Delta Reviews

I bought this tool about 4 years ago. I have used it for both jointing and plaining less that 6" widths. I am just getting to the point of changing blades now. I use this tool twice a month in the winter and twice a week in the summer. I have run huge pieces of wood through this machine eventhough this is bench top and have come up with a good result every time. The only thing keeping it from its fifth star is lenght of bed but that can be a positive too for a small shop area like mine when it comes to storage.

I purchased this jointer about 5 years ago. I am a semi-pro woodworker, and I use the machine at least twice a week. I do agree with the other reviewers about it's shortcomings, but you get what you pay for. Don't expect floor model results from a benchtop machine. I set the fence at 90 deg when I purchased it and it has stayed true. I set the depth of cut at 1/64 in and keep it there, it does a great job.

I give it 4 stars because it is EXTREMELY LOUD, and it does tend to bog down a bit with hardwood when jointing more than a 64th of an in.

For the money, it has served me well.

I have owned this machine for about 2yrs.If you have a small shop it works perfect. I set the fence once and it has stayed true. I cant count how many times I have used this little machine and fineley have to replace the blades. It is very portable.I have it hooked up to my dust collecter and it takes all the wood chips like it is soposed to. For the money it is a nice little unit

I have been using the Delta 46 -715 for little over 2 years and I use it about 3 to 5 days a week. I purchased this one because I needed a second lathe and was working on a budget. When the lathe is working it is a 5 star lathe: no vibrations, and runs smooth. But have broken 2 sets of pulleys P/N 909946. The pulley attached to the speed control lever is the one breaking. Delta Service said they are not seeing problems with these pulleys but I see in the reviews that this is a common problem. The QA of these pulleys have issues but Delta is not willing to look in to this problem, so Delta Service is a - 5 stars.

The power switch is made very very cheaply and poor QA. On my lathe it only worked for two weeks before coming apart. I replaced it with a commercial grade switch for less than $5.00 and have had no problem since with the switch.

Thanks, Amazon! I ordered this lathe and had to wait a bit to receive it--it was backordered. Amazon advised me of this prior to my order, so I was aware that I would wait. So far, it was worth the wait. Here are the facts about this purchase and Amazon:

1. I received the free shipping--saved me a great deal. I knew that the shipping company would deliver the lathe to the back of their truck unless I called to arrange a liftgate truck, so I was ready when the shipping company called. I made a deal with them to help me load it onto my pickup if I would pick it up at their facility. This saved me trying to have someone around to help me unload it if they delivered it to my home. When I got the 340 lb. crate home, I just disassembled the lathe and brought it into the shop piece by piece.
2. The lathe assembles easily. Clean the parts as recommended in the manual--it is very oily. Everything fit perfectly and it went together in less than a 1/2 hour.
3. Everything was present in the crate and the lathe works perfectly. Speed control works smoothly, everything fits well together. It is quiet running! I have not done any heavy projects yet, but it seems to have very little vibration on my concrete floor.
4. Some of the casting is a wee bit rough. This is not a problem, especially considering the low price I paid to the lathe! All paint was intact; no scratches or dings. The crate is sturdy (I will use it as a cabinet for my shop).
All-in-all, this was a great purchase. I am very pleased with the product and with Amazon. Check around and you will not find better deals anywhere. Amazon has always taken good care of me, even with returns, so I trust them.
I will update this review as I work projects with the lathe.

June 13, 2006: I have turned three small segmented bowls with this lathe. So far, it works fine. There is a rhythmic hum to the machine as it runs on low speed and I have noted a chatter in the outer edges of the bowl farthest from the chuck (a Nova chuck)--this may be a problem with how I am chucking the bowl vs the lathe itself. The chuck seems to be running true and there is little vibration with the small bowl turning. So far, so good!

I have had this lathe for over two years now. I use it 3 to 4 times a week. This is a decent all around lathe. Epecially for the money. It definately is not top of the line but then again it doesn't cost $5,000 either.

I have made bowls, tops, plates and cups on it. It is very capable of producing quality work. From tiny spindles to large bowls.

That the headstock swivels is a great thing. You need this feature when making bowls or else you have to walk around to the back side to get to the inside, so as to not get overextended. It is easily done by the unlocking the lever under the headstock itself.

