Wish me luck with Delta customer service...

[Dan Forman]

I spent this afternoon stripping down my Unisaw and bringing the top in to my local Delta repair place, in hope that they will send me a new top. This was all the more frustrating knowing that I was undoing the many hours of setting up and fine tuning the Jess-em slider and more recently a new Incra fence.

The problem with the top is that it is crowned right at the blade opening, so that it slopes down in all directions, front and back, but more importantly side to side. The result is that if I set the blade at 90 to the table on the right side, it is off on the left, and vice versa. A rip might or might not be square, depending on which side of the table the majority of the wood is on. Crosscuts on the slider would be off, as they are on the left of the saw. I have about two months left on the warranty, so it's now or never.

The guy at Delta service said he would have to have the tech look at it, and contact Delta to see what they have to say. He said he couldn't tell me anything more until that happened, and that it might be a day or two. If they replace the top, it will take another week or so to get it here.

To me, it seems like a no brainer to send a new top, but my concern is that it might fall within specs, not taking into account the critical nature of the placement of the crown, and how that actually affects the accuracy of the saw. I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. In the meantime, I guess I'll be mostly using the lathe.

Dan

[Mike Heidrick]

New saw? Which model Uni?

Why not just call Delta?

[Mike Cruz]

HA! Just call Delta...

Delta can be very unhelpful. If you don't have the exact part number, they CAN'T order the part for you. Even if you are looking at the blow up of the parts list from the owner's manual and tell them "On the first page, #27". This is unlike what I have found at other companies. Others seem to work with you to find out what you need. Except HF, they do the same thing as Delta.

Also, I told them that a mobile base they sent me was missing 5 bolts. I told them which ones, but since there was no parts list, I couldn't tell them the part numbers. A very confused CS rep said, uh, ok, I'll send them right out. A couple weeks later, I got ALL the hardware for the mobile base. And before anyone chimes in with "Well, they have them prepackaged", no they don't. Or at least they claim not to. When I needed ALL the hardware for a 6" Jointer, they said they don't have them prepackaged and I would need to tell them EVERY part number I needed.

So, Dan, yes....good luck! I'm sure they'll come through, it just may involve some hoops and some jumping.

[Sean Nagle]

To me, it seems like a no brainer to send a new top, but my concern is that it might fall within specs, not taking into account the critical nature of the placement of the crown, and how that actually affects the accuracy of the saw. I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

If they claim it's within spec, you might as well take the top to a machine shop and have them grind it flat... since gone to all the trouble of taking it off off.

[Dan Forman]

It's a 36L31X, just shy of 5 years old. I noticed the problem right away when I was setting it up, brought the top back in and and had the store look at it, they said it was no big deal and if I asked for a replacement it could be even worse than this one. Not knowing any better, I went along.

I was going to call Delta directly, but there is no phone listed for customer service. I figured they would just tell me to go through the local warranty place anyway. I can still try going direct if this approach doesn't work out.

Having it ground is a last resort, but that's what I'll do if Delta doesn't come through.

Dan

[Matt Meiser]

Keep in mind if you have it ground that either the miter slots need to be ground deeper or you need custom sized miter bars for everything. I've got a restored Uni with a beautifully flat ground top. I'm replacing it over the winter with a replacement because of the miter slot issue.

[Mike Heidrick]

1-800-223-7278 and listed on page 25 of your manual (if you have one).

http://www.dewaltservicenet.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/Delta/A17477.pdf

I have had awesome service from the Delta folks. This on awesome lady has helped me twice and she is rockin. I am not sure of her name but there are good folks at Delta Porter Cable.

Waiting five years may prove to be an issue for ya though as it has a 2 year warranty.

$560.66 for a new table on service net.

[glenn bradley]

I would sure try Mike's contact because Delta has been nothing but trouble for me. Like a lumbering beast stumbling around in the dark. Slow on their feet and totally unable to think outside (and many times inside) the box. At least when I had one of my problems, the 'Delta at Home' program was still in effect so (for larger machines) they came to my house and took my DP head away to change the bearings. It took a month.

[Dan Forman]

Mike--- Thanks for the number. Mine was an X5, so it has a 5 year warranty, which has a couple of months left on it.

Matt ---I wondered about the miter slot depth. One of the other unique features of this saw is the the fact that the miter slots are not quite the same width. When the bar is adjusted for one side, it's either too tight or too loose for the other side. Having the sliding table, I don't use the miter gage too much.

