Repairs to the Q3:                                                      

I have ran the Q3 now for 14 months and just made my first repair. The bellows for the blower split out on the side. That may sound like a problem but had I still been running the old 40-601 C-Arm the repairs would have been more like 8 sets of gears, 8 link arms with bearings, 4 air bellows, 4 blade clamps, 8 blade clamp nuts, and 15 blade clamp screws. I can't say the old saw was bad but I just ran it a lot and repairs are normal on anything that you use a lot. These saws probably get used as much in a year as anyone else would use them in a lifetime. The Quick-Clamp blade clamp has been great for standing up to that kind of use. In the beginning when it came out I felt that if it worked for 3 months it was an improvement. Now it's been over a year that they are still working without any repairs. Well my next repair is at 20 months and the link arm bearing is loose in the arm, mine was made of plastic, and they have changed that part to a cast aluminum one now so it should hold up a lot longer.

When using the Delta Quick Clamp if you experience blade breakage at the top clamp there is a fix. It seems that a burr forms on the bottom edge of the clamp that stresses the blade. Take the clamp apart and using a small stone take about 20 strokes rounding the bottom edge of each half of the clamp over. Put the clamp back on and it should take care of the breakage problem at the clamp.

The other thing that I did was to check the blade alignment, that was way off on my saw. Move the blade down to the bottom of the stroke. Then place the end of a ruler against the side of the blade. Now, holding the ruler in place, raise the blade to the top of the stroke. If the blade is not against the side of the ruler yet, the alignment is off. To correct this the bottom blade clamp pivot screw moves the bottom clamp to the left or right. Adjust the screw until the blade runs true. When I first started on the   saw I thought the screw had come loose and tightened it. That really threw the clamps  out of line. That's all there is to it. You will notice a lot of difference in making corners  and general cutting if the alignment was off very far.

Another thing I have done is to take the air hose with the beads off the saw. By drilling a hole in the black plastic control housing the rubber air hose can be ran out the front of the saw, getting it higher and out of the way for threading fretwork onto the blade. Even from the higher position the blower seems to work fine. I also wrapped wire, like a spring, around the rubber hose so that I could bend it to aim at the place I wanted it. The wire wrapped rubber hose will bend a lot tighter corner than the bead hose that came on the saw. I have a picture of this on the picture of tips page.

 I have been using this saw for about 2 years now and still no major breakdowns. So I  feel this should last a long time for the average scroller.

 Now the improved Q3 is on the market with some very nice changes. The main changes  are instant start, no more hesitation when you turn the switch on. The nuts on the blade  clamps have been changed to a thumbnut that doesn't need a wrench to adjust. And the  threaded rod that was in the way of the bottom clamp on the left side is now gone. The  tension lever setup has been changed to a new flip lever , a lot nicer to use, plus  eliminated a lot of the cluttered look at the front of the arm. This new tension setup will  fit onto the original Q3 arm.

To update the first version Q3 clamp and tension system, you can now order part #   1342500 from Delta. This is the complete assembly to replace on the upper arm of the   older saws, to update it to the new tension and clamp system. The cost is $29.95 for the new system conversion. It is very easy to install.