About four years ago I was told to pick up a saw with spun bearings being
dontated to a church sale. After I packed the thing into my Mazda 626 I asked
the guy at church how much he'd tag it for. And it came home with me.

A little while later I bought some bearings, and there sat the saw in my
basement. Every day going down there to watch this thing mocking me. Didn't
have the time, or forgot to do something or other, or didn't have the space,
and time rolled by. Finally ordered a new arbor and started the rebuild last
week. Cleaning, lubing, much beating and pressing of parts. And it all went
back together.

So what am I talking about? It's a 1972 Rockwell/Delta 34-338 Contractor's
Special 10" table saw. Two-knob 24" capacity fence (any official name?), nice
miter guage, one aluminum wing, one stamped steel, 1.5HP TEFC motor, steel
stand, and came with a decent Sears carbide combo blade. 280 pounds of domestic
iron in the form of the best saw short of a cabinet style. Original cost in my
1971 Holiday catalog shown at $364.98.

And what's the gloat? Table saw from church sale: $10, New arbor: $63, New
bearings: $24, New knobs: free from scrap bin, finally having my first 10"
table up and running: Priceless.

Oh yeah, have any opinion of this model, Keeter?

GTO(John)

I have the exact same saw. Bought it from a local contractor cheap some
years ago. It came with original stand,cast extensions and a wonderful 50"
Vega fence. Since buying it, I've given it a tune up, replaced the blade,
new laminated right table extension and added a new link belt. The old 1.5
hp Rockwell motor still runs good. No blade guard came with mine and I'm
not sure if the saw had one originally. In case you didn't know, the two
small holes in the cast iron top near the blade each contain a small set
screw to adjust the 90 deg. and 45 deg. stops for the blade. At first, I
thought the saw would just "get me by" until I found a cabinet saw, but it
has proven to be a winner . It's a solid piece of equipment, as I'm sure
you already know, although if the motor ever goes, I think I'll replace the
1.5hp with a two horse. My only dislikes about the saw is the little
on/off toggle switch and it's location is not the most convenient, but I've
learned to live with it. Happy sawing-dave


"GTO69RA4" wrote in message
...
About four years ago I was told to pick up a saw with spun bearings being
dontated to a church sale. After I packed the thing into my Mazda 626 I
asked
the guy at church how much he'd tag it for. And it came home with me.

A little while later I bought some bearings, and there sat the saw in my
basement. Every day going down there to watch this thing mocking me.
Didn't
have the time, or forgot to do something or other, or didn't have the
space,
and time rolled by. Finally ordered a new arbor and started the rebuild
last
week. Cleaning, lubing, much beating and pressing of parts. And it all
went
back together.

So what am I talking about? It's a 1972 Rockwell/Delta 34-338 Contractor's
Special 10" table saw. Two-knob 24" capacity fence (any official name?),
nice
miter guage, one aluminum wing, one stamped steel, 1.5HP TEFC motor, steel
stand, and came with a decent Sears carbide combo blade. 280 pounds of
domestic
iron in the form of the best saw short of a cabinet style. Original cost
in my
1971 Holiday catalog shown at $364.98.

And what's the gloat? Table saw from church sale: $10, New arbor: $63, New
bearings: $24, New knobs: free from scrap bin, finally having my first 10"
table up and running: Priceless.

Oh yeah, have any opinion of this model, Keeter?

GTO(John)

GTO(John) wrote:
Oh yeah, have any opinion of this model, Keeter?


It's probably twice the saw you'd find today. OK, slight
exaggeration but given the "value injineering" of some
machines lately...

A look see through the 1972 Industrial Catalog does raise a
question or two. At the time they (Rockwell/Delta) show a
Model 34-426 which looks identical to your 34-338. The
difference appears to be maybe the 34-426 has/was available
with solid wings (your saw had al-you-mini-um gridded
wings). The 34-426 had/has "through the table" adjustments
for 45 and 90 blade settings and T-slots for the miter
(mitre David) gage (gauge David). What are the particular
specs for these on the 34-338?

On the up side the 34-338 had a 40" wide (4" wider than a
Unisaw) table.

It's a damn fine saw. And the fence would have been a
Jet-Lock. Pictures to the OWWM Photo Index soon?

UA100

It's probably twice the saw you'd find today. OK, slight
exaggeration but given the "value injineering" of some
machines lately...

A look see through the 1972 Industrial Catalog does raise a
question or two. At the time they (Rockwell/Delta) show a
Model 34-426 which looks identical to your 34-338. The
difference appears to be maybe the 34-426 has/was available
with solid wings (your saw had al-you-mini-um gridded
wings). The 34-426 had/has "through the table" adjustments
for 45 and 90 blade settings and T-slots for the miter
(mitre David) gage (gauge David). What are the particular
specs for these on the 34-338?

On the up side the 34-338 had a 40" wide (4" wider than a
Unisaw) table.

It's a damn fine saw. And the fence would have been a
Jet-Lock. Pictures to the OWWM Photo Index soon?

UA100

The 34-338 has through-the-table stop screws and plain miter square slots. My
catalog doesn't show the 34-426 so I can't comment on that. I'll get the whole
thing PDF'd for OWWM when I get around to it, but here are the two pages that
cover my saw in the '71 Christmas catalog:

members.aol.com/gto69ra4/tools/rock1.jpg

members.aol.com/gto69ra4/tools/rock2.jpg

Interesting note/question: The catalog shows the loaded saw package (minus
motor) as 34-338, just like the tag on my saw says. However, when I called
Delta they said it was a 34-700. The explanation I got was that the latter
number might have been for a package that _included_ the motor, but couldn't be
more specific. I didn't get the blade guard with mine, but the 1970 manual
seems to show it was optional.

Oh yeah, isn't the Jet-Lock a lever-activated fence? Mine is identical to the
one in the catalog.

GTO(John)

I have the exact same saw. Bought it from a local contractor cheap some
years ago. It came with original stand,cast extensions and a wonderful 50"
Vega fence. Since buying it, I've given it a tune up, replaced the blade,
new laminated right table extension and added a new link belt. The old 1.5
hp Rockwell motor still runs good. No blade guard came with mine and I'm
not sure if the saw had one originally. In case you didn't know, the two
small holes in the cast iron top near the blade each contain a small set
screw to adjust the 90 deg. and 45 deg. stops for the blade. At first, I
thought the saw would just "get me by" until I found a cabinet saw, but it
has proven to be a winner . It's a solid piece of equipment, as I'm sure
you already know, although if the motor ever goes, I think I'll replace the
1.5hp with a two horse. My only dislikes about the saw is the little
on/off toggle switch and it's location is not the most convenient, but I've
learned to live with it. Happy sawing-dave

You're right about the toggle switch. Mine took itself out of the picture, so
I'll probably upgrade to a real swtich.

In addition to the stop screws, there's another strange adjustment on this saw.
The lowest blade postion is adjustable, but the highest postion (where the
pulley hits the table) is not.

The "See-Thru" blade guard was apparently included with the original package
(stand, wings, fence, miter square, saw), but was technically optional as far
as I can tell.

GTO(John)

GTO(John):
Oh yeah, isn't the Jet-Lock a lever-activated fence? Mine is identical to the
one in the catalog.


A'yup on the Jet-Lock. Your fence was one that appeared
with and was sold with the 8" and 9" saw. Never heard a
particular name for it though.

UA100