17.4.18

Dome ongoing: See saw, mind the door.

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I was struggling to close the gaps between the gores due to a lack of clamps. The ratchet straps didn't help much because of the gap for the observation slit.

Mid morning in sunshine and my 71st birthday present arrived in the form of a DE7400 DeWalt mobile workstand for my table saw. Mobility was certainly achieved once I finally had put the thing together. 

DeWalt's instructions book artwork is all but useless. Small images, with thin grey lines instead of solid black with enough substance to see it without a microscope. It really is unforgivable. As is not duplicating the images for each language. Are they really afraid of the cost of a couple of extra printed pages? Fortunately I don't need instructions but hate making obvious mistakes when all logic has escaped the maker.

When it came to squeezing the table saw under the miter saw on its own stand I hit several snags. The worst was the completely unnecessary carrying handle on the underside of the miter saw stand. This required I lift the whole miter saw and its bench one handed. While I wriggled the table saw carefully underneath.

Then the yellow ends of the miter saw bench stopped the table saw fence bars from going under. More wriggling as I lifted both the miter saw and bench saws bodily lengthways. Finally, I was able to nest the two but it used up a lot of depth in my 8' wide shed space. The saws face a 30" deep shelving unit.

 I you close one eye you can't see the mess surrounding the nested DeWalt saws. Pushing the tyres with the flat of my foot proved useful to get the table saw to creep gently under the miter saw bench. I really don't need such a long bench for the miter saw but anything shorter would block the table saw on its mobile bench. Two mobile benches side by side would work [at considerable extra cost!]

Placing the table saw on its bench nearest the wheels, so that one support bracket is nested in the bright, pressed steel bracket, greatly helps the balance when wheeling the saw about. The retractable handle provides just the right leverage for almost effortless mobility. I was very pleased with this aspect. It will save me crippling myself by bodily lifting the table saw, from the floor and onto a static workbench outside every time I need to use it. I am a martyr to mental inertia when it comes to such hurdles.

The only obvious downside is the considerable distance covered on the ground when lifting and lowering from and back onto the wheels with the legs extended. The stand and mounted saw have to rotate around an arc centered on the feet of the forward legs.

Lifting the loaded, table saw bench on and off its widely splayed legs looks awkward but is easy enough. Even for a fully certified old fart like myself. The DE7400 mobile saw stand is highly recommended by this new user.

Click on any image for an enlargement.
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