dw 788 holddown arm adjust

[victoria]

Is there any trick to Adjusting the hold down arm on the DW 788? I am having a tough time adjusting that thing ; it is either too loose or too tight . What should the proper tension be? Maybe the answer is just more experience?

[Minnesota scroller]

Hi Victoria,

Is that your real name? Even though the hold down is consdidered a safety feature, I believe most scrollers will agree that hold downs are just a nuisance and always in the way. The best solution? Remove it and throw it in a drawer somewhere.

[lucky788scroller]

I dont use mine either, but if you feel more at ease using it, thats fine too. set it by putting your wood under its lowest point, and either hold it up just a smidge while tightening, or slip a few sheets of paper tween the holddown and the wood while tightening.If it tends to get snugger with the wood after tightening iot, loosen it again, and add a few more sheets of paper. If to tight, it does more harm then anything, and remember, as you cut the wood, you relieve stress in the wood, so it may appear the holddown is getting tighter, when in fact the wood is changing, either cupping or bowing ,usually just a little bit, and thats not a problem. Dale

[wwalker47]

Yep, I agree with Mike and Dale. I dispensed with mine the first day, as a mater of actual fact I didn't even put it on the saw. Just pitch it.

-Bill

[Bill Wilson]

Also agree with previous posts. The Dewalt's hold down is especially cumbersome because it sticks so far out in front of the blade. I took mine off right after I got it, even though on my old Craftsman, I generally left it in place if I wasn't doing a lot if inside cuts. Use your fingers to hold the piece down. With a little practice you can keep downward pressure and still guide the piece through the cut. It doesn't take a lot and after a while, you will never miss the hold down.

[Carter Johnson]

When I first got my DeWalt about ten years ago, I found this "thing" in the box and could not figure it out. After easily cutting some puzzles without it, I looked at it again, finally determined that it was in fact a hold-down gizmo of some sort, said "How Dumb" to myself and threw it away. It was nice to find out on these forums that I did the right thing.

Have phun.....Carter

[Woodbutcher68]

Mine's sitting on a shelf near my saw so I can put it back on in case OSHA ever shows up.
I guess the correct tension is no tension.

[CJoZ]

It has a hold down? I also didn't put mine on. It is the first thing to come off when you assemble the saw.

[Capt Weasel]

Yep, chunk it. I used to use mine when I first started. It causes more aggravation thats its worth especially if you're scrolling a piece that has a bow in it. The tension increases and decreases so suddenly it'll mess you up. I chunked mine and things go alot easier.