DELTA 36-979 10-Inch Left-Tilt 1-1/2-Horsepower Contractor Saw with No Fence, 115/230-Volt 1-Phase

Comment: Read lots of other reviews before purchasing this saw for home/hobby use; I'm not a construction professional.
Got the saw alone and purchased the T-30 fence separately, saving hundreds of dollars. Delivery was relatively swift and easy, brought right to my garage. Had to carry individual parts inside to basement (some with a friend) due to overall weight. Assembly instructions are pretty good, not great in certain areas though.

THE BAD: Reviews saying this takes 4-6 hours to complete are accurate. I was quite annoyed by four things. 1st, bag was short 3 of the specific bolts for leg assembly, and they are NOT standard length (i.e., neither Home Depot nor ACE Hardware carry that specific length), causing me to have to swap around other bolts and thankfully I had some to use where the length was less crucial in the assembly. 2nd, the right side cast iron piece of table surface had holes that were off about 1/32" and thus would have resulted in non-level surface when joining that wing to center tabletop. It was impossible to adjust (I tried many times) and finally I had to use a dremel tool to slightly eccentrically increase two of the 3 predrilled holes in the piece to get a level fit. 3rd, though the info says the motor can be either 120 or 240 volt, it is not trivial to make that change in the motor. I had a 240v circuit put in specifically for this tool after reading reviews that suggested that even 20A breakers sometimes tripped at start up. However, I had to bring the motor to a special shop (fortunately nearby) to have it converted to 240v operation--even my electrician buddy could not easily do that. (The manual says that to convert to 240v the motor should be taken to an authorized service center, which for me would be 2 hours away!) 4th, you're going to have to buy some adaptors to get from the (roughly) 4" orifice under the saw to a shop vac if you don't have a stand alone vac with 4" hose. My Rube Goldberg apparatus functions fine, but took some hunting to find right parts to make work.

THE GOOD: Once all the annoying set up was done, the saw is fantastic. It is quiet, easy to operate, powerful, and versatile. I really like the T-30 fence system, too. It is actually easy to move the entire unit on its wheels when necessary, too. I've used the saw many times now for various projects and am very impressed by performance.

FYI, I would have rated this 5 stars if not for the 3 star assembly hassles!

Comment: This is my 2nd saw. I got into woodworking 2 years ago and was using a Craftsman mid-level contractor table-saw that was good, and I learned a lot on it. Well I saw this Delta on clearance at Lowe's recently and couldn't resist. I knew it would be an upgrade, but it has been much better. If I knew what I was missing, I would have bought this saw sooner at retail price. Very solid and heavy. Everything was square and true out of the box. I put it together myself, with help of a car-jack. It takes time to put together, but is relatively easy. Plenty of power, runs very quiet and solid. I did upgrade to the linked belt though. I then picked up the 8" Freud stacked dado, and was great to see a beautiful square, flat-bottom dado (unlike my previous under-powered saw). I definitely recommend this saw to anyone trying to balance quality and budget. The only thing I am really not crazy about is the nut and washers on the arbor... I think they could be bigger and heavier - but I am splitting hairs here. Other than that, I love the saw.

Comment: For the money this is an excellent saw. After a great deal of research I bought this saw for general home workshop use and I am very satisfied. Purchased at Amazon on sale with free shipping to my door it was a bargain.

This saw is heavy, well built and has good fit and finish. It's operates smoothly, is quiet for a contractors style table saw and has plenty of power. I've ripped 2x4s to the full depth of the blade without difficulty. The Delta (Biesemeyer style) T2 fence is a great fence. It's made for this saw and bolts right on. After initial alignment it's a breeze to use and produces accurate results.

Assembling the saw was straight forward. The instructions were easy to follow and with no missing or incorrect parts. With the help of my son we had it unboxed and up and running in a couple hours.

As mentioned by others, dust collection is ok but not great as is the case with most contractor's style saws. The traditional style drive belt works ok but I plan to upgrade it for even smoother operation.

Finally this is not a very portable saw. With the cast iron wings and the large fence it takes up a fair amount of space. The wheels that come with it are fine for moving around a garage or workshop but it would require a bit of effort to move to a job site.

If portability is not your primary concern and you need a high quality capable table saw at a good price I doubt you'll do any better than this.

Comment: My problem is the table insert. It is not flat. It sags in the middle. If all I did was rough framing it wouldn't matter but I do smaller precise work. I complained to Delta and shortly thereafter they shipped me a new insert. It was warped too, just like the original. I have an old Delta insert from another model Delta and it is heavier and flat. So, I know it is possible to produce a flat insert. What has happened to Delta quality control?

My homemade inserts from MDF work fine but the original should also be better quality. I gave this saw 5 stars because I love it for many reasons of which a couple are, it was easy to assemble and is very solid and vibration free. No one should complain about the alignment. They should expect to do a complete alignment before using any new saw.

Comment: This is a really well made and well thought out piece of equipment. The directions say it will take 4-6 hours to get it assembled and that definitely is true, but once you have it running (and add a better blade), this saw cuts like butter, runs smoothly and is surprisingly quiet (depending on the material being cut).

I did have to spend some time fussing with the split guard. It wasn't lined up with the blade initially (maybe that's because I changed blades too?).

And while I did manage to put this beast together by myself, I wouldn't recommend it. Get someone to help you. This is a HEAVY saw. Even the wings are too heavy for one person really. I have a sore back now :)

I added a cast iron router table extension which is really nice too and extends the width of the table. That went on without a hitch as well.

If you're doing small projects like jewelry boxes and doll houses, you can probably get away with something smaller.

If you're making cabinets and furniture full time, then you might need a cabinet saw.

If you're somewhere in between those, then this is the right saw for you.