Yes it does tend to vibrate, but adding 300 pounds of sand, in bags, on the shelf virtually eliminates that. If you bolt it to the floor you better make sure you are perfectly level or you'll tweak the ways, which can throw off spindle alignment.

The tailstock spindle keyway can get boogered up IF you back the locking key out too far. I filed mine and now it is fine.
The tailstock does slip back occasionally, albeit incrementally slow. I just periodically give the handwheel a slight turn. This is not really a problem unless I am roughing out a large bowl blank from an uneven section of log.

Mine came with Delta's set of HSS tools and they are more than adequate. Sharpen them first and check the angles of the grind by looking at some turning websites. Lots of good free info out there.

Power? Plenty. I always start on slow speed and increase to where I need to be. This is not because of power concerns but for safety. Forget one time that you finished a high speed spindle turning last night and today you are roughing out a half log and ... Always stand to the side at start up.

About customer service... I just had my switch break, ultimately due to a failed plastic part. Even though I am out of the two year warranty, they are covering it! A while ago I broke one of the locking handles (because I overtightened it) and they are covering that too. If they had customer service problems before,,, well they fixed them in my book.

Additional.
I recently had a pulley go bad. The reeves drive seems to be the source of the vibration which ultimately leads to failure. This is still a good lathe but for more than hobbywork, I would go with something better.

I've owned this sander for four months now and it has been down waiting for parts for two of those months. The driven pulley is made of cheap plastic with plastic splines on a metal shaft. The plastic pulley wore out after only light use, it began to get off center and destroyed the drive belt. Both parts have been on order for over a month. The motor on this unit is under-powered, you can easily stop the belt with almost any sanding operation. The overall guality of this sander is poor, but I must say, I should have known based on the price. You get what you pay for with tools. Poor quality, underpowered, parts???

I am a Kartina victim and finally getting the house in order and able to concentrate on the shop and replacing some tools. I had an older of this model and it worked well with moderate use. The new one is very "light weight" in horsepower and the gears are constructed of some sort of fiber or composite. The set screw for the motor gear was striped and the "D" shaft just spun inside the gear. Being beyond the 30 day return policy now established by Lowes and Home Depot, I drilled the shafts and inserted bolt with nut retainer. It seemed to work well for a few days and then the Gear to the Belt and Disc sanders striped. This is a composite material also and a spline gear. I drilled the shafts here also and thus far, no more problems. There are questions concerning the Quality of Delta Products now being produced. For sure, they are NOT as tough as in years past. Not so good, Delta. We know it has been better.

to the point, this machine has a plastic drive wheel. I got a small piece of wood jerked out of my fingers (my fault) and it wedged the belt and stopped it (safety built in). However, that stripped the plastic drive wheel. After that, anything above slight pressure on the sanding piece and the belt/disc stopped. I didn't want to go through the hassle of begging Delta for an exchange, so I fixed it with JB Weld. Now it works fine. The discovery of the flimsy construction has kept me from considering Delta anything.

You want to know the cons, here they are. I replaced the 2 piece fence as soon as I got it out of the box and put on a 6" oak 1 piece fence. I don't like to waste time setting up a two piece fence when you can do a better job with one. You just have to cut out a slot big enough to handle your bits. The height adjustment knob should have been made bigger for easier bit changes. If you don't have a vacuum system, you'll have to remove the power switch every once in a while and clean out the sawdust. Just remove two screws, pop out the switch housing, and blow it out. Cudos to Delta for designing the switch for easy cleaning. Sawdust will collect quickly in the chute without a vacuum. It doesn't take much to clean it out, however it does get old pretty quick. The wrenches are a waste of time. Delta took a shortcut on this one. They should've made better quality wrenches that don't bend and open up. Overall, it is a solid tool that gets the job done. I milled Oak cabinet frames/doors from scratch and she never bogged down. I would buy it again based simply on performance. The pros outweigh the cons.

