WoodNet Forums: Why The New Unisaw Is A Great Saw

Disclaimer: I do not work at Delta nor am I a paid shill but I have been working with them on the history of the company. Through this relationship I have had a long standing invitation to visit the plant in Jackson, TN. This past week Delta invited the woodworking press (magazines) to take part in the roll out the new Unisaw and I was invited to tag along. The event consisted of Delta telling everyone how great the new Unisaw is (naturally) and a two hour tour of the facilities to see their manufacturing and assembly processes. I have not run the saw myself but from the stand point of power I am assuming that it will cut at least as good as any of the previous “old style” Unisaws.

So, with all of that said…

Why The New Unisaw Is A Great Saw

The Top:
The top measures 30” front to back (an added 3”). The additional depth has been placed forward of the blade which makes cutting larger panels easier on the operator.

The Blade Opening:
I don’t have the actual size but it’s huge. OK, it’s a lot larger than the old opening. There’s plenty of room to get your hand down inside to comfortably remove the arbor nut and blade. Let’s just say you’d have to have gorilla in your family tree for this opening to not be large enough for you.

Arbor Nut:
The arbor nut and washer come as a one piece assembly. Along with the hex cut nut portion there is also a larger knurled section making finger removal easier and helps with holding onto the nut. A second arbor nut is provided for using a full stack (13/16” capacity) dado set.

Arbor:
Just like in the olden days the arbor and flange are made from a single forged casting (the flange isn’t pressed onto the arbor) and machined as one piece thus greatly reducing run out at the flange. Additionally the new arbor has several detents for use with the arbor lock.

Arbor Lock:
The arbor can be locked on the new saw via a push button to the left of the blade (through the table opening). The location of this lock allows your hand to be placed on the table with just your thumb inside the opening to press the locking button.

Blade Wrench:
As silly as it may sound they have improved the blade wrench. It’s still a flat of punched steel but it has a larger and longer handle and is very comfortable to use.

Riving Knife, Anti-Kickback Pawls & Blade Guard:
The new saw has a true riving knife that rises, falls and tilts with the blade. A two position design allows the knife to be placed with the top above the blade (for through cuts) or positioned below the top of the blade (for dados and grooving). Positioning the knife is via a T-handle at the front of the saw. Removal and re-attaching the knife only require pulling the same T-handle on the front of the saw (one step). The anti-kickback pawls clip into the top of the riving knife as does the blade guard. All of this takes seconds to remove or replace and is tool less leaving no reason not to have any or all three in place when the saw is in use. There is also a riving knife available for thin kerf blades.

Dust Collection:
A shroud located just below the blade is connected via a short 4” hose to a 5” dust collection fitting at the back bottom of the cabinet. A 5” to 4” reducer will ship with the saw. Additionally the bottom of the cabinet is sloped to the center and back to the same fitting.

Trunnions:
On the old Unisaw the trunnion assembly consisted of a front and back piece joined by a yoke. With this you have three pieces that have to be machined independently and later assembled. This process can lead to what is called a “stacking error”. In woodworking speak, it’s like making a gang of cabinets with each being off by 1/32” and when you’re done the assembled gang is off by the number of cabinets times their collected errors. With the new saw these three pieces have been redesigned into one cast iron piece. That one piece is CNC (computer numeric control) machined thus eliminating any stacking errors. This piece fits within the cabinet in more or less the same fashion as the old saw with the tilting brackets at the front and back sitting on top of the cabinet.

I will note that the front and rear brackets do not extend from side to side (are not as wide) as with the old saw. I did bring this up to Delta’s engineering manager and he assured me that any additional support is taken up with the cabinet. Interestingly enough these brackets are about the size of those found on the Powermatic 66 and given that I have never found a 66 owner that cites their size as a problem I guess I should settle on that being good enough for me. Still though, being old school, well, you know.

