Delta Reviews

My first impression of this grinder was that it is HUGE and HEAVY. It is no wonder that the cardboard box and styrofoam packaging arrived in pretty bad shape. Nothing damaged though and it went together in just a few minutes. The lamp comes without a light bulb but I found that the recommended 40 watt reflector track light bulb works well.

I am a woodturner so I am interested in smooth running wheels that leave a good cutting edge on my high speed steel tools. The grinding wheels that come with this unit are of reasonable quality and produce good results with proper dressing. The dressser that comes with the grinder is OK for truing the wheel but leaves the surface a little too rough for my liking so I use a diamond dresser.

The tool rests are strong and solid but if you need to make frequent adjustments to the rest, as I do, you should think about replacing the supplied bolts with rachet knobs for easier adjustment.

I think that Delta should have connected the two grinder exhaust ports together, as they face each other, and provided a single vacuum connection. The side facing exhaust portrs make connecting an exhaust hose awkward.

The grinder I received runs very quiet with almost no vibration once that the wheels trued up. It takes up a lot more space on my work bench than the old sears grinder it replaced but the extra clearance between the wheels and motor housing makes grinding curved surfaces much easier. All in all, I am very pleased with this unit and I am sure that I will get many years of good service from it. For the price it is hard to beat.

Because my prior [high-speed] grinders too easily overheated metal parts, I now prefer slower speed machines. Also, wheels turning at a slower speed are less likely to disintegrate, so this machine should be somewhat safer than a 3450-RPM grinder. All things being equal, a 3450 RPM grinder will remove material faster, but the motor on this 1725 RPM grinder is so powerful, to remove material faster, just press harder.

The 23-725 is big and heavy. In spite of Amazon and Delta claiming this is a 100 lb. device, the box it came in weighed "only" 82 pounds - so the machine probably weighs about 79 pounds. That's still plenty heavy. The wheels are 15.75" from wheel center to wheel center; it's 10.75" to the top of the motor housing; 19" wide not counting the eye shields, 12" to the top of the wheel housing; 11.4" deep without the water tray, and 12.75" deep with the water tray.

The cast iron motor frame, tool rests & tool-rest brackets, plus the four large rubber feet, keeps vibration within the acceptable range, and gives the tool a look and feel of quality and heft. The tool-rests are rock-solid.

The toggle switch is protected, so it's unlikely you'll accidentally turn it on, a good safety feature. The lift-off water tray is amply sized. The fitted lamp is quite nice and the gooseneck section is about the right length. At the rear of each wheel's housing is an inward facing 1 3/4" dust port for a vacuum hook-up. As an alternative, a rubber-banded sock over each port seems to catch most of the grit. The grinder comes with a wheel-dressing tool.

The box said Made in Taiwan. Many years ago that might have been an indication of lower quality, but it seems to me that this tool looks good enough to have said Made in the USA.

As a point of reference, the Sears Craftsman 8" professional grinder (model # 21158, Internet or catalog only) looks nearly identical but costs slightly more (not counting tax & shipping), is a 3450 rpm machine, and doesn't come with an aluminum oxide wheel.

If you already own a grinder, consider retrofitting your old machine with wire wheels and/or buffing wheels.

This Delta is a professional grade grinding machine. I've had the 10" version of this grinder (Delta 23-735, now discontinued) for a couple of years, and have used it countless times. Perhaps that's the ultimate accolade; I liked the 10" model so much, I bought this one for my son.

Excellent grinder, used for sharpening HSS wood turning tools. At 90lbs, this heavy duty grinder should last a long time. Easy set up and quiet operation, no vibration. Amazon dropped shipped, no damage, no problems. Enjoy!!!

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.

First motor was under warranty and it was replaced, but I had to carry it to the repair shop which was 30 miles from my shop. Next motor lasted 13 months and it burned out, plus the capacitor burned up and 2 bearings were worn to the point of needing replacing. I think it was good that Black & Decker bought Delta Tools maybe they will improve the quality of the tools.

