Some time ago I posted a thread about breaking one of the insert tabs off of my DeWalt table saw. There were several questions about how I managed to do this, but anyone who has seen the inserts on the early model dewalt saw shouldn’t be surprised.  The table is cast aluminum, and the inserts are part of the casting. To make matters worse they are notched near the base to accommodate the insert, (which is completely unnecessary)

   I was changing blades and barely brushed the insert and it snapped off. Anyway I had already had the saw for a couple years and I didn’t even bother taking it in for repair. I tried a couple of repairs, (JB weld and an aluminum epoxy, neither of which worked for more than a month)  So I finally gave in and decided to do it right.

 I filed the area flat, tapped a hole and bolted a new tab directly to the table. And then for good measure I added another tab halfway back just for extra support. This has worked quite well and anyone with the simplest metal working skills could do this.  The only difficulty was the narrow working space in the insert well, but I have a small right angle drill that made it easy.

By the way, DeWalt has changed the casting for this table somewhat, I looked at a new version of this saw, and they no longer have the notch, but I still think the tabs are too fragile. Imagine if the tabs were to break while you were sawing and the insert jammed against the blade….