Delta Super 990 RAS?

[Wade Lippman]

I, astonishingly enough, have some room left in my shop. Cutting dados on a SS (or a TS in general) isn't a great idea, so I was thinking of getting a RAS pretty much for that purpose.

I know Craftsmans go for $75, but was thinking of doing better. A Super 990 is available for $150. Its worth twice a Craftsman isn't it?

Other than sawing a slot and making sure the kerf isn't excessive, is there anything else to check for?

[Bill Dufour]

Give us a hint is this a new model or a older heavier unit. What blade size, etc, etc.
Bill D.

[Ed Labadie]

The Super 990 is a 9", 1 hp saw.

Not a lot of crosscut capacity. The turret arm design gives great flexibility to cut goofy odball angles.

Paid $75 for mine and did a complete restoration on it (was not useable).

I've never had anything but a thin kerf blade on it, no idea how well it would handle a dado stack.
My other RAS's are DeWalt GE's, everything else seems underpowered.

Need to see pics to advise on the price, $150 seems high.

Ed

[Cary Falk]

As with any RAS, you need to check that there isn't any play in the arm as you pull the carriage in and out for the full length. If the carriage is real loose towards the fence and gets real tight as you pull it towards you the ways are worn. If the ways are ground into the arm then walk away. Some have rods you can rotate but I don't think the 990 does. You also need to pay attention to the carriage bearings also. Most saws use a convex bearing that rides in a grove. Most of those bearings are obsolete. Some you can repack. My 790 are shielded and were easy to repack with a repacker. I think the super 990 is a 9 or 10" blade with a crosscut of about 13". My 790 will do a little over 16". I still would like a med arm GP or GA so I could do 24" dado's. Yes the Delta or a DeWalt is worth 2x the Craftsman. The Craftsman is worth $0. ;)

[Wade Lippman]

The 13" capacity probably makes it a bad bet since I want to mainly for dados and don't have much use for the turret arm.

He also has a Dewalt MB he wants $250 for; says he will sell one and keep the other. Unless there is something really special about it, it is probably too expensive.

[Cary Falk]

A MBC is 1/2 hp I think and the MBF is 3/4 hp. They would both be at about 13" cut capacity. Not worth anywhere close to $250

[Rick Potter]

I have a 12" DeWalt 7790. You can pick them up for 2-300 in useable condition. The capacity of crosscut is determined by how close to the blade you want to put the fence. My fence is set back far enough that the blade just clears a 2x4 when in the rear position. This allows a 16 1/4" crosscut. I have all the safety leaves and rip guard on it to keep stray hands out of the way. My fence is 4" tall and has an extra slot for the left leaf to pass through. It is advertised at 3.5 HP, I believe, 220 V, but will run on 115. This saw is from about 1980, and is not a round top, but I really like it bettter.

If you only used dado blades on it, you could set the fence back a bit more.

I have a late 70's Craftsman that does only dado's and I can do 15" dado's with it.

I bought a really cute little Rockwell 10" turret job sold by JC Penny in the mid 60's. It is 115V 10 A, and it is way too underpowered for dado work. It was going to replace the Craftsman, but that won't happen.