The steel combination blade that comes with this saw is nothing to write home about (no carbide here), but the machine itself is tuned to perform with accuracy. Switching back and forth from 90° square crosscuts to 45° miters using the built-in indexed settings, all of the cuts were consistently true.

Instead of pivoting from the top of the column, all the way at the back, as other saws do, this machine pivots on a turret located about halfway out on the length of the arm. According to the Delta literature, one benefit of this design is that the saw pivots 360°, which probably makes it easier to set up the saw for unusual and steeply angled cuts. I suspect another big benefit is that there’s less stress on the overhead arm because less weight is cantilevered away from the column, which translates into less trouble with the adjustments on the machine.

For safety, a keyed lock is mounted at the top of the arm, near the switch. The mechanical brake took 15 seconds to bring the blade to a full stop.

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