Hello all,

My 14 inch Delta bandsaw arrived yesterday, and I think it will work out
nicely. I still have some reservations about buying it over the Rigid,
but not enough to jump through the additional hoops or to inconvenience
friends over it. I have to choose between fixing up a distressed older
Ford Ranger, or buying a distressed older full size truck and fixing
that up. I'm too cheap to buy a new one

As is typical, the instructions with the saw were less than perfect. My
favorite part is that they say to install the guards with the stand
assembly, then mount the saw (which would be greatly complicated by the
presense of the guards), then remove the guards to install the belt.

It is slightly annoying that the open stand model does not have step
pulleys. Do any of you have experience changing the pulleys? At least
in theory, that and a couple of small tweaks to the upper guard would
allow easy speed changes.

The tilting table is nice, but it is a little weak on locking at
horizontal. It would be difficult to make a fair comparison to the
Rigid based on a floor model, especially one where the table is not
installed properly. My "loyalty" to Rigid is based on their table saw,
which is great.

After some test cuts with wood, I threw the acrylic slab on some roller
stands and roughed the next part - almost. The blade did not track
terribly well, but backing out and retrying with some more tension did
the job; it's time to read the Bandsaw Book. As I had hoped (and
remembered), the chips cleared the cut and there was no problem with
melting. The only irritation was that after removing the paper backing,
I found cracks near the surface. I think that was shipping damage (it
was on the outer edge). I am hesitant to cut a replacement because it
would go on the mill in no time, and that's work that should wait until
next week. It would also be a lot more fun than today's agenda:
assembling shelves and generally moving junk around the house to make
room for more junk

Happy New Year!

Bill