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I use it with a box joint jig and I find it to be quite accurate and sturdy.Dust Collection:Eh the jury is still out on this. Depending on where you are standing changed the measurement. Passes the "Nickel" test. The inserts included are stamped out from steel which leaves them not flat. Easy to remove. I have put this thing through its paces the past 6 months and it has met every request with another pile of sawdust in the dust collector.Quality:Now I was expecting quality to be lacking since it was a thousand dollar cabinet saw. If you have a good enough straight edge to measure that over a 48" span.I used WD40 and a towel to remove the cosmoline from the top.
The hand wheel locks work well. Noticeable would be more that 30 thou which is 1/32 of an inch. Same nice finish. Starts up fast, powerful. The hand wheels move incredibly smooth. I have a 2hp jet directly hooked up to it. It seemed to come off pretty easy. It is a pretty substantial piece of cast.
The fence was easy to square.Router table:Although this is a nice feature, implementation was a little lacking. There was cosmoline on the sides which will make your wings unlevel.Wings:The wings butted up perfectly to the top. That was by far the best service call I ever made. I say this has the same fit and finish as the PM2000. That wasn't the case.
Same cleaning process.Fence:This is your standard T-fence clone. I used a piece of masking tape on the router wing because it sat low on the outside. I am one happy customer and have since then bought a band saw and jointer from them. Smooth running.
I highly suggest a riving knife or splitter, but not this one. I would recommend cleaning the top including the edges before putting on the wings. I was looking into a cabinet saw after using a PM2000. The set screws on the motor pulley and arbor pulley backed out.
Top:Mine was well ground and flat. I had heard the stories of the "cheap junk" of the Grizzlys. Unless you have a noticeable cup or crown, it won't affect your woodworking. Rips 8/4 figured maple like butter. Requires significant time to remove when trying to run dados.Use:This saw just hums along.
Once call to Grizzly and 10 minutes later I had two new pulleys, all three belts, bags of set screws, and a bottle of locktite on its way. I find when I am running a board across the bit, it catches on the insert. There is still a layer of sawdust in the cabinet, but it seems to work alright.Assembly:Assembly was straight forward and the included manual was great. The magnifying eye to read the measuring tape actually makes it less accurate for me. The powder coat green on this saw is indestructible. Splitter and guard:I initially installed this, but found it to be more dangerous that running without a guard.
I couldn't be happier with the saw, service, and delivery. I didn't set the 90 and 45 stops because generally some sawdust gets piled on top of them and you have to use a square anyway. Fence stays square and I have adjusted it twice now. With a mobile base it would be just right.Problems:Well I had to put in my first service call today. I had to adjust the top a little bit to bring the miter slots true to the blade. After doing some pricing on the PM2000, I quickly realized that I was going to be stuck with a contractor saw for life.Well I pulled the trigger in July of 08 on the G1023SLW after many months of searching.
It is one of those tools that you enjoy using. The switch placement is perfect so you can hit stop with your knee without taking your eyes off the blade. I wired up a plug from one of the big box stores and that was all I needed as far as parts.Adjustment:I used a small machinist square and a caliper. I was able to assemble the whole saw by myself. I used a tranny jack to hold the wings while I put the bolts in. A lot of people complain about tops not being flat.
Damaged the pulleys and one belt. Locks down solidMiter Gauge:I use an Osborne EB-3 (Norm's) miter gauge exclusively, so I wasn't too concerned about the miter gauge. I needed a metric socket set, screwdriver, dead blow hammer, and an adjustable wrench. Table height is about perfect. Anyone try to call Sears for parts on a washing machine lately.Over all, if you have some concerns on quality, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
After running virtually every different type of scrap material in my garage through the saw,I went out and found the hardest, material I could find. As far as longevity, well Grizzley has only been around for 22 years, This saw had better last 3 times that. I was using a brand new Freud 50 t combo blade. I then took an old towel and soaked it in degreaser and let it sit on top of the table for about 3 hours. I was pleasantly suprised to find that the rails also came with nice support legs.
