Delta Reviews

The reviewer who wrote the review above must be trying to be funny. It doesn't make any sense. Please remove it.

The Delta 32-280 Boring bit is the most boring bit on the market. Even though smaller it is far superior to the 7mm boring bit. However you are limited to only boring 5mm holes to the right unless you turn your boring machine upside down. I highly recommend the Delta 32-280 5mm boring bit for all you boring woodworking projects.

I agree with the other review about the time to positively identify all screws and fasteners. Also the bolt and wing nut that hold up the blade guard stripped out when I tried to align the guard. My fence is almost locked in place unless I make it slide with a rubber mallet. Overall I suppose you get what you pay for. It was a cheap saw.

This review is an update reflecting a couple of months of regular use. I've deducted one star for the throat insert, as detailed below.

NOT IN THE AD: The extras included in the value pack are an extra 36-tooth blade, a tool belt, a 25-ft steel tape, a 9-in level, a builder's square, and a 25-ft extension cord. The base is plastic, but should be durable.

ASSEMBLY: Assembly took over an hour, due mainly to the time required to positively identify the many fasteners.

SETUP: Heel-to-toe blade alignment, miter gauge alignment, and fence alignment were acceptable out of the box. Blade tilt stops and indicator were off, and after adjustment they did not return dependably to the preset stops.

PROs and CONs: This saw cuts well and produces clean, accurate cuts. However, as has been my previous experiences with Delta Shopmaster tools, they are a decent value for the price, but attention to detail is lacking. My main complaint with this tool is the crappy insert that doesn't sit flush with the table, causing boards to sometimes hang up on the exposed lip when ripping with the fence. This not only decreases accuracy, but leads to frustration and potentially dangerous situations when ripping thin material and cross-cutting short workpieces. Another problem is the non-standard miter gauge slots which do not accept after-market accessories such as featherboards and tenon jigs.

This machine lacks the power to pull a 5" x 7" x 6' 4/4 piece of alder across my 3 hp table saw. I thought it was a bargain, instead its just...from Delta. Can't imagine this working for anyone. I'm sending this one back and buying a 1hp and waiting for shipping...again.

For anybody who is making many similair items, this is a great help. You can keep feeding in boards and keep you fingers safe.
Good speed range and enough poser for the home hobbist or small manufacture.

...you get a piece of plastic laminate covered fiber board that does not even sit flush with the top of the table saw (it sticks up about 1/32"). Supposedly this device is supposed to help stabilize the saw blade (especially a thin-kerf blade), reduce chipping and noise. This may be true, but then it should be a standard feature that comes with the saw rather than the regular insert. I would skip this and build one yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Another review here by Scott tipped me off to the problem of the Leecraft Insert not setting fully down into the blade opening. I have a Delta 10" model 36-600 saw which supposedly uses the Leecraft DL-2 Insert. There definitely is a problem. The back of the DL-2 Insert has two milled-out sections adjacent to the mounting screw holes that allow for the table casting protubrances for insert mounting screws. The Leecraft Insert milling is not deep enough and the Insert 'rocks' on these protrusions. Correction was easy using a router to deepen the Leecraft Insert milled-out sections to permit the Insert to sit in the opening without bottoming on the protrusions. Took no more than 3-4 minutes. Once that's done, the Insert sits nicely but may have to be shimmed (as the instructions say) to be perfectly flush. Mine was OK. BIG difference in making nice saw cuts on wood though, and if you want clean cuts ...buy one or make one. Buying one I think is a lot less hassle since it is made of a phenolic material that you definitely would have to hunt around for and wouldn't find at any hardware or lumber yard.

Delta Horizontal Band Saw

I've owned one of these since the early 1990's and have used it countless times.

Cons:

- Motor is a bit underpowered, as the blade binds (stops) too often on heavy cuts. Have to lift the swing-arm up, restart it and gently lower the arm to resume cutting.

