Power Saws Reviews

Using the standard Fed-X option, I received my saw quickly and with no apparent box damage on December 3, delivered right inside the new shop. I had the stand together, the cast tops on, and the saw up and running sooner that I had expected, in about 2 hrs. Then, I fought the fence for a while. The lack of clear fence assembly instructions, with no fence diagrams, caused me unnecessary delay. Finally I called Jet, and found out with their great tech support, that I was shipped the right rails & guide, but the wrong fence. I also had a broken plastic sight glass (plastic) on the fence, and no end caps for the guide. The new fence would not line up properly within the sight glass margin of correction, so Jet sent me a new tape to overlay on the guide correcting the problem. All of this was eventually received with a few mistakes on Jet's part, but it did take a month to get it all straight. The saw blade insert's opening is too large (it does works with my wobble dado blade ok), and the blade shipped with the saw is useful only for perhaps ripping.
Overall, the saw's fit and finish is good, and it runs great in the 110v or the 240v mode. I do like it better than my 10 yr. old contractor's saw I sold. However, in hindsight, I would now order the same saw, but without the Exacta fence option. I prefer another brand of fence I had before.

Moved up from [$$$]Craftsman table saw. The old saw was a toy compared to this machine. This thing is a real solid machine...I hope I'm worthy of its abilities. Found the instructions to be very good, except the separate instructions on the extension table and fence as they were dreadful. Also, when you transition from the main instructions to the fence/extension table instructions it is difficult to follow and determine when and where to return in the instruction sequence.

I suggest you buy the mobile base when you purchase it. I don't plan to move mine much, but I wouldn't want to have to move this thing an inch without one. It seems like it would be easiest to assemble right on the stand like I did.

Now that is together, it is a powerhouse!!! I look forward to using it for years to come.

It took me 6 hours to assemble the entire saw but half of that time was spent on the fence alone. The quality of the saw and stand are outstanding -- fit of components, quality of casting and machining, ease of assembly, quality in operation... all near perfect.

The fence, though, needs help. My front support rail was badly warped and the rail sight (small plastic marker for setting measurements) was cracked, misprinted (not parallel to marks on rule), and simply didn't fit on the rail. The instructions are not very good and there was no list of included hardware so I could identify the various pieces. Alignment of this fence to the saw was a real pain in the neck. It should be noted that the Exacta fence is not manufactured by Jet but *for* them.

Once assembled with replacement parts (good customer service), the fence works wonderfully. Measurements are right on the money, first try. The fence is extremely rigid and moves very smoothly.

I gave the saw 5 stars because assembly is a one-time chore and the real measure is day-to-day useability. This saw is a great value, particularly since I only paid (price). I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

I am not going to reiterate the things I see in the other reviews here; I will add a couple of things which you should know.

1. You should not attempt to use this saw without checking it top to bottom (not just the checklist in the documentation). For example, when I turned mine on for the first time it vibrated so bad that the door not only came open, the hinge broke and the corner of the door cut into the tire on the bottom wheel. The hinge *appeared* to be very sturdy. I know this sounds a little hard to believe, but it is the truth. I might add, that I have never seen or heard of such a thing in almost 20 years of woodworking.

2. I could not align the belt to my satisfaction until I reversed the pulley on the motor. Judging only from the picture in the manual it appeared to be mounted backwards; at any rate reversal is easy and that solved the problem.

3. The quick release band tension lever would hang about every other time. Sometimes it would hang only for a few seconds and then pop and release. I took it apart, checked for burrs etc, wiped it down and put it back together; so far so good for this problem.

4. It is impossible on my saw to resaw hardwood boards anywhere near the thickness the saw can accommodate. Softwoods (or thin hardwood) do alright. I tried 3 different blades; only the 3/4 inch blade resaws acceptably on mine.

5. The trunions broke on the table when I dropped the end of a 2x4 on it. I normally don't resaw 8 foot boards, but this time I had a reason. I don't treat my equipment roughly and typically use each device I purchase for 4 or 5 years.

6. The guides are pretty bad, but I have always found this to be the case on new bandsaws (anybody who ships one with a good set of guides will probably sell me my next bandsaw).

I am giving 2 stars for quality materials; that seems generous. I have in my shop the following Delta equipment: Table saw, jointer, drill press and several other items which have performed much better. I will still buy Delta machinery because I get more for my money. However, I have to say that I had to work much too hard to make this bandsaw usable.

I am still experimenting with balancing methods and have no intention of involving the factory. After all, I don't think I could possibly make it any worse.

I've had this band saw for a little over a year and I have to say that I was hoping for more from Delta. It's certainly powerful enough for me and I like the table, the guides, and the ease of taking tension on and off. What I don't like is the vibration - it's pretty bad.