I have not yet been able to use it extensivly I found it easy to assemble and the intial use showed it to be of very good quality.

I am pleasantly surprised with power and ease of operation of this sander. After receiving this tool in a flimsy box without an instruction manual I was ready for the worst. After downloading the manual from Amazon, the sander went together pretty easy. Some of the parts are mislabeled on the assembly sheet but it's pretty easy to look at the picture of the completed sander and get the base built correctly. Make sure you check the alignment of the drive belt sprockets before you turn the sander on. If I had not, it probably would have chewed up my drive belt. Even if I had paid the list price without free shipping I would purchase this tool.

I have been using my 22-540 as a serious amateur cabinet and furniture maker for about seven years. I would hesitate to guess how many feet of wood have passed through the planer but it is a lot.

The Delta 22-540 performed well over the years but a few weeks ago a project came to a sudden stop when the bearings on the cutter head overheated and seized. I found that replacements are available but after a near total disassembly, I found that I could not remove the bearings from the main frame casting. Quite a disappointment.

So now I must choose a replacement. The winner is the DeWalt DW 733 even at the additional ($$$)cost over a replacement 22-540.

The Delta 22-540 does have a nasty habit of setting creep, I control this by blocking the handle or simply holding it with one hand while the lumber is running. I trust the four-post clamp of the new models will cure this problem. I didn't stay with Delta and their 13" 22-580K because of the lock handle design and the useless two-speed feature. Thank you to all of you who wrote reviews on the various planers. And, thank you to Amazon for publishing them. The final decision was easy to make when comparing the DeWalt and the Delta side by side in our local Home Center.Will the DW 733 live up to my expectations? I will let you know in about seven years.

I recently purchased a Delta 22-540 knowing that it had been damaged. The main casting holding the cutter head was broken on one side where the adjustment screw goes through. How I repaired that does not matter since I am writing this to show how to remove the bearings.

After the unit is stripped down you will have the casting that holds the cutter head and bearings, the four holes for the guide bars and the nuts for the adjusting screws. Remove the three cap screws holding the bearing retainer on the pulley end of the cutter head. Block the casting in a vertical position, (I used a low work table) with the pulley end down. You need enough clearance for the cutter bar to move about one inch. A couple of short two by fours worked for me. Set the 2 X 4s on edge as close to the pulley as possible. This gives good support. Use a section of 1 ½ inch pipe, or a large socket if you have one to drive the bearing out. The pipe or socket should rest on the outer race of the bearing but should not bind on the casting. It is fairly easy then to drive the bearing, along with the entire cutter head out of the casting.

Alternately you can use a brass drift pin with at least a ¼ inch face to drive the bearing out. Use firm blows but avoid really hammering on it. Tap the bearing once or twice then shift a third of the way around the bearing, tap again and shift another third of the way around. Continue this until the assembly drops free. You should be able to "feel" the bearing shift but don't try shifting it too far all at once.

Once free of the casting a standard wheel puller can be used to remove the bearing, either one or both. Of course, the pulley has to be removed if that bearing is the one to be replaced,

Don't have a press to reinstall the bearings. I didn't need to change the bearings but to reinstall the cutter head and bearing in the main casting I put a small amount of wheel bearing grease on the outer race of the bearing and inside the housing for the bearing in the main casting. Then I placed the cutter head in the freezer and while it was chilling down I put the main casting in the oven. With the oven at 400 deg for about 20 minutes and after the cutter head had chilled for 45 minutes, (I didn't want to take chances) I was able to slip the assembly together using a rubber mallet. Plan the hot and cold parts. Have plenty of rags, gloves ect. handy and it wouldn't hurt to have a helper to steady the casting.

This method works for all sorts of bearing instillation. I have been using it for years and even put a ring gear on a flywheel for a friend using this procedure. Just take your time and plan the , what I call hot and cold work, so there is no loss of time. No big deal if you don't get it all the way the first time. Drive it back out and do it over. Give it a try, I think you will be pleased.

