Customer Reviews

DELTA 36-L51X-BC50 10-Inch Left Tilt 5-Horsepower Cabinet Saw with 50-Inch Biesemeyer Fence, 2 Cast Iron Extension Wings, Table Board, and Legs, 230-Volt 1-Phase

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently purchased a Delta L51X Left Tilt 5 horse power Unisaw with the 52 inch Biesemeyer fence and the side extension table. Since I like to move my equipment around the shop either for cleaning or for re-arranging I also purchased the Delta 50-289 Mobile Machine Base for the Unisaw with a 52 inch Biesemeyer fence. To my dismay shortly after I ordered the saw and mobile base, Delta began offering the base as part of the total saw package at the same price. In this case you might say the early bird got the shaft.

I would like this review to be helpful to those who read it so I have divided my comments into four specific paragraphs 1.) My motivation and incentive for purchasing the Delta Table Saw, 2.) My thoughts on the packing, shipping and delivery of the saw, 3.) My thoughts and experience on the assembly of the saw, and 4.) my experience in using the saw.

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Motivation and incentive for purchasing the Delta Unisaw
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I had been looking for a saw of this type for over a year. I finally decided on purchasing the Unisaw from Delta through Amazon.com because the price of the saw was down by more than $200 from its price a year ago, and because Amazon.com was offering free shipping for this heavy machine. I also was interested in the free tool and the $500 tool accessory coupon book that Delta was offering in its promotion to sell this saw.

When the saw arrived, inside the carton was a mail in post card that allowed me to select one of four items as my free tool. The four items were: 1.) a mobile base for any one of several tools from drill presses to lathes, 2.) a Delta cordless drill, 3.) a Porter Cable nail gun and 4.) a Porter Cable Router. I didn't need a mobile base so I checked out the remaining tools on the Amazon.com website. The Delta cordless drill is no longer being manufactured. The user reviews on the Amazon site for this drill were mostly negative. The reviews for the Porter Cable nail gun and the Porter Cable router were for the most part very positive. I didn't need any of these tools but I selected the router. Perhaps it might be useful as a Christmas present for some young wood worker who is just getting his repertoire of tools established.

The bad news is you have to make your selection on the post card and then wait 6 to 8 weeks to get your tool and the $500 coupon book. It would have been to Delta's advantage to ship the coupon book with the saw so the excited new saw owner could make a few more purchases of saw accessories before the warm glow of a new purchase wore off. Looks like the Delta marketing people weren't thinking too clearly. Perhaps the people who do the marketing for Delta are descendents of the flower power generation.

Overall grade B. My grade would have been an A if the coupon book had been shipped with the saw.


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Packing, Shipping and Delivery
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The saw was shipped in four heavy cardboard cartons. The saw itself was in one large carton weighing in a little less than 500 pounds. The Biesemeyer fence was shipped in two cartons and the side extension table was shipped in a separate carton. The packing was excellent, and of much higher quality than what I have previously experienced with shipments of heavy equipment from Grizzly. All items were packed well and reached my doorstep in good condition.

The method of shipping was poor as usual. The shipment arrived on a large delivery truck with no lift gate, and with a woman driver. Nothing against women but how in the heck is a woman even with my help going to lift a 500 pound carton to the ground from the back end of a trailer whose floor height was above her shoulders. I asked her why not take the shipment back to their dock and re-load it on a truck with a lift gate. She said that was possible but her shipping companies dock was in Blythe California and my shipment would have to be shipped all the way back to Blythe in order to make the transfer. Since I live in Prescott Arizona this was not an option for me.

Fortunately there is a house under construction a block away from mine. I called two friends, we borrowed two 2x6 x 8 foot scaffold planks from the house under construction and laid them on the trailer floor spaced about 2 foot apart. We then placed the 500 pound carton on its side on the two planks with the bottom pallet side of the carton facing out the trailer door. Then we pulled the planks out of the trailer along with the carton until it began to teeter on the trailer edge. We then lowered the ends of the planks to the ground and let the saw slide down the incline of about 30 degrees to the ground where we used a dolly to move it to my shop. The lady truck driver was very patient as she watched all this. I think she was a little surprised that ordinary non truck driving males could be so resourceful.

I give this task an overall Grade of B. I would have given the trucking company a grade of D but the woman truck driver was kind enough to wait until my friends arrived from across town to help unload the saw and because there was no visible damage like fork lift holes or crushed corners on any of the cartons when I received them. It's also nice to have friends who can help turn a bad situation into a good one.

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Assembly of the Saw
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The Unisaw is heavy. If you add the 52 inch Biesemeyer fence, guide tube, angle iron mounts and side extension table, it gets a whole lot heavier.

