Delta Reviews

This is the same saw as the enclosed stand model, the only differense is in the stand and that the motor is 3/4hp. The open stand introduces a little more vibration from the motor than the close one does (in the closed one the motor is isolated). The other diffrence is in the horse power departament. This one has a 3/4hp and the closed stand model is 1hp. If you aren't going to do heavy resawing on hardwoods this is the band saw for you, otherwise go with the closed stand.
Ps: don't even look at the other 14" band saws...these are copies of the delta. But the quality is not the same, everything on the deltas are beter. From bigger castings, more heavely rib wheels, better guides and bigger and stronger table trunions.

This is one of the last U.S. built band saws on the market. My Delta has a superb U.S. made Marathon motor. The build quality of the saw is excellent. The leg set is made of extremely heavy gauge steel and the powder coat finish is first class. The unit was easy to assemble and calibrate. The saw runs smoothly and is well balanced. As these tools are a life time investment, I stongly encourage any one buying a band saw to buy a U.S. built Delta. The quality improvement is clear and the added cost over the life of the tool compared to the Chinese built Delta or an imported Jet simply makes the U.S. model worth the difference.

I recently went to a tool show and observed this saw in operation. I bought it because the price was to good to pass up. Buying this saw can save you hundreds over the enclosed stand model. It's the same saw except the motor is 3/4 hp and mounts on top of the base. In my opinion the 4 leg base offers more stability than the enclosed stand model. I have to say that Delta pays attension to fit and finish (outstanding). The saw went together with no problems. The flywheels have 9 spokes versus 6 on the [other] model. This saw offers great value and quality.

This was my first purchase of a Delta product. In my mind it is the perfect benchtop tool to accompany my Jet mini-lathe. I turn pens and fishing lures on my lathe. I use the disc to square off pen blanks and the belt for shaping my lures. The belt has also worked well sharpening axes and lathe tools. I went with amazon.com because you can't beat zero tax and free shipping. I bought this tool because others rated it as very sturdy. It stays put on my bench and is easy to adjust. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars only because the drive belt and disc guard is cheesy plastic that was tedious to install and the miter gauge marker needed a little bending to line up. Otherwise, I reccommend without hesitation to anybody looking for a great benchtop sander.

I've had this sander for about a week and used it about 6 hours so far. I make unit building block for sell on the internet an in my store. I had been clamping a Bosch R.O. sander to my finishing table. Wow what an improvement this sander made. This puppy is build rugged.

I use the belt to rough sand band-sawn red oak ovals to shape and then use the disc to sand them till they feel smooth. The sander is 4 years old. I use it almost every day and have not had to replace anything other than belts and discs. It has enough power, runs very smooth, is heavy enough so that it does not walk around the bench. The tables are easy to set. Sawdust collection requires two hoses, I connect them with a Y to my dust collection system and dust collection is good. I would not run it without some kind of dust collection. A real work horse.

I agree with Mr. Stocker that this machine has seen its day in the American woodshop, and for more reasons than price or overqualification. Not too many years ago the American abrasives market was pretty primitive, and because of the wide availability of 6x48 belts, and because there is no better 6x48 sander on the market, I would have recommended at least the belt sander module without qualifications. Now, with the advent of the internet and retailers like Klingspor, if I had an opportunity to trade this machine for a good edge belt sander, I would do so.

The belt sander deserves 5 stars and 3 stars is a gift for the disk sander.

The belt sander holds belt tracking very well, altho switching from horizontal mode to vertical requires resetting of the tracking. Delta has for decades stocked a wide assortment of accessories for their machines, but each one has to be evaluated on its merits. The dust port is an odd size, but rather easily bushed to receive a shop vac hose, which provides adequate dust control. The Delta dust control accessory transitions to 5", and the industry standard now is, of course, 4". In 1996 I thought the auxiliary fence was rather expensive. The wooden fence was solid, of some species like alder, and out in winding over 1/4", so I had to make my own fence of Baltic birch ply. I would rather Delta had just sold me raw Chinese castings at a good price. With the auxiliary fence and outboard rollers I have often finished very long and thick stock and for the shop with limited space the belt sander can fill the role of an edge sander very successfully. For rounding exterior curves I greatly prefer the edge sander in the vertical mode to the disk sander. The auxiliary table has good adjustable stops for 90 and 45 deg., tho they are finger pinchers. When the auxiliary table is not attached, there is a large hole in the casting which lessens the force of dust control, but this can be easily masked with a scrap of wood.

