Delta Reviews

I purchased this machine as a replacement for a delta 40-601 which I ran for thousands of hours over 20 years. Since delta no longer makes the 40-601, I opted for the 40-680.

The first thing I noticed was the reduction in the quality level of the stand. Second, the scroll saw required the operator to physically push the blade in order to get it started.

I finally had the opportunity to need the saw to run for a couple of hours today with the following results. The lower blade holder is out of alignment and will not hold a blade. It kept breaking blades and would not hold the blade resulting in about 20 broken blades in an hour. I will contact Delta in an effort to resolve the issue.

I would not recommend this scroll saw to anyone. I have had various Delta table saws, jointers, and planners. This will be the last piece of Delta equipment I ever buy.

Wow! Out of the box, set up in about an hour. Runs smoothly, quietly and cuts great. I am most happy that I spent the extra bucks on a quality piece of machinery.

I have put my Delta 40-680 , 20" scroll saw to use with heavy stack sawing for over three years. It is loaded with great features and is built like a tank. The blade can be easily fed from the top or the bottom easier than any other saw that I know of. My saw has been totally trouble free and has not cost a nickel in repairs.
I highly recommend this saw to any serious scrollers.
Bill Young
British Columbia, Canada

The catalog said the stand was for the model Delta band saw that my husband owns (BS100) but it did not have holes located in the appropriate positions so it could not be bolted down. We were only able to utilize it after he drilled his own holes to make it fit.

I purchased this stand for my belt/disc sander and it fits perfectly. I also discovered it is just right for my bench top drill press so I purchased another. Nice and sturdy with convenient storage underneath.

I was so pleased with how rigid the stand supported my Craftsman planer; I drove right back to the store and bought three more. Heavy-duty construction reduces vibration and the possibility of injury while working with large pieces of stock. I could support my truck on one of these. Assembly is a no brainer. You get what you pay for. (QUALITY) As for holes not matching up to some machines, a drill takes care of that.

First the bad points: Fine tuning the table height is very frustrating. The arm that you loosen then tighten is set akwardly on the left. Furthermore, you either have to rock the table back and fourth to get it lower, or it just drops down, so much for fine tuning. The table that you place your work on is small. If you're working on anything of any size, it's difficult to clamp. Finally, there's no mortising attachment available.

The good points: It's a solid machine that will make good holes for a long time. It's just the set up that's misery.

I should have spent the extra [money], and bought the Delta 12" Drill Press. The 12" model has a crank to adjust the table height, the table is bigger, and a mortising attachment is available.

I purchased this unit about a year ago. I haven't had a single problem with it, and have used it on several projects. Changing the speed of the drill involves messing around with the belt in the top housing, which is a little cumbersome until you get use to it. I have only two complants with it. 1) The adjustable table doesn't utilize a rack-and-pinion system like the other Delta drill presses, which can make it cumbersome to adjust the table height, particularly if you are fine tuning. It also forces you to have to constantly make sure that the table "hole" is lined up correctly with the drill bit. 2) Delta doesn't appear to make accessories to support the drill, such as clamps, mortising attachments, etc. I originally purchased this drill press because of its Delta name and its remarkable low price. Ultimately I will upgrade to the 12" drill press which has the features that this one lacks.

This little drill press is great for a young woodworker. So far, it has been a pleasure to work with. The spring loaded chuck prevents the chuck key from staying in, thus preventing "chuck key flyout" when the drill press is turned on. A great idea, this feature makes the drill a lot safer to use, especially with kids. The pop out switch toggle prevents unauthorized use of drill press. The 5-speed feature is great for hard or soft wood, metals, and plastic. The only thing I find indesirable is that the chuck could always go a little bit deeper. A nice little machine; just what you'd expect from Delta!

I bought the 10 inch because it is significantly less money than the 12 inch. It does everything that the manufacturer claims, and is a good deal. Its sturdy, and easy to assemble and to set up. The tilting table requires a wrench, but works fine. One word of caution-- while the mortising attachment will fit, there is not a lot of extra room. If you plan on doing a lot of mortising, buy the 12 inch.

A fine bench drill press. It worked good for me...but I found that the belts could slip a bit. Also, as expected, the column depth can be limiting when trying to drill in certain areas.

