Delta - Warranty or no Warranty?

[Malcolm Wheeler]

I have had this Delta 14 inch band saw operational for a month now, and tonight I found (I think) the cause of my resawing woes - I seem to have a bump in my table. If you look at the attached pics - the left hand side is perfect, but the right hand side slopes away from the blade.

Is this normal? Should I call Delta and ask for a warranty repair?

regards
Malcolm

[Matt Meiser]

This is probably an optical illusion, but it looks to me like that insert is sticking up slightly. If that's the case, take it out and recheck everything.

[Malcolm Wheeler]

Nope - I tried both with and without the insert - same identical situation...

[Don C Peterson]

are you positive your square is square?

[Dick Strauss]

Malcolm,
First, put a straight edge across the whole width and length of the table and see if the top is flat or not. Make sure you have the table pin inserted when you check it for flatness.

If it is indeed flat, check to see if your table is tilted? If so, check to see if you can split the difference. Try measuring for square with another square to double check.

I hope something here helps you...are you flexing the upper part of the sawblade in pic #1 to line it up?


Good luck,
Dick

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I have the exact same problem with my 28-276.

Delta told me the margin of error is 0.015" diagonally across the table and 0.010" left to right and front to back across the table. Anything more is out of spec and would be replaced under warrantee.

Mine is 0.012" to 0.016" near the blade slot between the insert and just to the outside of the miter slot, but fine just about everywhere else on the table. It changes slightly depending upon how far you drive the table pin in.

I've had a few other issues, so I haven't gotten around to getting the table fixed yet. If you get it replaced, I'd be very interested in knowing whether the new table fixes the problem.

Paul

[Andy Fox]

Are you sure the upper and lower guides and both thrust bearings (and anything else) are not touching the blade?

If that's not it, could the table bolts be overtorqued and distorting the table? Loosen them to just hold the table snug, insert table pin, and then check table for flatness. You could try shimming the bolts on the low side with washers or brass shim stock, but yeah, I'd want a new flat table from Delta if it's still not flat.

[Dan Barr]

yup, get the straightedge out.

:)

v/r

dan

[glenn bradley]

It looks like you don't have the table pin inserted. Is it? I know Paul posted that he has the problem even with the pin in. I would find your situation unacceptable. Ignoring the blade, does a straight edge show the slope? It seems excessive and I would want it resolved. If that's just the way it is, return it and get a different saw. My Griz is dead-on, can't get a feeler-gauge under a straight edge anywhere on it.

[Malcolm Wheeler]

Answers newest to oldest.
For Glen: Yup the pin is in and a straight edge rocks left to right, especially behind the blade (or to the right of the alignment pin and slot if you were standing on the right of the saw.)

For Andy - the guide blocks and bearing are out of the way and not pushing on the blade.

For Paul - Phew! I am glad I am not the only one - you made me feel a whole lot better about this - being a newbie to band saws I thought it may be me. The local Delta centre has already replied to me but has asked me to hold off until after Christmas. I will let you know if they agree to warranty this. Thanks for the specs though - I need to check those numbers.

For Dick - no flexing. It is as it is photographed.

For Don - the flip test for squareness seems ok, so I am pretty sure I am ok with my square.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I have a saw with an out of flat table. It doesn't matter for resawing. The main thing to have is the blade parallel to the fence. When resawing you push the wood against the fence and the table doesn't matter that much. Just my experience.

[stacey martin]

I dont know how this table adjusts for angles but on my delta table saw has a adjustable stop for tilting the blade. If I snug it up againist the stop it will bow my table right of the blade, so I bring it up until I feel it and stop. It dosent take much to bow it. Dont know if this would apply to you are not. Good luck
Stacey

[Malcolm Wheeler]

I will be calling Delta about my 28-276 in the New Year, but just for interest sake I went and measured with a straight edge to see how close to Paul's spec numbers I had. I hope I haven't bored all y'all with this, but I thought these findings may be an interesting way to bring this thread to a close.

Turns out my table has some interesting curves! The original photo in my original post looks bad because that is where the worst bend is and the base of my square only extends to the mitre slot.

Here is what I found: (Diagram scale greatly exaggerated for illustration purposes.)

77690


The red ink is where a straight edge is placed only on the right hand side of the table from the right edge of the insert to the extreme right edge of the table. The black ink is where a straight edge is placed across the whole table, at the back of my 1/2 inch blade. In each case the straight edge is balanced at the two zero points. The numbers are the thousands of an inch below the straight edge. So for example you can see that my mitre slot is below the rest of the table.

Thank for all the help folks, and I will report back here in two weeks in the New Year with my warranty results (for Pauls benefit anyway). I intend to build an auxiliary table over the top at some point anyway, so this may be a moot point...