Delta Table Saw 36-650

[Joseph Smith]

Hooray!!! The wife has finally loosened the household purse string for the tune of about $550.00. I can finally get rid of my Crapsman TS. I have had my eye on the Delta Contractor TS 36-650 at Lowes. The reviews on it seem to be very good and at $498 it is in my price range. Lowes seems to have the lowest price around on it. I am looking for inputs from the users of the news group as far as pros and cons of this model before making the final purchase. I would prefer one of the Delta X series Contractor Saws but $550.00 is my limit. Thanks

[Edwin Pawlowski]

From what I can see, the differences can be upgraded later. This has stamped wings versus the cast iron and a table board. You can always make a table board yourself.

Major thing (IMO) is the fence. The X series has a better fence so make sure this one is going to do the job for you. While the floor model in the store may not be a good setup, lock, move, lock the fence. Does it lock parallel to the miter slot every time? If you like the fence you will like the saw. If not, keep saving. Ed [e-mail]

[MSgeek]

[Fred Wolf]

I have been looking at the Bosche 4000 ,, $ 375 at HD

any thoughts on that one? "

[Clint Neufeld]

If you're close to Canada, you could try getting a 36-650C. Only available in Canada, but it comes with the cast iron wings as standard issue. Not sure what your warranty situation would be, however.

Clint

[Darren Wadden]

I have the Delta 36-650c (not sure what the "c" is for) and I'm quite happy with it. It has solid cast iron wings, and extruded aluminium fence, T-slots for the mitre gauge, a beveled front edge on the table and wings, and a TEFC motor. I think it's an excellent saw for the hobbiest or casual wood worker, especially for the price.

A few things I did to improve it were (these would apply to any TS though):

- I made a zero clearence throat insert.

- Swapped the crappy factory V-belt for a link belt. There's no vibration at all with the link belt.

- I still run it on 120V, but a dedicated 20A circuit made a big difference.

- And for really smooth cuts I added a Veritas blade stabilzer/straightener. This works surprizingly well.

The extruded aluminium fence is pretty good. The far end can deflect a bit under pressure and it would be really nice to have some sort of micro-adjust mechanism, but these are minor gripes.

Just as a side point the Delta X series contractor saw I saw this morning did not have the TEFC motor.

Good luck choosing and enjoy.

Darren

Joseph Smith wrote:

[Joseph Smith]

[Wade Lippman]

The Bosche is a portable with a small table, isn't it? Not at all the same purpose as the Delta.

[BeerBoy]

Canadian 36-650C also has lifetime warranty .. I think. It's 700 - 800 Canadian dollars.

[Wade Lippman]

The 444 is about a third more expensive. Is it worth that much more? I note the 444 motor develops 2hp on 240v, while the 650 is only 1.5hp. How do they compare on noise. Neither of them will take a dust collector, which seems a bit odd; wouldn't a saw be about the first thing to put a DC on?

I hope to buy a saw in this price range in the next week, so any input would be appreciated.

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

Had a 444. It IS worth the little extra.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Delta makes a duct collection accessory, but you hardly ever see in listed anywhere. It is a tapered pan with 4" outlet that goes under the saw. It took about 40 minutes to add it after the fact, but would take 5 minutes while assembling the saw initially. IIRC, it was $25

I made a cover for the back that goes under the motor and up two sides of it. . It gets at least 95% of the dust. Ed

[George]

I've got the equivalent to the 46-444, but I think most of the new stands will still accept what I'm using.

item W1004 or W1005 in your search. Other people sell 'em too, and they put gravity on your side. Nine or ten bucks, depending.

Now remember that you can help your cause by enclosing a bit of the back - Google'll give you lots of suggestions. Me for masonite and magnets. Oh yes, if you use "zero clearance" inserts, your dust collection will be diminished, as a greater percentage will stay above the table.

[Joseph Smith]

Thanks to all the responses and suggestions. I weighed my options, money, and how far I can push the wife and settled on the 36-650. I have it now and it is assembled, but I'm still checking the alignments. The fence was spot on out of the box as far as I can tell. It lined up perfectly the the miter groove over numerous tries. Did have to adjust the indicator wondow thingme a little for a dead-on-zero reading. It runs very smooth with just a slight vibration that I think can get rid of by replacing Delta's belt with a higher quality one. It is a very quiet saw and feels like it has all the power I'll need (since I don't woodwork for a living). Now I must convince the wife to let me get a new dado set and dado insert. I might even try to get the moulder head and insert and give it a whirl. I never formed moulding on a table saw before and my curiosity is peaked. Thanks once again for your responses.

Joey

[George]

Please don't get a molding head. Routers are actually a bunch safer, in my opinion, not to mention more versatile. Somewhere, perhaps on the property still, is my molding head. Gave it to my wife to vanish after it tried to kill me one day, and never regretted it.

I like the link belt on mine. Starts, stops, cuts - and the nickel still stands.

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

[Joseph Smith]

Thanks!!! You just saved me a few bucks. I'll stick w/my router and router table.

[Scott Brownell]

I agree about changing to the Fenner link belt, it does a great job.

I've also used a molding head for approx. 20 years without any problems. Just don't understand why so many are afraid of them. Without walking down to my shop & looking I'm going to guesstimate that I have 20-25 sets of knives for it. Don't get me wrong, I also have more than a couple of routers as well and they see their share of use too.

If you get a dado blade make your own inserts, it's a piece of cake. I made several zero clearance to allow for various common widths.

Scott

[Joseph Smith]

[Scott Brownell]

I made them out of some scrap 3/4" Birch plywood that I had laying around. Even gave all of them a coat of poly to make them look purty. LOL. It's really easy to do. Also installed some allen head set screws in them for leveling with the table. Add a tab at the rear to ensure that the blade doesn't cause the rear of the insert to raise and you're off & running.

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