New Unisaw on the Way

Hey all,

My new (and first) 3 HP Unisaw should be here by Thursday. I got the 50" commercial Bies. fence. I don't expect any issues or problems assembling or setting up, but it'd be great to know of tips or tricks any of you have encountered before I dig in.

TIA

-m

Reply to
Mike Pio
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I just received mine about 3 weeks ago (first one also) and is the exact same as yours. I didn't encounter any problems assembling since every part was sent and nothing was damaged. I was extremely impressed with the fit of everything and how the saw itself was dead on as far as parallel to the miter slots and the angle stops. I spent about 3 hours or so with the help of my ever so lovely wife who lets me buy these expensive items, and the only tip that I have is to be careful when lifting and moving the various parts because they are all heavy. Just curious as to where you bought it from, I got mine from Woodworkers Supply in Alb., NM during one of their specials ($1499.00) and had it delivered to Arizona for only $13.

Enjoy your new saw, I'm sure enjoying mine.

Reply to
John A. Voss

The only suggestion I have is to check the trunnions before unloading off the truck. The Unisaws tend to have more than their fare share of broken trunnions upon delivery. Checking on the truck will save you having to unload a damaged saw, and save you having to deal with getting it repaired because you are going to refuse shipment.

Reply to
Leon

|Hey all, | |My new (and first) 3 HP Unisaw should be here by Thursday. I got the 50" |commercial Bies. fence. I don't expect any issues or problems assembling or |setting up, but it'd be great to know of tips or tricks any of you have |encountered before I dig in.

I actually wrote the following a few months ago but never posted it. Perhaps it will be useful here:

I used to own a 15-year old Craftsman contractor's saw. With a little adjustment, the blade was parallel with the miter gauge slots, the two open rib cast iron extension wings were perfectly flush with the table top and the arbor run-out, measured at the base of the blade gullets was 0.003". The fence sucked but I learned to compensate and live with it. With only one hp, rip cuts on hardwood were---excuse the pun---hard, but doable. Being completely open, dust was a big annoyance. Nevertheless, using the saw I built a 1200 sq ft addition to my house, a few cabinets and all the other little things a home handyman does.

Recently I've become more interested in doing some simple furniture building and some kitchen and bath remodeling so I figured I could factor the cost of new tooling into the *alleged* cost saving of DIY.

Thus I succumbed to the siren call of the CABINET SAW and decided to buy one. But which one? Using comments in this forum, product reviews, etc. etc, I decided for various reasons to buy American and get me one of them Unisars.

In other threads I railed against what I perceived as lousy quality control and the fact (in my mind) that manufactures didn't sell saws, they sold saw kits; a bunch of parts that needed to be finished by the sucker-err---buyer, to complete the construction. I gotta a lot of flack over that one so without further ado or editorial comment follows the ongoing story of the Delta Unisaw...

  1. Decided to buy locally (glad I did) from Woodcraft during their March 10% off sale. Went with a 30" Biesemeyer fence and Delta mobile base. Paid all of extra for home delivery.

  1. Week later, saw arrives. Two Woodcraft guys deliver in PU truck with no lift gate. Call next-door neighbor over and four of us skid it down a couple of 4x4s without incident. Tilt indicator was bright red before unloading and big hole in box but no apparent damage. Sell Craftsman saw to neighbor for hundred bucks.

  2. Manage to single-handedly get saw off pallet onto mobile base. Work stops here during three-week trip.

  1. Back home, back to assembly. Options are: open all boxes and do inventory and then lose parts before they are needed; or, wait until parts are needed to open boxes. Choose second option.

  2. Assemble left-hand cast iron extension wing. Doesn't line up. Make it flush with the table front and rear and it sags 8 thou midway along the joint line although one inch back from the front, the extension is proud 4 thou. Left front outside edge of extension droops 20 thou.

  1. Call Wendy at Woodcraft. She says Delta will drop ship replacement to me. Work stops for a week.

  2. UPS man brings new extension wing. This one is worse than the original! The finish is horrible. On both wings, it appears than when the grinding wheel was introduced to the iron there was a lot of chatter. The first couple of inches bear witness to this by being very rough and showing the wheel marks. If I eat enough Wheaties, I can turn this thing upside down and use it as a wood rasp. Say to hell with it and reinstall original extension wing. Determine that part of the misalignment is an artifact of the main table having a high spot at the left front edge. Aligning the wing to this spot creates misalignment along the rest of the interface. Use flat grinding stone to hone this high spot down and fiddle fart around until I figure it's good enough.

