DeWalt 254mm DWE7491-XE

Beating heart of home woodshop – Note: item pictured at top of reviews shows a trolley stand which is not included with the saw. Being a hobbyist DIYer who likes to make things about the house, I put off getting a table saw for a long timel they're just so expensive. Now I feel like an idiot for doing so. The DWE7491 has become the most used tool in the shop. This thing isn't… Read more

cheap. Weighing in at nearly $1300 it was a cause for anxiety when I pulled the trigger. But I am so glad I did.

Here are the things I love: - The fence is dreamy, with a wonderful rack and pinion adjustment. Keeps it true. - Rip capacity is well over 800mm - Powerful motor cuts everything with ease - Onboard storage of fence and other tooling (but not blade changing spanners) - Includes blade changing spanners that work

Here are the things I'm not so fond of: - It is LOUD! The motor is not built in to cabinetry so it is free to yell at you. Wear ear protection. - The motor sparks when stopping - The tracks are non-standard size - The arbor is 16mm, making it difficult to find suitable blades (use a reducer) - The fence is a little short for longer cuts. - Dust collection isn't perfect, but show me a saw that is

This tool opens up so many opportunities for new projects. It has been used to build shelves, shop tools (e.g. drill press table), cabinets, cutlery drawer inserts, ripped down panels and ply, and much more. I haven't touched my circular saws or mitre saw since I bought it several months ago.

I also received the DWE74912-XJ scissor stand as a bonus and the saw fitted on to it with no problems. The stand is stable and I've had no issues with balance or tipping. I also use roller stands from Bunnings for longer workpieces to ensure they remain level at the ends of the cuts.

It isn't a match for a cabinet saw, but it is more affordable, transportable and smaller, which is great for the hobbyist on a money and space budget.

Worth getting, with a couple of caveats – When you’re a woodworker, a table saw is one of those things you never thought you needed until you actually had one. I had wondered what all the fuss was about until I bought my first one, and then wondered why I didn’t buy one sooner. After starting out with an el-cheapo option from Ozito (see my review on that one) and upgrading later to… Read more

something more mid-range (Evolution Rage 5-S – see review), I was finally flush with enough bugs bunny to do a real upgrade and buy a table saw from a reputable brand. I have to say at this point I’d been eyeing off the DeWalt table saws for quite a while, mainly because people online raved about them, and because on paper they had all the features I wanted in a table saw.

After looking at what seemed to be endless American YouTube reviews of table saws (the “jobsite “variety that are portable) and being distracted for a time by some other offerings from Bosch and Hitachi/Hikoki, I settled on the DeWalt DWE-7491 because, of the spectrum of features I wanted, the DeWalt had them all and others did not. Plus I was assured by many in the wilds of the internets that the quality of the DeWalt was very good. Fiddling with one in-store confirmed these claims, so off I went.

First things first, it isn’t the cheapest out there by a long shot. At $1,299 it is probably the most expensive portable table saw on the market with the exception of the SawStop. It’s a peculiar conundrum because it is priced at roughly the same as an entry level cabinet saw. So do you buy a top-of-the-wozza portable table saw, and accept the limitations inherent in a portable table saw, or go for a bottom-shelf cabinet saw where the quality mightn’t be the best? Only you can answer that one!

My particular saw is the 7491-XE which signifies that it comes with a scissor-style work stand. The 7491-RS comes with a collapsible rolling stand, sort of like a mitre saw stand but with wheels and allows the saw to be stored upright.

Banging on again about quality, the 7491 is a top quality saw, and believe it or not, it’s also made in China. The table top is almost perfectly flat – save for perhaps fractions of a millimetre here or there – and the motor housing is alloy, with well machined steel bevel gears and drive rods that operate the rack and pinion system for the fence (more on that in a minute) as well as the mechanism to raise and lower the blade. There’s no stupidity with a flexing throat plate whenever you run a workpiece over it (adjustable too!) and no tools are needed to remove the riving knife or kickback guards. Every accessory that comes with the saw, from the blade guard to the fence, has a dedicated stowage point on the body of the saw that is out of the way of the operator, yet easily accessible. It’s compact size means it can be stored on a shelf if you want.

