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The instructions that came with the saw were excellent. If you can it wouldn't hurt to wire it for 220 as the motor draws alot of power on start up. The saw arrived sooner than Amazon said it would, which was good. The first job I did was rip 1000 feet of barn board and it produced alot of saw dust. 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. I left it wired for 120 volts.
This way it's solid and could be moved. There was no damage to the box that it came in. I mounted it on two 2X6's that were glued with contruction cement to a 4X4 sheet of nice particle board. The instructions walk you through the set-up. I think it's well made and should last a lifetime. The blade that came with it is fine (carbide tipped), however count on picking up a fine cut blade for trim, etc. I'm going to see how much Home Depot or Lowes sell it for, if it can be ordered through them.
I found the radial arm 5 degrees off from perpendicularity to its fence. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. (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).
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). I can only assume that one of the two holes either at 0 degrees or 90 degrees is off location. 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. 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. An adjustment as described in the manual brought the arm into perpendicularity w/in.005" in its length of travel. 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.
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. 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. 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. I guess I would buy one again, knowing there would be lots of work required after the purchase.
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.
However, I did a lot of research and decided on this one and I am very happy with it. This is the very first RAS I have ever owned so I can't compare it to others. . 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. Every other place I checked was several hundred dollars more.
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. 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. Maybe there is a crack I haven't found yet in the support column. A very light hand must be used when sliding the saw through the cut to minimize flex and unwanted movement. This helped reduce some vibration and flex.The legs are a joke unless you bolt plywood sides to them creating an enclosed stand. 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.
I wish this Delta was half the saw that old Dewalt was.Here are some of my complaints:The packing for freighting bites. ( Yes I replaced the worthless blade the saw came with. The legs by themselves flex around like soda straws completely erasing your careful set up of the saw. Rock solid. 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.
It died one too many times and was just too small anyway. 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. A slight tap on arm and you can see the saw head assembly move and shake. They have to be good. This added to the cutting head assembly twisting and tilting slop resulting in jagged inaccurate cuts. 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. 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. 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.
I am a professional furniture maker and I use my tools every day. And as an avid cyclist that has built and repaired many bicycles I know a decent and well adjusted bearing). 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. I can not imagine running a dado blade with this saw. 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. 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. Or am I the only one that got a lemon.
You should bolt them to the floor as well. Even had they not, they would warp with seasonal changes. 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.
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