[Al USAF]

Delta 36-725

Hi everyone. New guy here. After reading all reviews about this new table saw from this forum and other sites, I decided to buy this as my first table saw. What made my decision were first, the closest HD that carries the Ridgid R4512, the other TS I was interested in, was about 1.5 hours away. Second, even though the Delta cost a little bit more than the Ridgid, I would've spent the difference in gas driving to HD since I drive a Hemi Durango. Third, Harbor Freight is currently having a President's Day sale this weekend offering 20% off for an entire purchase if you spend $100 or more. Since I've read online about using HF coupons at either HD or Lowes with some success, I thought I'd give it a shot. I stopped by Lowes yesterday, Friday, afternoon to inquire about using the coupon. I was told only the manager can give me an answer, but he'd already left for the day and was told to come back the next day. So I returned this morning looking for the manager and was told he was off for the day. But I went ahead and ask the guy if Lowes would accept percent off discount from HF. Before I even finished my question, he had already said no problem. In my inner voice, I was like hell yeah! He just told the cashier to give me 20% off for the saw, didn't even have to show the coupon I had on my phone. After he did the price override and left, I showed the cashier my military ID and I received an additional 10% off. My inner voice did another, he'll yeah!

I will assemble the saw tonight and I'm going to post my assembly/setup review of this saw.

 

[Al USAF]

Delta 36-725 review

Alright fellows, I finished assembling the 36-725 thihaven't morning and it took me about 6 hours total. Don't laugh, it's my first table saw and I'm very meticulous. The part of the assembly that took a while for me were installing and aligning the front/rear guide rail assembly. As you all probably know, it's a split rail. If it was not, it would be a lot easier to install. In addition, when I was aligning the fence, I had to realign/adjust the left portion of the guide rail because when I moved the fence left of the saw blade or when the fence was on the split, the fence was not parallel to the miter slot. But after 30 minutes of adjusting, I was able to get the fence parallel to either miter slots and throughout the entire rail.

Ok, about the saw blade alignment. When I checked if there was a discrepancy between different blade heights, there was none. But when I checked the blade alignment from front to back, the front was approximately less than a 64th of an inch further from the left miter slot than the back. I'm not even going to try to adjust the trunnion to align the blade further because for me, I think it's good enough. Again this is my first table saw, so I'm not a pro at this yet.

Other than the one blade alignment issue, everything else checked out good. I did replaced the stock blade with a Diablo 50T combination. The only bad thing about doing this was I can't use the riving knife because it's thicker than the Diablo blade...thus will not be able to use the anti-kickback and blade guard because both attaches to the riving knife. I'm going to buy another blade so I can utilize all the safety stuff.

I've read a lot of comments about this saw being about 50 lbs or so lighter than the Ri dgid R4512 and may not be a stable saw, well it is. I don't have a perfectly leveled garage floor but the adjustable feet levels the saw. I haven't tried to rip a full sheet of 3/4 inch MDF so I can't tell you if this saw will be stable enough but I did do the push test and the saw did not budge. Rollers worked as advertised. The other thing I liked about this saw is how quiet it is. It just hummms.

I tested the saw by cutting half inch Birch plywood for my zero clearance inserts since there are currently no zci available for this saw. No issues cutting plywood. After I'm done fabricating my zci, I'll start making my crosscut sled, push sticks, etc.

Overall, I'm very happy and impressed.

 

[Al USAF]

As I stated, I measured the blade deviation from the left miter slot. So when using the saw with the fence on the right of the saw, the front of the saw in relation to the fence when measured, will be narrower compared to the back of the blade. Please correct me if I'm wrong, if it was the otherway around, the back of the blade is closer to the fence (pinching the stock when fed through) would potentially or will cause a kickback.

I will re-measure again and I'll buy a dial indicator for a more precise and easier measurement.

 

[Al USAF]

Update on my Delta 36-725

So far so good. I've made a few cuts already and all were dead square. Since there are no available zero clearance insert for this saw, I made one out of 1/2 Birch plywood...see pic. The insert measures 15 5/8 X 3 3/4. I had to route the bottom of the insert to make room for the arbor flange and the posts for the adjustment screws. I also routed a rabbet around the bottom edge for the lip. I'll be making a sled and french cleats tomorrow as my next project. Overall, I'm very happy with the saw. It's quite, cuts smooth and has a bad ass fence (stays square). Maybe in the future, I'll upgrade the rails to a single piece. But for now, everything looks good. Please don't base your review after testing the saw from a store. The ones from the store are not assembled and aligned properly.