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The blade that came with it is fine (carbide tipped), however count on picking up a fine cut blade for trim, etc. It appears that the $806.00 price is available no where else. The saw required only one minor adjustment regarding getting the blade to the correct angle. The first job I did was rip 1000 feet of barn board and it produced alot of saw dust. I mounted it on two 2X6's that were glued with contruction cement to a 4X4 sheet of nice particle board. The saw arrived sooner than Amazon said it would, which was good.
The instructions that came with the saw were excellent. The instructions walk you through the set-up. This way it's solid and could be moved. If you can it wouldn't hurt to wire it for 220 as the motor draws alot of power on start up. There was no damage to the box that it came in. I think it's well made and should last a lifetime.
I'm going to see how much Home Depot or Lowes sell it for, if it can be ordered through them. I left it wired for 120 volts.
I found the radial arm 5 degrees off from perpendicularity to its fence. The jack i installed at centerline now has a 1/8" gap between it and the table.This saw requires re-engineering as it relates to using spring loaded steel pins in aluminum holes (bushings are needed). My first cut was a In-rip cut, I was burning wood for the entire length of cut (a heel problem) in other words when rotating the head to its 90 degree lock position it does not rotate 90 degrees and is thus not parallel to the fence. Heeling of the blade (angle of blade relative to its path of travel down the arm) was off.175" across the face of the blade.
Using a substrate that warps 1/4" while being secured by four tie down points is ridiculous, the only way to use the table provided Delta is to build your own steel sub-structure weldment under the existing table to keep it from moving.I found the saw to be not stiff enough and too low so I welded each of the legs to a 3" high sub-plate that has greatly improved the sturdiness and usability of the saw.Bottom Line - For the price you won't find a better saw, even if you do have to build a better table and wait for missing or broken parts. Again an adjustment as described in the manual brought the blade perpendicular to the table.At this point the saw should be ready to use, less guards, setting of scales, and throwing away the imitation saw blade that comes with it. The only way I can make a rip cut is to install a 5" high fence and use a straight edge to align the head parallel to the fence by rotating the radial arm, lock the arm and then remove and replace the fence with a normal height fence.A month has now elapsed since taking delivery of the saw. I stoned the high spots and de-burred the pin holes in hopes of getting a pin alignment at 90 degree locations but it did not work. I positioned a small jack between the metal frame and the center of the table to push up on the table bringing it into flatness w/in.010" anywhere the head would reach using a dial indicator attached to the spindle of the motor. I would love to give this saw a 5 star rating but my problems with the saw outweigh a rating above 2 starts.The saw was delivered in a spotlessly clean box, upon opening I found the radial arm lock laying in the bottom of the box, the arm swinging back and forth doing damage as it desired.Parts were missing and a Delta retail center responded w/in 7 days with replacement parts.Setup is simple however I took several days as anything that could be wrong was wrong.Beyond missing parts, The table to be warped in access of a half inch; it was replaced by a delta but to no avail as you will read a little further down.I waited for missing parts to arrive before attempting to set-up the saw.
Again an adjustment as described in the manual brought the blade perpendicular to the arm.Blade perpendicularly relative to the table top was off in excess of.100" in the height of the blade. Placing a straight edge on the saw blade and checking its relationship to the fence reveals that the blade is not parallel to the fence by.274" in the length of the fence. The table that was flat within.010" has warped in the opposite direction in excess of ΒΌ" yes a quarter of an inch, but the four points that I used for the original alignment of the table are all w/in.003" of their original position. (By the way a steel pin in an aluminum hole w/out a busing is not a good idea Delta)As I stated above the original table was warped in access of 1/2" and was replaced by Delta with a new table that was warped with a 3/16" downwards bow (directly in center of a cross-cut position). An adjustment as described in the manual brought the arm into perpendicularity w/in.005" in its length of travel. Rotating the blade 90 degrees back to its cross cut position shows no error.Disassembly of head from its bearing slide mechanism revealed gouging between rotating surfaces in excess of.010 in depth which is non-reparable except by re-machining of mating surfaces.
