Grizzly 1023RL Dust collection

[Marc Burt]

It sucks. Not in a good way. This thing is absolutely terrible. I can't imagine cutting MDF or something on it. I've never been one for how much sawdust accumulates in the cabinet but this thing has filled up all the way to the slot where the handwheel swings when you tilt the blade. My old Delta left this thing in the dust (pun intended).

I'm pleased with everything else on the saw. Fit, finish, vibration and accuracy are all great. But, without exaggeration, it may as well not have a dust collection port at all. I read of issues online before I bought mine but took them with a grain of salt as I'm not as OCD as many. So if you're out there reading those reviews and are thinking you're easy going like me...stop. The dust collection really is that bad.

Okay now that I'm done venting if you've read this far, does anybody know of a retro fit that will help? Between this and the Domino XL I just bought and christmas I'm a little tapped out currently so I can't drop the money on an overarm guard for the foreseeable future.

Thanks!

Marc

[James Gunning]

The saw has a blade shroud below the blade, but like the dust collection efforts of many manufacturers, it may not work that well. You may have to do a bit of tweaking to improve the pickup below the table. What do you have for a dust collector?

[Scott Brandstetter]

I have the same saw and although some dust builds up in the cabinet I am happy. I added a shark guard over head system and now I'm extremely happy. What size dust collector do you have? Is it a long run? Open gates on other equipment?

[Bill Space]

I have a G1023RLWX, which is the same saw I think, but with the 5 HP motor and router table attached. I don't seem to have that problem.

My dust collector is a 2 HP Grizzly piped with 4 inch plastic sewer pipe.

Is there a chance you have a restriction in your dust collect piping? I have about 30 feet of pipe and several elbows between my saw and the dust collector...and it works well enough.

I keep thinking you may have something restricting airflow...but that is simply a WAG.

Bill

[Marc Burt]

It's a 2hp collector plumbed through 6" metal pipe and maybe a 20' run through one elbow. It shares the port with my 12" jointer/planer (I move the flex from one to the other). I have no problem collecting the chips from the j/p so if there's an obstruction it's within the saw. That may very well be a possibility but it would've come from the factory that way as the collection has been terrible since day one. It does seems to me as though the blade shroud is doing absolutely nothing - ironic since that was one of my driving factors.

I will endeavor to take apart the flex hose this weekend and see if something is lodged in there. I'll also take the blade out and see if there's any suction in the blade shroud, I haven't thought to try that yet.

[Wade Lippman]

Dust collection on tablesaws is inherently bad; there just isn't enough opening to allow a satisfactory volume of air. A ZCI makes it even worse. Grizzly actually recommends opening another port to let the DC run better, but I tried that and it doesn't help.

An overhead guard with a dust port helps dramatically.

[keith micinski]

I have a harbor freight dust collector that's on its last leg and while I get a little build up around the perimeter I would say it does just fine. There has to be a problem if it is building up on the sloped floor enough to get the slot for tilt hand wheel.

[glenn bradley]

My saw has the blade shroud but, the connection point also collects from the cabinet and I have no problems with a 2HP cyclone collector. It sounds like something in the path is blocked and I have not read that you have confirmed that the pathway is clear. I have also read posts where there was some sort of retainer in place for shipping and the shroud hose got torn or tugged off when the blade was raised and lowered without removing the shipping braces. I would confirm the integrity of the pathway. If the only collection is from the shroud and it is intact, perhaps it is just a poor design. I would consider modifying the saw to collect the old-fashioned way from the bottom of the cabinet via a 4" or better yet a 6" port.

[Mark W Pugh]

It sucks. Not in a good way. This thing is absolutely terrible. I can't imagine cutting MDF or something on it. I've never been one for how much sawdust accumulates in the cabinet but this thing has filled up all the way to the slot where the handwheel swings when you tilt the blade. My old Delta left this thing in the dust (pun intended).

I'm pleased with everything else on the saw. Fit, finish, vibration and accuracy are all great. But, without exaggeration, it may as well not have a dust collection port at all. I read of issues online before I bought mine but took them with a grain of salt as I'm not as OCD as many. So if you're out there reading those reviews and are thinking you're easy going like me...stop. The dust collection really is that bad.

Okay now that I'm done venting if you've read this far, does anybody know of a retro fit that will help? Between this and the Domino XL I just bought and christmas I'm a little tapped out currently so I can't drop the money on an overarm guard for the foreseeable future.

Thanks!

Marc

I have the same problem. Someone on here did do a modification some time back. I don't recall the outcome of the mod. I've just resolved myself to cleaning out the cabinet every now and then.