During the early design process these castings were computer modeled and virtually crash tested prior to establishing the final design. In the end they behaved as modeled (they hold up). As an aside, the same computer modeling and virtual crash testing was retro performed on the old trunnion and bracket design and without any prompting this showed the same flaw that some past users have found (cracks and breaks at the ears of the trunnion brackets).

Further proof of the design being a good one was provided by a famous woodworker (name withheld) who received a new saw for field testing. While pulling it into his shop, by himself, he “dropped” it and the saw went crashing onto its side. After righting it and getting it into place he found nothing broken “and” nothing needed re-calibration. I also got to see another field trial saw that had been in a shop fire. That saw, it didn’t fair so good. Maybe some day Delta will find it important enough to fire proof their saws.

Zerk fittings have been fitted to the front and rear trunnions to allow for lubrication. Access to these are through the table opening.

A new casting design at the front of the saw allows for the two hand wheels to be front located. While this doesn’t have as much affect on the mechanism for blade raising the engineering for blade tilting has been completely and dramatically changed. Bevel gears have been added behind the tilting hand wheel which in turn connect to a shaft with a sliding mechanism that does the actual blade tilting. These parts are fully enclosed to keep out dust and have been heat treated using the Melonite (molten salt bath) process which hardens the parts and leaves a finish that is self lubricating.

I don’t have weights for the parts that make up the inside (business end) of the saw but I’m guesstimating them to be an easy fifty pounds heavier than the old saw. In other words, the old argument that the Powermatic 66 and General 350 had more cast iron no longer carries “any weight”.

Blade Tilt:
All saws will be left tilting. There will be no right tilting model.

Table Alignment:
In my humble opinion, this little tweak is brilliant. One of the engineers at Delta added a vertical pin to the rear trunnion bracket that fits into a hole machined into the underside of the table. To align the table you loosen all the table screws, pivot the table until aligned and tighten the screws. With this datum point to work to realigning the table is just that much easier. This little factoid might make the difference with people who want to take the saw into a basement shop, i.e., lesser sphincter puckering over removing the top.

Blade Tilt Stops:
Eccentric shafts inside the cabinet allow the setting of the 0 and 45 degree stops. Access to these setting points are at the front of the cabinet (just above the hand wheels). To make the settings a jam nut is released and an Allen wrench is used to rotate the shafts. Once set the jamb nuts are re-tightened.

Bevel Gage:
The bevel gage on the new saw is huge and based on Delta’s claim accurate to 1/4 degree. With the spacing between the graduations I have a hard time doubting this claim. Provisions for zeroing out the gage are provided and the gage is covered to keep out dust. This is definitely an upgrade from the old saw.

Side Extension (Biesemeyer) Table:
Delta has dropped the wood framing underneath the extension table and replaced it with a 14 ga. steel constructed assembly. Also, the extension table legs have been made larger in section. This is all topped with laminate covered sheet stock and provides a very strong and stable work surface.

Saw Cabinet and Plinth Base:
The saw cabinet has been totally redesigned and a cast iron plinth added. Special fixturing is used for spot welding the cabinet components together to maintain consistency from saw to saw. Both the cabinet and plinth are powder coated which will lead to their staying shiney new longer. Given the number of shops in garages with damp floors this will prove itself out in the long run. Cast in tabs at the plinth allow for permanent fixing of the saw to the floor.

Storage:
Brackets on the saw and side extension table legs are provided for the miter gage and fence. A drawer beneath the side extension table is fitted for five blades, push stick (supplied), throat plate, blade guard, blade wrench and spare arbor nut. Additional drawer units can be purchased that can be attached to the underside of this drawer. From the looks of the space allowed and drawer size I’m assuming three drawers total will fit underneath the top.

Blade Below The Table:
The blade retracts a full 5/8” below the table meaning, when you go to make a zero clearance insert you don’t have to monkey around with any of the old stand bys like starting the slot with a smaller blade, jigging up a fixture or dropping an insert down onto a blade running at full power and wondering if you’ll take it to the gut.