After buying and reading the Band Saw Book (Taunton Press) I found out that the bottom wheel was badly out of ballance. I called Delta and with a little run-around they shipped me a new wheel under warranty. The new wheel is much worse than the original. I was disapointed in the machining quality of the new wheel it was not ballanced well at all, not to mention the fit is too tight. Pretty crummy warranty replacement all togehter. I expected more from this saw and from Delta. There is no way a nickel is going to stay standing on end - I don't think two nickels glued together would stay standing.

There also seems to be no way to get the pulleys lined up between the motor and lower wheel shaft. I've worked for hours shimming this and that to get it better, but it's not great.

On a final note, there seems no way to get the two wheels co-planer under any circumstances and that seems to be hard on the tires. For example, with a 1/4 blade, the top wheel has to be pitched so far out that when I take the tension off, the wheel binds against the back of the upper cabinet.

To do it over again, I would have saved up and bought a better saw - maybe from somebody other than Delta. Don't get fooled that Delta makes the end-all, be-all 14" band saw that has been written about for years; maybe they used to, but not anymore. And that's coming from a guy with a lot of Delta stuff.

I purchased this bandsaw a little over a year ago from Amazon.com (Tool Crib)and had no problems with assembly or performance. I was a little hesitant in purchasing this model after reading some of the reviews but decided to anyway hoping not to get a lemon. Assembly went well without any problems. I upgraded the blade guides with the bearing type. No problems there either. Balanced a nickel right off the bat. The machine works great. I'm glad I bought it when I did. I got $25.00 off and free shipping. I see now that shipping is $99.00. No complaints here.

I purchased this Hitachi saw 2 years ago while building my house. When I first started with the saw I wasn't happy. It has no problem with light material but easily bogs down on hardwood and pressure treated. My biggest complaint with it is the use of plastic on the blade height adjustment. The crank has stripped and I see no easy way to repair it. It is also very difficult to set the fence square. The saw will only accept a 3/8" dado. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that had any serious work to do. I learned that you get what you pay for.

First off, don't believe Amazon's "list price." This saw would NEVER go for more than $300. And justifiably so, because it's not worth even that.
At first it seemed like a well-built saw for the money, but as is usually the case with power tools, you get what you pay for. The 10RA2 has a decent, but not great motor, and it's very loud. You also play hell getting an accurate cut on it because of arbor flex and difficulties fine tuning blade alignment. It can be done, but you have to be careful. But my biggest complaint is the miter slots are non-standard. They require a weird inverted T design that no other saws use, anywhere. That means that if you want to upgrade from the cheap stock miter gauge or, as happened to me, you misplace it, you're screwed. NO aftermarket miter gauges will fit the slots and Hitachi doesn't sell their design as an accessory. So you're forced to go through the parts diagram and order each screw, washer, handle, and everything piece-meal to rebuild a substandard tool to begin with.
Either that, or make your own. Pain in the arse.
But other than that, the dust collection is great. And the on/off switch works flawlessly.
Overall, with the benefit of hindsight, I'd have gone with a different saw. Even for the money, this saw has given me more frustration than satisfaction.

I'm a professional trim carpenter, and I've been very happy with my Hitachi saw. Some of the reviews I've read have been negative on the Hitachi because they're comparing the Hitachi with $1000 and up table saws. The Hitachi is good for those who have a larger table saw and want something to use on-site, and it's fine for the average homeowner. The saw is great because it's portable, light, no-frills... It also has a nice motor as well. It's the best $300 tabel saw you can buy, and I like it more than the Bosch, which I also own and is much heavier.

I now have 3 delta power tools, including this scroll saw. I am pleased with the quality and design. Setup is simple and goes quickly. Have a rag on hand to wipe off the rust-free oil though. This saw has everything I needed, including higher speeds to cut through hard woods. I only buy delta blades, they seem to last longer than others from the hardware store. I did buy a desk lamp to use with this scroll saw, you definately need one. Much better quality than the Craftsman stuff I looked at. I highly recommend this scroll saw.

Excellent value and performance. This tool includes almost 50 pounds of weight with a variable speed induction motor and a quick change blade mechanism. The saw is well dampened from vibration and natural harmonics at any speed are minimal. The speed range is excellent and the tool saws beautifully. Blade change is straight forward. What more would you want for the price?

I have been doing various types of woodworking for many years, both as a hobby and as a job. One day during a job an older gentleman who lived in the house next door approached me while I was hanging doors and said "hey you wanna see some real woodworking" and brought me into his house to show me beautiful pieces of marquetry and intarsia. I was dumb-founded and decided to go out and buy a scroll saw. I payed [money] for this one and let me tell you it was the most gratifying purchase of a tool I ever made. It does everything from fret-work to marquetry and the variable speed feature is fantastic. The arm is steady and stable...only 1 minor problem and that is that I over-layed a piece of 1/4" plywood on the top of the table to facilitate smoother turning of my pieces.