One of the best things about DeWalt table saws is the rack and pinion fence system. When you unlock the fence, using the adjustment knob at the front of the saw, you can make as large or as fine an adjustment to the fence as you want. No need to whack the fence with your hand to get it to move over and hope it is just about right, use the adjustment knob and the measuring tape at the front to make your adjustment precise and lock the fence down. That fence locks front and back too, and has three different mounting points along the rack system to allow you to accommodate larger (or smaller) sheet goods.

Cutting wood of course is an absolute breeze. Well, at least it was once I canned the flimsy DeWalt-branded blade that came with it and replaced it with a Freud flat kerf job. Those 2000 watts haven’t shown any signs of struggling yet, hardwood will put it to the test eventually, but so far, for most types of timber, it does the job without breaking a sweat.

So for me, the 7491 ticked all of my boxes, which were:

It had to be capable of accepting a dado blade set, and it can It had to have a good fence system, and it does It had to have a powerful motor, and it does (2000 watt) It had to have a decent insert plate that doesn’t flex, and it does It had to be a quality unit, with no stupid design shortcuts and, for the most part, it does.

But once again, I’m gushing, and once again, despite my gushing, I’m only going to give it 4 stars. Why?

There are a few things that DeWalt could do better on. One of those I think is an oversight that is almost inexcusable given how many el-cheapo table saws have this feature.

That oversight is little more than the bevel adjustment. Pretty much every other table saw I have come across has a feature where the wheel to raise and lower the blade, locks into place when you unlock the bevel adjustment, and you simply push the wheel in and turn it to achieve your desired bevel angle.

No can do with the 7491, it’s a separate lever that you have to push against the weight of the saw motor. The wheel has no involvement at all. I don’t see why they can’t change it to a more functional setup.

Another issue, albeit more minor but could be an annoyance if fine woodworking is your thing, is that the fence has no vertical adjustment. It is basically locked in place from the factory and no amount of tinkering with the various fasteners on the fence will allow you to adjust it. So my fence *isn’t quite* 90 degrees upright. If there is a way to do this, please let me know in the comments section.

Last but definitely not least, DeWalt have pulled a little bit of a swifty here, and made it pretty difficult for anyone to use blades that have a bore size greater than the 5/8 inch (16mm) of the saw’s drive shaft (Yanks call it an “arbor”). The reason being, the washer that clamps your blade to the flange that is hard-mounted to your, uhh, arbor, has a strange trough design that basically means you can’t use a spacer ring with a blade (say with a bore of 30mm) because that washer/retainer thing will exert its clamping force on the spacer ring and not the blade itself – which from a safety perspective ain’t great. I for one don’t really want a blade coming loose at high rpm destroying the saw and probably me in the process.

I’m sure DeWalt would love you to buy their proprietary blades, but for now, I just buy Diablo or Freud blades off Amazon with the kerf I need, and they all have the 5/8 inch bore size the saw requires. So there is a way around this corporate mischief, but don’t expect to run down to Bunnings or the like to grab the blades you need on impulse.

Despite those flaws, the saw is worth getting if you’re in the market for a quality table saw. It isn’t cheap by any stretch, but as I’ve said before you do indeed get what you pay for. Given the substantial market penetration in the United States by DeWalt and their table saws, there are a lot of aftermarket accessories available that can help up your woodworking game even more and of course, a huge knowledge base and spare parts support network which you simply do not get with some of the oddball tool brands out there.

Like anything, do your own research first to see if something like this really is what you're after because everyone's needs (and budget) are different. But I reckon you will probably come back to the DeWalt after sussing out the competitors because the level of functionality you get together with the overall quality of the unit puts you in the box seat to crank out some great projects.

Great table, blades a pain to source – Great table to work with especially the fence. My only issue is the blade bore size and as mentioned the concave flange. I discovered on the web after purchase that they have banned the larger blades in USA and stopped producing the table and blades. Hence difficulty of sourcing them. Mitre Ten where I purchased it never informed of this at the… Read more

time. When spoke to rep at store later he was unaware of this issue. Offered to refund but decided to keep as could find solution as mentioned below.

I have purchased blade from Toolshed with a reducing ring that fits then a spare reduction that which seem to close the gap sitting in the flange however there is still about a 1000th of slack and although the blade seemed to spun true when I removed it you could see markings on the blade to indicate it had been slipping.