I bought the mobile base and I would strongly recommend you buy it too if you decide to purchase the saw. Although the directions are poor, the base assembles quickly and easily, and it works great. A simple foot pedal that locks into place raises the base up onto three wheels and the Unisaw can be easily moved by a single person. A simple hand lever releases the lock and the stand lowers back to the floor where it sits on rubber feet that are individually adjustable to compensate for floors that are out of level.

Assembly of the Unisaw itself is time consuming. In order to assemble the Unisaw, Biesemeyer Fence, and side extension table you will need the help of at least one other person. You will also need at least one 8 foot pipe clamp, four Quik clamps, two 2x4's at least 4 foot long, several wood shims, a drill with a 1/4 inch bit, a 3/16 inch allen wrench, a socket set, a large Phillips screw driver, a small crescent wrench, a 9/16 inch open end wrench, some red rags and a can of solvent to clean the packing grease off the machined cast iron parts.

The Unisaw comes attached to a wooden pallet with bolts that have 3/16 inch allen wrench heads of all things. It would have been more practical to use ½ inch hex head bolts but perhaps the packaging people at Delta like to pull practical jokes on unsuspecting new saw owners.

The Unisaw comes with the two detached cast iron wings. They are very heavy. They need to be cleaned with solvent on all edges so they mate well with the saw table bed.
The wings need to be aligned with the top of the saw table so they are in the same horizontal plane and so there is no noticeable discontinuity along the edge where the wings and the table join. This is not easy because the wings are so heavy. It's difficult to hold the wings and tighten the mounting bolts at the same time. Better to have a second person hold the heavy wings, tighten the bolts just enough to hold them in place then use the palm of your hand as a mallet to move the wings up or down to align the tops to the plane of the saw table. All other items in the assembly of the saw itself are reasonably simple.

Assembly of the side extension table and the Biesemeyer Fence system is labor intensive and is a good candidate for requiring the help of a second person. I strongly recommend that you read the entire instruction manual before starting this task because as a previous reviewer has stated some of the numbered steps in the assembly procedure seem to be out of order. If you don't want to undo and then redo some of the assembly then read the assembly steps ahead of time so you can move some of the later steps ahead of some of the earlier ones.

The Biesemeyer fence has two pieces of very heavy 6 foot long x 3 inch x 2 inch angle iron rails that need to be bolted to the Unisaw table, one rail bolts on the front of the saw and one rail on the back. The horizontal portion of the front angle iron rail has to be exactly 2 and 27/32 inch below the saw table surface. The bolting part can be done by one person but setting the correct height alignment on the front rail will require two people. Although an alignment template is supplied, the angle iron rail is so heavy that one person cannot hold it in alignment and at the same time tighten the bolts that hold it to the saw bed. Once again this is a two person task.

Now comes the interesting part, the assembly and installation of the side extension table. The extension table is made from hardwood with a laminate top. The directions tell you exactly how to attach the table outboard legs, unless of course you happen to have a mobile base, then the directions tell you that "the position of the legs will have to be changed to fit the mobile base extension". So it's up to you to figure out how to attach the legs in this case. In my case it wasn't difficult.

The extension table fits between the two angle iron rails that extend beyond the right side of the Unisaw table. The directions tell you to place the table between the rails and make sure that it mates with the edge of the saw table so that both are in the same horizontal plane, and to use a straight edge to make sure there is no discontinuity between the edge of the saw table and the extension table. Well this is ok except that the extension table is heavy, and there is nothing holding it up but the two legs on the one end. It is impossible to align the table with just two hands.

I ended up having to place one 2x4 underneath the angle iron rails at the egde of the saw table, and another 2x4 underneath the angle iron rails at the end of the rails to support the extension table between the rails. I held the 2x4's in place with two Quick clamps for each 2x4. Fortunately the top surface of the extension table when resting on the 2x4's is about an 1/8 inch below the top surface of the Unisaw. This enabled me to use opposing wood shims inserted between the support 2x4's and the bottom of the extension table to adjust the height so it was level with the saw table. I then discovered that there was a 1/32 inch bow in the middle of the extension table where it interfaced with the Unisaw. I had to take the now aligned table back to the work bench and add a hardwood stiffener to the edge of the table to eliminate the bow. Once this was accomplished I had to re-align the extension table, and then use an 8 foot pipe clamp that ran the entire length of the table to pull the extension table into the saw table edge, to remove a 1/16 inch gap between the two, and to hold it in place.

