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As a guy that has purchased and sold a bunch of Unisaws and Delta contractor saws I completely agree with Patrick's post above. All I have ever needed were bearings replaced, cleanup and sell. There are tons of parts available ,ever heard of Ebay ? I have never needed to replace anything that I could not obtain locally (belts,bearings,electrical). The only way I could see needing "parts" is if someone dropped one of these saws from 4-5 feet off a forklift on to concrete.
And more . . . Delta Specialty, Delta Rockwell, Delta Milwaukee, Delta Machinery, etc.Originally Posted by Curt Harms
Like others, my miter saw sets out in the shed and has proven fairly useless in furniture making . . . just sayin'. There are folks who cannot live without one just as there are folks who cannot live without a radial arm saw. To each their own but, the footprint for those format machines can be better used IMHO. I'm not dogging those tools, just offering an opinion.
Last edited by glenn bradley; 01-05-2021 at 11:37 AM.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
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When I started out, I had decided on a Grizzly Hybrid saw. I went to one of the tent sales and my wife convinced me to get one of the scratch/dent cabinet saws that was a little more. That saw is still my tablesaw 15 years later. Knowing what I know now, my preference would be some sort of sliding TS. However, 15 years ago, I had no idea how long I was going to stay in WW and for sure would not have spent thousands on one tool by skipping straight to the last tool.
I personally like having a miter saw in the shop and I would like to add an RAS at some point. However, I will say that it is more of a "convenience" for me in furniture making as I use it to rough size parts for milling, break down long strips to throw them away, or other tasks that are not suited to the tablesaw. I will say for home improvement or deck projects, a miter saw is very highly desirable. The miter saw was one of the first tools I bought (after a drill, circular saw, and jig saw) and still the same one, a Dewalt 10", non slider.
Contributor
What part of the country are you in? Sometimes good options pop up on the IRS auctions dot com. Check CL as well. Also FB market place. I'm pretty well in a vacuum it seems for such items. Or if they do pop up they want new price. Patiently search is the best advice I can give.
Contributor
I'd shop for something made in the 70s. Those job site saws are a POS in my opinion for everything but loading in a pickup to work on site. If it's going in a shop, those screaming motors are a real put off. Tiny tables and rip fences are not fun to work with either. For you budget, go old cast iron.
[OP]
Member
This is interesting. Guy down the road from me is a woodworker and his advice was similar, he said at his shop, all the best gear was made 50-70 years ago, "when they used real steel." Not sure I have the patience required to wait for The Right One, and I expect you'll all rightfully glare at me.
Member
For $700 you are firmly in the buy used camp if you want a quality saw. I would watch for the aforementioned Delta Contractor with a Unifence,Powermatic or General Canada. At that price range Cabinet saws with 3hp motors will begin to show up as well. A cabinet saw would be an even better option if one lands near you. All the saws listed shared the Biesmeyer T square fence system which is excellent as well.
Contributor
I had a few older Craftsman table saws between 10 and 20 years ago, I burned up the motors in all of them sooner or later except the last one that was "Flex Drive" (the stupidest engineering idea ever put into production, I think) that I had to convert to belt drive with a homemade motor bracket. I got them in the under $100 range and they were okay while they lasted. Then about 10 years ago I bought a used Delta 10" contractor's saw for $315 and it has been great for what I need it for, fast rough ripping of rough cut lumber. In my teens I bought a little benchtop saw for $30, it was a screamer for sure and vibrated a lot, but it was okay for a while. I would encourage watching Craigslist or local auctions, there are still some good deals to be had and once you outgrow a cheap table saw you'll have a better handle on what you really want instead. I have also had a DeWalt 12" miter saw for the last 12 years, it has built 20 or so wheelchair ramps in the surrounding area and a number of outbuildings here and is still going strong. It's not terribly precise, but it doesn't sound like you need that yet anyway, and mine cost $130 at an auction. I've seen them go even lower since then. Best of luck, I hope you'll have fun with wood.
[OP]
Member
North-East, New York state to be exact. At the moment this is the thing I was most interested in on CL:
https://worcester.craigslist.org/tls...256918477.html
A neighbor cruised FB marketplace on my behalf and sent me screengrabs of the same listings that are on CL.