When I spoke to tec at DeWalt NZ he said to use a skill saw (mitre saw blade) blade, that there will be no issues and would work. I mentioned possible difference in rpm however ha said it had been suggested and tried without any issues to date. Would this void the warrant? He wouldn’t confirm. Couldn’t suggested where to get bigger blade and fact that of USA’s ban on them.

Solution simply get a ring machined up by an engineer that is flat. Cheap fix for a great saw. Might void warranty but safer.

4 Years Use and Still Going Strong – I can't say I've had any of the problems reviewers here seem to have experienced, in fact not a single problem in the 4 years I've been using mine. The arbor is a standard 5/8" which is slightly under 16mm and I've had no problems ordering blades - I bought mine on Amazon as it's cheaper in many cases to buy from the US and pay the shipping cost… Read more

than it is to buy the same blade in Australia where prices tend to get inflated. I've built kitchen cabinets, workshop benches, windows, doors....... and can attest to the saws accuracy. I've made an auxiliary fence as she one on the saw is sometimes a little on the short side when ripping long sheets. Other than that the saw has performed flawlessly. I think that many of the dummy spitters here may be just a bit too lazy and incapable of thinking outside the square when it comes to addressing minor issues and problems. Dust collection is not 100% effective - I have a homemade cyclone system hooked into the saw - and I make sure to blow out the workings of the saw regularly and lubricate where I think it's needed - no saw is maintenance free. Four years of trouble free operation means I'm more than happy with this saw and how it performs.

Saw does what I ask of it – I've had the Dewalt DWE7491-XE (with its stand) since June 2017. I rip and crosscut mostly MDF and 4mm thick Alucobond (aluminium composite material). The supplied Dewalt saw blade provides a reasonably smooth and accurate cut through the MDF and I use an aluminium blade for the Alucobond with good results. I have ripped 100mm or thicker wood by… Read more

cutting through either side but haven't had the smoothest sawn face (but acceptable for my needs). I bought a dado set and accompanying throat plate from Dewalt in the US and this has worked very well the few times I've used it.

The saw was simple to set up and I found it was accurately aligned. I've since tweaked the alignment of the blade and fence and am getting very accurate and true to angle cuts. The table top isn't completely flat and I sometimes have to allow for that when cutting thin strips.

The supplied Dewalt fence is very poor with far too much slop in the mitre tracks for my needs. I bought an Incra mitre fence and Mitre Express for crosscutting. The mitre tracks in the table seem slightly wider than standard and I had to adjust the Incra mitre rail to its limit to get rid of sideways movement. The result is I can crosscut 600mm widths to well within 0.3mm (often to 0.1mm) along each side. I can cut mitres repeatedly to within 0.2 degrees (the limit of precision of my digital protractor).

I agree with one reviewer who said that the blade raising mechanism is exposed to sawdust. I vacuum the screw mechanism (and the rest of the saw) at the end of each day's use. The height adjustment sometimes does get somewhat stiff but loosens up if I raise and lower the blade a few times.

The motor is very noisy so ear protection is absolutely necessary.

Overall I like the saw and it's my go to workshop tool.

Overpriced with bad design expensive repair – Just got my 7491 back from Dewalt. It has a bad design on the blade raise screw. Instead of taking responsibility and fix or covering it with warranty, Dewalt push it back on the owner and they claim misuse and won’t cover it. The thread takes all the weight. And it’s completely exposed to sawdust. Cost me $250au to repair. Show details

DeWalt is dishonest and deceptive – Deceptive advertising stating heavy duty. It's not. Deceptive 3 year warranty. DeWalt won't honor warranty. Deceptive dewalt repair lying about mis-use when it's hardly been used. Don't buy this item because of the 3 year warranty. It's useless. And dewalt repair centre is dishonest. It's faster to get the part and repair it yourself instead of waiting 10 business days. DeWalt is dishonest and deceptive. Show details

Solid, clever and accurate – I was rising up between the Metabo table saw (2000W) and the Dewalt. The Metabo is very good and has built in folding legs, but the accuracy of the fence and the way it is geared so that it is always parallel is brilliant and is what eventually swayed me. The fence support and fold over for fine work is also clever. All accessories can be stored… Read more

in the machine during transport.

It's very sturdy and well built the motor has plenty of grunt. They are popular and I can see why. If you buy one you won't be disappointed.