You can't beat the price.
You could improve the quality.
However, not bad for a starter scroll saw. This saw gets the job done, as long as you are not expecting high precision.

Two gripes:
1.unacceptable high level of vibration at higher speeds for any kind of precision cutting(perfectly acceptable at slower speeds)
2.misalignment of blade locks cause blade to shift slightly from side to side as it goes up and down. Can't seem to figure out how to adjust. From other reviews, I don't think Delta support will be much help.

Otherwise, it works just fine for my needs. This is a case of 'you get what you pay for'.

I don't have much experience with scroll saw but this one is not for serious scroll saw work. Good for just light duty and not very intricated work.

the blower didn't work. hose was kinked.
after a short test run I decided to open up the side panel, I noticed a small pile of metal filings. I took the top and bottom pivit bolts out to oil them, they had never been oiled. the bottom bearing was worn. I oiled the pivit points, seems to work alright, don't know for how long..................

Works fine, good price but.... Plastic lever on the height adjustment broke right away, and, I CAN"T GET IT BACK IN THE CASE! Good to see I'm not the only one!

This is the only circular saw I own. I have used better from friends, but recently purchased this saw to build a deck. It worked great, and never failed to make true cuts. The site light is overrated, but one can work around it and use it as a regular ol' circular saw. tough enough for average homeowner use. For pro's daily use...forget about it and spend the money for a pro tool.

I bought this saw January '04 and have used it only about 10 times. I loved it, but then the height adjustment lever broke (I think it's because the lever handle is plastic and it turns a metal nut, so something stripped inside). I took it back to Lowe's, who promptly lost it enroute to I-don't-know-where for returns.
Great saw- when will Skil read this review and many others like it AND FIX THE HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT? There must be 1000's of 5700's out there that have broken levers! Skil, where are you? You produce decent products- this one is ruining your reputation.

Delta tools have really gone down hill. I've had this saw for over a year now and while it is adequately powered, the drive wheels are not in plane. In other words, the blade does not run in the center of the upper wheel when it is centered on the lower drive wheel. Instead, it runs on the front. This causes the blade to come off the wheel alot and that destroys blades. There is not enough adjustment on the alignment mechanism to get it to even run on the center of the top wheel because it binds against the cover. This seems to be a common problem with this saw, as other reviews mention it. It's like there is a washer/space missing. Wish I had my old 16" Delta back that was 20+ years old. Summarily, don't buy this saw.

For some reason the top wheel on my saw scraped the rear metal hood both on the top rear and near the middle. I corrected this by buying another washer and putting it behind the wheel. There were also a few bolts missing and the rear (plastic) blade guard was warped due to sloppy assembly at the factory. I took this off and straightened it with heat.

Bottom Line: Now that these headaches are out of the way I'm very pleased with everything about the saw and have no reason to doubt that it'll outlast me by many, many years. I highly recommend this saw but only give it 4 stars because of the problems mentioned above.

I bought this saw after comparing it to the comparable Powermatic and Jet models. Upon getting it home and constructing it I found that the dust port, table, trunions, and all related hardware were missing (just like an earlier reviewer). I immediately called Delta for the parts. They sent the table and dust port (after two weeks of waiting) but neglected to include the trunions and mounting hardware. Another two weeks the parts showed up...still minus one of the trunions! Upon this discovery I all but swore off Delta tools ever again. However, as luck would have it a trip to the local tool store resulted in a new trunion (at no cost). Ah, instant gratification (if you can call it that after a month of waiting). Finally, I got my new saw up and running and WOW! I've used Jet, Powermatic, and Grizzly bandsaws, but nothing like this. Combined with a Kreg fence this is one heck of a nice saw. It cuts strait and fast. Blade tensioning is a breeze! I'll be adding the riser block soon and hope that projects goes smoother. I agree that there could be more adjustment on the top wheel to help center the blade a little better. Still, it's acceptable as it stands. I may look into adding a small spacer to the upper wheel to gain the clearance I need for better alignment of the blade. In general I'm delighted with this piece of equipment...and would buy it again. However, I'm still a little PO'd with Delta and their quality control. Missing nuts and bolts are one thing, but a missing table and trunions...come on Delta! No matter how you look at it that's not acceptable! I'm not a brand weenie. If the machine is good, it's good...ant this IS a good saw. Still, I'll think twice before buying another piece of major equipment from Delta. The moral of my story is this. Be careful if you choose to buy this saw. If it all comes together the first time then you'll be happy you bought it. It's a very nice saw. However, if things don't come together you may be in for a test of patience. In the end, it's like a pot of gold...work to find, but worth the wait and effort.