I bought this for exactly the reasons Delta lists: I find their 8" drill press too small for any useful work, but the 12" is overpriced for what you get. So I bought the 10". I've owned it for a few months now and have used it extensively. It has plenty of power - all but the largest forstner bits in all but the hardest wood cut smoothly and cleanly with this press. My only real compaint is the difficulty of adjusting the angle of the table - it requires a wrench and is fairly rough. However, the depth-stop adjustment is smooth and elegant, the table height adjustment is adequate, and the speed changes (via belt changes) are quite simple once you've got the hang of it. Workmanship of the tool is excellent.

Nothing personal,but Delta dropped the ball on this one.
It will make a true mortise cut,but adjusting the chisel with the auger bit is a lot a work.I purchased this tool hoping to save some work.Tends to overheat.I'm a casual user of this tool.The Idea is wonderful,but needs some re-engineering.

This set appears to be good quality and set up is easy enough.
It requires bit sets with 5/8 shoulder and those appear to be mostly delta bits. The Grizzly bits have 3/4 inch shoulders and do not fit.

I am returning this item and ordering the delta set that comes with 4 bit sets.

It would help if the descriptions of the bits and attachments included the sholder size requirement for the bit sets.

I recently bought the Delta 17-935 mortising attachment for my 12" Delta drill press. Drilling/mortising through poplar for mortise and tenon joints was a breeze. I didn't have to brace the bottom and it still worked like a charm. Highly recommended for a backyard furniture maker.

Gripes: 1. Fed Ex never called to let me know when the product would be delivered. They attempted delivery once (I was at work of course) and then wanted to charge me extra to attempt redelivery. Went and picked up saw myself. 2. Biesmeyer fence is not packaged well enough to survive shipping. I feel lucky that I just had some damage to the clamping tube's finish and tape measure at the end of the tube. 3. Front rail of fence will not mount high enough on the saw's cast iron table to allow the fence to slide smoothly across the table saw and clamping tube. Had to shim clamping tube up 1/16" with 1/4" washers. 4. Fence did not come with mounting bracket for saw's power switch. Had to fashion something out of a piece of angle iron I had laying around. 5. DOES NOT include base extension to support 52" fence. All you get is a mobile base for the contractor saw. This might work, but I didn't want my 52" fence which is only bolted to the saw's cast iron table with (4) 5/8" bolts to be unsupported when tipped up to move the saw around. Also, I don't think that the pivot point would be far enough to the right w/o the base extension. Adding the base extension moves the pivot point about 2 feet to the right instead of being right under the right-hand side of the saw's cast iron table. Bought base extension for another $100. 6. Does not come with table board. This is stated plainly in the ad BUT this fence will NOT work w/o a table board. Plan on buying one from Delta ($130) or building one yourself. Build one your self and laminate it with formica for about $100 is my recommendation. The delta board is melamine on particle board (yuck!) with hardwood rails and stiles. 7. Steel blade that comes with saw is a joke. Plan on dropping a C note on a quality blade. Recommend Forrest. 8. Great amount of backlash in height adjustment. Manual has instructions for adjusting this out. Haven't taken the time to do it yet though. Praise: 1. Saw was packaged very well. Absolutely no damage. 2. Saw is extremely quiet. 3. Instructions (for the most part) are clear and concise. 4. Mobile base is excellent (but you really need that base extension). 5. Miter gauge that comes with saw is large enough and heavy duty enough that it might actually be useful.

I'm sure that in the end this will turn out to be a great saw for me. Just a little aggravating in the beginning.

Important:

1) That nice 52" table extension you see in the picture does not come with this saw...you have to order that extra (and you need it). See note under "Editorial Review" section at the end where it states "Table board not included." That's your only clue.

2) The "FREE mobile base*" leads you to an asterisk under Features that states "*Free mobile base for the contractors saw only; mobile base extension sold separately". Again, you HAVE to have the extension for everything to be level.

3) The blade that comes with this saw is not up to par with the quality of the rest of the saw. It's not even carbide-tipped. If you're paying this much for this saw, you might as well get the Forrest Woodworker II blade...the best money can buy.