While this unit is not as heavy as a professional shaper, it is certainly better than a router table assembled from pieces. The 1/2 in collet is driven on its own outboard spindle, supported by two ball bearings. The motor is belted to the spindle in a step-up fashion to get the tool turning at 12,000 rpm. The whole assembly, along with the raising and lowering mechanism, is a complete unit, fully assembled, and simply bolted to the metal cabinet stand. It is well made and quite robust.

I had no problems putting the unit together and doing the few simple adjustment to get the spindle perpendicular to the table. I am using 1/2 inch shank router cutters rather than true spindle units, and find the motor delivers more than enough power to handle edge shaping and such basic operations. I have not tried the heavier shaping jobs that are needed to make raised panels, etc.

I purchased separately the extension table for the earlier 505 machine, since it was stated to work for the Sh100, but had to cut through it in the back for the dust collection vacuum cleaner exhaust system to connect.

I bought a B&D workmate for a support stand for the unit. This has worked well, without the need for additional clamping. Reproducibility in setting the router blade height is acceptable, as long as you follow the directions and raise the cutter to the desired level from the bottom UP.

I found the fence to be OK, considering the price of the unit. You have to make the fence adjustments "by hand" using a straight ruler or board to set the two segments to be parallel. It takes a little time to do this, but it's no big deal. It's not a good idea to be in a hurry setting up the fences and cutter height anyhow.

I am happy with my purchase. If I wanted a professional calibur shaper I would have gotten a Grissley or bigger Delta for more money. The SH100 is working nicely for me now doing heavier (and safer) routing than a hand or plunge router would do, and for that it is more than worth what I spent for it.

I was not at all pleased with the way FedEx delivered it. There was a big rip in the carton corner, and the side of the SH100 base cabinet for the unit had a big dent in it. I did not want to go through the hassle of returning it, since I had to cut up the box just to get the unit out to look at it. So I took a couple of hours and straighted the cabinet dent out, but it doesn't say much for FedEx in that they just dumped it in this condition on my door step. This is why I did not give the unit 5 stars.

The product was as discribed and I was very pleased with it. The delivery was faster then expected.

Ideal for my needs as a weekend carpenter. Small enough to easyly be put to the side of the garage but still able to rip 2 inch green treated lumber.

This is a great saw for the money. I started woodworking about 2 1/2 years ago. I didn't want to spend alot of money on a hobby I wasn't sure I would like. Since buying the saw I have filled our house with mission and shaker style furniure. The only problems I have with this saw are the fence (doesn't stay parallel to the blade when locking down), the arbor length (will only accept up to 1/2 inch stacked dado), the on/off switch (had to replace it with a better rocker switch in order to turn the saw off), and the size of the table top. All in all, it's a great little saw for someone who is just getting into woodworking and doesn't want to spend a lot of money.

This wouldn't find a home in the New Yankee Workshop, but it has provided me with great bang for the buck!! I've used it for laying a hardwood floor and now we're cutting lots of plexiglass (different blade) to make lab equipment - all without a complaint. In fact a colleague, who owns a much more expensive table saw, has been looking for a 2nd saw to have at his cottage. He's been watching us use the Delta and is planning to get one himself. I'm slightly sad to say the price is now a shade lower whan when I bought mine :)

I'm writing this review about a year and a half after I removed the sliding table from my table saw. I should have written this review at that time. First off I'd like to say that a sliding table makes a table saw nearly twice as useful. Unless its a Delta sliding table. My problems were the following
1) Particle board table was warped
2) Main roller rod had to be replaced.Poor surface coating
3) Your were never really positive of a square fence
4) Very difficult to make sure table surface was square
5) Handle screws were stripped
6) table locking mechanism was sloppy
5) Main support rod takes up a huge amount of floor space
6) Overall design was poor

I recently purchased a Jessem Mast-r-slide and I'm loving it. Its built and designed much better. The Delta model worked, but its just not worth the headache. Delta really needs to update their sliding table and work on their quality assurance. I gave this one away. It wasn't worth selling. I just wish I would have known that before I sunk the cash into it.

Precision sliding tables run up in the area of $1200. Don't expect the same performance with this one. It's not bad. It's not "great" either.

I've had this slider for about 2 years now. It's works fine, and does what it's supposed to do - But it's a somewhat of a PITA to set, and keep square. The flip-stop is worthless. Removing the miter fence (and pivot point bolt) is a pain when you need to rip sheet material.

