Can table saw wobble be corrected?

[Scott W]

Here is my new saw. Delta contractor's circa 2001 I believe. Has the remnants of a mystery fence rails....no clue what kind. I picked up a shop fox fence.tonight in hopes it will work for this saw. Any tips on fence rail mounting would be appreciated...i need to watch whatever YouTube has to offer for sure. Never did this before...It came with the mobile base too. I have $200 in all of it.

[Steve N]

Just hold the fence up to the saw and see if the holes line up, if they do, which I will almost guarantee you'll have a nice saw there. I have one of those in the garage with cast tables. It will do anything a cabinet saw will do, you just need to feed stock a little slower with a 1 1/2HP motor, but it will be infinitely more powerful than your direct drive saw. The fence is either a Beisemeyer, or a clone of the Beis style, looks like it's badged Shop Fox.

Trying to figure out the purpose of the mobile base? That saw has a built in mobile base, maybe not the worlds best, but certainly functional. You could Cl the base, and still be mobile. 200 bux is a great deal, especially with a Beis fence.

Sandor touches most all of the bases in showing you how to set up a contractor saw

I'd bet there will be you tubes on "putting on a Beisemeyer fence" and on the page where Sandors link is, there are several others. Go slow, get familiar, set it up correctly, then find a guard for the darn thing, unless you are hiding it. Shark guard rules the aftermarket on those, and Lee Styron the owner is a heck of a good guy, he's a member here too, wanna say "Skytooner"

Shark guard website

Good luck, let us know if you have more questions.

A question??? We had a guy who used to come here with your first name, and last initial. You don't by chance sharpen blades do you?

[Scott W]

No. Not me.  I took my blades to Charlotte Saw.  
Regarding the saw, it's a right tilt....some hate that but I don't know why. There was no guard....i will certainly check that site out you linked...thanks. The fence is a Shop Fox Classic. I don't know what went on it originally. The guy said the movers lost the fence so I got the fence from a separate seller.  Today I will try and put the rails on and add some dust collection enclosure. The saw is much bigger then i wanted but it was cheap enough I figured I had to try and make it work. It has a good place for a router table. I already have a new blade for it from the little saw....silver lining.

[museumguy]

Nice saw. You'll be very happy with it. The fence installation should be piece of cake, lot's of info out there. The important thing is, take your time, precision here will save a lot of headaches later. I agree, take the mobile base off, see if the built in base works and if it does, sell the mobile one. If you do sell the mobile base, take the cash and buy some blades. Get an assortment for doing specific tasks. I would suggest a glue line rip blade, a nice 40 or 50 tooth general purpose blade and maybe an 80 tooth crosscut blade for plywood. Also, make several zero clearance inserts. Once you start making them, it's easy to whip out 10 or so and have them handy for specific blades, especially if you get a dado set. Of course, others will have different suggestions, that's just that way we are around here,


Of course, I have a blade obsession

   

[TDKPE]

Not bad at all.  If it's the original motor, it's 2 hp (derated to 1-1/2 hp at 120V for the UL listing, but it's 2 hp).  Nice mobile base, too.  I think you did real good.

[museumguy]

ok, after looking at the pictures, could the original base be put on incorrectly? It looks as though you need to activate the lift mechanism under the right side of the saw, under the table. Maybe that's why the additional mobile base. My Ridgid saw has the lift mechanism in the front. Is it possible to rotate the original mobile base so the lift is in the front?

[Steve N]

This is the owners manual for the saw in all of it's appointment levels. They differed in fences, there were 3 choices, A really cheap almost Craftsman style fence, a T2, which is what mine has, and a Beis fence. Also the table wings, which were best if both were cast, both were aluminum with a series of bumps across them, and both were basically tin foil, which were very lightweight. When I looked at OP's pics I could see a cast top, I couldn't make out the other side, but it almost looked like it was particle board. Later OP mentioned the "router table" so his may be jury rigged, or maybe they offered a router table option I was not aware of.

Note in the manual that is online at Mike's doesn't show a mobile base in any pics. They also added a 3 point base. 2 straight wheels, and opposing that a lift pedal with a single roller wheel. Much easier to pull the saw from the roller wheel side, that to try to push from either side. Step off the pedal, and it locks the roller down, setting it rather firmly in place. See pic below, sorry all that is online is a little one, no detail.....

First is the older style which I and OP have



Newer style, difference is the new has wheels outside of the frame, old they were inside, and really not visible unless you really got down there to look for them.




Link for new one at Amazooo

Seems what used to be an option is now included. Again not sure if soft material router wing was an option I wasn't aware of, or if it is just a modification a former owner made, but apparently they added the second mobile base to support the router table. If the saw has the heavier T2, or Beis rails the RT could easily be suspended from them, making the additional mobile base unnecessary. Makes me wonder if the original saw didn't have the cheap saw fence, rail set, and someone "lost them" in favor of a RT attached? Of course me playing mine has this, and yours has that against a company like Delta, who wanted to market a saw to every need, want, or income level, may just be me being crazy
 
 

[Scott W]

Swapping the fence does intimidate me a bit but a saw a good YouTube video last night and I downloaded the instructions as well...if my back feels better in a little while i will attempt it.  If not I may go to Woodcraft for some BB ply and make a few inserts. 

This is the first manufactured mibile base I have ever had. Why do y'all not like it?  I do like it's rolling capabilities.

[Scott W]

Museumguy it's ironic b/c I had that same ridgid saw but sold it b/c it was too big ( I had the Ridgid jobsite but I thought I had to have a cast iron top so I sold it..) Paid $260 but sold for $360. Then i got the dewalt jobsite and never even  opened it as I changed my mind. Then i got the little B&D in hopes I could have the perfect combination of cast iron and really small and as this thread indicates, that saw didn't work out....then only to get this saw which is bigger then the Ridgid. 

I ain't doing this again....i shoukd have just kept what I had originally which was the Ridgid jobsite.....but this Delta itself was $100 and the fence was another $100. So I figure the price was right and I have gotten some stuff out of my garage so the size isnt as much of a burden as the Ridgid 3650 was at the time.

Whew.....

[museumguy]

Museumguy it's ironic b/c I had that same ridgid saw but sold it b/c it was too big ( I had the Ridgid jobsite but I thought I had to have a cast iron top so I sold it..) Paid $260 but sold for $360. Then i got the dewalt jobsite and never even  opened it as I changed my mind. Then i got the little B&D in hopes I could have the perfect combination of cast iron and really small and as this thread indicates, that saw didn't work out....then only to get this saw which is bigger then the Ridgid. 

I ain't doing this again....i shoukd have just kept what I had originally which was the Ridgid jobsite.....but this Delta itself was $100 and the fence was another $100. So I figure the price was right and I have gotten some stuff out of my garage so the size isnt as much of a burden as the Ridgid 3650 was at the time.

Whew.....

I have the Ridgid 3660, a contractor saw, not a jobsite saw. No way you'd want to lug this thing around, it's basically the same as the Delta you now own. You did right in buying the delta, I was just throwing and idea out about the base being rotated. I use my mobile base all of the time. My saw has probably covered every inch of my shop, depending on how much junk, err stuff is in there. Also, depends on if I'm doing crosscuts or long rips.

The Ridgid jobsite saws are junk in my opinion. I had one because it was on clearance for $100. Worst money ever spent. I sold it for profit, sucker born every minute.