New delta 36-725 13 amp contractor table saw

Unpacking my new toy now. This should help clear up the riving knife questions on this saw.

Pulled the trigger yesterday and bought the Delta 36-725, with my military discount, out the door $548.00 (including sales tax). That was lower than the advertised price of $569.00 (sales tax NOT included). Took about 3 hours to put together and check all the alignments. Every thing was as it should be right out of the box. The split rail is not a problem and lined up perfectly without an bump moving the fence across it. The split is lined up pretty close to the saw blade and shouldn't be a problem. The fence tape measure is right on when measuring with a tape to the blade. The fence alignment went smoothly and was fairly straight forward and easy. I haven't done the 90° & 45° positive bevel stops yet, but that's not critical as I normally check this with a square or triangle anyway. The only non-positive I found is the throat plate is not held down by anything except part that slides between the table and the throat plate. It has 5 leveling screws. I plan on making some ZC inserts anyway. one of the changes I made was to put the third wheel lift on the left side instead of the right. It does make it a lot easier to get to. It was late and I was hungry when I finished so I haven't tried a cut on it yet. I plan to make some measured cuts today. So far it does look to be a good saw, at least for what I need and beats the hell out of my old Craftsman 315 model. I'm sure I've left something out, so I'll try to make a list for the next post.

Congrats on your purchase. I also just picked mine up last night. I tried to use a HF 20% off coupon, but was turned down, as I pretty much expected to be. Can't hurt to ask I guess. I brought along a buddy who has a contractor account at Lowe's and was able to get his discount of 5% with that.

I got everything unpacked and the saw on the base last night. Also attached the side tables. Tonight I'll get the rails and fence installed and get everything aligned. I'm VERY impressed so far with the quality and heft of everything that was in the box. This saw is replacing a Craftsman I got from my dad when he had to give it up. That's a 137 series model and it looks like a dangerous little toy next to this sturdy machine. I'll have to take some comparison pics.

Only negative so far for me was a small loose flat head screw that tumbled out when the saw was turned upright out of the box and packing foam. I spent probably half an hour trying to find a hole it may have come out of and found nothing. That's a bit unsettling to me. I can only hope it was either inadvertently dropped into the box or is not a critical piece. I think I'll stand back when I turn on the saw for the first time...

It's gonna be a long day at work, waiting to get back home to get the assembly finished and make that first cut.

Couple pics I took while unpacking if anyone is interested in trunnion mount setup...

Got her all set and aligned as best I know how last night. This was my first saw assembly. Over two nights it took a little over 5 hours. That's about an hour longer than it would have taken, but I had an issue with what I can only assume was a poorly cut front rail. This was one of the two steel L braces to which the fence tube attaches. I stared at this thing for the longest time, knowing I had it right, but there is a small bracket that joins the two pieces and it just didn't line up. I ended up grinding off about 2 millimeters on the end of the shorter rail and everything then fit perfectly. I also spent probably way too long getting the side tables perfectly aligned, but I know I won't regret taking the time.

I've seen worse instructions, but this book definitely has room for improvement. Things could have been more clear, especially with information about which screws to use where, but counting them up and a little trial and error made those decisions pretty obvious.

I did the assembly alone with the exception of getting the wife to help heave the thing upright out of the packaging after attaching the base. Alignment of the rails would have certainly gone faster with a buddy.

I checked the alignment of the blade to the miter slots and, as far as I can tell, it looks good. What are you guys using to get more accurate measurements? Digital calipers? Best I can do is eyeball it on a good metal rule marked in 32nds. Using that at the front and rear of the blade, it looks to be perfect to my eye.

Turned it on and it purrs. Love it so far. Hope to get to some cutting tonight. I have plenty of projects queued up.