G1023 Owners please read

[Mike Kearney]

My new G1023 was delivered last Thursday and I finally had a chance to start cleaning up the rust preventative today. As I was cleaning up the top I noticed the t-slots seemed to have some sort of coating in them. I’ve owned a Rockwell (Delta) contractor saw and then a Jet cabinet saw and those had plain machined t-slots. Coating is not consistent in places. Is this normal? If it is, what is the purpose of the coating? Should it looked chipped like that? Also, the machining is not flat across the bottom – looks like when the plowed the slot it was cut too deep – the “t” isn’t as deep.

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[Shawn Christ]

It's the same on my saw. I would guess the added depth along the center of the T-slots is to allow clearance for the screw head on the tip of their miter gauge guide bar. But I could be wrong.

[Jim O'Dell]

Yeah, I saw that on Adrian's saw last weekend, but it looks like it's supposed to be that way. My 691 does not have that. Jim.

[Mike Kearney]

Okay - thanks guys.

[Cary Falk]

I thought it was to reduce drag on the bottom of the miter gauge.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Yes I called Grizz and they said its normal. Also I had a few bits of grit underneath the paint thats on the miter slot. I went ahead and scraped all the paint off the slots. I thought it was silly and now the miter gauge runs smoother. The paint would of worn off anyways with all the back and forth on the miter gauge, seeing as how easy it was to take it off.

[Mike Kearney]

Adrian, I agree - I think the paint is a dumb idea. It will probably end up flaking off anyway. What did you use to remove it?

[Derek Gilmer]

My 1023 has similar grey paint looking stuff in the slots. But it is a very smooth fit and finish on it.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Mike,

I have a set of files that look like this http://www.toolking.com/media/catalog/product/3/0/30050.jpg I used the one 2nd from the left. I just used the end of the file, that has the flat tip and lightly pressed down and pushed forward and it came off really easy. I mean really easy. Just go slow so you dont nick the sides of miter slot. I used a fine grit sandpaper with a block to clean it up the slot afterwards, lubed up the slot, and now its running smooth and doesnt look silly.

PS. Wear glasses, cause when i scraped the paint off it flew all over the place like a projectile for some reason.

I attached the before picture... ill take a picture later to show the after.

[Mike Kearney]

Thanks, Adrian - I may give that a shot. By the way I emailed Grizzly's technical support and received the following reply:

"We appreciate your interest in our products. The coating in the t slots is protective coating. It is there to insure that the t-slots do not rust in transit. It can be left in place, and will likely wear with use, but has already done its job. I apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused."

So there you have it - it's rust protection. I'm not sure why it should be different than the rust protection on the rest of the saw but I'm okay with their answer. It doesn't seem to affect the use of the miter gauge. I plan to use the saw primarily for ripping anyway - my TS55-MFT/3 combo and miter saw are for cross cuts.

[Dick Strauss]

It looks like the slots are cast and never machined flat on the bottom of the slot...then painted to smooth the bottom surface. Is Grizzly using this technique to skip the grinding step?