Once the table alignment and clamping is complete you have to drill several 1/4 inch holes through existing holes in the angle iron rails and through the wood sides of the extension table so you can attach 1/4 inch bolts to hold it in place. So far this was a great deal of work for what should be a simple tool assembly, and I'm still not completely sure that I got the extension table exactly on the same plane as the Unisaw table. For this reason I only drilled four holes and installed 4 of the supplied bolts so if some time down the road I decide that I need to re-align the table I will have several existing but un-drilled holes in the rails to drill new support holes for a newly aligned table.

The next step is to mount the Biesemeyer Guide Tube on top of the front angle iron rail. There are threaded holes on the Guide Tube that match up with holes on the rail. Although there are many holes, Delta only gives you 7 bolts and lock nuts to attach the tube to the rail. Don't be surprised if the holes in the rail do not exactly line up with the threaded holes in the Guide Tube. I could only get 6 of the 7 bolts in because some of the Guide Tube threaded holes were offset by as much as an 1/8th of an inch or so from the rail holes and the bolts wouldn't catch.

Here's a good tip. When you first begin the assembly of your new Unisaw, take off the motor cover and remove the Styrofoam block that keeps the motor in place during shipment. This piece of Styrofoam is beveled and is just right to use as a neck and head rest when your laying on your back installing the Guide Rail and the extension table legs. I found it very comfortable. When I was laying on my back on the shop floor, I had all the bolts and washers stacked in an orderly pile on the floor by my ear where they were easily accessed as I needed them. A couple of times I looked over and discovered all my bolts were gone. It turns out that my 8 month old Chihuahua had been busy taking one bolt at a time in his mouth and moving them to another stack he was making on the other side of the saw. I have a practical joker for a dog. I can hardly wait to see what he does with my shorts and socks.

Once the Guide Tube is installed it is very easy to install the Biesemeyer Fence. The adjustment of the fence to make it parallel to the blade, and the adjustment of the hold down lever were made more difficult then necessary because the assembly instructions dealing with that task seemed to be last minute additions to the assembly procedure and were out of order at the end of the manual.

The Biesemeyer fence system is fantastic. I am used to the rack and pinion fence on the DeWalt table saw that I've been using for the past several years and was a bit worried about the fact that you have to move the Biesemeyer fence by hand. My concerns turned out to be a non issue. The fence slides like it is on glass. It locks down parallel to the blade with little effort. The two adjustment allen screws that simultaneously set the hold down tension and the fence angle with respect to the blade are very simple to use. My one complaint would be that the allen screws were filled with grey paint and I had to clean them out before I could get an allen wrench in them.

Delta says that they do not supply a power cord for 5 horse power motors but my saw came with a power cord. I have standardized my 30 amp shop electrical service in that all of the 220 volt shop power receptacles are NEMA L6-30-R 30 Amp 250 Volt three prong lockable receptacles. The plug supplied by delta was for 20 Amp service and was incompatible with my outlets. Since I want all my 220 volt shop machinery to be compatible with my standard 220 volt receptacles, I removed the Delta power cord and plug and rewired the start/stop switch box with a new 8 foot long 300 volt rated 18 AWG 3 conductor cable and a NEMA L6-30-P 30 amp locking plug. There are many different types of 220 volt receptacles and matching plugs. Different types are designed for specific current loads and are purposely made so they are mechanically incompatible with one another. This helps you avoid doing things like plugging in a 30 amp machine into a 20 amp service. My apologies to Delta for modifying their fine machine, but I did what I had to do. By the way when the rewiring was finished, I turned the saw on and it didn't smoke.

I give the grade of B to the overall saw assembly task. There were a lot of assembly tasks that were left to the owner to do that required a bit of shop knowledge and shop tools, but the way I figure it, if the new owner is a novice in the shop he probably shouldn't have bought this bad boy in the first place.

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Using the Saw
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The first time I turned the saw on was to verify that my new wiring was done correctly. I did not have the large injection molded plastic motor cover installed. This cover helps direct the airflow for a shop dust collection system, and it also helps deaden the motor noise. Even with the cover removed, I was surprised to note that the saw ran very quietly. As a matter of fact it ran a lot more quietly even without the motor cover than my DeWalt saw does. So right away I was impressed. One day I will get a decibel meter to measure the noise the two saws put out. I'm betting the Delta noise level is on the order of 3 to 4 db down from the noise level of the DeWalt. If this is true then it's a significant noise reduction.

The saw blade height adjust wheel and the left tilt adjust wheel turn very smoothly with little effort on my part. Each wheel has an easily set lock down to maintain the settings for both the blade height and blade angle.

Before I actually used the saw I cleaned the entire cast iron saw table with mineral spirits to remove all packing grease, finger prints and other oils and dust deposited there from shipping and assembly. I then applied a thin coat of Johnson paste wax to preserve the metal and protect it from rusting.

