A full-cabinet enclosure for the DeWalt DW746 table saw

Level of difficulty: beginner.

(Project completed, December 5, 2006)

Beginnings

I recently had to purchase a full sheet of MDF when I wanted to build a dust-enclosure base for my router table, which required less than a full sheet, and needed to find projects to use up the rest. One of those was an idea to create a full-cabinet style enclosure for the DeWalt DW746 table saw, with a lower-rear mounted dustport. This will be more convenient than my previous dustport which was mounted on a plywood piece fastened to the bottom of the DeWalt sheet metal framework, which required kneeling on the floor to reach under the table-structure to connect and disconnect the 4" dust-removal hose.

The construction is very simple, and requires no modification to the stock saw, other than drilling two small holes in the rear legs, for sheet-metal screws to seal the sides of the new rear back panel against the legs. The base unit is a simple unattached box, about 11-1/4" high and 20-1/4" square, and rests inside the legs on the table feet.

The Base

1. A 1/16" deep x 1"W area is milled on the top 2 corners of each panel to clear the sheet-metal overlap and cabinet corner-assembly screws.

2. A 3/4" diameter shallow-hole to clear any projecting saw-foot mounting bolts is drilled with a forstner bit in the lower corners of the outside faces of each panel.

The relieved panels are tested for fit, and milled from the bottom and sides as necessary until they can be inserted without too much force beneath the lower-edge of the sheet metal frame; in order to clear obstructions, the top edge is inserted first, and the bottom pressed into place in the table-feet, beginning with the wider front and back panels, then the side panels which will hold the front and back panels in place. The floor will hold the lower edges of all 4 panels in place when it is inserted inside the feet.

The Floor

Once the box is completed, the top edges of the box-panels will be stabilized with 2-hole corner-braces near the top of each inside corner.

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The next image shows the saw with the previous dust-collector fitting temporarily fixed to the upper back; it is waiting for the next month's hardware budget to acquire a proper size 4" dust-port fitting for the rear panel of the base-box.

The Rear Panel

A 20" x 21-1/2" panel of 1/8" MDF, shown standing to the left of the saw, will cover the back once the new lower dustport is installed; the cover will get clearances milled in its upper edge to clear the outboard trunion and power cable. A coat of matching paint will finish the project.

A spacer (not shown) of 1/2" plywood, 1-1/2" wide was fastened with wood screws from inside the rear lower leg brace, using the existing slots (visible in the photo, above). The 3 lower edge screws fasten to this piece, which also serves as a dust-seal.

The beam resting on top of the fence is a work-in-progress; it is made up from the same 1/2" MDF. The fence-faces shown attached to the DeWalt beam will instead attach to this beam, which will hold the faces parallel and square to the saw table (the DeWalt beam is not accurate enough to hold both panels square at the same time by itself, hence the accessory beam. At the moment of this writing, the beam is on hold as I'm waiting on the local merchant's re-stock order for the specialty 1/4-20 flange-faced threaded inserts that I've standardized on; they work well for me; the other styles always manage to give me the conniptions!).

December 5, 2006

The new fence

The new fence is an accessory that clamps on the DeWalt beam in the same way as the stock DeWalt Aluminum fence.

Electrics

The saw is rewired for 230V. Note the 230V 30A electric dryer plug. The cable is a 25 ft length of Carol 12/3 Water Resistant SJOOW 300V, running into a Square D dual-breaker box. The IEEE formula for a 7.5A motor protection breaker gives about 9-1/4A; The nearest standard value of 10A is used for protection on the 30A dryer service (these won't be stocked by the average hardware store and usually have to be ordered). The breakers are in series with each hot lead on the input side of the power switch. The neutral leads (green with yellow stripe) are connected together on the ground bar inside the breaker box.

• If you decide to change to 230V operation and you do not have electrical skills,and understanding of 230V circuits, don't "do-it-yourself", get a professional electrician to set it up.

December 7, 2006 -- NOTES:

1. The DeWalt plastic nameplate has a right-angle bend at the bottom; this must be cut off and reattached. As this was a "git 'er done" project, I haven't glued the pieces together yet; they are fastened together with duct tape on the back side.

2. The screws used to fasten the side and bottom edges of the rear-panel and re-attach the nameplate are decorative black 5/8" phillips-head #8 with #6 head and attached washers (Hillman #3139-L).

   The rear panel is fastened at the top corners using 1/4" carriage bolts, nuts and washers, inserted from the inside of the legs through the existing square holes in the leg tops. The plastic screw-insert for the power-cord relief is removed, and the relief clip is replaced with one having 1/4" mounting hole, to fit over the carriage bolt.

3. The dust port is a jointer dust hood, Woodcraft #85014.

4. I botched the first rear panel, and couldn't find 1/8" MDF at the HD; I had to use 1/4", and now feel this is a better choice for this application. I've since discovered that 1/8"MDF was available at the local OSH store.

5. Paint matching: I couldn't get an exact match, as I couldn't haul the saw into the paint store and plunk it on the counter! The choices were the plastic emblem, the saw insert, or the accesssory dado insert; none of these is exactly the same shade of yellow as the DW sheet metal, but I took the emblem as the nearest match I could make. I recommend you have a wife or girlfriend help to match the color. The paint I used was Premium Interior Acrylic Vinyl Velvet Flat, applied with a paint roller, after priming with Interior/Exterior Acrylic Primer And Stain Killer. I painted only the exterior sides and edges of the box and rear-panel.

6. A bead of silicone caulk applied around the perimeter of the floor inside the box will take care of dust leaks there; a bead under the new rear panel may be needed.

7. The dustport opening in the lower-rear panel was made with a plunge router using template strips and a guide-collar. These were 1" wide strips cut from 1/4" untempered masonite (that was what I had on hand; hard-tempered masonite is preferred for template material by some workers, but it's hard to find, and some recommend MDF). The strips each had a small piece of woodworkers double-stick tape applied to the smooth sides near each end, and stuck down next to the cutting lines to form a square; they were spaced away from the cutting lines by the distance between the cutting bit and the edge of the guide-collar. A scrap circular piece was taped down in the center of the square to provide support for the other edge of the router.

8. I used 8-32 threaded inserts and phillips flat-head machine screws to attach the angle brackets. The insert holes were drilled to the diameter of the insert, and chamfered slightly with a counter-sink bit before installing the inserts. The inserts I used were steel, with a metric allen hex socket drive; these work very well in the MDF, and are very easy to install compared to the slotted brass inserts. I found these in the Hillman fastener section at my local contractor's supply. Hillman #57109-A.

9. When fitting the front and back, I had slightly more gap below the sheet metal than anticipated; I made this dust-tight by applying strips of self-stick felt, purchased from a Fabric or Crafts chain store.

The Jet SuperSaw

14 December, 2006: I've just been looking at pictures of the DeWalt DW746 and the Jet SuperSaw together, under a hybrid saw article in the March 2005 issue of Woodcraft magazine. The Jet looks to be basically the same design as the DeWalt, so the same basic enclosure design should work for that saw, modified to the Jet's dimensions.