At the time I bought my machine (1995) Delta made the disk of steel. On my machine the disk nonconcentricity is .010 and it flutters .011. When Delta told me this is "within tolerance" they basically blew me off. I believe all disk sanders to be obsolete technology. Removing a disk to change grits ruins the old abrasive, any runout makes fine work difficult, and the table is symmetrical, ignoring the fact that all work takes place where the abrasive is moving down. The table has no angle stops. Neither auxiliary table is t-slotted for modern miter gauges. Dust control is nonexistent and requires uncommon resourcefulness, or expensive Delta accessories, to attain.

I sometimes see the belt sander alone on the used market for ca. $300, and for the shop with limited space or a product mix of predominantly small parts, that is good machine value.

I've had one of these wonderful sanders in my shop for over 20 years. Delta wanted $125 for their dust pickup accessory for the disc - probably because they made it out of cast iron. So, I fashioned one out of polycarbonate for much less cost - the only change I've made to the tool. Except for occasionally replacing (or cleaning) the belt or disk, there is zero maintenance. Changing either takes 5 - 10 minutes. You can reuse the 6" x 48" belts, but since the disk sandpaper sticks on, once you scrape it off, it's history. Using good quality sandpaper, you can extend the paper's life by vacuuming it and using one of those cleaning sticks, when necessary.

I've used this heavy-duty professional-grade tool many hundreds of times, and don't think anything needs improvement. The nicely machined cast iron tables are solid, easy to adjust to any practical angle, and they stay put when you tighten them down. Each has convenient miter slot. The 6" belt mechanism can be set to 90 degrees (vertical, for most work), or level, or any point in between. The only thing mildly tricky is adjusting belt tracking, necessary when you change belts - I wrote what the two belt knobs do in magic marker on the machine's side, which solved that issue.

This tool can remove stock faster and with greater precision than other sanding methods, plus it does things no other shop tool will do, does them well, and in reasonable safety. I could give dozens of examples, but here's just one -- yesterday, a 12" piece of oak base molding only touched that wall section at its ends because the wall bowed inward. Using the sander, I quickly taper sanded the reverse side/ends of the piece, so it fit flush against the wall. This tool can be used for quick stock removal (using rough paper), delicate removal, and everything in-between. It has all the power needed, and the motor has never even slowed down, even when pressing the stock hard against the paper. If your work shop is a bit cramped, put the machine on a mobile base.

One safety note: Big sanders can create huge volumes of very tiny / lung-unfriendly dust, so my advice is to use a dust collection system with HEPA bags. For big jobs, I also turn on the work-shop exhaust fan and wear a quality respirator. The hood at the top of the 6" belt keeps much of the dust from flying off. With the dust pick-up accessory installed for the disc sander, two 4" suction hoses are needed; one for the belt and one for the disk. If your central dust machine has a 6" inlet, as mine does, two 4" pickups provide better air-flow than on sanders with a combined 4" pickup for the belt & disc, such as the Powermatic model 31A.

This is an indispensable tool for the serious wood worker, metal worker, or handyman. I own a dozen Delta tools, and this one of my favorites.

I first used this machine in a machine shop in the 60's. I now us it in my own shop. I do both wood and metal sanding. it is designed for the metal shop. It is more than one needs for wood.
I see that Delta makes a wood table for the disk that you can buy now. It is like the one thay have on there sanding center. This is good for small parts. If you have long parts get a horizontal 40in belt sander. This machine is heavy duty and the disk and belt run at different speeds. No small machine shop shoud be with out it. I wish I had purschased it 30 years ago. Happy days working in your shop.

I read the revue and thought this is the replacement for me as I had broken the pivot screw in my very old delta miter with a mishap on the band saw. I have had it a while and really thought it was great until 1/22/ 06 when I used the hold down feature and realized the gauge was lifting off the pivot. The old pivot was a special tapered screw which held it together. Maybe it is just me But when using the miter on a router table the work needs to be secure. So I will not use this one as a hold down. Other than that it is very accurate.
I wonder why R Fesser did not have this problem

Nitre guage was to replace the OEM unit. It it well made easy to align and hold alignment.

