Delta has not been very active these past few years, after being sold by Stanley Black & Decker. Last year they came out with new value-priced table saws. The first one was launched just ahead of Black Friday, and the other a little later.
That makes their newest release a little surprising, but it’s definitely good to see them busy designing new tools.
Delta has come out with 2 new sliding miter saws, both sharing “Cruzer” branding. Delta Cruzer miter saws are unlike any other sliding miter saws I’ve seen, save for the Bosch Axial Glide miter saws.
Actually the Delta Cruzer miter saws look to slide in a very similar way to the Bosch Axial Glide mechanism.
Delta’s marketing says that the Cruzer miter saws have robot arms made from military-grade aluminum. That seems a little over the top, but how else might one describe the mechanism? They do kind of look like robot arms. Well, industrial robot arms. Maybe.
There are 2 new Delta Cruzer sliding miter saws – a 10″ model (26-2240), and another with a 12″ blade (26-2250).
Bosch Axial Glide miter saw arms are positioned in a 90 degree angle to each other, with one horizontal and the other vertical. The Delta Cruzer miter saws’ “robot arms” also look to be positioned with a 90° offset, but are angled symmetrically at around 45° off vertical.
Delta claims that the Cruzer’s robot arms offer unsurpassed accuracy, smoothness, and durability.
Delta also says that the Cruzer miter saws have control features that make them the fastest dual-bevel miter saws available.
There’s a new flip-down fence design that Delta says gives the 12″ Cruzer the widest cross-cutting capacity in its class – 17.5″. Its miter range is 60° right and 50° left.
The 10″ saw, shown just above and below (the first 3 images are of the 12″ saw), has a proprietary 15A motor with belt drive that’s designed for max power and cooling. It has a soft start and easy to use trigger.
With a similar flip-down fence, the 10″ Cruzer can cut boards up to 15.5″ wide. Delta says this model also has the widest cross-cutting capacity in its class.
You will need to attach 2″ thick auxiliary support boards if/when you need to take advantage of the saws’ maximum cutting width. The 10″ saw needs a 2″ x 12″ auxiliary table board, and the 12″ saw needs a 2″ x 14″ board. (As per the user manuals.)
Additional features include slide tension adjustments for “personalized slide action,” a molded handle and trigger that’s righty and lefty-friendly, adjustable cutting depth, clear blade guard, 1.5″ dust port, included dust bag, one-handed front miter controls with push-button miter detent override, and front bevel release for quick movements.
Specifications
| 10″ Cruzer | 12″ Cruzer | |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting Capacity at 90° | 1.5″ x 15.25″ | 1.5″ x 17.25″ |
| Max Cut Capacity | 5.5″ | 6.5″ |
| Max Lumber Capacity | 3.5″ x 11.25″ | 3.5″ x 13.25″ |
| Max Baseboard at Vertical | 5.5″ | 6.5″ |
| Crown Molding (Nested) | 6.25″ | 7.5″ |
| Miter Range | 50° L, 60° R | 50° L, 60° R |
| Bevel Range | 45° L, 45° R | 47° L, 47° R |
| Speed | 4000 RPM | 4000 RPM |
| Weight | 55 lbs | 57 lbs |
Pricing: $599 for the 10″, $649 for the 12″
Buy Now(10″ Cruzer via Amazon)
Buy Now(12″ Cruzer via Amazon)
Compare(Dewalt DWS780 via Amazon)
Compare(Bosch Axial Glide Miter Saws via Amazon)
Promo Video:
First Thoughts
There’s no hiding my surprise. I thought Delta was finished. Maybe they’re still churning out table saws (although I haven’t seen much promotion or mentions of them in recent years), and maybe they came out with a value-priced saw last year during the holiday season.
But new cutting-edge miter saws? Surprising and exciting.
They look a LOT like Bosch’s axial glide miter saws, and I’m wondering how the sliding mechanism differs.
The saw head looks very unusual. Perhaps the handle is so low to discourage using it as a handle? Even if not, I think that users will be glad that it’s designed for comfortable righty or lefty use. That’s not a complaint I’ve heard about – miter saws being comfortable or not comfortable for left-handed users, so I can’t really comment further.
These saws are large, and although they’re fairly heavy, they’re not that much heavier than other large sliding miter saws.
Bosch’s design is a few years old already. It’s possible that these saws aren’t designed exclusively by Delta, and that they’re manufactured by the same OEM that might be responsible for Bosch’s Axial Glide saws – if they’re not manufactured by Bosch directly.
Delta is making a lot of claims about the Cruzers, such as:
Stops at the most popular bevel angles and an accessible override switch make Delta CRUZERS the fastest, easiest to use miter saws available.
So they’re basically saying these are the fastest to use miter saws. I don’t think they mentioned application speed or cutting performance anywhere, they’re more talking about angle adjustments and maybe also the sliding action. But being fast and easy to use is definitely very appealing, and is perhaps enough, coupled with what Delta describes as industry-leading cutting capacity.
It will definitely be interesting to see how well the Delta Cruzer miter saws hold up against industry leaders.
One thing that the Cruzers do seem to lack is any kind of cut guidance system. Nothing is mentioned in the product descriptions or the user manuals. If so, that would be a big bummer. Ridgid and Milwaukee have followed Dewalt’s lead in using shadow illumination for laying precise cut lines at exact blade thickness. I wonder why Delta wouldn’t or couldn’t do the same.