One of the most versatile portable table saws I've used – This table saw is compact enough to put away, yet has one of the widest ripping widths (825mm) I've seen in a portable.. which is really handy if you might work on really wide chunks/planks of wood! Being a tall guy, I originally intended to buy the table saw alone (as decribed here), and build a stand to my height. In the end, I bought the… Read more ·  2

saw+stand kit because it was cheaper to take the stand and table saw, than to buy the table saw alone. (So check for these sorts of sales!) I got a stand included WHILE saving $50.

Once I got it back to the workshop....

Straight out of the box, you'll find that the fence is stored under the table, up-side down, and has to be unlocked and flipped over and clipped to the appropriate part of the rails (which depends on your ripping width). The included push stick is clipped in a spot that ensures nothing sticks out while in the packed state, so it packs down very nicely.

I was cautious and checked everything mentioned in the manual before using. I didn't find it too hard to get the general ideas, but I imagine that someone new to a tablesaw, may find the manual a bit unclear.

I checked the alignment of the blade and riving knife, the tightness of the bolts for the blade, which I took off, then re-attached using the included blade spanners (yes they do work, unsurprisingly). Then I checked the measurements on the fence indicator (not always accurate on some table saws) but mine was within correct to 1/10th of a millimetre, judging by my caliper. Even the mitre indicator pin was very accurate (I was surprised since these can move while in transit).

Ultimately, everything was fine, but I don't consider checking it all as a waste of time. If there was a problem, I'd have wasted far more time fixing my mistakes caused by an improperly calibrated saw.

The packaged blade:

This table saw comes with a combination (some call it a hybrid, or compromise) style blade with 24 teeth. Meaning that it's ok (but not great) for ripping and cross-cutting, but if you want a silky smooth cut, you should considered getting some specialist blades for whichever cut(s) you do most often. Because the blade is DeWalt branded (and painted yellow), it can leave yellow paint on your cut timber, but this is easily sanded off. However, it has lasted longer than I anticipated, so it's quality certainly not bad.

The Stand:

The stand has only one (seemingly low) height by itself, but when the saw is placed on top, the height is ok for most people... but if you're particularly short or tall.. you may have issues. (I find that since I'm over six feet tall, I find a slightly wider stance helps to avoid hunching over). In terms of the stand's construction, it is pretty rigid, and I've put a 75Kg sleeper through this saw+stand combination without issue. However, like all portable stands, I'd restrict the sideways movement as much as possible for a consistent cut in large pieces of timber. When I'm dealing with sleepers, I place the saw against a plank on saw horses to extend the surface behind the saw, and that plank braces the entire setup against the wall. In short, the stand can handle a lot, but I err on the side of caution.

The Fence:

Ok, I really love the rack and pinion controlled fence for it's smooth operation and the fact that it moves the front and back equally. The fence lock is underneath the table surface on the front-right hand side (so if you're left-handed, it may be inconvenient), but it locks the fence well and with little drift.

I also like the shop vac/dust extractor ports (there's two, one above the table on the safety guard when it's attached, and the other below the table). They work very well and get most of the sawdust.

The cons:

After a few months of regular usage, I have a hard time faulting this saw for any functional reason. However, I've managed to scratch away some of the table surface coating, and frankly, I don't understand why they didn't just leave it as bare aluminium. Does this affect the function of the device? If it does, I honestly haven't noticed.

In fairness, I've done some serious ripping of jarrah and ironbark sleepers (at 75mm thick, that's pretty much the depth limit of this saw) and when I take the 2.4m rip patiently enough (yes, I go slowly, and work in successively deeper cuts on the really hard woods), it works well. There's really nothing to complain about since I'm taking the saw to the limit of it's capability, and it doesn't surprise me that an ironbark sleeper scratches the surface. As a side note, the supplied blade is starting to show signs of wear/dulling, but this is expected, and I'd always recommend you get some good specialist blades and only use sharp blades anyway.

If I had to complain about anything else, it's louder than I expect, and scares off the domestic pets efficiently enough. Whether this is a benefit, I leave to your judgement :-)

In conclusion:

Yes, there are cheaper brands and models, and your goals and normal usage of a table saw may differ wildly from mine. For me, it came down to this model and a Bosch. This one won due to the versatility in ripping width and discount with stand.

If you need to go much heavier duty than this, then you should probably consider going to a non-portable table saw. However, this saw will be more than adequate for most DIY-ers, and even professionals, providing they use the saw with caution and intelligence.

I hope this helps!