I just received this Delta Deluxe Miter Gauge #34-928. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how long ago I ordered it. I guess a fresh batch is in so order it quick. Now on to the item. When they say that it is accurate, the first thing I did, when I took it out of the box, was break out the Bosch Digital Protractor. It measures angles with a digital readout in tenths of a degree. (Equal to 3600 dots in a circle, no matter how small the circle) I put the miter gauge to the test. I clamped an aluminum level onto the face to extend the surface, and guess what? I got perfect readings after trying the detent stops, and even got the same results when I eyeballed a setting just using the pointer. It wasn't even off by a tenth of a degree.
At first I was confused, because some of the stops weren't right on the number, then I realized that they have stops at the popular detents, and some of those are in tenths of a degree.
Point number two is that I was impressed that the miter gauge bar that rides in your miter slot has little Allen bolts imbedded in it, so you can adjust it perfectly, to eliminate any play. When I put it in my Powermatic 66, it fit so perfectly, without any play, that I don't even need to fiddle with it. It is so snug that you would have to measure the play in thousandths of an inch, as in non-existent, yet it slides along the track like it was on greased wheels. It fit my Bench Dog miter track on their Router table extension for table saws the same way. The Might T track miter track guides had a little slop in it, but that is obviously the track and not the gauge. I guess you can tell where I will be using it. (Although the play is adjustable for any 3/4 x 3/8 track)
Point three is that the bottom of the gauge is polished so smooth that it will not scratch your saw tabletop. The front face of the gauge where you rest your work, looks like it was fine ground-polished with something like a 1000 grit wheel. You can see ultra-ultra fine lines going in a circle from where it was fine machined.
I strongly recommend that you also get Delta's clamp attachment that works with this gauge. The one that I bought is the 34-568 clamp assy, and it fits and works perfectly. Delta and Amazon feature the Delta cheapy miter gauge with the clamp as a combo package for about the same money as buying this Deluxe gauge and the 34-568 clamp assy as separate pieces. So for about the same money you are getting Delta's best, and in this example it is worthy of that title.
The gauge and clamp combo perfectly resolves the problem of when you are trying to cope the ends of your rails in a raised panel bit set. You know the problem, you have to hold that two-inch wide board and run the bit over the tip. Trying to get the bit to not move the board, by either pushing it a little away from the fence, or run into the second fence face causing a stop is a major accomplishment. Many use sleds with clamps on them, but then you are raising the work piece off of the table to make up for the sled base plate. With a router, that is a major consideration, because that oftentimes leads to having to raise the bit higher up out of the collar, causing more vibration and potentially a dangerous bit flying condition. This gauge and clamp combo locks it in just the same, but keeps the work piece flat against the tabletop. The other advantage to that is if you are running some larger pieces at the same time, you can do it by removing the gauge, and not have to change a bit setting. Wow! I'm getting off on this, I don't know about you. :-)
Another point is that the picture doesn't do it any justice. The fit, the finish, the accuracy of the deluxe gauge is better than any other miter gauge I have seen, even the one that came with the Powermatic saw. I can't recommend this high enough. Is it because it is a waxed Ferrari sitting in the garage? No, it is because it is as accurate and fine as a miter gauge can get. Buy one, you won't be sorry. Hope this helps.

Well, this does work and it fits exactly right. But, be very careful when cutting small parts with a thin dado blade because the workpiece can fall below the insert.

In other words, if you are cutting a 1/4" dado there is a lot of open area where stuff can fall. If you are cutting thin dados, your workpiece should be at least three inches wide, and that still is not very stable.

If you use a your dado blades a lot, I recommend that you create inserts (using zero clearance inserts) for dados between 1/4" and 5/8". I've got two inserts--3/8" and 5/8". The danger of parts falling below the insert is just too high.

And geez, this seems expensive. Zero clearance inserts are about $22 and I think they work better.

It's smooth and fits well. Pins in ends keep it centered. It's red. It works. Yup...aaayup.

What can one really say? It fits well, the slot is nicely slotted, and it does its' blade guarding duties well. Nice adjustment and levelling features.

I have owned this collector for 2 years and have found it quite adequate to service my shop. I am reducting the shop due to rearanging the tools. I wish this had a larger single port to give me better airflow. I think it would be helpful if the bottom bag had a full length zipper to help empty the bag. Also, the bottom bag should have a velcro strip on the bag to hold it inplace whild trying to put the metal band on.

Want to run 3 machines at once? This machine will do it! This collector has (3) 4" collector inlets. I use metal ducting...I put a y in each of the inlets and have them connected to 6 machines. I consistently run the Unisaw, 8" jointer and 3 HP shaper at the same time with excellent results. The Y's go to a band saw, sanding center and a scroll saw and I use blast gates to control the vacuum to each machine. Tried PVC...It was a waste of money...Stick with metal ducting and you will not regret it. I've had my set up for 2+ years and never had a lick of trouble! 4 out of 5 stars...I would like to see Delta make Removing and Re-installing the cloth bags easier.

