About to dive in, sub-$700 budget for a table saw, wwyd?

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Originally Posted by Ron Selzer

Personally you need to jump all over that one
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

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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.

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Originally Posted by Frank Pratt

Delta is about the last brand I'd consider buying. For the last 10 - 20 years they have been going steadily down hill have a reputation for having contempt for their customers. The only Delta machines I have now are a bench grinder & a planer. The work fine, but as soon as something breaks, they're garbage because I won't be able to get parts.

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It kind of looks to me like there are two Deltas with a shared logo. The old Delta that produced the classic Unisaw and 36-44X contractors saw no longer exists. Its classic products have no company support. Part of the value of buying the (old) Delta is that you could get parts for a 40 year old machine. No longer, that company is extinct. The new Delta is owned by a Far Eastern concern. I don't know how parts availability is for products produced by that Chinese (I guess) company. I liken Delta to Bell & Howell. I remember at one time - '60s or '70s Bell & Howell produced well made film projectors among other products. Today? Their products function - sorta and not for long. Polaroid is another example of a name that doesn't mean what it once did.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm just going to get a proper miter saw and sit tight on the table saw for a bit. Nothing quite feels like a home run.

But I am, if I'm being honest, leaning toward a new Delta at my price range. I get the cautions here about QC and support, but it seems even the Ridgid, at $150 more, comes with similar concerns (if you read the reviews). You can buy and return both at a local store, and will have trouble getting people on the phone with both, so it's a wash. It also seems that people who like the Delta, LOVE the Delta. I can't find similar enthusiasm for the Ridgid, and instead have seen some concerning gripes. I feel like my needs and standards probably put me in the pack of people who will be impressed by, and happy with the Delta.

Re: older saws... we're back to worrying about the fence, can it take a riving knife and dado set, is there support for it at all, can I tell what to look for, etc.? I'd have to find a great deal for very cheap to toss all of this stuff out the window and pick one up, and resign myself to some labor/maintenance to make it work out. All in all it just seems like the math is a bit off when taken together. I think... it's the same with photography... after 10 years shooting I can look back and select exactly the gear I need now, and produce a lot with a stripped down, efficient setup. I'd need that kind of experience to buy an old saw with confidence, and I just don't have it.

The saw I linked to that several here seem eager to jump at, please have at it :D You'll make that guy happy. Tell him I sent you! I just can't justify the truck rental, round trip, etc. at $400.

I read this a lot on the forums, "parts availability, parts availability, parts availability". Specifically, it is usually directed at Delta. Yes, the american Delta/Rockwell company(ies) and its variants no longer exist or support old tools. Nor do they have a kind old soul answer the phone and walk you through a problem. However, parts are very much available for several/most machines. There is a guy in the northeast that has a warehouse of unisaw parts. Not to mention ebay and OWWM. However, parts aside, i am very curious what people think they will need for the machine? Maybe a broken handle? Mccmaster Carr will have you covered. Missing splitters are made by shark guard. Motors are standard off the shelf stuff. Same for belts and bearings, frankly, better than OEM. Assuming a machine is in fair/good working order when you inspect it, the consumables will be there for decades to come. Even for the the cast/machined parts, chances are a guy has a broken machine somewhere and is parting it out. Now, i am not saying for the OP to run out and buy an overpriced broken 30 year old machine, but I also wouldnt run away from an appropriately priced good condition used machine because Delta/Powermatic/General doesnt have parts stocked on a website.

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.

I second that. Great price, very good saw and will likely need nothing before putting it to work.\

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Originally Posted by Ron Selzer

Personally you need to jump all over that one
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

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Originally Posted by Curt Harms

It kind of looks to me like there are two Deltas with a shared logo.

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And more . . . Delta Specialty, Delta Rockwell, Delta Milwaukee, Delta Machinery, etc.

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Originally Posted by Jim Lafferty

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm just going to get a proper miter saw and sit tight on the table saw for a bit.

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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.

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.