You will spend hours setting it up the first time. No argument there. But the real aggravation is keeping it square! I have to re-tune mine every 1-2 months.

FYI: This sliding table is EXACTLY the SAME as the one Grizzly sells for it's right-tilt (1023S) cabinet saws! The ONLY difference is the paint color and logo. http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4227

yes, it's true that this is not a PERFECT add-on and yes, it will take you a number of HOURS to assemble and install it on your table saw, but after that you gain perhaps one of the SAFEST ways of crosscutting wide pieces of wood which lead to one of the most FREQUENTLY reported accident - the kickback. if you try pushing the wide end of a piece of wood through the table saw against the rip fence and accidentally push the leading edge into the spinning blade, the wood will fly backwards INCREDIBLY fast and will either hurt you or leave a hole in the wall. at the very least, it will ruin your workpiece. this sliding table attachment minimizes that risk by giving you a horizontal fence to safely guide your work through the blade.

this is the most USEFUL accessory that i have purchased for my table saw. i used it extensively while building a set of kitchen cabinets and it worked like a charm, easily handling perfectly SQUARE panel cuts up to 36". i used the convenient flip-stop to cross cut all my face frame, door and drawer parts and then used it freehand to trim off the horns.

setting it up definitely takes a bit of PATIENCE. first of all, if you are installing it on a non-delta table saw (mine is a powermatic 64) you will most likely need to find the appropriate screws for the mounting rail. these can easily be found my looking under FASTENERS in your yellow pages/book. next, if you don't want to cut off your rails, you can bore new holes in them with a drill press and move them to the right thus extending your rip capacity simultaneously - assuming you have the room! getting all the various settings to align correctly can be frustrating. in the end, i set my sliding table so that the workpiece would project slightly above the surface of the table saw and had the fence set approximately 2" away from the blade so that i could keep the blade guard in place - i HATE exposed rapidly spinning blades which is why i bought this attachment and threw away my miter sled! make sure that you use the FIVE CUT METHOD and a dial caliper (grizzly makes a cheap one that works well) to square up the fence with your blade. yes, you will periodically have to readjust the settings but that's also the case with the more expensive crosscutting apparatuses including the excalibur.

there is simply NO COMPARISON between a crosscutting table and a miter sled. i would HIGHLY recommend getting one even if it's not the one made by delta. the sliding table is always ready to go - no need to haul the sled out, hoist it up on the saw and then DRAG it back and forth (turning the saw off in between cuts like you're supposed to do...) and having to deal with the LIMITED cross cutting width. did i mention that the blade is usually spinning free and unshielded and constantly THREATENING your fingers?

if you would like further reading material, try googling "crosscut sled design guide" for the most definitive comparison of sliding tables and miter sleds.

I've had this machine for 3-years. Unless you just want to rip 2x4's for framing, run away from this purchase. The motor is good, but that's only positive bit of news about this saw.

The miter slots are a joke. The included gauge has about 3/16" of slop in them, and no other gauges on the market fit it either. The throat plate stinks too. Forget making a zero-clearance insert, because the table top is so poorly designed that you can only use a steel throat plate. Plan on building sleds for any cross-cutting you want to do.

Don't even get me started on the fence which I bent while bolting a sacrificial fence on it the very first day.

I JUST BOUGHT A DELTA 36-680 OR SO I THOUGHT.THE BOW SAID 36-679 ON THE BOX .THE SAW ISNT REALLY A 36-680 DELTA TOLD ME THERES NO ACTUAL 36-680 THATS JUST THE EXTRA PARTS.THE SAW SHOULD BE A 36-679 THEY SAID.OK WHY DOES IT HAVE A 36-670 LABEL ON IT.I CALLED DELTA AGAIN WHEN I SAW THE LABEL AND FOUND OUT THEY FORGOT TO REPLACE IT WITH A 36-679 LABEL.WHAT A PIECE OF OLD MIS LABELD JUNK. PLEASE GO TO MY REIVEW AT AMASONS DELTA 36-680 REVEIEW PAGE AND READ HOW THEY ARE SCAMMING PEOPLE AND PUTTING NEW LABELS ON OLD SAWS. TRUST ME IT'S WORTH READING BEFORE YOU MAKE A EXPENSIVE MISTAKE AND WASTE VALUABLE TIME.IT TELLS WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT FROM DELTA. BEWARE OF OLD SAWS WITH NEW LABELS.THEIR 1 1/2 HP MOTOR IS WEEK AND SHUTS OFF WHILE CUTTING PANELING.YES I SQAURED EVERTHING UP FIRST. THIS IS AND ALL MY REVIEWS ARE HONEST.I AM JUST A GUY THAT GOT STIFFED BY DELTA. GOOD LUCK.