With all this put together, you have an excellent saw. Keep that in mind. I also spent some money on an alignment tool set and a Powertwist Link Belt...but a table saw like this is going to be around your shop for DECADES. Don't skimp, or the rest of your projects will suffer.

I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE QUALITY OF THIS SAW. IT HAS LOW VIBRATION AND GREAT WORK SUPPORT. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE.

Amazon shipped this item using ABF as the freight company. Either the table saw was not secured to the pallet or ABF removed the strapping, because the tip indicator had been activated. In addition, the box was crushed on one side and there was a 6 inch and an 8 inch hole in the box. A quick inspection also revealed the motor cover had been crushed and the styrofoam packing was laying in pieces. The drill press, shipped on the same order, had punched through the box and had indications that the shaft impacted with another item. The jointer also had punched through the box and styrofoam packing material.

All items were on pallets however, none of the items were strapped down to the pallet and no shrink wrap was used to secure the items to each other.

After a full day of deliveries by this truck, there were no signs of tie down straps, loose or otherwise, anywhere on the truck nor were the other two crates on the truck strapped down. Boxes listed as 'This Side Up' were laying on their sides. Boxes clearly labled 'Top Heavy' were not secured to pallets.

After seeing this level of shipping abuse, no further inspection was necessary as the entire shipment had to be refused.

Interesting enough, Amazon is glad to cancel the order and provide a refund however, I somewhat expected them to offer to resend the items using another carrier... which they did not.

This is a great saw - I have been wanting one of these for at least 8 years. The unifence works perfectly and the saw runs very smooth. The shipping company was a bit rough with the saw (the tip-over indicator had been tripped) but with the decent job of packaging nothing was damaged. The fence package was broken open as well and the only problem was a missing part, but luckily I didn't need that part right away and a replacement part was received within a few weeks.

Size, power, flexibility, power, precision, power, power, power. I'm a casual woodworker. I'd like to think I'll someday get good enough to find some obscure feature this saw lacks. I doubt I ever will. My 2nd and final saw purchase. No regrets, not even the cost.

first off, I have to say that the notion of getting the widest jointer you can afford is absolutely correct. I had a 6" Delta for several years, and was always an inch or two shy of being able to easily flatten the typical board. Now - no problem - its rare that you run across anything more than 10" wide.

I've had this jointer (single phase motor) for a couple of years now. After considering several brands in and around this size, including the new line of Grizzly, General International, and a Brazilian brand that made jointers for Delta (I believe Invicta), even with the added cost I decided to get Delta because . . . well, its Delta. They've been very good anytime I've had a problem with one of their machines.

So, this machine is very solid, and does its job well. But - the blades are relatively difficult to change, particularly when compared with other brands. You can't get it with a Tersa cutter. The dust collection is poor; for fine cuts its constantly clogging right below the cutter hed. The lever action height adjustment is more difficult to fine adjust than a wheel. On the up side, the cast iron came in flat to a couple thousandths, and had pretty much stayed that way (cast iron continues to shrink for a couple of years after its been cast and machined - inexpensive cast iron needs to be continuously adjusted, and occasionally remachined).

So, if for a lot of money you are OK with a very solid jointer, this works fine (even if made in Tawain). But in retrospect, I'd take a much closer look at the other brands that offer more features and have improved their service.

I have looked at several 12" joiners, even though all my aspiring cabinet maker friends say I will never need more than an 8" joiner. (fools that they are!) Only the General (Canadian, not taiwanese )offers the helical head cutter as an option in the 12" joiner. Add to this the General reputation for qualtiy and dependability and the same approximate price point and you have an unbeatable value. I would wait to set if Powermatic comes out wih a 12" with helical cutters but why hope for something in 2004-5 when you can have it now?

Oh, Grizzly makes a 12" joiner with helical head also, but who wants to take a chance on them? I can't "bear" the thought of wasting my money. (Ha Ha)

The ability to take WIDE rough stock and eliminate all cupping prior to planing makes this machine, second only to my table saw, the most useful in the shop. Greatly increases overall accuracy. The huge infeed/outfeed beds make even the longest board easy to manage. I had a 6' Delta jointer prior to this one and wonder how I lived without it.