  1. Install front and rear angle supports. Instructions say that front support that holds rip fence rail must be installed to exact dimension of 2 27/32" below table top. No way in hell will this happen without enlarging mounting holes in table top. Start elongating holes with rat-tail file. Slow going. Decide that since angle surface is too low, another option would be to add shims between angle and fence rail. Bolt on fence rail using ¼" flat washers as shims. Works dandy.

  2. Time to mount the laminate extension table. Manual says, and photos show, mounting of "Z-bracket". No Z-bracket to be found in boxes. Call Woodcraft. They say they will call Delta and call back. Next day after not hearing from Woodcraft, I call Delta. Guy says, "Oh, the Z-bracket isn't used with Beisemeyer fence, the manual is wrong." While I have him on the phone I mention misalignment of fence rail. He says, 'Be glad that it's too low, that way you can use shims for alignment, some of them are too high then you have a real problem." Lucky me! I also mention extension wing problem. He says he will send another.

  1. Ten days later, UPS man comes with extension wing. The box is completely shredded and it is obvious that somewhere along the line, the extension has exited the box and landed on a corner against a hard object. Besides the bent corner, the finish is as rough as the others. Unless Delta sends somebody out to retrieve this one, I now have a heavy-duty surface plate of questionable accuracy.

Otherwise, after four months of steady use, I'm happy.

Enjoy. It's still a great saw, and once adjusted, the fence is right on. It's a joy to set it to the desired dimension and have the cut right on that dimension without fuss.

Wes

Reply to
Wes Stewart

General is kind enough to install the wings on the 350/650 at the factory. What you give up in fun trying to install the wings is gained ordering your help "DON'T PICK IT UP BY THE WINGS!!", while moving it in through a door only slightly larger than the saw, in 20 degree weather.

Delta messed up the parts inventory on my DJ-20 and X5 bandsaw. They did finally make it right, but the process took several calls and 3-4 weeks in each case. I was royally pissed off both times. Both machines were missing show stopping parts. I suggested to the last rep I spoke to that if they concentrated on leaving out bolts or belts, rather than proprietary parts, most of us would simply buy the parts locally, just to get the tool in service. This would save Delta money. She just didn't see the humor in that. Barry

Reply to
B a r r y

John,

I got mine from Amazon for $1475 (which included one $50 coupon plus the $25 off special being run right now). Shipping was free (also being sent to Arizona) using their "Free Super Saver Shipping" option.

Thanks for the reply!

-m

Reply to
Mike Pio

Take your time assembling and it. Have a friend come over and help assemble it. Have 2 more friends to help get it off the truck. Its pretty easy to put together if you take your time. I check the alignments once a year and the parts drift only the smallest amount.

I would recomend an alignment gague set. I used TS-Aligner Jr.

Set the fence a tinsy bit proud at the outfeed end to avoid kickback. Get the splitter kit.

The blade that comes with it is actually pretty good. I've used it alternating with a more expensive blade and found them close.

Good Cutting!!

Reply to
Pete D.

Wow, amazing, how did you do that? Maybe you're not talking about a Delta? I bought mine about 5 months ago and its been $1,799 since then. See

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bought mine from a local dealer for $1,749 and got the mobile base as a freebie. I shopped and shopped extensively and concluded that Delta was price fixing at $1,799. It surely does surprise me that it could have been had for hundreds less.

BTW, in the instructions it refers to a 'Z' bracket and an 'L' bracket which supports the center of the extension table where it connects to the right wing. They were not included in mine and the lady at Biesmeyer said they only send them to customers who ask for them.

Gary

Reply to
Gary

Congratulations! I got the same thing a year ago. The setup was a breeze. I needed to only tweak the fence a smidgen. The 0 and 45 degree stops were dead on. I had it set up id half a day. The bugger is heavy though. I got my son to invite three friends over to lift it out of the truck and onto the mobile base. Cost me a couple of pizzas!

Grant

Mike Pio wrote:

Reply to
Grant P. Beagles

Not so amazing, really...this is the saw I got:

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made sure to check both with Delta and Amazon (on the phone) before I bought this saw that it was the latest. The reason it's cheaper than the one you have is because it's NOT an X5. The X5 comes with some extra goodies, which are reflected in the pricing. I wasn't interested in any of the extras, so I just go the basic saw and fence. I couldn't find a better deal than you quoted on the X5 either, by the way. I agree that Delta is probably price fixing.

Thanks very much for the tip on the fence bracket. Did you have to pay extra for those brackets, or did they send it for free?

-m

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> I bought mine from a local dealer for $1,749 and got the mobile base as a

Reply to
Mike Pio

Grant,

How tough do you think it would be to lift the saw onto a mobile base after it's assembled? I've never needed to move my current saw around the shop at all, but I may consider a mobile base for this saw just in case. Do you think it could be moved out of alignment while being lifted onto a base?