The miter gauge appears to be well designed. It is sturdy and therefore heavy. It slides straight and true in the T slot in the saw table. I tried to move the miter gauge sideways when it was in the slot and I could not detect any lateral or angular movement. This translates to clean cross cuts with out error that would be caused by a miter gauge whose slot bar width doesn't precisely fit the width of the miter slot.

I was a little concerned initially about how the miter gauge slid along in the miter slot. It did not slide smoothly and the gauge tended to squeak as it rubbed against the table top. In addition when the gauge was pulled out past the table edge and then pushed back in, the gauge would catch on the front end of the saw table. This was not a good thing. After studying the situation for a bit, I ended up putting a 11/16 inch diameter washer between the gauge pivot screw and the slot bar, and a second 11/16 inch diameter washer between the gauge handle and the slot bar to raise the gauge about 1/32 inch above the slot bar. It now slides smoothly and does not catch the front end of the table. You need to raise both ends of the gauge so the front end maintains a 90 degree angle to the slot bar and therefore the saw table. There was nothing in the assembly manual that addresses this issue. If you need to make this adjustment do not use washers that have a diameter larger than 11/16 inch, otherwise they will be too wide to fit in the miter slot, and the gauge will not slide freely.

The Biesemeyer fence works great. It slides across the cast iron table and the extension table with ease and locks down firmly when the lock handle is depressed. The fence can be easily set to a maximum of 51 1/2 inches from the blade. The Biesemeyer fence can be visualized as a large T square with the T part sliding along between the front edge of the saw table and the Biesemeyer Guide Tube.

Pressure is applied between the guide tube and both the right and left ends of the T to keep the fence aligned parallel with the saw blade. As long as the T is between the table edge and the guide tube edge it remains in good alignment and parallel with the blade. When the fence is set to 51 1/2 inches from the blade the right portion of the T is at the far right edge of the guide tube. Moving the fence further than 51 1/2 inches from the blade causes the right portion of the T to move past the end of the guide tube. When this happens there is still locking pressure applied to the left end of the T but there is no longer any pressure applied between the right edge of the T and the tube and this causes the fence to angle right and looses its parallel alignment with the blade. So the maximum width of cut this saw will make with an extension table is 51½ inches. This is still plenty good enough to accurately rip 4 x 8 sheets of plywood.

I tried to use the saw with the blade guard installed but found it cumbersome. The clear plastic guard extends beyond the front of the blade by a few inches and makes aligning the blade with a mark on a piece of stock very difficult to do. I like to be up close and personal with my blade so I can make accurate cuts. In case you're wondering, I still have all ten fingers. Anyways for this reason I removed the blade guard. Unfortunately the splitter is attached to the guard so when I removed the guard I had to remove the splitter too. Later when I get the guard and splitter separated I plan to re-install the splitter to keep pieces of long stock from binding the blade when ripping.

I tested the saw depth of cut and blade alignment by using a 4x4 chunk of redwood fence post. I chose a 4x4 that was 3 and 5/16 inches thick which is thicker than the maximum height of the blade. I set the blade to its maximum height and then made a cross cut on the end of the 4x4 about 1/8th inch in, which is less than the width of the blade. With the blade height set at its maximum height, I was able to make a 3 1/8th inch deep cut, leaving a 3/16th inch high shoulder along the top edge of the 4x4.

I tested the alignment of the miter gauge with the blade and the blade alignment with the table by rotating the 4x4 180 degrees and removing the shoulder that remained from the first cut. My objective was to make a second cut to remove the shoulder so it was even with the first cut. I then looked to see if the blade left any marks or cuts on the previously cut portion of the 4x4.

As I suspected even though the shoulder was removed clean as a whistle, the blade cut into the 4x4 on the high edge leaving another 3/16th inch thick shoulder, indicating the blade was not set to 90 degrees with respect to the table. I also noted that the shoulder was deeper at one end than it was at the other indicating that the miter gauge was not aligned to 90 degrees with respect to the blade. I adjusted the miter gauge stops by placing a square against the miter gauge and the blade using the very small adjustment allen bolt on the gauge. That eliminated the uneven shoulder on subsequent cuts but I was not able to get the blade to an exact 90 degrees with respect to the table. I don't know at this time whether or not there are adjustable stops for the left blade tilt. So at this point I am still getting about a 1/64th inch shoulders when I make the second cut of the two cut shoulder test. Basic Trigonometry tells me that my blade is off 90 degrees by 0.0047 degrees. This will result un-noticeable error for thinner pieces of stock but I want to get this fixed anyway.

I cut cross several pieces of wood of various thicknesses and then checked these against a square. All cuts were nice and smooth and clean. It appears the dust collector chute works as well. I won't know until I create more saw dust and then remove the motor cover to see how much sawdust has accumulated in the chute.

