Delta Contractor saw dado headsup....

[Jared Cuneo]

Let me preface this post by saying I love this saw (sure, I wish I could afford a PM2000 or sawstop, but...) however it has a problem with dado sets...

I've been through the wringer over this problem and the flaw is inherent in the saw so I figured I'd share....

My Freud super dado set always (well, mostly) leaves a slighty deeper cut on random chippers. After going round and round with Delta and Freud, I've discovered that the arbor on the saw is SLIGHTLY skinnier on the threads than up against the arbor plate. This causes a slight misalignment that causes one or more of the blades to cut deeper....

Once glued up, its not really noticeable, but for perfectionists, well....you get the idea....

I can live with it but it's still annoying....

Regards,

JC

[Bill Bryant]

Which Delta contaractor saw model is it?

What are the dimensions of this arbor taper? Can you give us some numbers?

[Jared Cuneo]

It's the -979, cast iron wing with Bies.....its not a taper, its a step of about .003-.005 smaller than the solid portion of the arbor....the rep at Freud mentioned that it was common on a lot of low to mid range saws and I verified it with a caliper...


JC

[glenn bradley]

Depending on your arbor length and the width of dado required, you could solve this by adding a blade stabilizer plate on the motor side of the arbor to take up that portion of the shaft that has the problem(?).

[Jared Cuneo]

Well, that might do it, but remember, the flat portion of the arbor is "correct"...its the threaded portion thats undersize....moving all of the blades over the threads would probably "fix" it, but I'd have to cut a new ZCI, and some of my jigs are based on this left side....

Its a good notion however...

JC

[Mark Rios]

It's the -979, cast iron wing with Bies.....its not a taper, its a step of about .003-.005 smaller than the solid portion of the arbor....the rep at Freud mentioned that it was common on a lot of low to mid range saws and I verified it with a caliper...


JC


This issue has been discussed here before. You might do a search to read more about what other members have done and experienced. The bottom line however, is that you just have to live with it or buy a new saw. I started a thread on this issue and, after getting info and input confirming that it was "normal" for lower end saws, I fixed my problem by buying a Unisaw. :D

[Dan Barr]

i've got the same problem. I can ignore it mostly. If i wrap ONE wrap of blue painters tape, that will fix it for the moment and then i can peel it off when im done. Its not a perfect fix, but pretty close. i dont even bother with it anymore.

v/r

dan