Customer Reviews

Delta 36-732 10-Inch Right Tilt 3 Horsepower Cabinet Saw with 50-Inch Biesemeyer Fence and 2 Cast Iron Extension Wings, 230-Volt 1 Phase

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

 

 

I received this saw for Chrismas. It arrived in good condition, but there are a number of very disconcerting aspects to it.

The saw is manufactured in Taiwan - not in the USA (like the unisaws). According to Jason Carpenter of Delta (1-800-368-1487x3143) it was designed for the Canadian market and brought down to the states to compete with Jet. Not being a unisaw, there are a number of changes.

First, the throat plate is different and unique from *all* of the Delta table saws (cabinet/contractor). At present, you cannot purchase a zero clearance throat plate for it.

Second, the base dimensions are different. I purchased a mobile base with extension (50-289) and it does not fit. Delta has the square section (50-729) which you can order for $121.01. It is not yet listed on their web site or any other site I've seen. The extension (50-284) is an extra $113.30. I plan to modify the 50-289 to fit my needs.

In the spec sheet, the max dado width is 15/16". They don't mention that you need a special arbor to cut this dado with - and you can't leave the special arbor on as it will hit the underside of the table for deep angled cuts.

Another complaint I had was that the cast iron extension wings were not perfectly flat. I had the front and back flush, and had a lit in the middle of about two sheets of paper. In the end I was able to flex it mostly flat at the recommendation of the Delta service center.

What has been most frustrating is the customer support on this saw. I've called Delta several times and the person on other end usually says, "Wow, this saw is brand new. I've never heard of it. Let me see what the manual says." On the mobile base, I called specifically to ask if the 50-289 would work - and was told yes.

I plan to keep this saw as I believe it is worth the money and I don't want the hassle or added cost of shipping it back in excange for a true unisaw; I would however stongly recommend getting a unisaw instead of this one.

Got this saw for Christmas (a few days early). I have a Delta contractors saw that was pretty nice but still not a cabinet saw. Having used a friend's Unisaw off and on for years I was very familiar with the quality. But wow, is this a great saw!

I'm still not sure what, if any, difference there is between this saw and the Unisaw. Everything seems exactly the same to me. The only thing missing is the extension table. You have to build your own for this one. For the several hundred dollars in savings I didn't mind at all.

The saw arrived in good condition and assembled without much trouble. They recommend two people due to the weight but I did it all alone without a lot of trouble. The assembly instructions are simple and easy to follow. They even include extra bolts and screws and the hardware you need to attach the extension table you build. Also include a diagram for building the extension table.

The main table was perfectly flat and nothing required adjustment. The two cast extension wings are both not quite perfectly flat but are so close it doesn't cause any problems.

If you're familiar with Biesmeyer you already know how great their fences are. If not, then you're in for a pleasant surprise.

The only negative I've encountered is the switch location. It just doesn't work where it is and there was no bracket included for moving it out on the fence where it needs to go. I build my own bracket but I assume you can order one from either Delta or Biesmeyer. In any case, this was not enough of an issue to cause me to rate the saw less than five stars.

Plenty of power, precision cuts, and with the addition of an Osborne miter guide this is just the perfect saw for me.

If you're looking for a great price on a truly exceptional piece of equimpment built to last a lifetime, then look no farther. This is it.

Recently purchased this saw and mobile base.
Biesemeyer fence is excellent but had a few required washers missing (easily purchased at hardware store). You won't be disappointed with the use of it.
The blade guard requires wrench to remove\replace and one bolt 1" long to be removed completely. The supplied wrench is pretty much worthless for this purpose. I replaced both bolts with thread knobs, to hold it on and slotted the rear hole so guard slips on easily. Now I can remove and replace it with out wrenches.
The "shelf" for storage of fence won't hold Biesemeyer fence it keeps falling off. So find another place to keep it when not it use.
The crank handles and locks are plastic and seem light but function exactly as they should.
The miter gage is to light to be of real use, it seems to be made of stamped sheet metal or a thin wall casting. I removed the bar and trashed it. I had a better one anyway, but you should plan on replacing it with something better.
I have/had no problems the the main saw itself. Base, top and extention are good to excellent quality, with tilt and height adjustments working correctly.
Prior reviews talked about the extention table not being flat and the switch being not in the correct place. My table was flat and the switch comes with bracket to locate in correct spot " flush with front rail". So maybe Delta fixed these issues.
I am pleased with the saw "after about a month of use" and would recomend it to a friend, after pointing out these issues.

I received my Delta 36-732 cabinet saw about a month ago and have used it for only a few projects. This was my transition from a Delta contractor's saw to a cabinet saw. Frankly, any cabinet saw would have been better than the contractor's saw that I had bought at Lowe's. Noise, vibration, lack of power and a small work area all added up to a new saw.

I researched table saws for almost a year, before purchasing the Delta 36-732. I had a list of what I wanted in a saw and began to narrow the field. I actually went as far as to order a General International cabinet hybrid, but cancelled the order after realizing that it is impossible to get 2 hp from the amps they speced, at the time.

Amazon's sale price on the Delta made it an easy choice. I was a little concerned because I had never actually seen the 36-732 before it arrived at my house. I was (and am) impressed. This is everything that I wanted, and would expect from a high-end saw, but at a low-end price.

Fit and finish is outstanding. Quality exceeded my expectaitons. Easy to assemble. Quite and imperceptible vibration (it passed the dime test). Exceptional power. The Biesemeyer fence is unbelievable

Cons: I had to flex both wings to get them flat. With a 2hp dust collector attached to the saw, the cabinet does not empty very well. I still need to vacuum out the cabinet to keep it clean.

