Customer Reviews

DELTA SS350LS Shopmaster Deluxe 2 Amp 16-Inch Benchtop Scroll Saw with Stand

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Performance is very smooth and the dust collection box is a nice addition to this Delta Scrollsaw! The lower blade clamp is difficult to use due to limited area available to move fingers around in...NOT recommended for anyone with arthritis! Dust blower needs major improvement in pressure but for the money, all in all, this is a good saw. The stand reduces vibration 100 fold and the On/Off lock switch is a great idea for anyone with youngsters around. Extended table is a great improvement for supporting large, delicate fretwork pieces and the tilt table is great for beveled wood working. This is a nice improvement from my last Delta Scrollsaw but Delta still needs to make changes to the increase "available work space" in the lower blade clamp area to make it more "user friendly" before I'd consider giving it a higher rating. I've been operating a scrollsaw for over 7 years to make my living and so far... so good with this model!

I have had this saw for a year. It has been very reliable and gets a lot of use. I have done a lot of assorted projects and am getting more serious about very detailed Fret work. This is where the limitations of the saw surface. There is about 1/8" front to back motion in the blade which makes very fine viening and internal cuts very difficult. All of the bearings seem a little sloppy to me. For the level of sawing that I want to achieve I will be buying a Hegner or a RBI Hawk (>$1000. ) I will keep the saw for its portability (club meetings). It is an excellent saw in its price range and a much better saw than some offerings from Dremel and Craftsman. The blade clamps are supper. The bottom clamps are easy to access if you remove the dust collector.

This scroll saw came with an upper arm clamp that sat on a 5 degree angle. The mounting area for the clamp was finished off crudely on a belt sander. I also had to straighten the upper blade clamping lever. It was bent in so far that it could not clamp the blade. Even though Delta made good on this and sent a replacement arm within 5 days. This is the second Delta machine that I own. The other is the 12" diameter disk sander. I had problems with that one too. I believe that you can expect problems with Delta's made in China. They just haven't achieved good quality control as of yet.

I was a little skeptical of this product at first, as Delta's brand name seems to stand for less and less as the years go on. After it arrived I set it up and noticed that the upper clamping mechanism for the blade didn't unclamp. Try as me and my mechanical engineering friend could, we could not get the clamp to budge. Upset, I called Delta and sat on hold for nearly an hour, talked to someone in customer service who told me a tech guy would call me back, waited 2 hours for that call, gave up, called Delta again, and this time demanded to be directly connected.

Once talking with the Tech guy, they determined that I had a faulty (surprise surprise) upper blade clamp, and mailed me a new one. Once it came, I installed the new one (which worked fine) and continued testing parts of the machine. It was at this point that the tension level for the blade tension broke as I was trying to pull it down (which is what the directions instruct you to do). Again on the phone with Delta, I was told that having two things not work was a sign the whole product was faulty, and I should return it to my nearest service center.

My nearest service center, it turns out, was 100 miles away. I mentioned that I shouldn't have to pay for gas for that long a distance for something that was not my fault. Delta customer service had nothing left to say to me at that point, and suggested I call the dealer from which I purchased the unit. Gee, thanks Delta. So if I were rating this product on Delta customer service, they wouldn't even get a star.

Amazon.com, on the other hand, was fantastic. I got right through to customer service, who told me to repack the unit and they would have UPS come pick it up immediately and give me a new one next day. I called on a Friday and UPS came on the Monday to pick up the old unit and Tuesday they dropped off my brand spankin new unit, which as of yet does not have any problems.

If you ignore the faulty bits, this scroll saw is well made for the price. The stand is stable and easy to assemble. The dust collection system is adequate, and there is little to no vibration with the saw. There are a fair few plastic parts on the machine, but they again you're not paying top dollar for it anyway. I had to make a new circular plate insert, as the blade gap in mine was too large for the wood sizes I was cutting, but that wasn't a big deal.

Overall, I'll buy from Delta again, but only through Amazon.com. This scroll saw is worth the money, but pray you get a functioning one on your first try.

I am enjoying my scroll saw very much.It is eay to operate. The only thing I found is that it takes awhile to change the blades and make them secure and taught.

This saw works great for this price range. I had it up and running in about 45 minutes - the bulk of that time was in the assembly of the stand. The saw itself is easy to use once you become accustomed to the quick blade change system as there is a slight learning curve involved - getting the feel for the proper blade mounting/positioning and locking along with the proper tensioning. I have cut 3 bowl blanks/9 rings out of 3/4" aromatic cedar and three out of 3/4" white oak; in total I have gone through 3 blades - a minor cost in learning. I do not know what others were expecting but the blower works fine; I only wish Delta would have equiped this saw with an LED light similar to the Dremel 1800 saw. All in all I would recommend this saw to anyone.

Very disappointed with the product. Bottom blade clamp would not hold the blade - Delta sent a new one and it still didn't work. Returned the item and purchased a Dewalt. Well worth the extra money. No problem receiving credit from Amazon. Very pleased with other products I have purchased from Amazon.

I bought this saw and stand for $200 about 3 years ago as my first woodworking tool. It's been a great scroll saw for the price. If I was devoted only to scroll sawing I might consider upgrading to the 20" DeWalt saw. The saw was pretty easy to set up. Oddly enough it came with an extra stand leg. The variable speed motor work nices and is useful when you're switching from detailed fretwork to fast "ripping". The blade changing system works nice too. There's a "macro" adjustment on both clamps and a lever to "lock" it in. It took me awhile to figure out how tight the clamps should be for different sized blades but like anything else, the more you use it the faster you get. Now it's no problem. I rarely bend or break blades and am sure it's operator error as opposed to the saw. The saw has some vibration which I could probably eliminate if I put a rubber mat under the table legs but it hasn't been enough of a problem to do that. The dust collection box is fine if you never do fretwork but you'll soon take it off (and leave it off) because you can't change the lower clamp with the box installed.

All in all I would recommend this saw to anyone who wants a solid, well priced scroll saw for moderate use. Hope this helps your buying decision.

Amazon delivered the SS350LS in record time.
I removed it from the box, put the stand together, cleaned the preservative oil from all parts, assembled the saw to the stand, adjusted the blade and cut my first piece. The saw worked great. Hardly any noise. Replaced the blade with one of mine and began cutting one of my projects and the top blade clamp snapped open. Tried to clamp it again and the blade clamp would not clamp again. The bottom clamp worked fine. However, without a usable top clamp the saw is USELESS!
I'll be contacting both Delta and Amazon. Delta to complain about the faulty equipment and Amazon to get a replacement saw.

If the blade clamps work the saw should be a great improvement over my previous scroll saws which I've used for 15 to 20 years.

I recently purchased this unit and it has performed flawlessly. I did not have any of the fit or finish problems that plagued some of the other reviewers. Further, the saw is very quiet. Also, I found it very easy to change the blade and adjust the blade tension. All in all, this saw is an excellent value.