Well; I sold my old c-saw a few months ago and began some serious comparison shopping for a new table saw. After a short study, I knew I wanted to buy a saw I'd be happy with for a long time.
Decision Requirements:
Riving Knife
> 1.5 HP
> 30 inch cut
> left tilt
I shopped Craigslist for months, looked at some good looking Deltas and came across an article about the New line from steel city. STopped by Wiood craft, and fell in love with the saw and the fact that they had a riving knife version available for < 2000 made it the winner. Then I found out that they weren't shipping! But only 4 short monhts :( later, they finally came in.
http://www.steelcitytoolworks.com/products_tools.cfm?section=2&category=12&tool=35905
I bought the 35911 - 3HP 50 Inch table, but it doesn't exist on the website, so the above 905 is all you get.
http://www.steelcitytoolworks.com/products_tools.cfm?section=2&category=12&tool=35911
Can your saw do this?
Mobile base?
1. Don't buy a base & extension holder from Delta for the Unisaw, it won't fit, and I shouldn't have trusted the Woodcraft employee that said it would, but for 92.00 I thought i'd try. (should have just read the dimensions, but they weren't printed clearly anywhere)
2. I DO NOT recommend buying the Jet Universal mobile base and extension holder either. Actually, if you prefer to have a wobbly piece of junk, go ahead and buy away: ~$150 on Amazon.com The dimensions are too small and I had to cut them down something crayz (4 " on one side and 2" on the other.) It was a pain, and frankly I'm 99% disapointed with the mobile base. Has a 1200 capacity, but the wheel brakes would have dificult holding 9 pounds. (My saw is quite mobile when it should be stationary. Off to find some rubber chunks to "level and brake" it now.
3. What is the right base? Heck if I know!
Flaws identified so far
Flaw #1 - Extension wing holes don't align
The extension wing has holes that don't line up with the holes in the industrial type II fence. BAH! I guess I should check with customer support at Steel City and see what we can do about it. I'm not worried about it holding up, but the thing is off by a large margin; ~1/4 inch, and I'm guessing there is good reason to have this stability over time! Otherwise they wouldn't have put them in, right?
Flaw #2 - Insert doesn't sit flush
The Insert on the tablesaw doesn't fit flush and every skinny board I run through catches. Nothing like buying a riving knife to reduce kickback and then have the board catch.
It looks like there might be an adjustment piece of aluminum, but its not obvious, so we'll see.
