John M Bailey
07-13-2009, 2:20 PM
I have assembled my new G0691 Grizzly table saw, and made a few cuts, and will post my first impressions.
I purchased this saw as soon as Grizzly put free shipping on it. This saw is replacing a 11 year old Craftsman contractor, and I expect it to be the last table saw I ever buy.
Unpacking and assembly of the saw was a simple matter of following simple instuctions. All the parts were present and easily identified.
The assembly starts with removing a brace from the tunnions. This gave me a chance to see the very large, heavy, stable trunnions. The trunnions are mounted to the sides of the cabinet. I was pleasently pleased to see that there is an adjustment mechinism built into the mouting tabs of the trunnions. This makes precision set up much easier. This is a great feature not mentioned in the description of the saw. Did I mention the Large, Rock Solid trunnions?
Next the tilt wheel is mounted and set screwed to its shaft with a key. The hand wheels are nice, large, heavy, cast with smooth chrome plating and paint finish. The locking knob on each wheel is heavy cast and chrome plated like the wheel and lock the wheel solidly without straining. This is a nice step up from small, weak plastic unlocking ones I have used for 11 years. After mounting the tilt wheel, I put the hand wheels through their range of motion. WOW! SMOOTH! The trunnions raise, lower and tilt with ease, smoothly, with just enough resistance to keep them from getting away from you. At the limits of the movement (tilt and heighth), it stops dead with precision, you do not have to worry about forcing the trunnions past the limit. With my contractor saw, I always had to make sure I did was careful with this because there was enough give to over travel the limits. I was greatly pleased, as these are very important features that make a table saw a pleasure to use.
The table extensions were simple to mount and level. The right side went on flat and straight. The left side required a single piece of tape as a shim to raise the left edge level with the table. The extensions have the same smooth flat surface as the main table. Like the catalog says, "Pecision ground cast iron table." I feel this saw has as good a table available, even compared to the most expensive saws.
The Front rail is heavy steel angle which bolts to the table and a heavy square steel tubing, staight and strong is bolted to the angle. My complaint here is that the square rail is bolted to the angle with smaller srews which are easily stripped. Be careful to not over tighted these, or do what I will do, drill out and tap for 5/16 bolts. The rear rail is heavy steel J shaped channel, which is very stong. The rails are over all, a very strong straight part of the saw, keeping with the heavy duty theme of the saw.
Now we get to the long extension table. It may be that mine is not typical, but this table is not flat at all. Front to back there is a 3/16 inch dip in the middle, with no way to level it, as the table bolts only to rails and not the table. A person could fix up a way to level the extension and hold it level pretty easily. I was disappointed with this table because Grizzly plainly says that the table features "square steel tubing frame", but actually has a thin weak stamped angle frame.
Then the fence, this is a awesome fence. After adjusting the fence dead square and level with the table, it stays that way. A very nice feature on this fence is the way it wraps around the front of the rails. The idea is to adjust this in a way that holds the fence square when unlocked, but loose enough to move the fence easily. It works as designed, and the fence moves smoothly from the left side of the blade all the way to 50 inches to the right of the blade, staying square to the blade. Very nice fence, well built, heavy and straight. I am Very pleased with the fence.
I put a plug on the cord and mounted a blade, plugged it up and turned it on. NICE! No vibrations, just a whir of the blade. 2 inch cherry, crosscut like butter, not burning. I ripped some oak, and could not bog down the saw.
I can tell I am going to love this saw. I would buy it again, and would recommend the Grizzly G0691 to anybody who wants a heavy duty, precision table saw at a great price from a great company. The only disappointment I have is with the large extension table, which with a little work will not be an issue.
I purchased this saw as soon as Grizzly put free shipping on it. This saw is replacing a 11 year old Craftsman contractor, and I expect it to be the last table saw I ever buy.
Unpacking and assembly of the saw was a simple matter of following simple instuctions. All the parts were present and easily identified.
The assembly starts with removing a brace from the tunnions. This gave me a chance to see the very large, heavy, stable trunnions. The trunnions are mounted to the sides of the cabinet. I was pleasently pleased to see that there is an adjustment mechinism built into the mouting tabs of the trunnions. This makes precision set up much easier. This is a great feature not mentioned in the description of the saw. Did I mention the Large, Rock Solid trunnions?
Next the tilt wheel is mounted and set screwed to its shaft with a key. The hand wheels are nice, large, heavy, cast with smooth chrome plating and paint finish. The locking knob on each wheel is heavy cast and chrome plated like the wheel and lock the wheel solidly without straining. This is a nice step up from small, weak plastic unlocking ones I have used for 11 years. After mounting the tilt wheel, I put the hand wheels through their range of motion. WOW! SMOOTH! The trunnions raise, lower and tilt with ease, smoothly, with just enough resistance to keep them from getting away from you. At the limits of the movement (tilt and heighth), it stops dead with precision, you do not have to worry about forcing the trunnions past the limit. With my contractor saw, I always had to make sure I did was careful with this because there was enough give to over travel the limits. I was greatly pleased, as these are very important features that make a table saw a pleasure to use.
The table extensions were simple to mount and level. The right side went on flat and straight. The left side required a single piece of tape as a shim to raise the left edge level with the table. The extensions have the same smooth flat surface as the main table. Like the catalog says, "Pecision ground cast iron table." I feel this saw has as good a table available, even compared to the most expensive saws.
The Front rail is heavy steel angle which bolts to the table and a heavy square steel tubing, staight and strong is bolted to the angle. My complaint here is that the square rail is bolted to the angle with smaller srews which are easily stripped. Be careful to not over tighted these, or do what I will do, drill out and tap for 5/16 bolts. The rear rail is heavy steel J shaped channel, which is very stong. The rails are over all, a very strong straight part of the saw, keeping with the heavy duty theme of the saw.
Now we get to the long extension table. It may be that mine is not typical, but this table is not flat at all. Front to back there is a 3/16 inch dip in the middle, with no way to level it, as the table bolts only to rails and not the table. A person could fix up a way to level the extension and hold it level pretty easily. I was disappointed with this table because Grizzly plainly says that the table features "square steel tubing frame", but actually has a thin weak stamped angle frame.
Then the fence, this is a awesome fence. After adjusting the fence dead square and level with the table, it stays that way. A very nice feature on this fence is the way it wraps around the front of the rails. The idea is to adjust this in a way that holds the fence square when unlocked, but loose enough to move the fence easily. It works as designed, and the fence moves smoothly from the left side of the blade all the way to 50 inches to the right of the blade, staying square to the blade. Very nice fence, well built, heavy and straight. I am Very pleased with the fence.
I put a plug on the cord and mounted a blade, plugged it up and turned it on. NICE! No vibrations, just a whir of the blade. 2 inch cherry, crosscut like butter, not burning. I ripped some oak, and could not bog down the saw.
I can tell I am going to love this saw. I would buy it again, and would recommend the Grizzly G0691 to anybody who wants a heavy duty, precision table saw at a great price from a great company. The only disappointment I have is with the large extension table, which with a little work will not be an issue.