This is one tool that really is just about useless. Can't cut plywood of any thickness, moldings, or just about anything else that's made of WOOD. Truly a waste of money. It has no torque and its miter adjustments are imprecise at best. I ***think*** this thing could cut paper, but I have better and cheaper tools (like a pair of scissors) for that job.

Take my word for it, don't throw your money away on this item. Porter Cable has a corded 4" that is a LOT better (though it costs more). This is probably the worst tool Makita makes.

At first glance the Makita 5090D looks like a good value. What they don't tell you that it is shipped without a battery or charger. If you don't already own a Makita 9.6 volt battery and charger, you must purchase a battery and charger separately in order to use it. The cost of of these items are about the same as the saw itself! I might give it more stars after the battery arrives and I can see how it works. Right now one star kind of describes my feelings.

For all of you out there looking for a great circular saw for small jobs, I highly recommend this saw. This particular model is no longer stocked in retail stores. Mikita also makes a 14.4V, 3 3/8 inch circular saw with a snap-in vs. slide-in battery (basically the same saw, but with a more powerful battery). I don't understand why some other reviewers posted such negative feedback in reards to it's ineffectiveness, because I have had the complete opposite experience. Perhaps it's not the saw, but the way they are using it.

For instance, the blade that is provided with the saw is only good to cut drywall with. If you are going to cut plywood of any sort, including 3/4 inch thickness, you need to buy a 3 3/8 carbine blade! It is a great investment. My carbide blade is going on 2 years without having had to replace it.

One cannot expect to get the performance of an electric circular saw out of a cordless tool. This Makita will make approximately six 4 foot long cuts through 3/4 inch plywood before draining the battery.

The saw is not meant for heavy duty work. It is meant for jobs such as siding work, remodeling floors, trimwork and hobbies.

I highly recommend. I STRESS that this saw cuts 3/4 inch plywood like butter.

The saw cuts well and has plenty of power. The sticking arm on the blade guard broke the plastic attachment point. I've noticed that this is the only model I've seen from Delta that has a plastic attachment point for the blade guard arm. Will keep you in shape moving it around.

I too got a little over one year of use from my Delta 36-220. It experienced a complete motor failure. Repair cost was greater than the cost of a new identical one. The saw worked very well up to it's failure. I would not purchase another Delta Miter Saw!

I have been using my Delta 36-220 to cut 3/4 steel rod, 3/4 x 3/4 steel stock and up to 3/4 x 3" steel plates. I installed a metal cutting blade and let the sparks fly. I've melted the plastic insert, melted holes in the dust bag, and popped 20 amp breakers when an "old" blade gets jammed in the stock. I've made hundreds of cuts and the saw just keeps on working. When I switch back to a wood cutting blade, it cuts just as smooth as when the saw was new.

I returned the first unit I bought because the round table rocked in the housing, but the replacment saw was nice and tight and keeps on doing everything I've asked of it.

I have had my Hitachi bandsaw for about 4 years and have used it extensively to make bookmatched panels in addition to ripping boards in the rough. When properly set up and adjusted, it has performed well but I have found it to be frustratingly slow in its cut rate when resawing 8" to 10" wide walnut or hard maple boards. It does provide adequate tension for the 3 inch blade, being approximately 16000 psi when the adjustment is against the stop (blade manufacturers recommend a minimum of 15000 psi). Note, many bandsaws cannot attain proper tension with a resaw blade of even 1.0 inch width.

The pluses of the saw is that it is well made and easy to setup and adjust (provided that you know what you're doing). The minuses are its price and the fact that it is underpowered (the motor should be a 240 volt unit of at least 3 hp).

I obtained this saw from one of my Doctors hobby shop. I got it for $610.00. At this pice it is worth the money. I am a one man shop building custom furniture. It is great for matching pannels. It is underpowered for production. I was a tool and die maker with General Motors in the 60's. I took the saw apart and rebuilt it. There is no vibration and it cuts streight as an arrow. If you find a used one and need a dedicated resaw this one is great for the small shop. It shoud come with a 3hp motor and the price shoud be under $2,000 with all the guide attachments. The quality is top notch, no complaints in that department. I use a 3" carbide skip tooth blade on the saw. I never take it off. Happy Sawing.

I have owned the resaw for six months now. I have used the saw to resaw maple and birch. The saw cuts the 8" plus wood nicely. I knew the motor was underpowered when I bought the saw. My shop is a one man shop, with not many time restraints, so not to big a problem for me. The motor never stalls and the resaw runs smoothly