Overall: This is one great saw. I would have given it 5 stars, but nothing is perfect.

Delta should not put their name on this saw! While this looks like a Unisaw, the tooling is very poor. As stated in other reviews, this is a cheap version of their great Unisaw brand.

The "arbor" on my saw was machined very poorly or in Siberia. The "nut" was forced on the poorly made "arbor." So the nut would not come off using the supplied allen wrench and lock wrench. The allen wrench stripped out the "arbor" slot. So the only way to get the nut off was to clamp a piece of metal to the table, that went under one of the saw blade teeth, so the blade could not move. With about 500lbs pressure, the nut came loose. So now, just screw off the nut, right. No, the "arbor" was actually tapered so the more you unscrewed the tighter the nut got. After ½ hour of muscling the "nut," it came off (that sounds funny). Next came the collar. Well that just slips over the "arbor" right. Wrong, the tapering was so bad, that the collar could not fit over the "arbor", unbelievable. This "arbor" must have been machined in sub-zero temperatures and expanded.

Delta is sending a new arbor and nut. But I think I should send this hunk of crap back and get a Unisaw. Spend the extra $300, it will be the best money you have ever spent.

Signed,
Nightmare not over yet

I almost bought the same saw at Rockler w. t-2 for less than 1K. There are many better options, Jet, Unisaw, even Grizzly.
Changing arbors for dado use, no mobile base(unisaw one will not fit),ZCT plate(even would be hard to custom make b/c no support on one side and no extention table or legs , less depth of cut and the price is too high.

This is my 2nd review for this saw. The 1st one was immediately after assembly, which went easily. This saw is actually my sons, I have a Jet jtas 10, and he is a very UNHAPPY camper. After less than 4 hrs use it sounds like the upper trunion bearing is going bad, MAJOR PROBLEM!!!
He is currently contacting Delta to see if they will send a tech to replace it or the whole saw goes back to Amazon, in which case he will be buying the Jet like mine, only he gets the left tilt, lol lucky him...........3rd reveiw....turns out not a bad bearing, WAS NO SET SCREW in cooling fan. Delta set a tech out within 3 days and had the problem fixed in 3 hrs. But sure wished they had put in set screw at factory, but good for Delta for a quick fix...........

I just received this saw a few days ago, and so far I am more than satisfied.
There are a few short comings that make this a bit of a challenge to set up. According to Delta, this is a new saw model, so if you buy the outfeed table, as I did, you will have to modify it to make it fit. It is a bit disconcerting to buy new equipment and have to saw holes in it to make it fit, but it did work out ok. If you are afraid to drill holes into the body of your new saw, then do not order the outfeed table. When you are told to drill through the case for mounting the braces for the table, you need to know that the dust collection bin has changed and you cannot get to the inside of the case to use bolts with nuts and I had to go buy some self tapping screws to do the job. They worked fine.

The fence is a huge heavy and remarkable product. It comes in a seperate package shipment and it will surprise you how heavy it is. Set up took a full day, as it is necessary to build an extension to the saw to accomodate the fence unit. I was not prepared for that, but it was not a real problem for me because we just finished adding on to our house, and I had all sorts of materials laying around to do the job.
The saw itself is heavy duty, and is very quiet running. It is a belt drive and not direct if that is one of your requirements. No viberation at all! Extensions which were mentioned as a problem in some other reviews were no problem at all. they went on easily, and were perfectly aligned. All in all, I think this is a great piece of equipment. The outfeed is a challenge and it is a job to set it up, but those buying this type of saw should be handy enough to handle the problems with no stress.

Don't be scared to order this saw. After reading some of the other customer reviews, I was a bit apprehensive about the saw and the shipping. No need to worry. The saw and fence arrived in perfect shape 7 days after ordering. The tilt indicator on the saw box had not been tripped. All parts, pieces, nuts, bolts and manuals were included. The assembly was straightforward, but did take about 6 hours. I built my own extension table for less than $20.00 using the legs that came with the fence. The saw has plenty of power and no vibration (passed the nickel test) and the fence is solid as a rock. Close to 5 stars.

I decided to purchase the 36-732 after extensive research and tedious comparisons of many brands . I chose
Delta because I felt they offered the best package at a really fair price. I was a little concerned based on some
of the feedback for other Delta saws, but this one had mostly positive comments. The saw was shipped in a very timely manner and arrived exactly when Amazon said it would. Fortunately I had the foresight to have it
delivered to my place of work rather than my home, because when ABF freight arrived with it they had no lift
gate on the truck, no pallet jack, nothing. Anyone that is considering having this saw delivered to their home
should consider paying the extra fee for the lift gate delivery or they will have to unload a 500 pound saw
from the back of the truck with no help out in the street. The packaging of this saw was horrible. It comes
in a cardboard box on a pallet. The saw is supposed to be bolted to the pallet with lag screws and brackets.
Mine was bolted to the cardboard. I am pretty sure the saw went for a ride in the truck. The box was really
beat up. I was concerned that something was bent, broken or both. Despite this, everything was in the box and the saw went together well. Fit and finish on the saw was outstanding, I had no missing pieces, and the
wings were perfectly flat as checked with a Starrett machinists straight edge. The only damage to the saw was
the Delta emblem and some scratches in the paint around the base. The saw works flawlessly, is extemely
accurate and has more power than I will ever need. It is almost vibration free and very quiet. This is by far the best piece of woodworking machinery I have ever owned and I highly recommend it. I would give five stars if
not for the packaging. ABF motor freight sucks.