I have owned my 540 for about 2 years and have run at least 2000bd ft through it. The unit has seen oak, cherry, maple, pine The planer performed well on all. The steel knives do dull fairly quick, but are reasonable to change if your careful. Snipe is a problem with the short outfeed tables but can be minimized using caution. This is not a high production machine and requires extra care, but at [asignificantly lower price] than its DeWalt counterpart, I feel it is an ideal addition to any personal woodworking shop.

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.

After receiving a kickback I went on a quest to learn why it happened and how to avoid getting another one. My quest took me to the Merlin Splitter. Lots of great features and fairly easy to install. Unfortunately with a thin kerf blade you really have to spend a lot of time getting the alignment just right. In the case of the Jet, the top side edge of the receiver needs to be ground down as the receiver hits the throat plate. I cannot get it to move 1/64" towards the fence because of the throat plate issue. These are the tolorances you will need to deal with if you want the splitter to work right. Keep in mind that if the splitter is not aligned perfectly it will pull your stock slighty off the fence resulting in slightly tappered cuts. It took me a while to figure this out and caused ma a lot of frustration. With a full 1/8" blad you'll have a little more room to play with but not much.

Like other reviewers pointed out, this splitter is not plug and play and the folks at Merlin need to refine the product and then do a better job in testing it. If you are handy with grinders and don't mind spending a lot of time tweeking it, then there are some good features and benefits to using it. In all fairness to the manufacturer, once they get the configuration right I'd give it 5 stars.

The Merlin splitter, in most ways, is a tremendous improvement over the POS that the factory provides. Setup is not all that difficult. And it is so easy to take on and off the saw! I am much more likely to use the Merlin splitter than I was the factory unit.

The anti-kickback pawls are not as effective as the factory splitter. The spring is much weaker and the pawls don't engage as vigorously. I can often slide a piece backward out from under the pawls (After the blade has stopped!).

The receiver (The part under the throat plate that the splitter plugs in to.) for the splitter interferes with the throat plate when you tilt the saw blade. At 45 the rear of my throat plate was raised about 1/4 inch above the table. I emailed Excalibur asking for help. They advised me to grind away the webbing on the underside of the throat plate to provide clearence. I did so, and it works fine. But I would have preferred a solution that didn't require me to carve away on my throat plate.

The MTK130 apparently will fit even veteran Delta Contractor's saws. I wanted to be sure it would go on my 15 year old unit so I emailed Excalibur to check (they did not respond). I took a chance and ordered anyway and it installed flawlessly in minutes. The instructions were really not required since the replacement parts lined up perfectly with the existing bolt holes. A minor problem did occur in that the included washers did not fit the button head bolts supplied with the installation parts. A bit if filing solved the problem but was an unnecessary waste of time. Aligning the unit was also straightforward and easily done. Contrary to another review posted here the splitter is quite compatible with the thin kerf blades in common use (Forrest, Freud, etc). Overall this is a well built, easy to install unit.

The good news is that the RAS was promply delivered (purchased via Amazon). Also, the documentation is very good and its pretty easy to follow the instructions to set the RAS up and get good square cuts.

The bad news, however, is that the RAS motor ran maybe 30 seconds before it quit! Big disappointment here as you can understand.

More good news: Called the Delta customer service line and got to talk to a live human (with only a minimal delay while listening to elevator music). After maybe two conversations where they gave me things to try, it was determined that the best course of action was to take the motor to a local (about 20 miles away) authorized service center. Turns out that the switch was defective from the factory (contacts fell out). The service rep had the switch on hand and fixed it while I waited. Saw is running fine now.

Another positive: I contacted Amazon (via Email) and they were more than willing to send a truck to my house to pick it up for a return with full refund or replacement.

I'd rate the Amazon and Delta service as excellent ... but the quality control at Delta factory as poor.

