It finally happened

[Paul Follett]

I have been using a 1982 Craftsman table saw since I bought it new and have used it for everything from fencing to furniture. This saw has served me well with a few upgrades like a link belt, thin kerf blade and carefully tuning but the time was right for an upgrade.

Thursday the big FedEx truck showed up and in it was a Grizzly G1023RL and a G1028z2 :) . I have them up and running now and so far I am very pleased. The saw was very well adjusted right out of the box, the blade was within 0.001 of the miter slots and just needed a tweak to be 90 degrees to the table. I installed my existing Bench Dog router table on the right side, it took a little bit of time to slot the holes but it came out level. Speaking of level, I only needed a layer of aluminum duct taod to get both side extensions perfect.

I had expected the clean up to take more time but I scrapped the top before using a little Naptha and it was no big deal. I fitted a zero clearance insert, also fom Grizzly and added 4 neodymium magnets in holes I spot faced into th bottom to keep it in place a little better.

It fired right up runs nice and smooth with no shut down vibration at all. The blade lift and tilt are smooth and accurate, the heavy and effective locking knobs work very well.

The dust collection is very good particularly compared to my old open contractors saw the G1028z2 seems to be a good match.

Overall I am satisfied and expect this to be the last table saw I will need.

My only dissapointments are the Shop Fox mobile base doesn't turn well..... and that I waited so long.

Paul

[Jay Aubuchon]

"... and that I waited so long." Yes, indeed! Why do we wait so long, even when we can afford not to? I also recently replaced a Craftsman contractor saw I bought in 1979 with a good cabinet saw.

[ken carroll]

I like old US made saws myself - but the Grizzly G1023 is a great saw. I used to own one eons ago (not left tilt tho') and it was a smooth, powerful, accurate saw.
You will not be disappointed!

[Frederick Skelly]

Congratulations on your new saw!

[William C Rogers]

Did I miss the pictures?

congrats on your saw.

[Jim Dwight]

Congratulations, especially on the table saw. I still use my BT3100. I might "upgrade" some day, mainly to get a real miter gauge slot. But the BT3100 is very accurate and I use my track saw a lot.

The DC looks nice too and significantly more powerful than the 1hp Delta I just sold, partially because it was too small to keep up with the jointer. The filter bag is much finer than what my Delta came with but coarser than the bags I put on it next and much coarser than the cartridge filter it had when I sold it. I found I had fine dust all over the end of the shop where the DC was. I don't know how much was the very bad initial bags and how much were the later ones (shaker felt, supposedly good to 1 micron) but I had fine dust on the outside of the "good" bags. If I put a DC in my current shop, it will be at least this large and will have a super dust deputy on it and probably discharge outside. The cartridge filter worked well but seemed to need cleaning a LOT. The cyclone would help with that and if I discharge outside I have no cleaning to do. The design of that DC would facilitate the installation of a cyclone.

[Paul Follett]

So far I have been unable to upload the picture, research is ongoing :D

Got it

333685

[Gregory Carles]

I'm in a similiar situation as you, I have 1983 craftsman that I have been using since new, but I have been saving up for a new saw. I have almost all the funds saved and am getting ready to order the saw. 1023 RL,or 10123RLW. I see why you did not get the router wing with you already having the bench dog one. I was thinking of getting the RLW because of the extra width of the extension wing form 10" to 18" and not really ever using the router in the table, just get it for the extra cast iron extension.

Greg

[Randy Red Bemont]

I have the G1023RLX same saw just more ripping width. It is a great saw and you will love it. Accurate and powerful. No complaints on dust collection either.

Red

[Gregory Carles]

My only dissapointments are the Shop Fox mobile base doesn't turn well.....



I was wondering if one could put on swivel casters on all 4 points to alleviate this issue, I agree with you on the moving with the base, I have a shop fox base on my band saw and it doesn't move as easily as I would have hoped.
Greg

[Paul Follett]

I was wondering if one could put on swivel casters on all 4 points to alleviate this issue, I agree with you on the moving with the base, I have a shop fox base on my band saw and it doesn't move as easily as I would have hoped.
Greg

I have two more swivel casters on the way and I plan on trying it with 4, I will post how it works out.

After using the saw a couple days I am noticing it is shorter (height) than I am used to by 3.5 inches. For the sake of my back I may end up building a base to get the table height to more like 40 inches this will allow me to use better full locking casters.

[John Sanford]

I installed my existing Bench Dog router table on the right side, it took a little bit of time to slot the holes but it came out level. Speaking of level, I only needed a layer of aluminum duct taod to get both side extensions perfect.

I assume by this you mean you had to shim the mating faces of the extensions to table? Methinks this may be a solution for me, as I fear my multiple cast iron wings have some "droop". I have two wings and the Benchdog table off to the right side.

Congrats on the new saw, the ease of cutting will be like night and day from your old contractor's saw. Well, at least with thicker and/or harder material. 1/4" plywood doesn't really cut noticeably easier. ;)

[Paul Follett]

I assume by this you mean you had to shim the mating faces of the extensions to table? Methinks this may be a solution for me, as I fear my multiple cast iron wings have some "droop". I have two wings and the Benchdog table off to the right side.

Congrats on the new saw, the ease of cutting will be like night and day from your old contractor's saw. Well, at least with thicker and/or harder material. 1/4" plywood doesn't really cut noticeably easier. ;)

Yep I ended up shimming the bottom edges between the table and the extensions using aluminum foil tape. I ended up no more than 0.005 out across the width of the working surface with the router table about 0.002 higher than the center of the table.

I have been cutting out some drawer boxes for a linen cabinet I started a couple weeks ago and could not be happier with how the saw is working. The overall rigidity and power just makes every cut a breeze.

[Mike Ontko]

Congrats on the new arrival, and thanks for sharing the news! I've been eyeballing the same model for a while but just haven't pulled that trigger yet. I'd "upgraded" from an older model Craftsman (113.299040) to a G1022ZFX with a ShopFox G4723 fence about 3 years ago, and am already eager to put it back on the market so I can move up to the next level.

[Saleem Hodge]

Congratulations on the new saw! I have the same nibble base that you have and have the same issue. I'm hoping to build a bad myself in the future.