After some thinking on it, I am just not especially excited to pay $400 for an old saw that needs some upgrades. If it were $200 I'd *strongly* consider it, but I'm not about to insult the poster
I started out about 1.5 years ago. I have a Dewalt sliding miter, had a dewalt jobsite table saw, Cutech jointer, and Cutech planer.
Today, I have Sawstop PCS and the same miter, jonter, and planer.
If I had to do it again I would skip the miter. I cross cut long board with the circular saw or Grizzly tracksaw. The slider on the Dewalt has a little play that creates slight angle deviation; I crosscut the lumber again on the table saw anyway.
The jobsite table saw was good, but the fence and the table top had slight gives that created slight deviation. I was going to get a contractor saw and looked at the Rigid, Dewalt, and Grizzly. I was going to buy a Grizzly hybrid saw, but my wife wanted me to get the Sawstop for the safety feature. I wanted the contractor saw for the cast iron top (I was going to add in the cast iron wings too), the better fence, and the better angle adjustment. I hated adjusting the blade tilt on the Dewalt because it was a friction adjustment.
So get the best table saw you can for $700. For $700 get the Rigid contractor.
My two pennies.
The other piece of power tool I would like to upgrade is the jointer from the bench top to something larger. I hope the longer heavier top will support for longer work piece.
Contributor
Personally you need to jump all over that oneNorth-East, New York state to be exact. At the moment this is the thing I was most interested in on CL:
https://worcester.craigslist.org/tls...256918477.html
A neighbor cruised FB marketplace on my behalf and sent me screengrabs of the same listings that are on CL.
After some thinking on it, I am just not especially excited to pay $400 for an old saw that needs some upgrades. If it were $200 I'd *strongly* consider it, but I'm not about to insult the poster
Extras/upgrades
fence
router plate
mobile base
No rust very nice clean shape, wait and someone else will have it
I had one from 1986 to 2015 when I got my Sawstop ICS, good saw for where you are at now
good luck
Ron
Contributor
I agree with Ron, wholeheartedly. I think your assessment of it being "overpriced" is inaccurate. The unifence system is excellent and easily worth $200+ on its own without a saw. Throw in a couple accessories, mobile base, and its a good little package. An excellent starter machine. I paid $300-350 for a near identical setup 6+ years ago. Take into account inflation, tariffs on asian imports, and the current situation we are in, and i think that saw is well worth $400. I sold my saw 4ish years ago for $400. The only thing i spent on it were a link drive belt and the PALS alignment setup.
You could always throw an offer of $700 or less at this guy DELTA 10" TILTING ARBOR UNISAW - tools - by owner - sale (craigslist.org)
It doesnt have the accessories of the contractor saw, but will be a much better platform to build off of for future use. Indeed, you may never outgrow the capacity and performance of a 3hp unisaw with a unifence.
The last piece of advice i will give on saws is they are 50%+ fence systems. You can make up for a lack of power with thin kerf blades, slower feed rate etc, but crap fences are just crap. They cant be reliably calibrated to parallel and square to the blade. They dont consistently lock down to those settings. A good fence is make or break to the process.
Member
I second that. Great price, very good saw and will likely need nothing before putting it to work.\
Contributor
The Unifence alone is worth $300.North-East, New York state to be exact. At the moment this is the thing I was most interested in on CL:
https://worcester.craigslist.org/tls...256918477.html
A neighbor cruised FB marketplace on my behalf and sent me screengrabs of the same listings that are on CL.
After some thinking on it, I am just not especially excited to pay $400 for an old saw that needs some upgrades. If it were $200 I'd *strongly* consider it, but I'm not about to insult the poster
To the OP: if you spend $4-600 on a well-known "old iron" saw you will be able to sell it later for what you have in it, whether contractor or cabinet saw, if you decide you want to go in a different direction.
Last edited by Marc Fenneuff; 01-04-2021 at 10:58 PM.
[OP]
Member
So this makes it two votes for the Ridgid, huh. (edit: three!) I know how superficial and silly this sounds but I just don't like how it looks when compared to the Delta. It feels like it was designed by Tonka :O
I had heard mixed things about Delta, and had also seen (via YouTube) comments in the opposite direction - that Delta has just been taken over by a company keen to restore its reputation.
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