Dewalt DWS777 Sliding Mitre Saw

[Davey]

Happy New Year,

I was lucky enough to get a Dewalt DWS777 sliding mitre saw for Christmas. It’s my first sliding mitre saw so I’d be grateful for some advice:

When performing straight cuts on wide lengths of material the instructions say to lower the blade fully and then pull it towards me (i.e. away from the fence). Is this correct? I’ve seen videos on YouTube showing this the other way round (i.e. pushing the blade away from me - which seems safer!)

I also need a fine tooth blade for cutting MFC. Screwfix do a 60 tooth blade (8078V = DT1929) which according to the Q&A will fit the 777:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-tct-saw-blade-216-x-30mm-60t/8078v?_requestid=82372

However this has 5 degree positive rake angle whereas I understand mitre saws should use blades with a negative rake angle. Is this correct?

Would I be better getting the DT4350 blade which has a 5 degree negative rake angle?

https://www.toolstop.co.uk/dewalt-d...MI4IDP0Nb67QIVjevtCh0NiQH1EAQYAiABEgKbcvD_BwE

The DT4350 is a lot more expensive but I won’t be using it that much and I believe DW blades can be resharpened a few times so I’m happy to get the negative rake blade if it is safer or will give better results?

Thank you

Davey

 

[Deleted member 174758]

First off the sequence on mitre saws is always lift up, pull out, drop down, push back towards the fence. Dropping on and pulling towards you risks a climb cut where the head attempts to lunge towards you

Secondly for laminate you ideally need a triple chip grind blade, but you are certainly better off with a zero or negative rake blade to minimise chip out (a slightly positive rake blade will work but the feed rate may need to be limited - higher tooth count with smaller teeth, 80 and above, seems to mitigate this to an extent). I'd suggest going for more teeth than 60 as well, because whilst that is OK for wood beadings and mouldings it isn't that wonderful on laminates in my experience. My own preferences are for Bosch, Makita and Saxton blades with 80 to 100 teeth for laminates and foil or vinyl-wrapped components as used in kitchens. The Saxtons are remarkably inexpensive (£16.50 at the moment), although they won't grind as many times as a Bosch or Mak blade because the carbide is thinner

I have been using the earlier DW777 as my "portable" chop saw for skirtings, architraves, dados, etc for 7 or 8 years now, so mainly on 64t blades but switching to 80 or 100t blades when installing kitchens, built-ins, etc where I am dealing with laminates

 

[Davey]

Hi J&K,

Thanks for your reply - as always, good advice from somebody who clearly “knows their stuff”!

I’ll have a look at the Saxton blades now.

Best wishes for 2021 to you and yours.

Davey