Biesemeyer Fence:
After bringing the manufacturing of the Biesemeyer to Jackson Delta has tweaked the fabrication process by incorporating a CNC panel saw to bust down sheet stock and a Biese point-to-point machine for shaping and drilling the fence faces. In Mesa these operations were done with standard table saws and drill presses. Granted this is more of a time saver for Delta but it does help keep costs in line. One tremendous innovation Delta Jackson is responsible for is the milling of the wood fence faces. After these are attached the fence tube is clamped into a fixture and in a single set up both sides are face jointed in what is essentially a pair of shapers with their cutters set apart just slightly the distance from one face to the other. The end result is even if the steel tube is bowed the wood faces, now parallel to each other, would compensate for that bow.

There are additional changes to the Biesemeyer being shipped with the new Unisaw. The first is the locking lever. A rare earth magnet replaces the old style magnet and the locking lever itself has been re-worked to lock in a cam over position which leaves the lever in a down vertical position where it becomes less of a target for panel products, your hip and shop carts. Other changes have to do with rip capacity. The smaller fence system has been expanded from 30” to 36” making this system more cabinet shop friendly (upper cabinet sides are 36”). They expanded the old 50” system to 52” by simply adding a longer scale (same rail tube as before/no kidding/go measure your fence and see). A second hair line pointer and 13 1/2" scale have been added to the left side of the saw fence. And finally, the color of this fence is matte black which in my humble opinion is very sharp, especially matched up with the black table board extension.

Miter Gage:
While Delta had the most copied miter gage on the market it never was a great gage. With the new Unisaw they are shipping something better with detents milled around the perimeter that accept a plunger at the most commonly used settings.

Motor Controls:
All saws are fitted with a magnetic motor starters. These have been designed with a smaller recessed On button and larger mushroom style Off button that can be operated straight on as well as at an angle. Positioning allows for a “Rockette” style knee bump to stop the saw, or you can use your hip.

Shipping Pallet:
Saws are shipped on a larger pallet than used in the past which should cut down on tipping.

Made In the USA:
Stated in large letters on the front of each saw is a placard that proclaims, “Made In The USA of US and Foreign Components”. Castings for the saw and their machining are all done in Wisconsin. Delta has gone back to Marathon (Missouri) for the saw motors. Cabinets and Biesemeyer fences are manufactured at the Jackson plant. That leaves the blow molded motor cover, the switch and fasteners that haven’t been accounted for. I’m not saying any of these are foreign made, just that their suppliers were not disclosed.

Model Numbers:
As of now there are three models all with single phase motors. Three phase motors will be added to the line at a later date. The models being rolled out now are:

No. 36-L336 3HP Marathon Motor with 36” Biesemeyer Fence System

No. 36-L352 3HP Marathon Motor with 52” Biesemeyer Fence System

No. 36-L552 5HP Marathon Motor with 52” Biesemeyer Fence System

Price:
The street price has been set at $2999.95. I’m sure an argument will be made that one could buy two saws for this amount but that would be like comparing a half ton pickup with a one ton pickup, i.e., list the features provided and see what other saw on the market matches those before using price as an argument.

When Can You Buy It:
Plans are to have the first models ready for sale in late March 2009.

Putting some of this into perspective, it may seem that things like a better blade wrench, a pin beneath the table to aid in alignment and multiple locking detents on the arbor are silly little things but when you add up everything this saw offers it shows that Delta has really put a lot of effort into every aspect of the new saw design. It seems for once, at least to me, that they’ve asked the questions and not only listened to the answers but gone the extra step of implementing those great ideas.

In closing, Delta set the standard for 10” tilting arbor saws when it released the first Unisaw in 1939. With this new saw it’s just like 1939 all over again.

Unisaw A-100

Edited by Unisaw A100 (01/11/09 06:18 AM)