|
I'll never own another "tool-less" blade holder type again. I'm on my third blade retention clamp now. Dewalt Customer service was no help; the local Dewalt Authorized Repair center told me I should have bought a Bosch.
But, like most DeWalt products, it's pricey. A great little saw, and does everthing well and easily.
Plenty of power to do any job, well made construction. I've had this product about 9 mos, its a great saw and I would recommend it to any serious woodworker. I especially like the way the blades fit into and out of the saw, good design.
no gouges in the surface where I started the blind cut. I don't rank tools by their case so this is just a bonus without tool value add in my opinion. However, my last one isn't made (that I could find) anymore, so this one's the most direct replacement I could find. An added little plus convenience is that the case holds the saw and it's blades, accessory shoe easily. My previous Dewalt Jig Saw was stolen so I had to get another.
no fighting to get it into case with the cord, etc. It's also more efficient in pulling thru the work with blade canted (at angle), with easier blade canting angle adjustment.I've also had to use the blind cut or whatever it's called (dagger mode as I refer to it) to start thru a piece with no prior hole or place to start the cut. just a little pet pieve of mine with mfg'ers that make the case fit "perfectly" but don't allow for the casual human being's lack of being "perfect". not something I'm ranking the tool on however.If it hadn't have been for the special flush cut blade I'd have given this tool a perfect '5' or more. The only thing I don't love about it is that the flush cut requires a special blade since the plate doesn't move far enough to rear to get the blade flush with the front face of the saw's body. Other than this shortcoming it's flawless and ease of use, power, control, balance (balance is exceptional) are as perfect as I could ask for.
this DW331K is the same power as my prior one, but a different design. It works like a charm. of course, these things seem to always improve from one generation of tool to the next --- thank goodness for a little competition among tool mfg'ers, huh. I loved my last one so was looking for a direct replacement. It comes with the flush cut blade, so I haven't had to go find one yet, but when I do I'll have to hunt on where to find it, and I'm sure pay more than for a normal blade. blade was thru the piece and ready to start the straight cut.
It's far easier to replace the blades than my last one, & easier to adjust angles (though the last one used a lever method for loosening/tightening the plate's angle as well). so much so that I was in actual cutting position before I realized it --- i.e.
I am no dummy and have worked with power tools my entire life as well as having a mechanical engineering background. I was using DeWalt blades and tried B+D blades as well with the same result. It seems no matter how deeply you seat the blade it will pop out even cutting something as low stress as laminate flooring. I bought a 331 a couple weeks ago and it worked great for awhile until it started spitting blades while cutting laminate flooring. Looks like the second unit gets returned and I'll have to switch tool colors. I exchanged it for another 331 thinking it was a defective unit and didn't get 1/4 of an inch cut using the new one and it too spit the blade. No matter how I re-installed the blade they still came out. I couldn't believe I was so "stupid" that I couldn't install the blades properly so I called Lowes and the local DeWalt repair center and neither had an answer to the problem.
|
