As some of you know, I am a woodworker by hobby, and have been assembling tools for my shop for quite a while. I rarely buy hand-tools new, but try to stick with the better brands and purchase new in power tools. As any woodworker will tell you, the heart of a decent woodshop is a good tablesaw. I have never been able to justify the expense of a stationary cabinet saw, because this is, after all, a hobby for me, but my little Craftsman benchtop-style saw simply wasn’t up to the quality I was starting to demand. It was great as a starter, and the table surround I built for it made it much handier for larger jobs, but it just didn’t have the precision I needed, and building or buying jigs for it was quite difficult. Nevertheless, I’d made do with the little workhorse for over five years.
Now, I’ll admit, the new “hybrid” saws had interested me, because they were less pricey than the cabinet saws, but I really didn’t like the idea that it was still a stationary unit. Unfortunately, the alternative contractor’s saws that were a step down from that still had drawbacks: though they had cast-iron tables, they often had stamped-steel wings. Or, they came with a fence system that wouldn’t allow easy clamping of accessories, or a better fence system couldn’t be implemented on them without a lot of additional expense. By the time I bought a decent contractor’s saw that had full cast-iron table and wings, and then added the fence system I wanted and a mobile base, I was getting within a few dollars of a low-end cabinet saw, and in roughly the same price range as the hybrids.
But then…
THEN!..
Delta…(damn you, Delta machinery!)…came out with a contractor’s saw that had a built-in mobile base…and full cast-iron-wings…AND a choice of 3 different fence systems, including the one I wanted most! Not only that, the whole rig was under $1,000.00 ($849, to be exact, with the fence system I wanted).
I drooled…
I would walk by it when I was in the home store…EVERY time I was in the home store…
I examined it…
I measured the area space it would use in my shop…
I double-checked the specs…over and over…
But…I needed to wait. $850 is still a fair amount of boodle to part with…
So, I waited…for nearly a year…
But then…
THEN!..
I’m in the store yesterday…of course, I stopped by the saw…and there, stuck to the extension on the fence was a little yellow sign that said, “10% off first purchase made when opening a store credit account.”
I broke out in a cold sweat…damn! I was already an account-holder…and then…
THEN!..
Another sign caught my eye. Near the blade-guard on the display saw, was a sign that said, “$100 rebate when purchasing the saw with the third fence option”
Could it be?? Could this saw really be purchased, with a new credit account, for $664??
At first, I was going to pass it up…I grabbed my few paltry repair items and headed for the register…I related my dismay to the cashier that I would not be able to make a major purchase today and take advantage of their 10% offer…she looked at me and said, “Why don’t you check with customer service? I’ll bet they can do something about it.”
So, I left my items near her register…rushed off to customer service, where I was informed that all they had to do was CANCEL my existing account - and open a new one for me! This would qualify me for the 10% discount, PLUS the $100 rebate!!
15 minutes later, I had a new credit account, and was checking out with the 400-lb. saw, the fence, and my few paltry repair items…all with the discount, plus the $100 rebate…
Now, one day and 6 hours of assembly time later, I am the proud owner of one of these:
http://www.deltamachinery.com/contractor/index.html
Full cast-iron top with cast iron extension wings, 10" left-tilt blade, extension table, and best of all…a BIESEMEYER fence system. Woah, Mama! Some trees are gonna be made into some pretty stuff now, I tell you what…
Nice purchase. I’m a delta man myself, and I will say…you can not go wrong with Delta. Almost unbreakable, you’ll be handing it down to your great grand kids! Nice saw BTW.
Congratulations, great buy. I have a LT Unisaw with the 52" Biesemeyer and I’m quite happy with it.
Make sure to get a good blade (or blades) - my Unisaw shipped with a cheap little steel blade. For a contractor’s saw I’d also recommend replacing the stock V-belt with a link belt; they cost about $25 and make an incredible difference in the vibration you feel which directly affects the accuracy of the cut (my JET contractor’s saw went from “some” to “none” when I swapped out the belt).
Some other fun stuff to build or buy:
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Zero-clearance blade inserts. You can make them yourself pretty easily by the dozen.
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Replace the stock splitter with a removable aftermarket one. I have Delta’s pop-out splitter and it’s very well built, although a bit pricey at $120. You can also order the $30 one as a replacement part from one of their overarm blade guard kits. I had a spare one (that came with my overarm blade guard) and I gave it to a friend who never uses safety gear, he loves it and actually uses it because it’s convenient. Merlin also makes a replacement splitter.
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Buy or build an overarm blade guard. I got Delta’s T-Square model BNIB off of Ebay for a good price. My latest issue of Shopnotes has instructions for building one from scratch that looks pretty good and allows for dust collection right at the guard.
Have fun!
Very nice indeed. I left Black & Decker about 8-9 months after they bought Delta/Porter Cable, so we never got any of the nice big table saws in, but we had a bunch of Delta/PC stuff in and the Delta stuff was pretty solid hardware. (The Porter-Cable stuff was pretty low-end though) I’d say what I saw of the Delta machinery was fairly comparable to the DeWALT stuff we had, but was usually a bit cheaper. Delta has a pretty huge product like though, from massive stationary compressors to power tools to heavy duty construction equipment though, and a pretty good rep, so I wouldn’t hesitate to consider them if I had my eye on a particular tool.
Man, I wish I could have really taken advantage of my employee discount more when I worked for them. Being an apartment dweller means I really had nowhere to put a nice miter or table saw, never mind have anywhere to use it. sigh
Good luck with the new toy. She’s a beaut.
Drool. And on discount too. Yum.
Good on ya! I’m all jealous.
And, I’ll second the “zero clearance inserts”. That’s kept many a cut-off from dropping into the innards.
Super easy to make, as well - I use plastic laminate (i.e. Formica) on top of MDF so it was also an opportunity to learn how to glue that stuff down. Then just cut the blanks to size, double-stick tape the factory insert to it and a couple minutes with a bottom-bearing straight bit on the router table and shape is perfect. Cut some slots and a finger hole, drive a couple of levelling screws in and it’s good to go. I made about 20 or 30 of the things for maybe $50. I notice the biggest improvement when I use them with my dado set which otherwise cuts about as neatly as a beaver.
Be sure to start every woodworking session like I do:
Norm’s prayer:
Now before we use any power tools let’s take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your tools properly will greatly reduce your risk of personal injury. And remember… there’s no more important safety rule than to wear these (tap, tap) safety glasses.
Amen
I hear this in my mother’s voice as she never misses a chance to recite it. (and do the tap, tap if it’s in person) Most recently, it was when I was telling her about a quilt guild buddy whose sewing machine needle broke off and flew into her eye.
May I just stand near you and absorb some of your karma? You are living proof that woodworking isn’t just a hobby, it is a path to spiritual fulfillment. You obviously are well along that path; I am a mere Ryobi neophyte, but aspire to your greatness one day.
Well done!