If you have been following my hunt for a new DP with more capacity and convenience features you may also know that I decided and got a decent deal on the Delta 17-959L. My son and I went down to Rockler Saturday morning and picked it up, in the box, and a also got a universal mobile base. Getting home with the prize I immediately began putting together the mobile base, this is the 3rd of this type base I have in the shop. If I were a beginner woodworker I may have given up on wood working right then. It was not the base, it was me. You know when you read on the wrong side of the inch marker.... you want 20.5" and end up cutting 19.5". Both are exactly .5" on either side of the 20" marker. Any way after a few hours the base was finished and worked fine. Next I put a piece of plywood appropriately larger than the DP base and bolted it to the mobile base, then the DP base was bolted to the ply wood base. Then I could begin assembling the DP. The column was next bolted to the DP base and the table attached to the column mount. Then came the struggle of getting the heavy DP head to the top of the column. Actually next came getting the heavy DP head out of the box. My 21 year old son and I looked like a clown act trying to get the thing out of the box. Of course the box lid folds open but each side of the lid is wider than the box side so the lid effectively makes the width of the box even wider and the target even farther away. We both stumbled a couple of times tripping and smashing the box as we carried our catch away. We put the head on a work bench and waited until all of the huffing and puffing subsided to ponder lifting this thing from the work bench to above eye level AND negotiate the union of the column into the mounting hole. My wife would be needed, she being a quilter has the talent to thread a needle, surely she can guide us in placing the head on to the column. We both squat under the head teetering on the edge of the bench and slowly stand up with the bottom ends of the head setting on the palms of out hands and then proceed to the DP column. Now we need to push up from about shoulder level to above "my" eye level and gently lower the head on to the column. With my wife's guidance we managed to lift the head above the column and set it on the column but not quite in the right spot, but it did give us a chance to do some more much needed huffing and puffing as it sat delicately balanced on the top of the column. We gathered more courage, lifted, wiggled, grunted, and delicately let the head SLAM in place on the column. Now I am sure that the head probably did not weigh much over 150 lbs but there are really no decent places to grab that do not have sharp edges or pointed bolts sticking out so the comfort factor was reeeeeel low and as you well know if the comfort factor is reeeel low things change. Couple that with the wind chill factor and you get a head that feels like it weighs 300 lbs. OK I have had the DP for a whole 5 days and so far it works GREAT!. LOL, We'll see if it holds up 30 years like the DP it is replacing. Fit and finish, every thing fits fine. All bolts threaded properly in all threaded holes, and all components fit as wanted, not necessarily expected, but that is a good thing. Finish, probably the worse surface finish of any one piece of my equipment, although it looks good the non milled surfaces feel like 40 grit sand paper. All of these surfaces have a black paint finish. The surfaces feel like they have been covered with black wrinkle paint. An up close look reveals regular paint on a rough surface. Machined surfaces however are very good and those surfaces work together smoothly. In particular the forward tilt table tilts forward very smoothly and stays where you put it before tightening the 2 trunions in place. The laser, not an item that I would have paid extra for, provides a thin narrow line on one side and a line about 4 times wider on the other side. I am not quite sure how or if this can be corrected. As it is the lines cross at the target to within about 1/16" accuracy. If both light lines were thin the accuracy would probably be closer to 1/64". With 16 speeds I have a much wider choice of speeds and a lower range of speeds than with my older DP. The Speed/Pulley chart that Delta puts inside the belt cover is terrible. It indicates the belt positions starting with the belts at the top of the pulley and the next belt one pulley down, this progresses one pulley at a time until all belts are at the lowest points on the pulleys. While this may seem OK it does not indicate chuck speed increase or decrease in any particular order. So if you want to go from 215 RPM to say 540 rpm you have to look are every pulley drawing configuration to find that speed and there actually may not be a 540 RPM speed. To solve this I used Sketchup to redraw all the pulley configurations except that they are in progressive RPM order. This way you know which speed is actually next by looking at the next speed as opposed to hunting for the next higher speed on all of the other drawings. If any one is interested I can send you a copy of this drawing in PDF or Sketchup format and you can change the rpm's to reflect the ones on your particular DP. The ON/OFF switch is still the spring loaded push button desigh that pretends to look like a magnetic switch. If the DP is unplugged you cannot tell if the switch is off or on and plugging it back in may indeed turn the DP back on unexpectedly. My Jet lathe and Delta stationary planer use similar style switches and also require you to manually insure that the switch is in the off position before plugging it in. The Delta DP switch is improved however as you can push the switch at any place and it will perform the expected function. The other mentioned switches require an "in the middle straight in push" to operate. I have transferred my new DP table and fence from my old DP and am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to drill some holes.
Any one in the Houston area interested in a Rockwell radial DP?