Customer Reviews

DELTA 28-299A D Edition D Saw with Mobile Base, Dust Connectors, and Rip Fence

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a part time woodworker who works out of my garage. I have been looking for a Band Saw for the past year that would have plenty of power for resawing, and still would work well on 115V and not take up half of my shop. I have shopped all of the web site pages and looked at all of the brands I could see both foreign and domestic. I am glad I waited for this saw! With its new 1 1/2 HP motor, it truly is a dream come true if you like to resaw large hard wood boards. I immediately upgraded my purchase of this bandsaw with the 12 1/2" height extender and the Carter bearings. I know I needed the height extender as most of the wood I work with is 10"-12" wide raw stock. I took a chance on the Carter bearings as suggested by other reviewers and my local woodworking store owner. I could not be more pleased. The bandsaw went through 5/4 solid oak raw stock of 10 1/2" wide like it was swiss cheese. I used a 3/4" steel blade and it did not stress or bend at all. The only problem I had was I could not get used to the resawing extender that came with the saw, I could not get a straight cut. So I quickly made an extension fence and it worked like a charm. I have not used the 1/4" blade yet on smaller objects but I am sure this will not be a problem as I was mostly concerned about the resawing capability. I am very well pleased with this band saw and would recommend it to anyone.

Arrived in 4 business days. It took about 3-4 hours (going slowly) to get everything together. I also purchased the riser kit. I went out on Tues. and got one of those low tension blades and got it running. I am amazed at how well this works compared to my old Black and Decker bench top. I resawed a 5" wide oak board (this was before I even tuned up the fence with the blade) and with my second cut I made a 3/64" piece of veneer. Yesterday I turned a 12" diameter piece of walnut my neighbor had given me for firewood (what a shame), into 5 beautiful (yet small) boards. When I tried to true up the blade to the table, I realized that my table was cupped up, right around the hole. It seemed to be off about .009-.012 from one side to the other. I called Delta right away and have never had such great customer service. I wasn't transferred once. The same lady (Renee) who answered my call knew exactly what I was referring to and as soon as I explained my problem, she asked if I could handle putting a table on. I said that it was no problem and she said that one would in the mail tomorrow. I am very happy with this purchase and am even more happy with the company.

As you can see from the other reviews here, this is a great bandsaw for the small/medium size shop. In Fine Woodworking Magazine's review of 14" bandsaws this one got very high marks.

Here's some of my impressions:

The mobile base went together very easily. But the saw tends to wobble in the mobile base. When assembling the saw leave the access panels off, assemble the whole saw, then shim the saw until it's stable. Then put the access panels on. But having the saw on a mobile base is wonderfull.

The base comes in one box, the saw in a 2nd box. You'll need a 2nd person to lift the saw onto the base. Tightening and adjusting the motor and drive belt is much easier with a 2nd person as well. The instructions are very clear, just follow them in order and your saw will be set up properly.

The upper wheel was tilted by about 3/8", but there's an adjustment for this just below the blade tension knob. It turns out that it was just loose for shipping. A quick adjustment straightened it out and the upper and lower wheels were exactly in plumb with each other.

The dust collector fitting is worthless. I have a 1400 CFM cyclone dust collector with a 4" hose and when I hook it up to the 4" to 2" reducer and to the saw It seems to do absolutly nothing. Search the web for home made dust collection solutions for this saw and you'll have a much better situation.

The saw table was dead flat, but the edges were sharp. A couple of minutes work with a fine file and this was fixed. Do this before you install the fence and you'll have an easier job of it.

I havn't put the riser block on yet, but the instructions look pretty clear. A few caveats about the riser block: You'll need to invest in 105" blades (not a problem, just be aware of it). Installing the riser block is another job for 2 people. The saw is HEAVY. And you'll need 2 open end/box end wrenches, a 1 1/8 and a 1 1/4. Some of the smaller wrench sets don't have wrenches this large. Be prepared before you start to unbolt the saw. A cresent wrench won't fit into the small space around the bolt head.

The rip fence is very solid. I have to get use to having the fence to the right of the blade. With my 9" delta band saw the fence was always to the left. The fence has a "resaw bar" assesory. This is a round bar that fastends vertically to the fence. This allows you to adjust your work if you're resawing a thin slice and the blade starts to wonder.

The included guide blocks seem to be working fine. You need to adjust them each time you change the blade but that's standard operating procedure with any band saw. The adjustments are easy to make and easy to reach. The blocks and thrust bearing adjustments are locked into position with thumb screws so you don't to keep a wrench handy (which I ALWAYS misplace just when I need it).

Shipping: I used the super saver shipping. The trucking company that delivered it was very nice. They phoned 3 days before delivery to let me know it was coming. On the day of delivery they called again to confirm. The truck had a lift gate on it so I didn't have to worry about unloading it from the truck but I was prepared with a pair of furniture dollies. The driver helped my not only load the boxes onto the dollies, but he helped my roll them back to my shop and even lift them over the shop door's threshhold. Excellent service indeed.

So far it's a very nice, very accurate saw with more than enough power to do what I've asked of it. If you're looking for a 14" bandsaw I think you'll be very pleased with this one.