BTW, did those guys get pepperoni on those pizzas? ;-)

"Grant P. Beagles" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEALLCAPS.raytheon.comERCIAL...

Reply to
Mike Pio

Excuse me for butting in, but I lifted mine into the base by myself. I just tilted it up from the extension table end lifting on the fence rails, (pretty easy leveraged that far back), and slid a 2X4 under. Then lifted the other end using the first 2X4 as a fulcrum and slid in another. After getting it up 2 24's high I just scooted it over onto the base. It wasn't too difficult, but you need a good, strong back.

Gary

Reply to
Gary

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> I made sure to check both with Delta and Amazon (on the phone) before I

The brackets were free but it took a few times calling them to get them. Also one of the flathead screws that holds the fence rails was so burred up I couldn't get a nut on it. And I asked for the brackets and the screw at the same time. They kept promising to send it but no show. After about 3 weeks and the third call I think, the lady I spoke with agreed to FedEx it overnight to me. I got the bracket and the FULL bag of hardware the next day. Thanks Biesmeyer.

Gary

Reply to
Gary

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> I made sure to check both with Delta and Amazon (on the phone) before I

I was aware that Delta had two price's for their DJ20 jointer, but not the Unisaw. Seems that for the extra $250, Delta gives you a 5 year warranty and a free gift, (router, drill, mobile base, etc.) Also it appears that your model saw only has one cast iron wing, correct? Mine has two plus the extension table. Still it appears yours was a better deal.

Gary

Reply to
Gary

Mike Pio asks:

Not likely. Do NOT lift by the fence rails, even with the Biese.

Best way is to check clearance underneath, set up the mobile base to one side of the saw, almost touching. Get two 2x4s and 3 friends in good health. Slip the 2x4s under the table extenion junctions with the table, lift and place as gently as possible.

I've walked Unisaws (and Jet and other 10" cabinet saws) as much as 10' just by tilting the saw up a bit and twisting. It is hard work, bumps the saw more than is sensible, really (but when you work alone, there's often not much choice), but never once did I have an alignment problem afterwards. Do it more gently and unless you haven't bolted something on securely, lifting the unit the 4" or

5" onto a mobile stand should cause no problems.

Best way, really, is what I do now for most heavy materials: get hold of a shop crane. Use nylon lift straps. Zip. Over and done with. Return the crane and straps and you're in Fat City.

Charlie Self "A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers." H. L. Mencken

Reply to
Charlie Self

$ high school kids was overkill! Two strong back / weak minded types :^) could easily lift it while someone (me in my case!) rolls the base under it.

Grant

Mike Pio wrote:

Reply to
Grant P. Beagles

"Mike Pio" wrote in news:Nf%Yc.63132$yh.34317@fed1read05:

The saw is a lot easier (lighter) to get up onto the mobile base before the cast iron wings are installed.

Charlie mentions a using a shop crane. I don't know if that's the same thing we used for mine, but the kids down the block who 'tune' Acuras have a mobile hoist to swap engine assemblies. They brought it down, and we did the heavy lifting with that. Of course, WE don't have any basements here...

If you use the table with the wings and extension table to lift/move the saw, be prepared to check alignment frequently (not a bad idea anyway). Leverage and/or mechanical advantage isn't always your friend. My saw moves back and forth across the front of a standard, California two car garage, making room for access to other tools and storage. I end up adjusting things maybe three times a year...

Patriarch

Reply to
patriarch

You're right. Mine only comes with one wing, but since I already have one with my contractor saw, I actually have two. Hopefully I read everything right and my saw does come with the extension table as well. I'm not 100% sure of this, but it also wasn't a big selling point for me.

Best of luck with your saw!

-m

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>>> I made sure to check both with Delta and Amazon (on the phone) before I

Reply to
Mike Pio

And you can RENT a engine hoist from the local rental center and use that. It's what I did when I had my metal lathe delivered to put the

1000pound lathe onto the base.

John

Reply to
John

It's not price fixing, it's called "minimum advertised price".

Dealers can sell it for whatever they want, they just can't advertise below a set price. I have two local guys who routinely discount Delta, Jet, Powermatic, etc... You just have to walk in to see the price. Some dealers are also negotiable.

It's also why some tool and electronics dealers ask you to call or email for the price. Sometimes it's not just a come on, it's part of the dealer agreement.

Wanna see something neat? Go here -> and click on any "email for price link". Read what you get in your email window.

Barry

Reply to
B a r r y

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