Grizzly G0691 Arrived

[Jeff Mackay]

Hi Everybody:

I know this doesn't count as a gloat--no pictures yet. But the Grizzly G0691 table saw that I ordered last Saturday was delivered on Thursday by UPS Freight. I asked for a lift gate, and waited most of the day for the saw to be delivered. Got tired of waiting, and decided to go down into the shop to make room for it. I heard some noise outside, and by the time I got out there, the driver had wheeled the saw into the garage. No visible damage on the crate or any of the boxes.

I called a local erecting company to see how much they would charge to move it into the basement: $1000. Yeah, right. My neighbor has an appliance dolly, so I called him over. He came with his dolly and his 13-year-old son. It took us about 15 minutes to uncrate the machine, load it on the dolly, and get it down the stairs. Nobody even broke a sweat.

I spent the last couple of days setting it up in my spare time. Here's what I found:

- The saw itself was well packaged, and there was no damage in shipping.

- I'm basically happy with the quality of the machine--with a couple of exceptions noted below. The trunnion is massive, raising and tilting the blade is smooth and easy, and it appears that the fence can be adjusted for parallel as well as a Biesemeyer.

- The riving knife is solid and both the knife and guard are super easy to install and remove. No complaints there. I can't imagine how it could be done any better. I also like the split guard.

- Off the crate, the blade was almost dead on parallel with the miter slot (within .001 inch)

- The extension wings are pretty close to dead flat, within .0015. The table however, is warped a bit. It dishes by about .003 inches in the center of the table to the right side. Not a huge problem, but enough to make me uneasy. I was able to get the left extension wing installed without much of a lip, but there was no way to install the right wing without a lip.

- The faces of the fence are not even close to flat. That made it difficult to adjust the fence to be parallel to the miter slot. I removed the face, and aligned the bare fence casting. It was extremely rough, and covered with paint. I was able to get it parallel within about .002 inches (without the face attached). But the face has both high and low spots that vary by as much as .020 inches. I'll contact customer support to see if they have any suggestions. Has anyone solved this problem?

- The overall design of the fence is good I think. I like the nylon bolts that eliminate slack. I can move the fence, and it stays parallel to the miter slot. We'll see how long they last...

- One corner of the extension table was damaged--it was obviously dropped by somebody. I already contacted Grizzly to get a replacement.

- I haven't gotten around to replacing the cord and plug yet. So I haven't started it up. Maybe tomorrow.

- I also ordered the shop fox mobile base with extension. I was able to get the saw mounted on the mobile base by building it around the saw. I haven't noticed any bending at the casters yet.

Overall, I'm happy with the purchase so far. I still have to wire it, check for runout on the arbor and flange, and saw some wood! Maybe tomorrow.

Jeff

[scott spencer]

Congrats Jeff! Nothing like that "new saw" smell! Sounds like you deserve a new saw blade!

Be safe.

[Jeff Miller]

Hi Everybody:







- The faces of the fence are not even close to flat. That made it difficult to adjust the fence to be parallel to the miter slot. I removed the face, and aligned the bare fence casting. It was extremely rough, and covered with paint. I was able to get it parallel within about .002 inches (without the face attached). But the face has both high and low spots that vary by as much as .020 inches. I'll contact customer support to see if they have any suggestions. Has anyone solved this problem?


Jeff




I fixed mine ......................see how in this thread.


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=135278



JEFF:D

[Howard Klepper]

On my new 0690 the table is flat as far as the left hand T-slot; from there to the table edge it drops away a few thousandths. I was a little disappointed, but I can live with it. The saw is powerful and smooth and a big step up from the Jet contractor's saw I was using.

The fence faces are not flat on mine either. That seems to be an almost universal problem with them. I was thinking about taking them off and jointing them. Anyone done that?

[Jim O'Dell]

Rather than jointing them, I'd use some shims behind the mounting screws to get it flat. Even tape in multiple layers if need be will work. On my 691, the right side is like a roller coaster, but the left side is perfectly flat. Since I NEVER use the fence to the left of the blade, I'm fine. It's not worth messing with for me. It's possible that just backing the screws for the low spots off a little may fix the problem, but I'd want to shim behind to make sure it doesn't move.
Jeff, I'm not sure I understand what type of lip you are talking about. Are you saying the wing won't drop far enough to sit level with the saw top, or won't go up far enough to keep from the saw's top from forming a lip? Or you can't get the wing parallel to the top? If the latter, use some tape on the edge of the saw's edge to push the wing the right direction. If the former, then I'd think something is not drilled right. Easiest thing, if otherwise happy with the wings, would be to elongate the holes with a drill. Otherwise contact Griz customer service for help. Jim.

[Jeff Mackay]

Rather than jointing them, I'd use some shims behind the mounting screws to get it flat. Even tape in multiple layers if need be will work.

I tried backing off the screws, but it really didn't do anything. I'll give shimming a try, but I don't think it will work since it has both high and low spots. It's really uneven. I'm thinking I might replace it with some waxed baltic birch. But first, I think I'll ask Grizzly for a replacement face.