I bought this saw about 6 weeks ago to replace an ancient Craftsman. I wanted to use it a while before forming an opinion and my opinion is...spend the extra money and buy a real saw.
This saw is basically a toy. It has a plastic housing and that right there should tell you about the quality. The fence is questionable at best, it doesn't stay where you lock it and it and the miter gauge doesn't even come close to fitting the slot. For [what I paid]I wasn't expecting a whole lot but just a little accuracy would've been nice. What a disappointing purchase. I guess in order to get a decent saw you need to spend at least twice the amount of this saw...now I just gotta find someone to buy this one.

I bought this saw sat.12/10/05. saw was damaged right out of the box,got back to the store,they opened up a new box and that one was damaged,they gave me yet another saw, took that saw home,roller bearing guides were loose,doors rattle and it won't keep a blade or a belt on it for more than thirty seconds.Spent tuesday night with delta tech support, spent 45 minutes wednesday night with delta tech to no availe(lovely people but no solution.Today I called the store where I purchased the item and they are going to contact delta to see if I am entitled to a return, store credit or "up the creak" Saw weighs a ton would probably make a good mooring if you have a boat.

Worked right out of the box. Didn't have the problems others described. Followed instructions to the letter. Bit of a problem with resawing. The 3/4 hp motor bogs down easily, must take it really slow. Overall a fine tool for the bucks.

I just bought my bandsaw on Sunday. Everything seems to be working OK and I am fairly satisfied. True, the packaging was heavy, but the heavier the machine, the more steady it will be when you place any heavy items on it that you are working with.

My only problem is after I spent 3 hours assembling the thing, I realized it didnt come with a rip fence or miter guage, and the main thing I wanted to do was resaw.

I have to wait until the next day to go back to Lowes and they do not sell any assessories for delta tools. I go to the Delta website and type in my zip code on their dealer locator and four nearby Lowes stores come up on the screen.

After paying $400 for a saw, you would expect these two items to be included?

Great product though there's not much to it. Installation was a breeze and it provided an additional 8" to the table width, which was a life saver for the project I was working on. I would have given this product 5 stars, but I do feel it's rather costly for what you're really getting.

I don't know what I expected for less than one hundred dollars, but the Delta 10" "Contractor" saws fall far short of my expectations. This accessory would rate a solid 6 out of 10 were it not for its high price.

I spent two years in a UniSaw equipped shop and came to expect a lot out of Delta based on that experience. I'm sure that I'm like others here - I simply cannot justify a $1000 spend on a cabinet shop grade tablesaw for my limited home projects.

The 10" consumer saw series feels, appears and operates like a piece of machinery that was built in a former Eastern Bloc country - or worse.

The 36-541 extension fastens to the table with three through bolts. The easiest way to attach it is using a pair of quick grips to secure it during fastening. As others have stated, leveling the table surfaces to each other is almost secondary to aligning the fence rail. Do not use the trailing edge of the table as an indicator of alignment during the installation - the casting is so poor that you'll end up with the fence out by up to 1/8".

On the plus side, the extension feels sturdy once it is attached. You will be able to confidently move the saw from one location to another using the table and extension(s)as a lift point.

Enough has been said about the fit and mill finish on this item already, but I would add one more point. Delta should re-work this great idea for an accessory in a 12" or 16" model that can piggyback like this one.

It is difficult to envision how one 8" section would do anything for most carpenters who need to crosscut even a half sheet of plywood.

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No instructions are included for attaching it properly, but it is fairly easy to figure out. Nice addition.