Delta - The New Delta Unisaw Flagship, 3 HP 52" (Rating: 5)

Update

Delta finally made contact with me!!!!!!!
I was suprised when I answered the phone and the caller said he was from Delta, seen as it was in the evening outside of normal business hours. He agreed that they have been having some problems, but they are trying to get everything ironed out.
He agreed that evrything shoild have been there as one shipment. I didn't mean for it to sound like I figured the mobile base is part of the saw package. It was added as a option, my point is nothing was said about the base being about two months away from delivery to the dealers. It is still in the production stage.
He stated a package will be leaving Delta today, and that I should recieve it in a couple of days.

I have gone throught all the adjustments on the saw and all are where they should be, with the exception of the riving knife. The riving knife needed to be brought to 90 deg's to the table. This is a minor adjustment, that is made at the holder for the riving knife.

After setting everything up to specs, we had to fire up the saw.
With 10/4 Hard Maple the sound of the hardly changed. The only change of sound was a soft hum coming from the blade. The saw has more than enough power to do anything you may ever need to do. I ran the stock through at a 90 crosscut, rip and then repeated the cuts at 45. I have to admit for a blade that came with the saw I am superised it cuts so well. It left a very clean,, smooth edge.

I will let you know when I recieve my care package from Delta

Conclusion

In all fairness to Delta, I am sure there was a rush to get this saw to market. As it turned out they had made some design changes to the final product.. This resulted in recieving a saw that is some what different from what was shown in the pre release hype.
The mobile base will be availeable for purchase in the very near future. Delta was kind enough to have one made for me. If the final product is any thing near to what I have you will be very pleased. As I said there were a few bugs in the begining.
The presentation prior to the saw hitting the streets, the saw is shown with a cross member between the legs of the table. This is one of the lasr minute changes that was made, prior to showing up in the retail show room. Delta felt it was no longer needed, due to the fact that each leg is connected to the table with 4 bolts thru the apron and leg. Delta was kind enough to send me this cross member, due to the fact that it was one of the design features that was strongly stated in the pre release video's. I left the cross member off for the first monthbut found that the legs were to easky bumped, causing more movment in the leg than I was comfortable with.
I decided to try the extra support given by the cross member. So far I haven't had the time to take the legs over to the drill press to drill the holes in the legs to arrach the cross member. So till I can get the time, I'm using a couple of F- clamps to attach the cross member to the legs. In my opinion, the legs really do benefit from the extra support. It will be even better once I have it bolted up properly.
After using the saw for a couple of hundred hour, it has all been worth it. Delta has provided fantastic support sine the initial hick-up. They have really proven to me that they really do care about relationship they have with us, the customer. Oter than the small proplem with the legs movin around when bumped I have no complaints about the saw.
I have rather large hands, and I find I have all the room I need to change blades, or adjust the riving knife. The blade lock is such a blessing when changing blades.. Placing the lock for the riving knive at front of the table is so easy to use. The power switch is one of those things that most machines in the shop are not designed for domfort or safety. It has been placed just far enough to the side that your not accidently bumping into, causing the saw to shut down while your still making your cut. But it is close enough that you are able to hit it with yiour left leg in a emergency. It is not important to hit straight on due to the way it is shaped, you can hit from any angle and shut it down. The placement of the poer switch was my only big peoblem I have with using a SawStop saw. I'm always bumping that big red paddle and turning the saw off.