Jeff, I'm not sure I understand what type of lip you are talking about. Are you saying the wing won't drop far enough to sit level with the saw top, or won't go up far enough to keep from the saw's top from forming a lip? Or you can't get the wing parallel to the top?

Since the table is warped (dished), but the extension wing is not, if I line up the front and back of the right extension wing to be on the same plane as the table top, the center of the wing sits about .003 higher than the center of the table. I can align the center of the wing with the table, but then the two ends of the table stick up by .003 (or either the front or back sticks up more than .003, if I tilt the extension wing a bit).

When tightened, the left wing sits almost perfectly level with the table top. The far left edge is about .0015 low, but not enough to worry about--and too small of a difference to use paper as a shim. I guess I could try to use some feeler guage stock to shim the table and get it perfectly level on the left. Because the right side is already off, I didn't check level on that side yet.

[Ryan Welch]

I fixed mine ......................see how in this thread.


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=135278



JEFF:D

I replaced my fence faces with corian as well......It works great. Flat and easy to align and shim (if necessary)

[Jim O'Dell]

On the fence, you'd have to shim to the highest point. Depending on how much it has to be shimmed as to whether it is feasible to try or not. Jim.

[Rob Hough]

I would ask for a new top. I would tolerate a warped wing before I'd tolerate a warped main table surface. Just my opinion on that one.

[Shiraz Balolia]

I would ask for a new top. I would tolerate a warped wing before I'd tolerate a warped main table surface. Just my opinion on that one.

For .003" ?

I hope you can find a tool company that will guarantee a table top with less than .003" (three thousandths of an inch) of flatness on a whole table.

[Rob Hough]

Maybe I should have stated more clearly. I could see it not being a problem if it didn't affect the wings, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. I doubt mine is dead flat - but it also doesn't cause an issue when trying to align the wings.

[Jeff Mackay]

I called tech support to talk about both the table top and the fence. They're sending me a new face for the fence. The table top, not surprisingly, is within spec. So I'd rather not risk getting a replacement. Who knows, the replacement could be worse than the original... I'll live with it.

[Neil Brooks]

Congrats on the new saw!!!

It should be a big, heavy heap of joy to use!!

[Dave Mura]

Congrats on the purchase!!

[Jeff Mackay]

I did get the saw rewired yesterday--needed a longer cord. Started it up today with an old Tenryu blade and took some test cuts. As expected, it works great. The motor is relatively quiet, and it didn't have any trouble cutting through 4/4 cherry or cumaru (all I had handy). The miter gauge is pretty close at 90 degrees, it looks like it's just slightly off. Come to think of it, I messed a little bit with the adjusters on the bar to eliminate a slight bit of play, and that might account for the difference. It'll do for now, I'm waiting for a couple more weeks for the sliding table attachment before I worry too much about accuracy on crosscuts.

Jeff

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Jeff,
I was pleasantly surprised with the miter gauge. You can adjust the slop out (as you found) and you can also adjust the 90 degree setting. I got mine close enough that I can cross cut a 4" wide strip of MDF, flip one side upside down, put them back together standing on edge and not see any daylight anywhere between them.

I thought for sure I would need to buy an aftermarket gauge but this is fine for me. I use crosscut sleds for really precise stuff anyway.

Now the fence material is a different story! That thing is really not flat. I have yet to replace mine though.

I also heard some people talking about arbor runout so I measured mine. Actually that is not quite accurate, I measured the runout of the blade on the arbor. It was less than .003 variation way out on the blade. I doubt the blade is that good... maybe I should mark the blade and arbor to make sure I can install it back exactly the same way :).
Salem

[Jeff Mackay]

I read about some inaccuracy on the 0691 rip fence measuring tape. So I checked it against several tape measures I have on hand before sticking it in place. Yep, either it's off or all of my tape measures are off. By the 4" mark, it's already off by 1/16th of an inch. I bought a Kreg 12' self-adhesive tape from the local Woodcraft, but it's only a 1/2" wide, and it only goes down to 16ths. I think I'll return that one. I'd really like a fastcap self-adhesive tape, but it looks like they aren't making them any more. I guess it's time to get a 3/4" Starrett, Delta, or Biesemeyer self-adhesive tape. A local hardware store (Neu's building center) carries a lot of Delta products, so I'll give them a try. Has anybody found any other adhesive tapes that are accurate?

Jeff

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Darn, that is a bummer! I haven't checked mine. All my projects lately have used a story stick. But that would be a very unpleasant surprise. I gotta go check mine :).

<edit> I measured mine and it looks good all the way to the end. At 6" I measured 5.997 with calipers and the lines are much thicker than that. Whew :)

Salem

[Jim O'Dell]

I bought a adhesive tape from Rockler a year ago or so. I have it on my Bies fence on my contractor saw, up against the Bies tape, only 3/4" off for when I use a piece of MDF against the fence for cutting laminate. It's exact to the Bies tape the whole length. Jim.

