8 year old Griz 1023z for $650 - seems like a good deal but right tilt

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

I have the opportunity to pick up a 2003 Grizzly 1023z for $650. The guy upgraded to a 5hp motor (single phase) and a Bench Dog cast iron router table wing. I am happy about the router table wing. My only reservation is the saw being right tilt. The reason for this is not the normal left vs right argument.

Being a right tilt, the motor is on the right side. I will be putting a sliding attachment on the left. This means that I will have to put the router table wing on the right. To do this I will have to attach it the the existing left wing because the motor is in the way. Has anyone done this? If so did you have any problems with the extra weight hanging off one side?

Please note that I will be able to attach the router table wing to the rails.

Thanks.

[david brum]

Are you sure the router table won't work in place of the right table wing? Grizz's site shows their cast router wing with a right motor:http://www.grizzly.com/products/H7507/images/3. Go to the 4th image down on the left.

If you wanted to still use the right wing + the router extension, you would probably want to have the right wing's edge machined. The finish is a painted, rough casting otherwise. You'd also want to make that you had very solid support under the wing in order to keep the top from bowing.

[Curt Harms]

A question might be how far the router opening is from the table attachment. I have a home made router extension in place of the right cast iron wing & it works good. The router hangs to the right of the motor cover. The Bench Dog extension costs $300+ by itself I believe so that makes the saw pretty cheap. I just measured my motor cover on a straight 1023(not a Z) right tilt and it sticks out 9" from the saw cabinet. The main table extends about .5" past the cabinet so there needs to be at least 8.5" between the left edge of the router extension and the router in order to replace the right wing. I hope this makes sense.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Thanks guys. Yeah, Curt, what you wrote makes sense. I just called the guy and will be picking up later this morning. It will be a nice upgrade from my Ridgid, which has treated me nicely for the past 4 years.

[Mike Cruz]

Cyrus, sounds to me like you just had a Creeker meeting! Hope that went well.

[Aleks Hunter]

Hi Cyrus, I have the exact setup of 1023z with the bench dog table but I retired the shop fox fence in favor of an incra ts/ls. I believe that if you have a good welder beef up the angle iron that are the shop fox fence rails and use some steel struts and legs on the motor side of the cabinet for additional support you should be OK with hanging the benchdog wing on the end of the right side wing of the saw.

The benchdog wing is pretty heavy, about 80 pounds, plus there is the weight of a decent router I have a porter cable that is about 25 pounds altogether with the bench dog lift, which I do like immensely. The way the shop fox fence rollers work on the edges of the angle iron rails, there is a good inch of width on the underside to weld a steel bar for extra stiffness, but you still want struts from the cabinet base to the ends of the rails.

Another issue you may find is that the edge of the right hand wing is not machined perpendicular to the top so you will have to do a bit of shimming to get the bench dog wing to lie flat.

Lastly when you do hang well over a hundred pounds on the end of the right hand wing, remember that the saw is only about 400 pounds itself, and you are adding weight on the motor (heavy) side, so some legs and extension rails for that shop fox base are also in order. The last thing you want is to have the table flip over on you when you go to mill a heavy work piece on the router table.

The only issues I had with the Grizzly saw itself was the ridiculous black measuring tape for the fence which I replaced with a starret (I have been quite happy with the fence thereafter and only replaced it with the incra to get the repeat-ability) and a bit of arbor flange run out that was quickly remedied by a bit of dressing with a diamond hone. Since those two quick fixes I've been very happy with the saw, It rips White oak and sugar maple without even the slightest protest.

[Aleks Hunter]

The motor cover is in the way on the right side of the saw.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Cyrus, sounds to me like you just had a Creeker meeting! Hope that went well.

Mike,

It was a Creeker meeting. Ken was a nice guy but we could only chat for about 30 minutes - I had my three little guys in the truck with me and it was getting close to lunch time.

My wife was nice enough to give me the entire day in the shop to get my old saw ready for sale and set up the Grizzly.

By the way - you beat me to the PC router by about 25 minutes. I saw it earlier in the day but waited to contact the guy.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Aleks,

Thanks for the advise. Yesterday I went though setting up the saw. I got lucky - the the edge of the right wing was perpendicular to both the top and the sides. I drilled four holes in the right wing that matched up with the benchdog wing and then drilled and tapped the sides of both wings to attach to the rail. It is super sturdy, however, I plan on attaching the legs that came with it as soon as I find the ideal spot to put the saw - still re-re-arranging the shop.

As far as it being heavy on the right side, I attached a dewalt slider to the left. It is only slightly lighter than both wings on the right and balances out the saw nicely..

Also, thanks for the other tips.

[Mike Cruz]

I'm hoping to get together with Ken, myself. Guess we just need to sure up a time...

Yeah, I answered that ad pretty quickly. If it makes you feel any better, when I got there, he was sick as a dog...I was a little worried that that "deal" may come back to bite me...