I give the table saw operation a grade of A. This is a very nice machine. I would have given this machine an A+ but I couldn't because I think the miter gauge adjustment I was forced to do was something that shouldn't have had to be done, and if so it should have been documented in the user manual. I expect to use this saw for a great deal of heavy duty work. I think for the price I paid for this saw I got a good bargain. This machine is the now center piece of my shop. Knowing what I know now, would I buy this saw again? The answer is yes I would.

This saw is awesome. Cuts 2" pecan, hard maple, oak, etc, effortlessly. The Biesemeyer fence system is the most accurate and sturdy I have found. I cann measiure NO deflection of the fence even with heavy hand pressure laterally. Infeed and outfeed tables are high quality and relatively easy to assemble. The addition of a Forrest Woodworker II blade makes it just about the "perfect" tablesaw. Produces mirror smooth rips and crosscuts in all wood types used so far. The miter gage is "acceptable" but one would think that Delta would come up with a better one for use with a saw of this quality. Settings on the accompanying gage cannot be relied upon without several test cuts.

I took my time researching which cabinet saw to purchase and after talking to cabinet saw owners and actually used the different cabinet saws, I decided to purchase the Delta 5HP Unisaw. I have owned contractors saw for 15 years but want a cabinet saw for cabinets I am building.

I purchased the Delta 36-L51X-BC5 5HP Unisaw with Biesemeyer fence, mobile base and the Delta 34-976 Deluxe Uniguard Blade Guard. This is the best purchase I have ever made. The saw cuts with no effort and every cut is clean and perfect. I do not even have to sand the edges. I have it connected to dust collection and there is no visible dust when cutting with the system on. It is so quite that you cannot hear me cutting plywood inside the house anymore. It is a joy to use and makes cutting sheet good easy and safe.

Electric requirements:
The manual does not correctly inform you of the electrical requirements. Call Delta if you have any questions about these requirements. The 5HP saw comes with a 21 AMP motor; the switch has 12 gauge power cord with a 20 AMP plug. You must replace the plug and power cord because it is not meant to work on the 5HP saw, just the 3HP saw. The manual states that it will not come with a plug but it does.

The manual said to install 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp slow burn fuse. Since the saw now comes with a new 21 amp motor, I called Delta and the tech said that the manual is wrong about the cabling and you should install 10 gauge wire with a 30 amp breaker. There is no need to install a slow burn fuse; a 30 amp breaker can handle the motor's start up amperage spike without tripping. I directly wired it to the breaker using flex conduit from a J-box in the wall to the saw's power switch. I left about 8 feet of flex rolled up next to the saw so I move it if I never need to.

Manual and Installation
The manual sucks but with a little thought about how it should be put together you can get it done. The things what would be nice to know before hand are as follows:

1. The case iron table extension wings have holes on each side, one side has threaded holes and the other side has non-threaded holes. Use the NON-threaded hole side to attaché to the saw's table top. The threaded holes need to be on the outside of the saw when you have it put together.

Make sure you blow out the threaded holes on the main table or extension wings before using them, they are filled with gunk.

2. The Uniguard manual was unclear as to how to install the splitter behind the saw blade. If you did not purchase this accessory, you will not have this issue. Do not install the splitter/dust cover that comes with the saw if you are installing the Uniguard. There is a angled piece of metal with a large washer that is attached with one screw directly behind the arbor near the back of the saw. This must be removed to install the Uniguard splitter. There are two screws that hole this piece of metal in place. The top screw is around 2-2 1/2" long and the bottom screw is about 1" long, These are the hold where you will attached the splitter bracket the manual had you put together in the first few steps.

Uniguard Blade Guard
I am so glade that I purchased the Uniguard blade guard. It works great and makes using the Unisaw safe. It flips up if you don't want the gauge, which I have not done. It keeps all the saw dust from going into the air and stops you from cutting off your fingers. What could be better?

You need to cut notches out of the rails to make room for the Uniguard brackets or you can buy the Biesemeyer 78-953 Uniguard Adapter Kit for Biesemeyer Fence Systems for $35.

General Tips:
Wax the top of the table ASAP. I did not do this with my last saw and it rusted very quickly. My Unisaw top looks like a mirror after two coats of wax. I waxed it as soon as I put the wings on, and then gave it a couple more coats after I was finished putting everything together.

Add additional support to the extension table. The end that attaches to the Unisaw has a support beam about 5 inches from the end. You need one at the end so that you can take the cup out of the extension table. I ended up bolting the new support beam to the end of the Unisaw's extension wing.