The cast iron arm and vertical column are very rugged. I'm extramely disappointed, however, in the sheet metal stand. There is a considerable amount of flexing where the column attaches. With very little force I am able to deflect the saw blade by 1/16? Also, the angle brackets that attach the table to the stand are not bent at 90 degrees. When I clamp the table down, the angles force the table to bow by about 1/8" in the center. I just purchased some steel channel and plan to fabricate my own stand that has some structural integrity. The other problem I encountered was the ability for the stop clamp to maintain position. I had a very difficult time squaring the blade to the fence until I realized this clamp was slipping. I've tightened the clamp as hard as I can and it is easily displaced with the slightest jolt from rotating the arm from 45 degrees back to zero. I plan to disassemble the machine, clean out the grease around the clamp and rough up the surface of both the clamp and the column. Once I've fixed the clamp and have built a new stand I'm sure this will be a nice machine...however, with the amount of money spent I shouldn't have to do this.

the delta 10in radial arm saw is one of the best on the market,one big factor is ,how easy and quick you can square the saw.this is the most important factor,on a radial arm saw,a out of square saw is useless.the saw is quility made.all steel no plastic.made to last a live time.

I love this saw. I have used it to make hundreds of cross cuts and done some molding miter cutting with it. I've put a lot of use on this tool for a do-it-yourselfer. I remodeled a 1947 house with this saw. I gutted several rooms and finished a basement. I put a deck on the back of the house and cut pile of pressure-treated lumber. I even used the saw to cut up the painted, near-pertified wood for scrap. After a lot of abuse the original blade is still sharp and the saw is working like it was new.

I sold that house and I'm onto a new house, but the Delta is coming with me. I'd really love a compound miter saw, I just can't justify replacing this one yet.

If you're looking for a miter saw and don't want to spend several hundred $$ on one, you won't likely regret going with this one. I'm not sure about some of the earlier reviewers who felt it was underpowered - I have put mine through the paces and it has come out shining. For instance, it will cut through treated 4x4 posts with no hesitation.
Basically, I wanted a miter saw that would provide good miter cuts on moldings and cut 4x4's, and this one does both. I almost spent over twice as much on a 12" compound and now I'm glad I didn't. This 10" cuts 2x6's and 4x4's like I wanted and, after a little research, I discovered that the compound feature is rarely useful, and is actually only one more thing to worry about being aligned.
All in all, this has turned out to be a terrific tool, inexpensive or not.

I recently had my family room remodeled by a local contractor. When it came time to cut and fit moldings, door trim and the like, I noticed that the carpenter was using the Delta 36-070 for all miter cuts. I asked him what he thought of the saw and he answered, simply, that it performed well, is accurate, and is easy to lug from job to job at only 28 lbs. He admitted to having better miter saws, but when visiting 4 job sites in one day, this is the saw he uses.

When I happened across this saw at Home Depot for only $79.00 (US) I snatched it up. I agree with a previous reviewer...don't compare this saw with saws costing twice as much. It's not a valid comparison. I've used this saw considerably since I puchased it and have no complaints at all. As a home owner, I find this saw perfect for the weekend duties I ask of it and find it easy to move around and store away. Compound cuts? Of course not. Had I a need for that, I'd have bought a different saw. Then again, that would have cost me at least $160.00, be at least 45 lbs, and I might use the compound feature every few years or so....in which case my non-movable radial arm saw will fit the need.

Great saw for home owners at a great price. It has a good manual, comes with a carbide 40 tooth blade, and if you treat it well and keep it clean, you'll be giving it to one of your kids some day when 28 lbs feels like 56.

This was my first experience ordering 'heavy metal' (ie large stationary workshop tools) from Amazon, and I wouldn't do it again. Here's the good (+) and the bad (-) along with some tips if you get stuck too:

+/- Price: yes, with an Amazon sale I paid $589 and got free shipping, while at local stores, the saw was $699. But think about how much your time is worth when you have to resolve difficult issues yourself.

