New Unisaw on the Way

[jegan]

I moved my saw (same as yours but is an X5) onto the mobile base myself. I weigh in at only 155 pounds so there was a lot of leveraging going on.

Jim

[jegan]

I bought the X5 with 50" Unifence from Amazon. I would not buy a large item like that from them again. Next time it will be Woodworkers Supply (out of Wyoming, I'm in Colorado).

The saw arrived in good visible condition. The box was in good shape.

The extension table (not a wing) was warped. As I recall I could slide a quarter under a 4 foot straight edge. The replacement was just as bad.

The fence was bent. Enough that I considered it unacceptable.

I still have a problem with the mobile base. The pivot wheel contacts the bracket that holds it. I'm not sure what is wrong. Engineering or user. Could be either but after fiddling with it for an hour I'm leaning towards engineering.

The outfeed table was interesting to put together but works well.

For each problem I contacted Delta and they shipped out replacements right away without any problems. Very friendly. Since this was my first table saw I was struggling with some alignment challenges. I talked to the Delta technical support guy for about 30 minutes and he helped me out quite a bit.

Overall I'm pleased with the saw. I really like the unifence. The only difficulty with it has been how to put on the hold-down rollers. I could buy an aftermarket fence that handles them or I could do something with the current fence. I have an idea how to do it so I'm going to give it a try when I get some spare time.

[Gary]

You sound like a double-talking lawyer for Delta. "It's not price fixing, it's called "minimum advertised price". " ha-ha 'Yessir your honor, we don't require our dealers to sell Unisaws at a fixed price, we just tell them they have to tell their customers that the price is $1,799 and not a penny less.' Sounds like bullshit lawyer speak to me.

[Gary]

My gosh, if a person is so anal rententive that they fear tilting one corner of a 500 pound saw with TWO heavy duty 3" angle iron rails might damage it or knock out of adjustment but a couple of millionths of an inch, pehaps you should hire a 6 man moving crew with a crane, just in case...

I've got a great idea, why not wait and tune the saw AFTER it is set in base?

[Mike in Mystic]

listen to what he said, Gary. Delta won't allow them to ADVERTISE for less than that price, but they can SELL it for less than that. It's not that unusual at all.

[Morris Dovey]

I bought a Shop Fox mobile base, assembled it, put it behind the saw, picked up the saw, inched foreward until I could line up the closest two corners, and set the saw down as gently as I could manage.

I weigh about 145 and nothing moved out of alignment. The fit was tight enough that it went in a lot easier than it'll come out. It /was/ enough of a job that I needed a shower afterward. Probably wisest to have friends help.

I would guess that rolling the saw/mobile base over rough concrete might be more inclined to spoil adjustments than a gentle pick-up/set-down.

[B a r r y]

I suggest you investigate the difference between advertised price and sales price. They CAN be the same, but often aren't.

Delta dosen't tell anyone what they can SELL anything for. In fact, a dealer is even free to sell a Unisaw for less than he paid for it. He just can't ADVERTISE new saws for less than Delta's MAP (minimum advertised price). In-store price tags are not considered advertising, the dealer can put any price he wants on the item for walk-in business.

This has been proven legal over and over in all kinds of retail settings, such as tools, electronics, cameras, bicycles, etc..

Do you pay sticker price for cars? Outside of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, almost everyone is negotiable, especially when you come bearing cash. Most listed prices are set on the belief that you'll pay with plastic, as credit card merchant agreements prohibit surcharges. Being a regular at a smaller business can help, too. Buying everything online, then walking into your local guy and asking for a discount will get you nowhere.

Barry

[Charlie Self]

Gary blares:

Actually, these days I do as much of my heavy lifting as possible with a shop (engine) crane. Strikes me that I already spent too many years proving I was something I didn't particularly want to be for people whose opinion I didn't particularly value. Now, I do it the easiest way possible and use the dumbbells for exercise, rather than conversation.

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

[Swingman]

LOL Only experience and maturity could come up with the above, and fully appreciate it.

[Gary]

Sorry Charlie. I'm apparently feeling a little retentive myself today. I had read your post as possibly damaging the rails or something. I agree, caution should be used in lugging this heavy equipment. The savings from not having to feed the neighborhood kids a few pizzas (as someone posted earlier) is not worth a lifetime of suffering from a ruptured disk. Besides you make more friends that way.