The extension tables went on with little hassle. The problem is; without the middle-men, Grizzley is building a saw as good (or better) than the Unisaw and on par with the Powermatic 66. I ordered it for myself with the shop fox extension rails. I had some 6 foot chunks of maple that I got from a neighbor whose tree blew over in the storms this past summer.
The Saw has a very precise mechanism with excellent tolerances. Take notice though that Delta has created a lower line of saw to try to compete in the Grizzley price range. With 3 or 4 minutes of wiping, it was ready to wax.The real thrill came after the adjustments were made to set up and calibrate the saw. Although it was not fully dried, Ok, it was not even close, I ran it through my bandsaw and jointer to create a 3.5 inch square by 4 foot post. It is a full featured, robust saw.
This saw arrived from Santa two weeks early this year. I have used many Powermatics, and Unisaws. There is no difference in performance. Certainly properly maintained Powermatics, and Deltas do. This finaly made my saw work. This was not the first, nor will it be my last Grizzley purchase. I slipped the table saw off of it's mounting pallet right into my HTC 2000 mobile base.
If only they could box things better. I then cut it into 3/4 inch planks on the table saw. This 5 horsepower beast ate through the plank, leaving almost as smooth a finish as my jointer. It is not a cheapened copy like the low end deltas. Hey, how about a crate.
As noted in other reviews of Grizzly equipment, the packing did not seem sufficient. I eliminated the Dewalt for two reasons: I wanted cast iron wings (and didn't want to pay extra for them), and I wanted a saw with a little more horespower. This led me to purchase the Grizzly 1023Z.I ordered the saw on a Saturday, and it was delivered the following Wednesday. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the saw. The manual describes what to do in that situation, and it was not difficult to loosen it up.I've only been using the saw for a couple of weeks, but I must say it is a MASSIVE improvement over my old contractor saw. This saw was much easier to put together than my old Delta saw. You'll also need to put a 220V plug on the cord, and put on the splitter/blade cover.The biggest effort in getting the saw set up was the cleanup. I bought the Shop Fox mobile base, and it is functional.
The main candidates I was considering were Powermatic 66, the General cabinet saw, and the Dewalt hybrid. Note: This review is for the Grizzly 1023Z, which is pretty much the same saw as the 1023ZX, except it has a 3HP/220Volt instead of a 5HP/220Volt motor.I recently sold my old Delta contractors saw, and looked to upgrade to a cabinet saw. The fence as shipped would not lock down (it was set too tight). I used mineral spirits and a bunch of paper towels to get the cosmoline removed. The adjustments are fairly easy.The only tough adjustment I had to figure out was on the fence.
The box had a bash in the side, but luckily the saw was not damaged. The fence locks down solid, and all lumber I've put through it has been cut with ease. The two cast iron wings need to be put on (get a friend to help if you're a wimp like me :), the power switch needs to be screwed on, and the dust port/motor cover needs to be screwed on. Basically the saw was on a pallet heavy cardboard box strapped around it. All of these saws seemed to be quality tools.
A quick call to Grizzly and it became apparent that I had an old manual. The fit and finish of the saw is very good. The saw itself is heavy, and there is no danger of it inadvertently scooting around. Basically the saw is pretty much put together. After removing that gunk, I'd recommend putting something else on to prevent rust. Downloading a new manual from their website solved this problem.Also: the motor cover for the saw was shipped separately via UPS (and not in the freight delivery).
Like anyone looking to upgrade, I did a lot of research. I was concerned when I was missing a couple of parts according to the manual. I noticed that the fence had a couple of spots where the finish had flaked off, but no big deal.A couple of notes: the manual provided with the saw is apparently an old version of the manual (and relates to an earlier revision of the saw). Since the freight was delivered before the UPS, I thought they had forgotten it.
However, I'm not a big fan of bending over to screw and unscrew the anchors everytime I have to move it. You'll need a good straight edge, and a solid square. The General and Powermatic had the horsepower, but were out of my budget. About the only thing I would do differently would be to investigate a different mobile base.
Cosmoline coats all the cast iron pieces to prevent rust. I use Johnson's paste wax, there are probably other good preventatives out there.Most of the adjustments were pretty close, but needed to be tweaked. But it was simply shipped separately. Bang for buck, I don't think you can beat it.
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