+ Shipping: can't complain. The fence came via 3 UPS boxes. The main (350#) saw came ABF motor freight, and the driver had a liftgate truck, pallet jack, and cooperative attitude.

TIP 1: although Amazon site says you can't track this shipment, actually you can! Just go to www.abfs.com and put in the reference number Amazon provides. I was able to schedule my delivery optimally.

--- Packing: the saw comes in a crate, and while there was no obvious external damage, once unpacked many problems appeared. The sheet metal motor housing was literally smashed, bending the cabinet base some too; corner of cast iron table was dinged; push nut missing from blade guard; some paint rubbed off cabinet from vibration in transit. The worst problem was gross misalignment of the arbor - more on this later.

(Yes, I know I could in theory have "returned" the saw if dissatisfied or filed a damage claim. But did I care to re-crate machinery or spend hours on the phone in pursuit of my hobby?)

++ Replacement parts: I called the Delta 800 number, told them about the smashed motor housing and missing pushnut, and they shipped the replacements without hesitation.

--- Alignment: Huge frustration, but finally resolved. The arbor was grossly misaligned with the blade over 1/8" out of parallel with miter slot. Loosening the trunnion bolts and trying to move the trunnions didn't begin to correct it.

TIP 2: Tie bar alignment. Go to Delta website, Tech Support>FAQ's>Contractor Style Saw. It explains the need to check parallelism of two tie bars. During transportation, even with the styrofoam packing insert, the motor's weight can force the tie rods out of alignment. THIS is what caused most of the misalignment, rather than the trunnions. The instructions are little help on how to fix it, though. So get a 15/16" box end wrench with standard 15 deg angled shaft (a socket wrench won't fit) to loosen the lock nuts at the rear of the tie rods. You can get the right one through the motor door; for the left, I had to remove the rear rail and pull three plastic pins holding the sliding dust cover. Pull or push on the motor until the tie rods are parallel and a flat piece of melamine no longer rocks when resting on them. Retighten.

TIP 3: Trunnion alignment. After careful analysis, I found out why I couldn't align the saw by nudging the trunnions. The trunnion bolts have the usual lockwasher/flatwasher combo, and the trunnions have oversize holes to allow some adjustment - in theory. In reality, the factory had overtightened the bolts, forcing the flatwashers into the trunnion holes slightly and deforming the washers into a cone shape. Result? No matter how much you nudge, when you retighten the bolt, the trunnion goes back to its original location! To fix this, I bought a PALS system ($20 from www.in-lineindustries.com) for the rear trunnions, and new, thicker flatwashers for the front trunnion bolts. Note: even with PALS on the rear trunnions, I still had to fix the 'conehead' situation on the front trunnions to be able to align the saw.

I happened to buy a bandsaw at the same time as this table saw, but went with a Jet model. Even though the Jet wasn't their top of the line, the quality differences were obvious. It was packed as if somebody really cared, the design had been thoughtfully executed, and alignment was dead-on right from the factory. Hmmm...

After using a Ryobi B-3000 for a number of years, I was looking for an upgrade that would be accurate and have more power. After reading the reviews of this saw, I felt that it was worth considering. I had looked at the Sears hybrid and was including it on my list of possibilities. When the price for the Delta went to $559 with a $50 coupon, it seemed to be a good buy.

As fellow reviewers have mentioned, the instructions leave a bit to be desired (particularly when installing the fence/rail). If your saw includes the wooden extension piece (right side), be sure to install it shortly after putting the steel wings (these puppies are heavy and you need an extra set of hands or some kind of support device if you are doing it yourself) in place (this needs to be done before you put the final front rail on the T2 fence in place). You also need to install the power switch during this sequence as well or you get to loosen bolts that hold the rail. Installing the belt was no big deal... getting the foam packing material from around the motor was more of a pain.

The fence needed fine tuning and adjustment as well but it is a fairly straightforward process. Make sure the fence is parallel to the miter guide slots... this will help check the actual trunion accuracy.