- Numerous aspects of the tool are downright crude. The motor's safety housing locking mechanism barely works, and is made out of some cheap plastic material; the so-called "table" for vertical use is a flimsy piece of sheet-metal and is non-adjustable; the lousy door to the blade wheels is made of multiple pieces of sheet metal stamped together; I threw the out the plastic wheels designed to roll the tool around, and custom made a base using four good quality wheels - much sturdier and much easier to roll about.

- Blade tends to wander on deep cuts, so I frequently have to square things up on the piece just cut, with a grinder or other tools.

- Design doesn't always allow the blade guides to be close enough to the work - which is probably why the blade wanders or occasionally stops.

- Every once in a while, the blade slips off the cast-iron drive wheels while the machine is on, even though I keep the blade tight when in use. (I release tension when machine is idle to prevent blade stretching.) It's also frustrating to re-install a blade as the blade wheels are smooth and the blade keeps slipping off. Delta could have prevented this problem if they had put "rubber bands" on the drive wheels; e.g, as on wood band-saws, and the Porter Cable 7724 metal cutting Porta-band portable band saw. Rubber bands would also have eliminated blade slipping, since the wheels wouldn't be smooth iron.

Pros:

- Both blade guides have 3 roller-bearings to stabilize the blade.

- If you've never owned a metal-cutting band saw, you'll marvel at how much faster it cuts then a hacksaw. When cutting larger/thicker iron, the hacksaw approach is particularly unappealing. E.g., tighten the vice on this saw onto 1/4" thick angle iron, turn it on and walk away - when it's done, it shuts off by itself. When cutting flat stock, where the blade doesn't wander, it does an excellent job, with no real effort from you.

- Shelf helps stabilize the tool base. However, it's not useful for storing things, because metal filings rain on it whenever you use the saw.

- Tool doesn't take up much shop space.

- Inexpensive, for a motorized metal cutting band saw.

- In spite of weaknesses, it works.

Summary:

If my shop had sufficient floor space, I'd sell this mediocre tool and get a large & powerful, good quality, metal cutting band saw. My advice, if you decide on a saw in this price range, is to get a � HP unit (e.g., the Jet), so the blade binds less often.

Large motor body is the size of the wheels and gets in the way
Wheels are wobbling slightly
Only 0.25 hp on the motor plate

This is a lot of money for your basic brick shaped like a doughnut! Oh well, I guess if you need one to get your planner blades sharp again, it's not too much (right! Keep telling yourself that).

I need the following WHITE ALUMINIUM OXIDE WHEELS on a regular basis.THe outer surface is GRANULLATED SURFACE.I AM NOT AWARE OF THE TECHNICAL NAME.The purpose is grinding synthetic rubber rollers to get a smooth finish.THe sizes required are:

INNER DIA OUTER DIA THICKNESS(WIDTH) MM
1. 95 230 25
2. 150 250 150

Kindly quote PRICE & DELIVERY time, immediately.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PRODUCT- SUGGEST A GOOD MANUFACTURER!

This is a good standard general purpose blade that can be used for almost any type of cutting. The 1/2" blade can also be used for light-duty resawing, if you don't want to take the time to change to a 3/4" 3 tooth blade. With 14 tpi, it is suitable for cutting metals.

If this is going to be a repeatitive, high volume use blade, and you want accurate precision cuts, I would recommend either the Timberwolf or Lennox bandsaw blades. They seem to be a few grades better when it comes to high usage and precision.

Overall, this is a good standard use blade to keep in the bandsaw for various type projects that tend to pop up on the weekends.

First, this thing has a miter slot with no bottom groove, so you cannot use the full depth, but it does allow me to more fully use my Osbourne EB-3 miter gauge. Install is very challenging. The item has an unusual adjustment system that required about an hour to get right. The lip that is supposed to match up with your miter slot would not get parallel with the table saw table until I added two large washers. The slot was way too tight and required some serious file work to make it work. I like it, but it was a bear to get right.