My Unisaw is in the middle of the garage and on an angle so that I have at lease 8 feet in front and behind it. I ripped a ½ sheet of plywood in half, the long way, and put it on the floor so that the front of the Unisaw rests on the plywood. This leveled the saw on the mobile base. I could not get it level without propping up the front of the saw.

I made an outfitted table that is 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep in front of the Unisaw. I cut the out feed table so that it is only 2 feet deep in front of the extension table. I don't want to take up too much garage space and you only need 2 feet on the side that extension table is on anyway. I used a 4' wide and 7 foot high metal gorilla shelf I had in the garage for the base. The shelf separates into two 3 ½ foot high shelves. I had to cut an inch or so off the legs. I put one shelf behind the left side of the Unisaw so that it is extends 4 feet out from the back of the saw. I put shelf was placed directly behind the extension table so that it extends 2 feet behind the extension table. I put a sheet of MDF over the top and used a jig saw to cut the out feed table into an l shape and to round corners. I did not want a rectangle shaped out feed table that takes up too much room.

After nearly a year of saving, I ordered my Delta 5hp left tilt unisaw. What an incredible machine. During assembly everything went together perfectly, including the rolling stand. The saw performs flawlessly. The Biesemeyer fence is a joy to use. I had doubts about whether 5hp was overkill -- not at all! The extra power makes sawing a smoother and, therefore, safer task. As I put the saw together, my twelve year old son was on hand. This is the one tool in my shop that I am certain will be his someday.

I purchased the Delta 26-L51X 5 horsepower Unisaw through Amazon.com on November 12, 2006. The next day, I received an e-mail from Amazon.com that the saw had been shipped. The saw arrived within a week, but I did not unpack the saw until later in November. Although the external carton and the saw cabinet indicated the saw was a 5 hp model, the saw actually had a 3 hp motor installed. This was discovered when I removed the external shroud over the motor. I sent an e-mail to Amazon.com on November 29, 2006 telling them that the wrong motor had been installed in the saw. I asked that it would be fine if they just shipped me the proper motor and I would install the 5 hp motor myself. That same day, I received an e-mail from Amazon.com stating that they could not ship out the proper motor, but were shipping out a new saw with a 5 hp motor.

On December 2, 2006, the second saw was received via expedited delivery. Although the new saw box and saw cabinet again showed a 5 hp motor, the actual motor mounted in the saw was a 3 hp motor. I sent an e-mail to Amazon.com that same day, informing them that once again, they had shipped out the wrong motor, despite the external markings on the box and saw cabinet. In the e-mail, I indicated that it appeared that Delta made the mistake in putting the 3 hp motor in the 5 hp model.

At this point, I felt that this was probably a factory issue for Delta to resolve. I went to the Delta web site and sent the following e-mail to them:

"Message:I ordered a Delta 36-L51X 5 hp cabinet saw from Amazon.com and received same in good condition. I assembled the saw and noticed that the sticker on the side of the cabinet said "Model 36-L51X..." and then listed the current draw as 15 amps. This concerned me as it isn't quite 5 hp even at 100% efficiency (more like 4.6 hp). A real world 5 hp motor should draw around 20 amps. I looked at the motor itself, and the data plate indicates it is a 3 hp motor drawing 12 amps, much less than 5 hp (3.7 hp at 100% efficiency). I contacted Amazon.com and they are sending a replacement saw. I am concerned that the 5 hp rating is "peak power" or some other salesman's slight of hand. Other owners of this saw indicate that the saw must be powered from a 30 amp supply which indicates to me that you put a 3 hp saw in a 5 hp model or perhaps the salesmen have taken over the engineering room."

On December 4, 2006, the following e-mail was received from the Delta "Customer Care" department:

"Thank you for visiting the Delta Machinery website.

The motor is indeed a 5 hp motor but is not rated to run continuality at 100% surrounded by the cabinet. It will not cool itself at 100% run time. It is rated to cool at 15 ampere continuality. The saw can operate at 5 hp for short periods of time. It is not expected that one would run the saw 100% of the time at 100% load.

Should you need to contact us again in the future, please call 1-800-223-7278, or click on the following link: http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=101
Upon contacting us, please refer to case number XXX.

Regards,


Customer Care Department"

A motor listed as drawing 12 amperes is actually rated at 5 hp? I don't think so. One horsepower corresponds to 746 watts; a motor drawing 12 amperes at 240 volts could not be rated at more than 3.9 hp and that would be at 100% efficiency. A 5 hp motor would have to draw at least 3730 watts which would correspond to 15+ amperes, again at 100% efficiency. A real world 5 hp motor would draw 20 amperes or more and have an efficiency of perhaps 80%. In addition, the parts list for the saw show different part numbers for the 3 hp motor and the 5 hp motor. The part number on the motor in my saw was the correct part number for a 3 hp motor.

