Delta 34-350

[Jack Clay]

I am looking at a Delta 34-350 12 inch table saw. The problem that I have is I have not used or seen one. This saw is about a 5 hour drive and I have not seen one locally yet. I really like the size and weight of this saw. My biggest issue that I am trying to resolve is that the center of the blade is 22 inches from the front of the saw plus the fence. This seems like a long way. Witch brings me to my question, dose anybody own one or use one and do you think this is an issue. I am around 5’ 9” and I am afraid it would feel like I am falling into the saw. Any information I would greatly appreciate.

[glenn bradley]

A saw that size is well suited to ripping 16/4 lumber. I'll assume there will be a bit of that sort of thing going on to put you into the market for a 12" machine. A 10" saw is around 17" - 18" to the arbor from the front of the table but that 4" can seem like quite a bit depending what you're doing.

For long boards (beams) I don't think it would be too awkward but, remember you want to be in control of your material until it is clear of the rear of the blade. Even running a box joint jig on the miter gauge which doesn't usually take you past the arbor, I would feel like I was reaching. That's just me, your mileage may vary. Consider what you will be doing mostly and that will give you an idea of what percentage of the time you will be making that reach.

[scott spencer]

I know nothing about that machine, but here's a link to some info from OWWM (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/Images/1441-A.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp%3Fid%3D1441&h=300&w=400&sz=18&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=DW-dMTNEnMU83M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDelta%2B34-350%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN).

Leaning over a saw is a bit worrisome on those last few inches at the back of a blade even with a 27" deep 10" saw....as a reference, I'm ~ 6'1" with average arm length. Push devices could help reduce that risk. For general cutting use, I doubt you'd need the capacity of a 12" saw, but I don't know what your usage will be like. It looks to be an impressively built saw from the pics.

Good luck!