Upgrades possible to a 1990's Delta single speed 40-530 scroll saw?

[Tallbald]

Dear friend received as a gift a 1990's Delta 40-530 single speed scroll saw. Has the old style special wrench for mounting the plain end blades.

This saw will likely be with him for a long time to come, and may replace his Harbor Freight scroll saw. The Delta sawed through a 1 1/2 inch board (poplar maybe) quickly with a new blade, versus the HF saw that bogged down trying to saw through the same board,

Are there tips and tricks to this style and generation Delta saw I can suggest to him to maybe upgrade the saw until and if in the future he buys some saw that's even more of an upgrade?

Love that my friend is pleased with his new-to-him treasure saw. Use what ya got.

Thanks in advance. Don.

[kmmcrafts]

Might be able to upgrade the saw to Deltas Quickset II blade chucks but finding a complete set would probably be a challenge. I wouldn't put much money in upgrading it since most all parts for these older style Deltas are obsolete. I rebuilt / restored one of the 2 speed models from around the same erra (1987 - 1990 ) back in 2007 and a couple of the parts I had to wait like 6 months to get and that was 15 years or so ago, LOL.. Not sure the website is still around but there was a old delta tool dealer that had a boatload of NOS parts and I had to order some things from him. I think his website was Mikestools.com ? Mikes something, LOL.. 

I kinda think maybe the best parts sources for these is going to be buying up a few old machines at garage sales and maybe ebay for used parts. They were good quality saws for what they were.. it's what I learned to saw on and was a hand me down saw that my father started out with back in the 80's when he retired, which is the reason why I spent good money to restore it etc.. more for the sentimental value than to use.. after restoring it I've probably not run it more than a couple hours. 

Another site that had retrofit blade chucks is this place.. maybe they have something that'd work on this saw. https://www.pozsgaidesigns.com/page0006.htm

Just went to look at Mikes tools site, It's still there.. not sure he has much for the say in question but here is a link. https://www.mikestools.com/Delta-Replacement-Parts_2189a.aspx

 

[Tallbald]

Say thank you so very much. I've giving this information to my dear friend. Don.

[Jim McDonald]

That was my first saw. Loved learning on that thing, but the bellows was suspect. Get ready to adapt an aquarium pump for a blower.