[Jeff Mackay]

Just an update. I received the replacement extension table top (damaged in shipping) from Grizzly. Unfortunately, I gave them the part number for the 690 table top, not the 691. My fault. I'll volunteer to pay for the shipping this time...

I also received the T10223 sliding table attachment. I haven't installed it yet, but it looks excellent. Made of what appears to be some pretty serious aluminum extrusions (looks like 3/8" thick aluminum for most parts). It's about 5 feet long and about a foot wide. It bolts to the table, in place of the left extension wing, and has two legs to support the front and back of the table. The movement is silky smooth. It comes with a telescoping 48" miter fence (also an aluminum extrusion), with the right side of the fence cut at a 45 degree angle. With support from the small extension table, it looks like I'll have no problem with cross-cuts up to 48".

The only downside I see at first glance is that I'll have to move or cut the rip fence rails to make room for the table. Since I don't need extra room on the right side of the saw, I'll probably cut them, even though it means that I won't be able to use the rip fence on the left side of the blade. Ideally, I'd like to have a bigger extension table on the slider, and an outrigger to support heavy loads.

I compared the Grizzly sliding table to the one from Laguna Tools. They're similar in size, function, and appearance, but the Laguna slider is much heavier. And much more expensive.

Jeff

[Salem Ganzhorn]

You are the first person I have heard of getting this sliding table. It would be great if you wrote up a review of it when you have time!
Salem

[Matt Meiser]

On the tape--if its reading long, the inaccuracy might be caused by bad installation, and its just as easy for you to screw up the replacement as the factory to screw up the original. The plastic backed ones can be stretchy and its pretty easy to introduce a significant error over a few inches by stretching. DAMHIKT. I imagine it would be possible to even stretch a metal one. And apparently the manufacturing process for tapes in general isn't all that accurate.

[Jeff Mackay]

Hi Matt,

I replaced the factory tape with a Delta 3/4" self-adhesive tape. It's accurate.

Jeff

[Jeff Mackay]

So I got a surprise from Grizzly today. They read my post here on SMC about how I ordered the wrong part number for my replacement table. They immediately went ahead and shipped me the right part today, and they gave me a return authorization number for the other part to ship it back to them. And I didn't even have to contact them myself.

Another example of fantastic customer service from Grizzly!

Jeff

[C Scott McDonald]

You sent the table top back for being .003 out of flatness?

[Jeff Mackay]

You sent the table top back for being .003 out of flatness?

No. The tabletop was acceptable. The extension table top was damaged in shipping.

[C Scott McDonald]

Ooooh got ya! Enjoy your new saw!

[Peter Aeschliman]

No. The tabletop was acceptable. The extension table top was damaged in shipping.

Hi Jeff,

I wonder if you wouldn't mind providing a review of the sliding table attachment you bought with your saw.

It looks like a well built unit. It looks basically identical to the Laguna sliding table, so I suspect that it's probably made at the same factory.

Anyway, searching the forums, you're the only member I can find who owns one.


Thanks!

[Ray Bell]

Thanks for asking this Peter, I have been wondering about this since I received the sales catalog. Since I have never seen one of these in person, I have always wondered if they get in the way when rip cutting.

[Jim O'Dell]

I would also suspect that the router table piece is identical to the Laguna, as their Platinum series saw is the same as the G0691, except the Laguna doesn't appear to come with the riving knife, only the splitter guard, but comes with an extruded aluminum extension and flip stop that mounts to the miter gauge. Jim.

[Jeff Mackay]

Sorry. I've been busy remodeling the shop: adding outlets, installing drywall, mudding, painting, and now putting a plywood subfloor down.

I played with it enough to see that it's solid, and the action is very smooth. It will fit pretty much any tablesaw, but you'll have to either move your rip fence rails, or cut them off to mount it--which is why I haven't made the time to set it up or use it yet. I certainly don't need another foot of rip capacity, so I'll be cutting my rails.

Laguna sells two sliding tables. The "professional" sliding table looks more substantial at 275lbs shipping weight and a price of $2000. The "universal" sliding table looks identical to the Grizzly table--at a comparable price. Since the G0690 and the Laguna Platinum table saw also look identical, I'd guess they source them from the same manufacturer in China.

I'll post a review once I get a chance to actually set it up and use it.

Jeff

[Peter Aeschliman]

Sounds good. Thanks Jeff!

[Peter Aeschliman]

Jeff, don't mean to nag (well I guess I do, actually!) but have you had a chance to set up the sliding table attachment?!?!?

It's been 3 months and I cant imagine being able to wait that long! :)

[Bob Direso]

Jeff, Congrats on your new toy. I recently purchased a GO690 and also had fence problems. Customer service sent me a replacement that was ok. I'm very happy with the saw. Bob.

[Jeff Mackay]

Hi Peter,

Has it really been that long? I've had it attached for a a couple months now, but I haven't fininshed installing it partially because it took Grizzly a while to get me the parts to complete the installation (new switch bracket, power cord, drill bit and tap). It's also summertime, so I spend a bit less time in the shop. Hopefully, I'll make some headway this weekend.

Jeff