181 The Delta Contractor's Saw
Description
This article is from the Woodworking FAQ Collection 4, by multiple authors.
181 The Delta Contractor's Saw
The DC is a medium-weight (200 lb) 10" table saw. It has an 14.2 amp
(1.5 hp) induction motor hanging off the back, exposed (which can run
on 110v or 220v, for what little that's worth), controlled by a toggle
switch (with a bracket for a padlock). Its main table is cast iron,
and it has two rather imprecise sheet-metal extensions. It comes with
an ordinary steel blade. Its design is traditional. It has no
provisions for dust collection.
Its rip fence (Jet Lock) is known for not being particularly good.
Most correspondents recommend replacing it with a Unifence (available
for 30" or 52" rip width). The table board for the Unifence (which
replaces the saw's right extension wing) is a separate option ($70 or
$100 respectively) of laminate-covered particleboard. You can make
one yourself, of course. The Unifence consists of a large aluminum
extrusion that mounts on the front of the saw and extensions, a
T-square clamp, and an extruded fence. The fence can be mounted to
the left or the right of the clamp; changing sides takes about a
minute. It can be mounted upright, giving a standard fence height, or
on its side, which gives a narrow fence useful for sawing untrimmed
laminated boards. It can also be pulled halfway out, clear of the
blade, making for a very quick and handy length cutoff gauge. The
clamp is a heavy casting with a center lock and two side runners,
which runs easily on the track (it does hang up on the miter slot
sometimes, though). Squareness is easily adjustable. Mounting and
dismounting the fence/clamp assembly is very quick. The Unifence
gauge is marked from 0-32" and 0-810mm. The first foot is divided
into 1/32", 1/16" thereafter. There is no "fine adjustment" knob, and
setting the reading right on is a bit finicky. The cursor is
adjustable. There is no gauge to the left of the blade (presumably
because blades vary in thickness, but then they vary in set, too).
The DC has a T-shaped standard-size miter slot. The miter gauge has
adjustable stops at 45, 90, and 45 degrees. It runs smoothly and with
little slop.
The undercarriage of the DC is basically the same as on Delta's
Tilting Arbor Cabinet Saw. The Cabinet saw has a stronger motor
(2hp), an enclosed base, machined cast iron wings, and a magnetic
switch.
The DC's throat plate is an iron casting with adjustment screws for
height. It is thick enough that you can make a replacement throat
plate out of common materials; on the other hand, its ends are
rounded, so you won't be able to cut it to shape on the table saw.
Putting together the Contractor's Saw is a completely different story
from the Ryobi. At almost every step, you need to align things and
fiddle with them. The instructions are pretty good, and include
copious photos with identification of parts, but sometimes leave out
tips that might be useful (e.g. how accurately does the motor pulley
need to line up with the arbor pulley?). In several cases, you need
to loosen the screws that are holding something up, realign it, then
tighten the screws, all while supporting the thing (with your third
hand, I guess). Lining up the wings and table board is finicky and
time-consuming. I have not yet aligned the blade with the miter slots
(this is supposed to be factory-set), but I understand it is a real
pain. I pretty much expect this sort of thing with the DC (unlike the
Ryobi). The Ryobi is much easier to put together, and adjustments are
easy to make (although I do have doubts about their accuracy and
stability). There were a few minor pieces missing (some washers) and
one non-critical piece had a hole drilled 1/4" off from where it
should have been.
Whereas Ryobi assumes that you have only a framing square, a
screwdriver, and a single socket wrench, Delta assumes you have a
straightedge, a combination square, a set of Allen wrenches, and a set
of sockets. Reasonable enough, but it's a different mentality. When
I called up about the misdrilled part, they were very helpful, and
mailed it out immediately with zero paperwork. (In the meantime, I
enlarged the hole into a slot with a milling machine, but not everyone
has access to one.)
Moving the Contractor's saw is a big operation. Even if you just have
to move it from one side of a room to the other, you'll need help,
because of its weight (you can get casters, though). To move it
through a door, you'll need to take off the extension wings (which as
I mentioned are a pain to line up again) and table board (if any). To
move it any distance, you'll want to take off the motor -- this is
easy. Even with everything taken off, the saw is still heavy, and
will need two people to move. I hate to think of moving it up or down
stairs.
Delta's philosophy appears to be to make the saw solid, but basic.
For instance, instead of providing adjustable feet for the stand (for
which the legs are pre-threaded), they suggest tightening up the stand
after placing it on the floor. Unlike the Ryobi, it has no rubber
feet. Much of the safety and comfort equipment is missing or an
afterthought. For instance, the motor sticks out the back of the saw,
with the belt only covered for half its run with a plastic cowl. The
blade guard is less well thought out than the Ryobi's. The DC has no
provision for dust collection, and all the internals of the saw are
exposed to dust; and there is no obvious way to enclose the frame so
that an add-on dust collector's air flow would be concentrated. In
particular, since the motor hangs out the back, the path of the drive
belt must be left open. Also, dust escapes between the top casting
and the frame, as well as through the height adjustment crank's slot.
You can buy a plastic bottom for the case into which you can plug a
shop vac, but it will presumably be less effective than the Ryobi.
As far as I can tell, once you have a given length of Unifence rail,
you cannot extend it without completely taking it apart and
realigning, unlike the Ryobi. Again, the DC system is likely more
accurate, but the Ryobi system is more convenient. Given the pulley
geometry for bevel cuts, it appears that an outfeed table on the DC
has to be carefully spaced from the principal table.
The blade height and angle locks just clamp down the cranks by
screwing down; not a big deal, but there's nothing preventing them
from getting completely unscrewed.
To get the crosscutting capabilities of the Ryobi, you probably need
to build a crosscut box.
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