. I recently went to re-adjust the fence and ended up tightening the bolts when i should have been loosening them, this sometimes happens when the bolt heads are facing down rather than up. I stripped out the threads in the bolt housings which unfortunatly are part of the cast table. I took the saw to the service centre and they gave me three options, thread locking compound, a new table, or a new saw. I choose the tread locking compound as a temporary fix, a new table will cost me 250 Euro. Expensive mistake.
I've liked it for the month I've had it, but the blade went out of alignment and caused a serious kick-back issue. I followed the (very skimpy) directions for adjustment but wasn't able to fix it.
I went on-line and found a recall for saws made in 2007 with the identical symptoms. My saw doesn't fall under the recall, but since it's only a month old the warranty covers it.
One other issue. Is it just me or are the holes for bolting the saw to the stand too close to the legs to allow a secure attachment?
Those issues aside, it's a handy easy saw for what I want to do right now, but when moving up to a more exacting type of work I may well trade up. A manual adjustment of the blade angle doesn't encourage precision.
Update 12.08- adjustment went fine- problem solved. - Portable Saw - Contractor Table Saw - Bosch Table Saw - Contractor Supply'
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