This is a fantastic saw. The manufacturer's comments say it all, but the most important thing they mention is the lower guides. Having these guides close to the underside of the bottom of the table allows for tight turns and better tracking on straight cuts. The competition doesn't have this type of guide -- only Delta. This is extremely important when the going gets rough (in a tough piece of wood or in a tight turn).

Also, this saw has a super-heavy trunnion underneath it -- heavier than the "you know who's" saw with it's aluminum trunnion.

If you are interested in doing some resawing, get the riser kit (even if you don't do a lot of resawing, the extra capacity is nice). Then, pair the saw up with some of those low-tension Swedish steel blades that are so popular and you can run a 3/4" blade on it with no problem. I don't think the saw would properly tension a 3/4" blade unless you seek out these low tension blades, however. With the riser kit and these blades, this is a fantastic saw for resawing, and it's made even better by the super-adjustable features of the fence that's included.

I've done a lot of cutting on my saw, and I'm extremely pleased with it. Unless you're prepared to spend nearly twice as much, I don't think you'll beat it!

I am a hobbiest woodworker, and this is certainly not my first Delta product.. nor will it be my last. Unfortunately, the first bandsaw I bought (luckily from a local vendor) was totally unusable. The bolthole which connects the top and bottom of the saw had been improperly machined. The wheels were impossible to get coplaner and it wouldn't track a blade at all. I replaced the saw (a huge hassle as I have neither a truck nor an extra back to haul a 200+ pound machine around). The second saw is great. It tracks beautifully with a variety of blade sizes, and the stock guides work very well. I have used it to cut circles from 2" thick walnut with ease, and have resawn maple 6" wide using a 3/8th blade to 1/16th inch veneer. The stock fence is pretty well useless to the right of the blade, and the resaw fence is equally useless. I would suggest building ply versions. The motor has also never bogged down, and I would recommend this to any one man shop or serious weekend warrior. The reason the saw gets 4 stars is that a particularly flawed saw managed to get through Quality inspections, but after some letters Delta customer service finally made the situation right with me. Also, the saw is a bit expensive compared to other models, but you do get the pride of having a Made in the USA tool.

The Good - made in USA, good fit/finish, quality materials. Overall, better materials than my Jet jointer.

The Bad - table was not flat (off by about 1/16th). I called Delta, the lady was clueless, thought I was talking about the width measurements... She did, however send me a new table.

The OOGLY - replacement table arrived, it is more warped than the original! Also in this category, the saw vibrates more than I would like. And the dust collector is useless; I replaced it with a flat, 6x6 adapter (4") by cutting two slots in the top of the adapter and adding a screw to hold the bottom. Works great with an 1100 cfm collection system.

Also, I installed the riser, but had some difficulty with the alignment pins - they are very soft, and don't fit that well. I finally had to file them down to get the riser installed.

Overall, not terribly impressed with this product.

The saw itself is nothing less than I expected from Delta. I received my 28-299A in 4 days; it went together well and runs flawlessly. My only complaint is with the unbelieveably cheap, plastic dust connector. It is thin and held in place with a spring clip which falls open in use because of the weight of the 4 inch adapter and collector hose. What on earth were the Delta design engineers thinking when they decided this was an acceptable feature for this saw? I have used the saw extensively and found guide blocks and thrust bearings very easy to adjust without tools. The blade tracks perfectly even after hours of continuous use. Come on Delta...improve the dust collection and make it equal in quality to the rest of the machine!

I read the outher reviews on all the outher brands and models and chose this one.you cant really know till you use it but it was made in America which probably added to the cost.
About the machine I also got the 6" rizer and Carter bearings,both quality items and I realize that if this machine had them at purchase it would ad cost to buyers thad dont require this improvement. It is a completly satisfactory unit as the outher revues said.Amazon.com delivery was exellent, ABF delivered it with a power tailgate and a friendly driver.
Buy it and feel good about the work you can do together.

This is a beautiful machine. I had never used a bandsaw before, and now I can't believe I ever made anything without it.

Assembly and set up are easy, but you will need help doing it because parts are heavy and bulky. Aligning and adjusting the belt is a little difficult, but due to the attachment design you can adjust the belt tension without allowing the motor to move in/out. With no experience I neeeded a few tries to get the blade to track, but this was my own fault. The directions are clear.

It has plenty of power running on 110V and the blade tracks better than I expected. For a test, I tried resawing a 3" piece of hard maple. It was simple to cut off 1/8" slices, and with a steadier hand I could have gotten thinner.

I am very happy with this tool and would recommend it to anyone.

I ordered this saw from Amazon. It arrived in about a week. Everything was packed securely and there was no damage or dings or scratches on the bandsaw. Assembly was very simple and straight forward. Machine runs pretty well except for mild vibration even after adjustment/tune-up. I replaced the belt witha PowerTwist belt with mild improvement. The mobile base is excellent and very sturdy. Overall, I am happy with the saw, except for the following:

1. The dust collection assembly is a piece of plastic that is held in place with a small clip. Very cheaply made dust collection system and does not work well.

2. The rip fence which is made out of aluminum is not flat vertically and I can not get it to sit 90 degrees with the table. I am planning to contact Delta to get a new fence.

3. The bandsaw wheels were out of plane when arrived from the factory, but this can be adjusted.

I hope this review was helpful.