DWS520KTR (DeWalt plunge saw)

[farlsborough]

Still in two minds about this saw. I bought it primarily because it was an amazing deal; a little over £300 when most other brand packages are well over £400, and I use and trust DeWalt in general. It seems to perform well so far, but my issues are:

1) It’s noisy! Sounds rough as ar5eholes on start up, to the point I nearly sent it back. A bit of Googling suggests this is a common concern and it’s to do with metal gearing components which even out over time apparently. Be interested to hear others’ experience.

2) Doesn’t have a positive stop at 45°, and doesn’t lock into the track like the Makita, so longer bevelled cuts aren’t as easy.

3) The track being double-edged is not as useful as it sounds (does it even sound that useful?) Sure, you can run it both directions - but how hard is it to turn a light alu track over? What it does mean is you can’t butt the track up against e.g. benchdogs, so I’ve ended up buying a short length of Festool track for shorter cuts on an MFT style top. Why Festool? Because…

4) Although this saw has recesses in the base to allow it to travel on other branded tracks, Makita (and Evolution, I think?) have a lip that the anti-tip mechanism latches into. So you have to carefully cut a long strip of aluminium off the inside of one of the track grooves if you want to use it.

5) Yet another incompatibility problem - I thought I’d save some money on branded rail clamps and by Drillpro ones (Banggood), only to find the ends are just that little bit too wide to fit into the central groove - it’s that bit narrower than competitors. So I either buy another set of DeWalt branded ones or spent an annoying hour grinding a few mm off the edges of the clamps I’ve got.

6) Let’s face it, the world of track saw accessories and systems is geared to the Festool (and therefore Makita) world. Hats off to DeWalt for not just copying and trying to innovate, but it’s an uphill battle, and I’m not one they seem to be winning.



All in all, I feel like I’ve run into a fair few downsides to this saw that I’m not convinced are outweighed by some of the marginal benefits (more central weight distribution on the track, slightly deeper cut, “the amazing double-sided track”). And even though I haven’t used any other track saw, the fancy parallel plunge mechanism that is supposedly an improvement feels awkward to me - it doesn’t depress as you expect it to, meaning you put pressure on it at the wrong angle and it feels like it’s not working/too stiff - I don’t see what’s wrong with the simpler pivot.

So yeah… would love to hear why this saw is so great but currently, I feel like I’d have been better off spending the extra £100 and going with the Makita, which no one seems to have a bad word to say about.

 

[MikeK]

Here is a video from 2014 (originally created in 2009) about the DeWalt tracksaw. He never mentions the model number, but it appears to be the original version of the DWS520. He makes a few comparisons to the Festool TS55, but overall the DeWalt is a good saw. I have the TS55 and TS75, and both sound like a box of sphincters when starting, so this must be normal for these types of saws.



One immediate advantage I see to the double-sided DeWalt track is the ability to have separate splinter guards for two different blades or saws when the kerfs are not the same.

 

[Spectric]

The Dewalt and Bosch were in the running when I was looking at tracksaws, it got close but I went Makita at the last minute and Festool was never considered due to cost and less power. The Dewalt apparently has one big advantage compared to others and that is how close you can run it to a wall.

I thought the Dewalt was more expensive than the Makita, my 110 volt Makita with a rail was £320. On the subject of noise I think they are all noisy because they use straight cut gears.

 

[Eric Roy]

When I bought my DeWALT one of the deciding factors was that it had a good length of rubber mains lead. Some of the others had very short power cords by comparison and with little flexibility.

 

[farlsborough]

So I think I might actually be going crazy. I vividly remember the rail clamps from Banggood not fitting in DeWalt track because it was so annoying.

went to start the laborious and messy job of grinding some off, digging out the stone wheels for bench grinder etc, only to offer them up again to see how much material to remove and found that the b*ggers actually fit perfectly

 

[stuart little]

Not having a use for a plunge saw, but wanting a 'track saw', I bought a DWE576K & 2 x DW tracks, & a pr of DW clamps (these were almost a give-away- offer from FFK). They all work splendidly together, & you have the option of using the saw w/out track, much better than the straight edge & clamps approach. This was about 4 yr ago so I can't recall the prices, but I did shop around picking all from various sources having the best prices. I do remember that the total was quite a lot less than buying a plunge saw kit.

 

[farlsborough]

Update on the update: I was half-right. The clamps initially fit into the rail but don’t slide along it as they aren’t narrow enough at the 90° bend.

Only a tiny bit of grinding required and they fit perfectly.