Gary

[Gary]

Duh, really.

More BS lawyer speak.

Yep, more golden rule, "He who has the gold,..." Legal doesn't make it right.

Every weekend I hear several shiester car dealers advertising "Below sticker price" "$5,000 of MSRP" or some other BS.

Outside of Wal-Mart and

Especially when he has to pay more for an item than what the online merchants are selling for. I know, I offered my local dealer the same price as amazon plus taxes and delivery for an 8" jointer, drill press and dust collector. He said that the items cost him more than what amazon was selling them for. Well the stuff is setting in my shop, several hundred dollars less than my local dealer price, and delivered to my door. And no, I would not get any more service out of the retailer than what I would get out of the manufacture directly, Amazon delivers.

Gary

[Charlie Self]

Gary responds:

Yeah. We have a new group of kids. I didn't recognize two of them from my wife's church when they helped us move in a couple months back. Seems to happen every so often, a changing of the guard, as one group goes off to school or elsewhere, while another outgrows droopy drawers and starts wearing real trousers.

Pizza around here is a 22 mile round trip, though.

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

[Charlie Self]

Gary responds:

Just the other night, someone was advertising end of year Cadillacs for $14,000 off. Jeez, man, that's several grand more than I want to pay for the whole damned car!

But after our last dealer/vehicle experience with a new car, we're going back to program cars. Let someone else eat the first year depreciation and all the problems.

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

[B a r r y]

That's odd. My local dealers are also web vendors, Coastal Tool and Tools Plus. Both meet or beat Amazon's prices, both continually make money. I don't think either sees anywhere near Tool Crib's volume, Coastal only sells heavy iron in-store.

I guess your local guy is selling enough tools that he didn't need your business. Our local Woodcraft operates like that, but those in the know can get power tools for 20% less 15 minutes away.

FWIW, I bought a DJ-20, on non-X5 closeout, for $1099 from Tools Plus, and I doubt they lost money on it.

Barry

[Swingman]

Hell, I still think of that as the half the price of a house.

Came back from overseas in 70 and could not believe the big city Ford dealers wanted $3900 for a new pickup truck. And any truck so high priced that it took 3 years to pay off was the height of insanity. Looking back, it was about that time that I begin to realize the culture and I were drifting apart.

[Charlie Self]

Swingman responds:

Worst thing that ever happened to pick-ups was getting yuppiefied. Carpets and tripled prices, so now you have to pay through the nose to worry about muddy or greasy feet. Or enough doors and space to make a circus clown car, with a clown's price...some years ago, a guy I know paid about $35,000 for a 4 door

4WD 3/4 ton diesel that seldom carries a passenger or a load over 500 pounds.

Makes sense to him.

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

[B a r r y]

I have a neighbor with a leased Hemi 2500 Quad Cab. He rented the Load-n-Go a few weeks back to avoid scratching the bed.

To me, the real downside of all this is that it's gotten really hard to find a good, used work truck. It seems that basic 8 foot bed

4x4's, like an F150 are very hard to find used in my area. Most 2,3 and 4 year olds for sale seem to be luxury quad cabs, complete with the two garbage can size bed. The older models have usually been plowed and are often 1 ton models, such as the F350.

I finally gave up on the truck and went to a Haulmark enclosed utility trailer behind my Wrangler or Outback. This works well so far. I've gotten spoiled by the low floor, and there's no rush to unload.

Barry

[Gary]

I bought the Powermatic 60B from Tool Crib via Amazon for $1,016 delivered to my door, actually inside my door. I was in my local dealer's store on Friday. He just got them in, selling for $1,195 plus 5% sales tax, cash and carry. I hate to see the "little man" go under (referring to Alan Jackson tune) but I hate throwing money away even worse.

[Mutt]

I have had the saw and a unifence for a few years now, and I also like the unifence. As you note, difficulty in attaching accessories to the fence initially bothered me, but I made up some wooden shims to fit the curved side of the top of the fence so I would have a parallel clamping surface for featherboards, etc. (I don't have any rollers). They took awhile to get just right, but work like a charm. Good luck, you'll grow to appreciate the fence more and more.

[Swingman]

I like my unifence, but I like it with the Uni-T-fence even more.

affiliation, just a satisfied owner/user.