I called to see if they could tell me anything this afternoon, they said they would be looking at it later in the afternoon and get back to me, but I still haven't heard back. Maybe tomorrow. :(

Dan

[Richard Wagner]

Mike--- Thanks for the number. Mine was an X5, so it has a 5 year warranty, which has a couple of months left on it.

Matt ---I wondered about the miter slot depth. One of the other unique features of this saw is the the fact that the miter slots are not quite the same width. When the bar is adjusted for one side, it's either too tight or too loose for the other side. Having the sliding table, I don't use the miter gage too much.

I called to see if they could tell me anything this afternoon, they said they would be looking at it later in the afternoon and get back to me, but I still haven't heard back. Maybe tomorrow. :(

Dan

I hope that you have some sort of proof that you contacted the service agency "before" the warranty period expired. A couple months from now, when the warranty has expired, it will be too late.

Good Luck.

I'm curious though. It seems that this problem would have been brought to their attention a long time ago - about 4 years and 8 months ago.

[Dan Forman]

Heard from Delta service today, they are going to send me a new top. What a relief! The guy said he'd never seen a saw top like that before. I should have a new one in about a week.

Richard--- I actually did bring it to the attention of the store I got it from shortly after I got it. I brought the top down to the store and let them look at it. They kind of harrumphed and said it was no big deal, that a new one could be worse, and seemed dismissive about the whole thing. I got the "this is woodworking, not metal working - wood will move more than that in one day..." speech. Being a newbie, I went along with it. I never was happy with it, but didn't think there was anything I could do about it.

Dan

[John Keeton]

Whewwwww!!!!http://www.emofaces.com/en/smilies/s/sweating-smile.gif

[Mike Cruz]

Good for you, Dan. Glad you spoke up. Glad you're getting a new one. Also glad Delta stepped up and did the right thing.

[John Coloccia]

I got the "this is woodworking, not metal working - wood will move more than that in one day..." speech.

Yeah, you know that's actually very true. I hear that all the time, and also adhere to it...at a certain point good enough is good enough. The other side to this, though, is if something is crooked to begin with, it's gonna be REALLY crooked when the wood creeps this way and that way. My threshold is if I can do better with saws, planes and chisels, it's not good enough. I'm not talking surface finish. I'm talking just plain ole' straightness/flatness or whatever. The machine has to be able to at least match what I can easily do by hand. I don't need any better than that.

[Mike Heidrick]

Heard from Delta service today, they are going to send me a new top. What a relief! The guy said he'd never seen a saw top like that before. I should have a new one in about a week.
happy with it, but didn't think there was anything I could do about it.

Dan

Thats the Delta I know. Amazing some of the poor excuses for CS people have gotten from them though. Glad they came through. Whew is right! Good thing for the X5 warranty too!

[Myk Rian]

Heard from Delta service today, they are going to send me a new top. What a relief! The guy said he'd never seen a saw top like that before. I should have a new one in about a week.
Save any and all shims from under the top. You'll need them to align the new one. That may be a chore in itself.
Congrats.

[Matt Meiser]

Save any and all shims from under the top. You'll need them to align the new one. That may be a chore in itself.
Congrats.

Myk, have you done that before? How bad is it, and how do you do it?

[Myk Rian]

Nope. Never done it, and hope not to.
I'm sure there are videos or instructions available, someplace.

[Dan Forman]

Matt ---I did that once before, as I was getting burning on bevel cuts, but I will have to brush up on exactly how to do it, as I don't remember the details. I think it's a matter of tilting the blade, then running a dial indicator mounted on the miter gage pointing up from underneath the blade to check alignment of table to blade, then shim appropriately. I'm guessing this would come first, before aligning blade to slot, as it would be pretty hard to keep slot to blade true while monkeying about with shims.


Dan

[Rick Fisher]

Good for you Dan..

I called Delta a few years ago about my old bandsaw.. I read off the model number and the lady told me there was no such number. So I went out in the shop with the cordless phone.. Read the same number to her again.. she said . .nope. are you sure its a Delta ?

Sigh.. the saw was 7-8 years old. .

Finally, she put me on hold and never came back.. lol. .

[Richard Wagner]

Dan, It is really good to hear that they are sending you a new table top. I will be anxiously waiting to hear how the new one checks out. I trust that you will check it for flatness BEFORE you spend any time installing it.

Score one for Delta customer service (they must have had this problem before).