If you have been following my hunt for a new DP with more capacity and
convenience features you may also know that I decided and got a decent deal
on the Delta 17-959L. My son and I went down to Rockler Saturday morning
and picked it up, in the box, and a also got a universal mobile base.
Getting home with the prize I immediately began putting together the mobile
base, this is the 3rd of this type base I have in the shop. If I were a
beginner woodworker I may have given up on wood working right then. It was
not the base, it was me. You know when you read on the wrong side of the
inch marker.... you want 20.5" and end up cutting 19.5". Both are exactly
..5" on either side of the 20" marker. Any way after a few hours the base
was finished and worked fine. Next I put a piece of plywood appropriately
larger than the DP base and bolted it to the mobile base, then the DP base
was bolted to the ply wood base. Then I could begin assembling the DP.
The column was next bolted to the DP base and the table attached to the
column mount. Then came the struggle of getting the heavy DP head to the
top of the column. Actually next came getting the heavy DP head out of the
box. My 21 year old son and I looked like a clown act trying to get the
thing out of the box. Of course the box lid folds open but each side of the
lid is wider than the box side so the lid effectively makes the width of the
box even wider and the target even farther away. We both stumbled a couple
of times tripping and smashing the box as we carried our catch away. We
put the head on a work bench and waited until all of the huffing and puffing
subsided to ponder lifting this thing from the work bench to above eye level
AND negotiate the union of the column into the mounting hole. My wife would
be needed, she being a quilter has the talent to thread a needle, surely she
can guide us in placing the head on to the column. We both squat under the
head teetering on the edge of the bench and slowly stand up with the bottom
ends of the head setting on the palms of out hands and then proceed to the
DP column. Now we need to push up from about shoulder level to above "my"
eye level and gently lower the head on to the column. With my wife's
guidance we managed to lift the head above the column and set it on the
column but not quite in the right spot, but it did give us a chance to do
some more much needed huffing and puffing as it sat delicately balanced on
the top of the column. We gathered more courage, lifted, wiggled, grunted,
and delicately let the head SLAM in place on the column. Now I am sure
that the head probably did not weigh much over 150 lbs but there are really
no decent places to grab that do not have sharp edges or pointed bolts
sticking out so the comfort factor was reeeeeel low and as you well know if
the comfort factor is reeeel low things change. Couple that with the wind
chill factor and you get a head that feels like it weighs 300 lbs.
OK I have had the DP for a whole 5 days and so far it works GREAT!.
LOL, We'll see if it holds up 30 years like the DP it is replacing. Fit
and finish, every thing fits fine. All bolts threaded properly in all
threaded holes, and all components fit as wanted, not necessarily expected,
but that is a good thing. Finish, probably the worse surface finish of any
one piece of my equipment, although it looks good the non milled surfaces
feel like 40 grit sand paper. All of these surfaces have a black paint
finish. The surfaces feel like they have been covered with black wrinkle
paint. An up close look reveals regular paint on a rough surface. Machined
surfaces however are very good and those surfaces work together smoothly.
In particular the forward tilt table tilts forward very smoothly and stays
where you put it before tightening the 2 trunions in place. The laser, not
an item that I would have paid extra for, provides a thin narrow line on one
side and a line about 4 times wider on the other side. I am not quite sure
how or if this can be corrected. As it is the lines cross at the target to
within about 1/16" accuracy. If both light lines were thin the accuracy
would probably be closer to 1/64". With 16 speeds I have a much wider
choice of speeds and a lower range of speeds than with my older DP. The
Speed/Pulley chart that Delta puts inside the belt cover is terrible. It
indicates the belt positions starting with the belts at the top of the
pulley and the next belt one pulley down, this progresses one pulley at a
time until all belts are at the lowest points on the pulleys. While this
may seem OK it does not indicate chuck speed increase or decrease in any
particular order. So if you want to go from 215 RPM to say 540 rpm you have
to look are every pulley drawing configuration to find that speed and there
actually may not be a 540 RPM speed. To solve this I used Sketchup to
redraw all the pulley configurations except that they are in progressive RPM
order. This way you know which speed is actually next by looking at the
next speed as opposed to hunting for the next higher speed on all of the
other drawings. If any one is interested I can send you a copy of this
drawing in PDF or Sketchup format and you can change the rpm's to reflect
the ones on your particular DP. The ON/OFF switch is still the spring
loaded push button desigh that pretends to look like a magnetic switch. If
the DP is unplugged you cannot tell if the switch is off or on and plugging
it back in may indeed turn the DP back on unexpectedly. My Jet lathe and
Delta stationary planer use similar style switches and also require you to
manually insure that the switch is in the off position before plugging it
in. The Delta DP switch is improved however as you can push the switch at
any place and it will perform the expected function. The other mentioned
switches require an "in the middle straight in push" to operate. I have
transferred my new DP table and fence from my old DP and am eagerly awaiting
the opportunity to drill some holes.

Any one in the Houston area interested in a Rockwell radial DP?