I guess I would buy one again, knowing there would be lots of work required after the purchase. I can only assume that one of the two holes either at 0 degrees or 90 degrees is off location.
I purchased this saw locally rather than thru amazon as it had a beautiful sale price.The good: the saw has no undue vibration, it tracks exceptionally well, I can put all my weight on the top arm and there's no play in the column or track, the instructions for setup are ok, the power seems good.The bad: changing blades is very painful and I'm tempted to remove the guards, the rear swing lever pop's it o-ring if you're not careful. The table while adequate, could use a little work as the cutting board sags in the middle 1/16"If the saw wears out prematurely, I'll update status, I would buy this saw again.
It takes a little while to set it up but once you have it set it stays set.The price was the best part about buying it from Amazon. This is the very first RAS I have ever owned so I can't compare it to others. . Every other place I checked was several hundred dollars more. However, I did a lot of research and decided on this one and I am very happy with it.
All I need from a radial arm saw is accurate 90 degree cut offs for rough lumber, shelves, turning stock, drawer parts, rails and stiles, door panels, etc. This also adds to sloppy cut.Wish someone had written the review I just wrote before I bought this saw.If at all possible buy your machinery from someone local that you can go back to if needed. The table leveling mechanism (which I don't really have a problem adjusting) bolts to a top that is going to warp because it wants to expand and contract seasonally, but it's bolted to steel straps that don't allow for seasonal movement. Chop (compound miter) saws are too small and I really did not want to spend more than the $900 I did for this $%#@.I had an old Dewalt 9" radial arm saw from the 50's that was built like a tank. Even had they not, they would warp with seasonal changes. You should bolt them to the floor as well.
A very light hand must be used when sliding the saw through the cut to minimize flex and unwanted movement. I'm 5' 8" and find the table too low so I raised it up on blocks.The mechanism for rotating and removing the blade cover completely galls and binds making rotation and removal an irritating task. My saw arrived damaged, fortunately Delta sent replacement parts without too much cajoling.The sheet metal frame that the column support bolts to is of too light a gauge which helps transfer vibration and a bit of flexing. I removed the column and bolted a 5/16 thick piece of steel the width of the box frame between the column and the frame. I wish this Delta was half the saw that old Dewalt was.Here are some of my complaints:The packing for freighting bites. I adjusted for loose play between bearings and arm which remedied it some but the bearings are now riding overly tight within arm and the cutting head assembly still has play.Delta is sending new bearings but I suspect there are additional problems somewhere I have not located yet. The legs by themselves flex around like soda straws completely erasing your careful set up of the saw. ( Yes I replaced the worthless blade the saw came with.
Maybe there is a crack I haven't found yet in the support column. Or maybe the armature the motor assembly sits is flimsy.it sure looks it anyway.I believe my motor has a bit of run out.it vibrates as if it does, even without a blade. I can not imagine running a dado blade with this saw.
Or am I the only one that got a lemon. And as an avid cyclist that has built and repaired many bicycles I know a decent and well adjusted bearing). They have to be good. It died one too many times and was just too small anyway.
I am a professional furniture maker and I use my tools every day. This helped reduce some vibration and flex.The legs are a joke unless you bolt plywood sides to them creating an enclosed stand. I should have found a good used machinery dealer instead because I don't think there is a decent new radial arm saw out there at this price. Dead on accurate cuts. A slight tap on arm and you can see the saw head assembly move and shake.
Rock solid. Bad design.The spring loaded blade guards actually shift the path of the saw when they travel over the back board and lumber adding to an already sloppy cut.I removed them.The backboard and table board of course arrived really warped. This added to the cutting head assembly twisting and tilting slop resulting in jagged inaccurate cuts. I am considering replacing the table top with a laminated kitchen counter top that hopefully will minimize that problem.I found that all 4 of my bearings that the cutting head assembly ride on within the arm came with wobble/play.
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