The description says: "Fits Delta Contractor's Saws with open legged stand". My saw fits this description; I thought this adaptor would be custom fit. But my saw is about 19 1/2 x 16 1/4", and this piece is 12 1/2" square.

I also thought I would find an adapter somewhere that would connect the 5" port found on this device to a 4" hose. No luck. Odd, since Delta's dust collectors have either 6" or 4" intakes, and I've never seen any collector, hose, or adaptor (of ANY brand) that connects to 5".

So it doesn't fit my Delta open-leg contractor's saw or my Delta dust collector. Odd considering it's said to be a Delta part.

Of course, with an open-base saw, any dust fitting is only part of the story: you still need a way to close off the back face, and this is difficult since the motor and belt are back there, and the belt changes position when you tilt the blade. I am planning to try a small enclosing box that may also work as a back-feed table as a solution.

I have since noticed that my saw is a Series 2000. While there is a fitting for Series 2000 saws made by Delta (sold by Amazon), reviews there indicate that that fitting leaves a wide gap.

Looks like I'll be adapting a 14" plastic chute with a piece of plywood to fit the rest of the space. Far from ideal, but better than dust in the air.

Delta also offers a 12" and 14" square dust connector with a 4" outlet (50-470 and 50-471). Both are black plastic and less expensive than the galvanized sheet metal version. Amazon offers both. I rate this 5 stars because it is a great connector for older Contractor's Saws (for which it is intended) when you want the 5" opening or the heavier-duty sheet metal. Now you have several options and can pick whichever dust connector works best for your application.

This dust connector is exactly the right size for my Delta Contractor's Saw (34-410 / 34-440) that I purchased in 1987 which has a 50-314 open base stand. These are for pre-Series 2000 Contractor's Saw models. There is another version available for the Series 2000 Contractor's Saw and Contractor's Saw II, which is model 50-534 and has a 4" outlet. At one time, Delta offered a 5"x4" Reducer (50-479), but it is no longer available. Delta currently offers a quick-disconnect that connects to a 4" hose and slides over the 5" outlet (50-196), although Amazon.com does not stock this item (ARGHH!). I have not researched other options, but the opening on the stand is 12.5"x12.5" with several inches of room to spare on each side. I would imagine you can find something suitable with a 4" opening if desired.

One problem with Delta and Amazon.com is that they do not provide nearly enough information to their customers about dimensional information and product compatibility. You have to wade in and figure it out from the hints available in messages just like these.

And I don't know about you, but I think that Amazon.com should offer the COMPLETE line for all the brands they carry, even if some of the lower volume items are not stocked for 2-3 day availability or must be drop-shipped from the factory.

I couldn't wait to get this thing. Now I kinda wish I had.
It simply does not do a very good job of sucking dust down into the table. I have a 1500 cfm collector and I shut all of the other ports but, alas, it just doesn't work very well. Not sure there is much that could be done to improve it.
Still haven't tried connecting collector directly to this table. That is my only hope at this point. I suspect it will work better but it would have to be a pretty big jump to make a difference. I wil probably end up laying something across the area of the table I'm not using to get maximum suckage. I had expected it to keep the fine dust from gettign airborne. Too bad... it looked like a really good alternative to a dedicated downdraft table.

First, I have a Woodsucker II cyclone dust system with a 6" main line. This pulls a little over 1000CFM. I run a 4" line to the downdraft table. Simulaniously, I run a 2 1/2" line from another gate to my PC 333K sander. With the both gates open (to the sander and the table), I get zero dust into the ambient air! I was expecting a little dust but was quite pleased to see how dust free this combination is. It allows me to sand and finish back-to-back instead of having to wait for the dust to settle out of the air.

I only gave it 4-stars because the non-slip surface is kinda cheesy and in the first use, started to ablate. All-in-all, I'm exceptionally pleased with my purchase.

The dust collection table does what I wanted it to do: I was looking for a sanding platform to augment the dust collection during sanding. I use it in addition to the shop vacuum connected to my random orbtal or belt sander. Together this forms a good system that controls dust. Additionally the rubber-like coating on the top when combined with the suction grip the piece being sanding quite firmly. A good part of a dust minimizing system.