After firing up the saw and making a couple of cuts, I found that the trunion was definitely out of alignment! I was getting burn marks on the outfeed piece of material. This is not a fun adjustment but using a socket with extension pieces made it possible. A rubber mallet to administer a couple of pursuading taps helped! Once this adjustment was made, the saw accuracy was right on!

The saw is certainly a nice looking piece of equipment and runs very quietly and does not vibrate. I do recommend that you buy a wheeled base... otherwise you will need to have your wife move it for you!!

Two other accessories I would recommend: a zero clearance plate and an Incra miter gauge.

All in all, I am very pleased with this saw and look forward to having it for many years.

The other reviews were helpful in my decision to buy this saw so thought I'd also leave a response.
ABF Freight delivered the crated DELTA 36-715 in perfect shape only about a week after ordering. Took it off the truck and wheeled in into my garage - no problem. UPS delivered 2 of the 3 other items on time. Somehow lost the Fence Rails, but managed to locate and deliver the next week.
Set up was not hard, used two 2 x 4's clamped under, and extending past the main table to support & assist in attaching the cast iron wings. Using a Dial Indicator, checked the alignment of the blade Arbor to the table Slots and found them to be right on. Only had to adjust the fence itself slightly. By the way, the T2 Fence System is outstanding. Not sure the upgraded fences offered by Delta could be much better.
Using a Jet 708118 Moble Base, my saw is moved easly around the work space.
All in all, very satisfied with the product and Amazon. The money saved is worth the wait for delivery.

Based on other on-line reviews I purchased an RS830 from Delta and received it on 10/21/2005 with a missing part (the work surface, or board as Delta calls it). It is now 12/07/2005 and I still have not received the missing part after 4 calls to the 800# for customer service and several e-mails to customer care (as they call it). I would like to use the saw some day instead of tripping over it in my workshop. It better be more reliable than their customer support which has gotten me to the point that I will probably never buy a Delta product again.

Maybe you'll get lucky, but I tried twice with this saw and both units went back. The construction of at least some of the parts is cheap and not precise. Both units that were delivered to me had poorly made bases. The arm and column attach to a base that supports the table. This base is formed from two identical metal pieces which resemble squared off "C's". These are butted together and then welded into a rectangle. On the first unit I got, one long side of the base was bent inward about an inch near the middle. The second unit was misformed or damaged at a corner. The short fasteners for the legs weren't long enough to work at the damaged corner without bringing the base back into its intended shape.
Worse than the base problems perhaps, are the poor materials used on the short shaft which locks/unlocks the arm swivel. After attaching the table legs and standing the unit up, the shaft just fell off. Upon closer examination, the shaft -which outwardly appears to be a solid piece of 3/8's inch thick black steel - is nothing of the sort. Mine had sheared off exactly where it meets the column exposing a cross section of the now broken shaft. It is formed from a hollow black metal tube into which a "filler" metal is poured. This filler, so far as I can tell, is simply cheap "pot metal" of no real strength. I surmise it was designed to have enough strength necessary to take the normal screwing motion for the lock/unlock of the arm, but no attention was paid to it's strength should ANY angular force act on it (the same motion as turning on your car's turn signal). I'm not saying one should be able to hang by the shaft or misuse it, but it seems it doesn't have enough strength to stand up to normal wear and tear. Adding insult to injury, the assembly instructions are clearly erroneous in describing leg attachment: they instruct you to put a washer onto the bolt and then put the bolt thru the hole on the base. But the washer cannot go on first or the bolt won't seat properly.
Maybe if you're fortunate enough to get a unit from a good production run AND fortunate enough to have it get thru shipping unscathed, perhaps it will make decent cuts. But I never even got a chance to turn the machine on.

This is one great saw. It takes awhile to set it up. Once it is set up, it's a very accurate machine. I mean dead on accurate at any angle!!! This saw is built like a tank, yet simple so it should last many years. Like I said, It's a great saw. Possibly the best!!