First Impression – Grizzly 1023 Setup
Thought I would take a moment to comment on some of the observations I made today regarding my new 1023. Leaving all expectation or otherwise out of writing. Here goes:
1.) Shipping was done by Overnite. Only box damaged was the ShopFox Classic Fence. Only item damaged inside was the psa backed scale.
2.) Sticky gunk on table tops wasn’t hard to remove. Used mineral spirits. No damage to tops or rest of saw.
3.) Out of the box, my table top, minus the wings had no measurable variation front to back or side to side. Didn’t use a Home Cheapo aluminimum measuring stick either, used a 24″ steel straight edge machined to within .0005 entire length.
4.) Attached wings and measured again – now there’s a .009 dip on both sides. Took wings off and attached piece of masking tape to inside top edge. Now there is a .004 dip at the end of the wing on the left and a .005 dip at the edg of the wing on the right. Not going to bother with it any further.
5.) Attached ShopFox classic fence. Fence was perfectly parallel with miter slot right out of box. Haven’t adjusted the outfeed side yet but will. Red reticle is close enough to scale to allow for fairly precise repeatability in my opinion. Haven’t cut anything on it yet though.
6.) Installed Woodworker II and measured parallelism to miter slot using dial caliper’s. It’s about a 32nd wider on the outfeed side of the blade. Need to adjust that. Grizzly adjustment method involves moving the table top, not the trunion itself so the process should go fairly easy.
7.) Haven’t checked 90 and 45 stops yet.
8.) Haven’t turned saw on and made test cuts yet so can’t speak to the nickel test thing.
9.) Main table is beveled in the front. Wings are not.
Okay, so here are the opinions. I am happy. The Saw sets up quicker than you would think. I am used to using a Incra fence on a contractor saw so I am holding out on the fence. I will say though that I am optimistic since the reticle is so conspicuous. I purchased the mobile base for it….and oriented the saw the wrong way. That will be a challenge to fix now that I have added another 120lbs. to the dang thing. I can’t wait to power it up. I have to run 220v in the shop tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
Chris
Replies
If you want to turn the saw to reorient it(as I did), take a couple of pieces of 2x4 that are longer than the mobile base. Add enough blocking underneath so you can tilt the saw and have someone slide the wood under the raised part of the base. Do the same thing on the other side and slide the mobile base out to turn it. Reverse the process and set the saw back into the base. I have also slid a sawhorse under the left side of the table, lifted the right side (easier to lift this way since the mass is on the left side and the lever arm is longer), slid the base out and rotated it. I would recommend having at least one other person as a helper.
When you adjust the top to make it square to the blade, loosen all four bolts, then snug one. Use this corner as the pivot and if you have a dead-blow mallet, tap on the opposite corner. It shouldn't take very long to get it right.
I wondered about the wings not being bevelled when I got mine, too. It hasn't been a problem at all. When you call Grizzly about the scale, they will send you another one. Maybe two, if you ask.
Already called about the scale. They are sending one. I considered running down to my local Woodcraft and buying a metal scale to attach. something I know is accurate. Then again, if the original scale is off, I'll never know because it's the reference.My mind..someone needs to save me from it.
I keep hearing people say that they don't trust the scale on their saw, yet they're comparing it to their tape measure. Huh? Why would the scale be less accurate then the tape? I used to measure every time I made a cut, before and after. I now find that since I have the fence adjusted to the scale correctly, whenever I measure after setting the fence according to the mark, my cuts are more accurate than when I would measure from the blade to the fence. I have the 7' rails and haven't had any issues with any dimension, whether it's a 3 1/16" cut, 53 3/4" or anywhere in between. I have the same fence.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Here's an update to the setup of this saw.Today...I ran the power in the shop, connected the saw, and checked it for power up before putting blades on it or adjusting the blade to slot alignment. Worked fine...but noticed a slight vibration. My Delta contractors table saw had less vibration than this saw. Called Grizzly, got a tech on the line - he asked a few questions about things and then asked me to start the saw and look into the cabinet and watch the belts. The belt closest to the blade was wobbling noticeably more than the belt closest to the motor. He was working on getting me a new set of belts but I told him to never mind...and went inside and ordered 3 link belts from Grizzly. I'll install those in the next week and all will be good.Adjusting the blade to miter slot alignment was so easy. Couple of taps with a rubber mallet and she is less than .001 front to back. Installed zero clearance plate, leveled it, and raised blade. I hate the singing these things cause, atleast until you get the throat loosened up a bit.All is well - I am happy. Haven't decided yet if I am going to put on an Incra fence. I want to do some cutting with the Shop Fox. I have the feeling I might not like the HDPE sides but we'll see. I would rather have a Wilsonart laminated triple B Baltic Birch ply type.
As I have said re: the 1023S, the HDPE fence faces aren't the best, but they work. When they get really warm, they "grow" a bit and can be a little wavey because of expansion. I'm planning to change to apple ply or something like that, with laminate faces. More stable and accurate. Other than that, all I'm doing is adding things. Extension table, outfeed table, etc. I'll have to look at the belts. Haven't noticed any vibrations, but the saw is coming up on 5 years old, so it may be due for an adjustment.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
What did you do for an outfeed table? Got any pics? I am penciling some things on paper right now.
I haven't done the outfeed yet. I'm thinking about making it removeable, though. That way, I don't need to move the added weight every time I wheel the saw out.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I think I am going to make mine like the one Sawsndust has on his website, or atleast some adaptation of it. I don't have the link right now but I found it on this forum. My shop is only 11' by 15'.:-(
Glad to hear you like your saw. Got same saw 5 years ago. Love the classic fence. I moved the standard rails 8" to the right. I can rip up to 34" or 38" ,can't remember which.I cannot rip to the left, never had in 44 years any how.I removed the plastic and installed fin ply. The plastic was not completely straight, not sure if it can be jointed. Just as easy to replace it with fin ply.No problems in five years, of five or six days a week 50 weeks a year. I realigned the fence one time a year or so ago.Took all of 5 minutes. I found the heavy duty miter gauge is dead on at 45° and 90°.
Enjoy your new saw, Mike
Weeeelllllllllll.......I am holding out judgement on the Miter gauge. I adjusted it to fit snug in the slot. But, as soon as the first set screw in passes the end of the slot it gets a little sloppy. Bear in mind I haven't cut anything on the saw yet so it may be insignificant. Waiting on the dust collection port from Grizzly. I think the saw should have come with one but that's not a deal breaker for me. Just got the motor cover yesterday. Be up and running making an outfeed table this weekend I hope.
sniggly,
I built a drop down outfeed table with a 12" platform on the back, bolted into the rail support (angle iron) and two supports down to the shop fox base (on top of wheels). Attached to the platform with piano hinge is a torsion box (kinda) with cheapo fold up legs to support the top....
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