Older Craftsman Professional vs. Newer Delta Table Saw

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I have a dilemma. I have two saws and I need to sell one of them. I will attempt to upload a pic of each. One is a Craftsman Professional that is about 10 years old. The guy I got it from said it was a $1500 saw brand new. I picked it up for $200 with a few other things. It seems nice. Has the better Biesemeyer fence, heavy duty. This is the good. The bad is there is a vibration.&nbsp; It may be the arbor. When I hold a piece of wood over the lowered blade, about 3 in. of the blade scrapes the bottom of the wood. The Delta is similar if not the same that comes from Lowes for $600 or so. It is practically new. I like it because I can roll it out of the garage and keep the dust outside. It is a strong saw. Downside is that my fence adjustments dont always stay. The other issue is that when I am ripping lumber, I cant keep it up against the fence after the blade. After the blade, wood will be about 1/8 in. off of the fence. My dad says thats normal and isnt a big deal, but that doesn&#39;t add up to me.</p>

I suspect neither of these saws are as stout and powerful as the original Unisaws or PM66s. However, It seems to me both of your saws needs some maintenance and tuning. You can make your existing saws better. With that thought in mind, which would you like to keep? I'd try fixing up the keeper first before selling either of 'em.

Scott

I am not familiar with either of those machines, although I know that at one time Sears/Craftsman subbed out their professional line of table saws to Sunhill and Bridgewood.
I hate to disagree with your father, but the fence on the Delta definitely seems problematic. I've rip cut my share of wood through the years and the only reason it doesn't stay on the fence after the blade is misalignment. A few thousandth's is normal and most people set their fences to intentionally "toe out" by a few thousandths for clearance, but an 1/8" of inch is way too much.
I have to agree with Bill that both machines sound as if they are need of some maintenance. The Vibration issue with the Craftsman could be bearings, or something very simple. The blade not lowering all the way below the table may just be an accumulation of wood dust, grease, and time. A deep cleaning may resolve the blade issue.

For your actual question, I'd be inclined to keep the Craftsman personally. I'll take the cabinet for dust collection and the CI table over the Delta design.
If you really like the Delta, swap the fence from the Craftsman to the Delta. Your Delta has a fence issue, and the fence on the Craftsman is a much better fence.

The Craftsman is the better saw. I would tear it apart and rebuild it. The vibration could be a bearing or a belt. I don't understand the 3" of blade scraping the wood comment. The delta need the blade and fence aligned to the miter slot.

I’ve got the Craftsman saw. I don’t work much with lumber over 1 inch so it’s got plenty of power for my needs. It’s been a good saw for over 10 years. The fence is very good. I would fix the Craftsman.

If I hadn’t experienced an unexpected windfall I would still be using that craftsman 22124 today. It was made by Orion (that led to steel city) who made some really nice stuff at that tier back before they were sold. Dad has that saw now and I plan to eventually get it back :-)

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Originally Posted by Cary Falk

The Craftsman is the better saw. I would tear it apart and rebuild it. The vibration could be a bearing or a belt. I don&#39;t understand the 3&quot; of blade scraping the wood comment. The delta need the blade and fence aligned to the miter slot.

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Sorry, I didnt explain the blade rub thing very well. I lower the blade till it is level or flush with the top of the table saw table top. I put a piece of plywood over the slot and manually spin the saw blade. As it turns, there is a high spot where about 3 iniches of the blade rubs the bottom of the wood.

Are parts readily available for the Craftsman? If there is a slight high spot in the blade, would that maybe be an arbor issue? As far as the fence issue with the Delta, I will attach pics of that. The fence was adjusted for these cuts--I had it so that the fence was lined up near perfect with the miter slot. Thanks for everyones input so far. This is really helpful.

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Originally Posted by Scott Adams

Are parts readily available for the Craftsman? If there is a slight high spot in the blade, would that maybe be an arbor issue?

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Part are readily available for most Craftsman items so I would say that probably goes for this saw as well.

Run the blade around so that the high spot is at the top and mark the blade at that point. Then loosen the arbor nut, spin the blade half way around on the arbor, and re-tighten the nut. Now run the blade around and see if there is still a high spot. It the high spot is in the same place on the blade, then the blade is junk. However, if the high spot is 180 degrees from the mark on the blade then that means it is in the same spot on the arbor that it was before you spun the blade. That means you have a runout problem, and most probably a bent arbor.

Parts may not readily available at a reasonable cost. When Orion/Steel City closed up a single firm bought all of the company's parts inventory. I believe they were in Canada. I contacted them to buy an arbor nut for my Craftsman Professional 22124 after Sears Parts told me that they were unavailable. The Canadian firm told me that in order to buy an arbor nut I would have to buy an entire arbor assembly. My saw has performed beautifully over the last ten years and it has held its settings. Good luck!

You're right, some parts that I would end up replacing are not exactly easy web-finds. I looked for the arbor and couldn't find one. This is something else I will have to look at when deciding.

Sounds like the Biesmeyer fence on the Delta is what you're after?