Upper arm lift for a DW788

[scrollingdesigns]

I was able to recently pickup a older DW788 for my shop and am wondering if anyone has a suggestion for a method to hold the upper arm up while threading your blade through a pilot hole in your work. Having to use one hand to hold it up makes it a little on the tough side to thread you blade through the hole with one hand. I know there is a after market device for this purpose, I am just wondering if there is somebody out there that has made something themselves. I have thought about rigging a drop down foot to hold the arm up until you raised the foot but that seems rather cumbersome. Maybe it makes more sense to just purchase the device. Whatare the opinions out there?
Thank you in advance for your opinions.

[thumbs]

I have a Jim dandy lift--works great --check internet--also a block of wood works and it's cheap--Richard aka thumbs    www.jimdandy.com/products.html

[dgman]

Are you feeding from the top or bottom? I feed from the top and find it easier to let gravity lower the blade into the hole. I lift the upper arm with one hand while guiding the blade down through the hole with the other hand then let the upper arm lower itself.
I used to have an easy lift on my saw years ago, but found it to just be in my way.I took it off and chucked it.
If I need to hold the arm up I do like Richard suggested, I use a block of wood.

[scrollingdesigns]

Thanks for the feed back guys, I appreciate it. I'll try the block of wood first, but I will check out the Jim Dandy lift. For some reason I just don't think I like the top feed method. I have tried that before and more times than not, I end up having to lean over to make sure I have the blade in the holder good enough.
Thanks again for the replys.

[baggetta]

Hi have the Jim Dandy device and it worked great when I needed it.  Recently my DeWalt motor burned out and I sent it for repairs.  When the machine came back I went to use it and found that I can now lift the arm and it stays in position, with out the aid of the Jim Dandy.  They must have tightened some screw that hold s the arm.  Maybe this can be done on all DeWalts.
Best
Al B.

[GrayBeard]

Due to certain physical constraints I am a 'bottom feeder'.
I have the Easy Lift and could not live without it.
Previously there was this same discussion and it was brought out by several members that they tightened the screw that the upper arm swivels on and it worked fine. Our resident experts warned that this may not be a wise thing to do so I went ahead and bought the 'lift'.
I will say again that 'top feeding' with SPIRAL blades may not be an easy thing.
With teeth on a single side (flat blades) the blade will slide through the workpiece much easier than when you have teeth on ALL sides of the blade (360?) that can and do catch on the edge of the pilot hole when top feeding.
I have tried it and it did not work for me.
There is a definite tendency for the spiral blade to 'grab' as the arm is lowered and if you don't catch it immediately you have a bent blade.

~~~GB~~~