Delta rolls out an array of products

Delta Machinery recently introduced a "family of products" designed to boost productivity at a variety of shop stations. The list includes an 18" laser drill press, 13" portable thickness planer, low-voltage control Unisaw, 20" variable-speed scroll saw, 1-1/2-hp dust collector and four melamine saw blades.

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Product manager Bill Harman says launching all of the products in a single window of time in June was more practical than releasing them separately - the vast range gives users a better overall idea of their options to improve shop efficiency.

The highlighted feature on the drill press, model 18-900L, is a patent-pending auto-tensioning belt drive system.

In shadowing users out in the field, Harman says he observed woodworkers wanting to adjust the speed of their drill press, but many were using manual belt-tensioning methods that were inefficient, leading to belt slippage and inaccurate power transfer. Others were not changing their belts at all and the remainder would plunge slower or faster to alter the speed.

"With a drill press, you're trying to obtain precision, so getting the bit speed right is a good portion of what you're trying to do. We thought it would be nice to make it easier to change the belt and make sure that the power transfer was optimized each and every time the bit got plunged into the material," says Harman.

Other features include a full 6" quill stroke, an oversized table that has a forward and side-to-side tilt, micro-adjustable depth stops and an independent depth scale. A fully adjustable laser projects a bright red crosshair on the work surface that can be easily fine-tuned and indicates a center point of the bit regardless of table position or thickness of material. The drill press sells for $829.

The planer, model 22-590, features a patent-pending Infinite Micro-Adjust depth stop for selecting and locking any depth dimension from 1/4" to 11/4", a newly designed three-knife cutterhead, and extended infeed and outfeed tables with a material capacity area of 6" high x 13" wide. A full-width material removal gauge allows woodworkers to take advantage of the entire width of the knives. The planer sells for $529.

"When we spoke with users, we learned the one thing they really want is good surface finish from their planer. A lot of times, the finish along the face of the board is OK, but the snipe is what they say is unacceptable. This is damage caused by the cutterhead that happens at the front or back end of the board. The cutterhead lock on this new planer, coupled with the extended infeed and outfeed tables which support the material, all help to prevent this snipe," says Harman.

The low-voltage control Unisaw, model 36-552LVC, offers the durability and power of a three-phase Baldor motor with low voltage (24 volts) at the switch.

"A lot of schools and industrial shops will use this type of LVC unit. Basically, it gives you a lower current at the switch box," says Harman.

Otherwise, the saw is identical to the redesigned Unisaw launched in 2009 that has a one-piece cast-iron trunnion design, a bevel gauge centered between dual front cranks, a rise-and-fall two-position riving knife, a modular tool-free guarding system and a fully integrated dust collection system. The LVC Unisaw sells for $3,799.

The scroll saw, model 40-690, features a dual parallel-link arm design that keeps the blade perpendicular to the table, reducing vibration and noise for exceptional accuracy, according to Delta. The blade speed can be manually adjusted from 400 to 1,750 strokes per minute. The scroll saw sells for $599.

"A variable speed saw enables you to work with a wider range of materials. This allows you to cut the full spectrum of woods, as well as other types of materials such as Plexiglas or lightweight non-ferrous metals," says Harman.

Delta has expanded its 1-1/2-hp dust collector line with model 50-786, which has a canister. It sells for $429.

The melamine saw blades are available in four sizes - 10", 12", 220mm and 300mm - and sell for $85 to $120.

Contact: Delta Machinery. Tel: 800-223-7278. www.deltaportercable.com

This article originally appeared in the September 2010 issue.