I contacted Delta by telephone and talked with a customer service representative (angel would be a better title) by the name of Rebecca D. Wilson. She told me that the motor in the 36-L51X cabinet saw should indicate that it is a 5 hp motor, not 3 hp. She would contact Amazon.com to find out what was happening. She was concerned that the 5 hp motors might have been replaced somewhere along the line with 3 hp motors.

After checking records, Rebecca called back and said that Delta had inadvertently installed 3 hp motors in some 5 hp models. I indicated that I could easily replace the 3 hp motor with the proper 5 hp motor if it was sent to me. Rebecca told me that a 5 hp motor was on order and should arrive soon. When the replacement motor was received from Delta, it again turned out to be a 3 hp motor. Another e-mail to Rebecca resulted in profuse apologies and finally, receipt of the correct 5 hp motor.

There may be others who ordered and received what appeared externally to be the 5 hp model saw but actually received the 3 hp model instead. The response from Amazon.com was to send a new saw which also had the wrong motor. Initial e-mail contacts with Delta were not satisfactory in that they told me the 5 hp motor would say 3 hp on the motor data plate. Only when I spoke directly with a Delta customer service representative by telephone was the issue resolved.

Another issue is that of the electrical service for this machine. The 5 hp motor data plate clearly says 21.0 amps current draw. Two paragraphs are of interest from the Delta manual for this saw. Page 5 states:

"POWER CONNECTIONS
A separate electrical circuit should be used for your machines. This circuit should not be less than #12 wire and should be protected with a 20 Amp time lag fuse...."

On the page 6, the following statement is made:

"FIVE HORSEPOWER MOTORS

The motors supplied with single phase, 5 horsepower Unisaws are designed to be operated form a 220-240 volt power system.

The 5 horsepower Unisaws are not supplied with a power cord. ...."


The 5 hp motor I received did have a cord and the plug was for a 20 ampere circuit. The sticker on the side of the motor starter switch says the starter can be used with motors from "21 to 25 amperes". The 5 hp motor data plate clearly shows a current draw of 21 amperes.

In addition to the myriad of snafus, I would like to point out that the three 3 hp motors received all indicated continuous duty, while the 5 hp motor is rated for intermittent duty. One would think for the additional cost and horsepower rating, you would get a continuous duty motor. This would be of particular interest to someone who was ordering the Unisaw for a commercial shop where a continuous duty saw would be necessary. I feel that most potential purchasers of either of these high end saws would conclude that the 5 hp Unisaw was a more rugged machine whereas the 3 hp Unisaw may actually be more appropriate for commercial shops.

Two questions remain to be answered.

1. How many owners have 3 hp motors in what they think is a 5 hp saw? While checking out reviews of the 5 hp Delta Unisaw on this web site, some commented that the manual stated the 5 hp saws would come without a power cord, yet there was a power cord with their saw. Is this because the wrong motor is inside?

2. Is the 20 ampere plug provided on the 5 hp starter adequate, particularly when the motor data plate says the motor draws 21 amperes? Perhaps the intermittent duty rating of the 5 hp motor allows it to be used with a 20 ampere plug.

Do not take my comments as being negative about Delta, the Unisaw, or Amazon.com. Delta is an excellent company, produces first rate products, and their ultimate concern was my satisfaction. In fact, I paid no shipping charges for any of the additional items sent to me, nor for those items I had to return to them. They shipped the correct 5 hp motor to me via next day air, an expensive shipment method for something that weighs over 50 pounds.

Both the 3 hp and 5 hp Unisaws are a great cabinet saw, with no reservations. However, other consumers may have the wrong motor, or they may think they have a heavy duty 5 hp motor rated for continuous usage when if fact they do not. To add further to the confusion, the 3 hp motor may actually be a better choice for a commercial user.

The previous reviewer, Richard, stated that he used 18 AWG wire to replace the cord on his saw. I believe that is a typo and that Richard meant 10 AWG wire since 10 ga is the recommended wire size for a 30A circuit. I bought a length of SOOW 10/3 with the same NEMA L6-30P plug and NEMA L6-30R receptacle that Richard recommended. Don't forget strain relief on your cord, especially if using an overhead outlet. I used the Hubbell 073041279 bus grip attached to a hook screwed into the ceiling.

I found this saw easy to assemble. The extension plates ran out about .020" from main table, but I feel that is a petty issue. The Biesemeyer fence is easy to read and accurate. I especially appreciate the on/off switch. It's location and ease of use is quite helpful. The adjustment hardware is tight. When I bought this saw the website said that this motor required a 40 amp slowburn fuse, which I installed. Upon getting the saw I found that it is a 20 amp motor. I found this frustrating, but I guess I can't fault the saw for that. The motor is quite strong. I can't think of why you would need more than than this delivers.I also don't have a dust collection system, and found it best just to leave the side cover off - just because it fills up so fast with dust. The blades that come with the saw are good quality.
In short, the negatives are petty, the strengths are great, and I'm happy with it.