If there is one machine in your shop that needs to be well made and reliable it's your dust collector. Think about it, if you have 5 machines that require dust collection, your dust collector will run continuously while any of those machines are in operation. Therefore, your dust collector will run five times a much as any other machine in your shop. I had serious doubts about units costing half as much as this one being able to keep pace with this requirement.

I specifically was looking for a relatively compact size, maximum CFM capacity and as quiet as possible. I'm happy to report that all of these requirements were met by the Delta 2HP model. The impeller is metal and well balanced (this contributes greatly to the noise reduction over cheaper units), the metal sound baffle between the blower and the drum is superior to the flex hose found on cheaper models (which will eventually wear out from the abrasion of particles on it) and having three 4" connection points at the blower reduces the amount of ducting required. Yes this unit is made in Taiwan, but it is made to a very high standard and is well packaged to avoid shipping damage. In addition to the dust collector I also purchased the 1 micron upper bag, buy this if you plan on collecting sanding dust. I use what are called drum liners (intended to line 55 gallon drums and available at Home Depot) for the lower bag. Heavy plastic bags are better and can be re-used, but they are expensive, hard to find and do eventually rip. I also bought a remote control unit for the starter which has proven to be invaluable. I can start and stop the dust collector from anywhere in my shop even in the "I only have one cut" scenario.

I've complained in other postings on how difficult it is to get information on Delta products from Delta. Three requests on the DB rating of this machine made to their web site went unanswered. Just goes to show that even big companies wrestle with their intentions, direction and service on the web. Nonetheless, this is a high quality product and well worth the money. Highly recommended.

This electrostatic filter may cost at the beginning, but it is worth the money spent.
Wait until you try and buy the regular filters over the counter. The regular filters that you might buy at a building supply store, do not fit, and after four-five months of good use, you would end up spending more on buying refills of the paper filter.

Bite the bullet and enjoy your filter. The good part, you clean it once a month, with water and it works.

Love this filter. Just Vac. it out & its ready to use! Beats blowing money on the throw aways.

I turn bowls and hollow forms on my lathe. During the sanding process, massive amounts of dust can be generated creating a large amount of airborne dust. The electrostatic filter in my Delta Air Cleaner traps this dust before it gets a chance to enter the air cleaner. It is easily removed from the unit and is a snap to clean. I've used disposable filters in the past which are either to thin or fill up with dust quickly and have to be discarded after only a short useful period. This new electrostatic filter solves the problem. I highly recommend it.

OI ,

Moro no Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Rj

Trabalho com Arte em Madeira e preciso aumentar minha produ��o e esta m�quina � ideal. Preciso tamb�m inclua: Blades 40-Fourty.
Obrigado, Jorge Luis

OI ,

Moro no Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Rj

Trabalho com Arte em Madeira e preciso aumentar minha produ��o e esta m�quina � ideal. Preciso tamb�m inclua: Blades 40-Fourty.
Obrigado, Jorge Luis

Several weeks ago I purchased thru Amazon a brand new 40-570 Scroll Saw. It arrived in A-1 Condition and I have been totally thrilled with the purchase. I trust Amazon completely. And this saw is perfect for me....it was low-end price-wise, yet has all the features that are important to me....the ability to stop and reset for fretwork takes literally seconds instead of minutes. I would redo this purchase again in a hearbeat. In fact, I'm now looking for a bench-top table saw..... Thanks Amazon, for this rural user you are a Godsend!!!!

This Saw is incredible, I LOVE IT!!!! Every cut seems perfect, I got rid of a craftsman I had bought used.... It took a few hours to assemble, but I'm totally happy with the saw

On the other hand, the fence had a chip out of it when I recieved it. ... Well, I'm waiting for the new fence ... For that my rating goes down a star. ...

All in all I would recommend buying the saw...

what a great fence, I put it together with the instructions and thought something must be wrong because it went on my saw to smooth. the unit came with instructions to build my own extension table which worked out great. I love using it. the only problem I see is that I lost a lot of shop space.

This is not the exact item that I wanted. The one I had on the planer had the holes along the edges and was thinner.How would I go about returning this item and getting credit?

I installed these blades as replacements on my Delta 22-540 planer and was very pleased with how sharp they were and how easy it was to install them. Once installed these knives have done a great job for me on red oak, q/s white oak, pine, and poplar.

I have owned this planer for years now and I find that these double edged knives are a great value. By flipping them over when they get dull they last me a long time.

I was completely amazed that the knife set showed up on my front porch in such a short time. Now, if I can find some time to install and try them out I can let you all know how good they are.