I like this saw a lot. Over the years I have used many different table saws and very few will equal the quality of this machine, especially for the money. Set up was a breeze and needed only minor adjustments.

I do have a complaint but it is not about the quality of the saw but with the quality of organizational skills of the people in charge of sending out the $500 coupon book and free mobile base. It's been 9 weeks since I purchased the saw and still no coupon book or mobile base. It would have been nice to have the mobile base with the table saw so that during the assembly process the saw could have been assembled on the base.

If you want an accurate and powerful table saw this is it, but don't have the expectation that your freebies will arrive with it, shortly after or in the near future.

I bought this table saw back in May, and I've enjoyed it every single day I've used it. I've been working with wood for the past 3 years, and decided it was time to upgrade to something that will last a long time. I'm very happy with the Biesemeyer Fence, as it is deadly accurate after you set it up. You will definately need some help installing the extension wings and extension table board. I did it myself, but it would have probably taken me about a third of the time if I would have had someone else help. In conclusion the cuts are smooth (with a Freud Rip, Crosscut, or Dado blade) and it cuts through the wood like a hot knife through butter, and for $2,300 it's worth it.

After years of using a Delta Contractors Saw, I always wanted to upgrade to a Unisaw with a Biesemeyer fence. I figured this high-end saw would come with good instructions. This is not the case - the manual is awful. The text descriptions are totally lacking in detail, the pictures are so poorly exposed you can't even tell what you are looking at, and the lack of a actual-size drawings of the nuts, bolts and washers makes it hard to find the right parts. My son and I spent the better part of day assembling this saw. With good instructions it could have been done in 2 hours.

Unisaw problem #1:
The threaded holes on the table saw are loaded with metal shavings and need to be cleaned out before tightening the bolts. I used a combination of WD-40 and grease, while threading in the bolts, which allows some of the junk to come out. The manual says nothing about this.

Unisaw problem #2:
The manual doesn't tell you which edge of the wings to attach and doesn't tell you that the wings are interchangable. We stupidly chose to attach the edge that had threaded holes to the saw - BIG MISTAKE. We couldn't get the wings to snug up. We interchanged them and filed the edges - neither of which helped. Finally we clamped them to the saw with pipe clamps - which helped some. After convincing ourselves that we'd never get the wings properly align (and that we should have purchased a Jet) the next step exposed our mistake. Mounting the switch involved using a hold in the left wing that didn't exist. IF ONLY THE MANUAL HAD STATED WHICH EDGE OF THE WINGS TO ATTACH. The mounting of the wings goes fairly smoothly when using the correct (non-threaded) edges. We were a able to snug the wings up nicely, although both wings are slightly warped, so that a perfectly flat surface was not achieved.

Unisaw problem #3:
In order to mount the switch properly, one of the bolts on the left wing has to be removed. The instructions should tell you about this before you attach the wing so you could do both at once. Fortunately by this time I was getting pretty good at attaching the wings.

Biesemeyer problem #1:
The rest of the Unisaw assembly went smoothly. Now on to the Biesemeyer fence. Since this company was at one time independent of Delta, I figured their instructions would be better - WRONG. They actually have followed Delta's format with non-descript text and poorly exposed photos. The first problem was mounting the front rail. There are a million holes and they leave it up to you to figure out which ones to use. I finally figured out that the vertical slot in the rail should align with the blade and you want to use the 2 threaded holes on the unisaw base (not the wings). Believe it or not the manual doesn't share these 2 critical details with you.

Biesemeyer problem #2:
After getting all the equipment attached, we put the fence in place to find that it wouldn't lock. This problem actually is covered in the manual, although not until the next step. A guide piece can get lodged in a wrong position - just flip it up and you're all set.

Biesemeyer problem #3:
They tell you to align the fence to the mitre slot of the saw. We did and it wasn't even close to being square. This step does not mention there is an adjustment for this (again it was in the next step and it should have been referenced in the current step). We actually took off a Unisaw wing (again), thinking that its slight protrusion from the base was causing the fence rail to be out of square - thus effecting the squareness of the fence. This did not help. But there are two set screws on the fence that align the fence - if only they had reference this fact in the current step.

Hours of wasted time and frustation could have been saved by Delta producing good manuals. If anyone at Delta is listening, take a look at Grizzly's manuals (available on their website). I actually cancelled my order for a Delta dust collector and bought the more expensive Grizzly because of the better manual.