[Sean Troy]

Sounds like it's not moving enough air. I had somewhat of the same problem with my 1023 SLX and ZCI. I drilled some 3/8 holes in the ZCI and the difference was very noticeable.

[Robin Frierson]

I have the same saw and get excellent dust collection for a table saw. I widened the port to 6in and only use 3ft of hose, rest 6in metal pipe. There is very little dust in the cabinet. I would suggest widening the port to 6in on all your machines where that is possible.

[Wade Lippman]

Sounds like it's not moving enough air. I had somewhat of the same problem with my 1023 SLX and ZCI. I drilled some 3/8 holes in the ZCI and the difference was very noticeable.

I thought of doing that, but someone pointed out the wood covers the holes. Good that its working for you though.

[Bill Space]

I thought of doing that, but someone pointed out the wood covers the holes. Good that its working for you though.


I do not have holes in my ZCI as I have not seen the need, but think if they were there, they would help air flow through the saw when material was not covering them, so they should be of some benefit.

Bill

[keith micinski]

I'm trying to figure out where you could have holes in your saw insert that wouldn't be covered up completely when you are making a cut? Maybe the far left edge but there can't be anywhere near enough room to make it worth doing.

[Sean Troy]

the holes help by moving more air after the cut to clear the saw out better instead of the buildup the OP is getting. Not a fix all but some help.

[keith micinski]

It just seems like if it's actually true that drilling a few small holes actually effects the make up air enough to somehow clean the cabinet out better then having them placed where they aren't covered up during use would be really helpful.

[Barry Richardson]

I have a PM200 but I'm thinking the shroud collector is similar. My hose that connects the shroud comes loose periodically, especially when I go from 90 to 45 degrees a lot. Check that if you haven't already....

[Ole Anderson]

Why do we worry if it keeps the INSIDE of the cabinet clean? BTW I cut holes in my fancy ZCI, didn't make too much difference in chip collection, maybe a little when doing a narrow rip.

[Marc Burt]

I don't worry about the inside of the cabinet, at all. I was just using that as an example of how little dust this this is collecting. I need to get back to the shop and investigate some of the things mentioned in this thread

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Marc, what size is the hose inside the cabinet that goes to the dust shroud?

In my saw it's a 5 inch hose.

The other issue is that without over blade collection you'll miss a large amount of the dust, although it won't be inside the cabinet of course..........Regards, Rod.

[Marc Burt]

Rod, It's a tiny hose. Maybe 2" to the blade shroud. Then there's the slot at the base to collect the other dust. I knew it wouldn't get all the dust without above the table collection (which is perpetually on the wish list, but always gets bumped) but I never dreamt that it would be worse than my old table saw. And it is far, far worse. Its as if not only does the blade guard not capture the dust, it keeps it close to the blade to be thrown back above the table and since the port is split for the blade shroud cabinet collection is even worse that just a regular port.

[James Gunning]

With the small hose to the blade shroud and probably only a total 4" opening in the back of the saw, it will be difficult to get enough air flow out of that saw to effectively keep the interior clean. Having never seen one of those saws, it likely needs the internal baffles changed to be more effective and needs a larger outlet port. A 6" port would flow over twice the air as the 4". The only drawback is probably having to do some surgery on the saw. Even that can probably be accomplished without cutting too much metal.

[Robin Frierson]

The back of that saw is unusual in that there are two holes. One square and one for the 2 inch hose. I just slapped a six-inch HVAC port over the combination of the two holes and that vastly improved the dust collection for me. You still have some dust left in the corners but it remains pretty clean In my saw. You can buy those six-inch HVAC ports at any borg and they have a flange and a seal on them. Then matchup the same holes for the old port and put it on with a piece of plywood. No surgery needed, very easy fix.

[Marc Burt]

Okay finally had a chance to get back and investigate this a little further last night. Between the holiday and actually needing to work on a project I wasn't able to get back to it sooner.

There is no obstruction in the hose to the blade shroud. I just think the hose is too small, if it's more than 1.5" ID I'll eat my hat. That hose, I believe, is also the reason why collection is so poor from the bottom of the cabinet. It seems the hose may be a little too long and it is resting on the bottom of the cabinet almost directly in front of the slot for the remaining dust collection pickup. I can't imagine that having that in the way isn't majorly negatively impacting the secondary collection.

So my first order of business is to see how much I shorten the stock hose and still be able to raise/lower/tilt the blade. After that hopefully I can rig up a way to running a bigger hose to the shroud - that would have to help also I think!

Funny thing, crawling around and under machinery isn't as easy as it used to be!

[Sean Troy]

That saw has a 4" dust port. Are you not connected to a dust collection system?

[Marc Burt]

Yes certainly. But the 4" dust port gets split inside the cabinet to the hose that goes to the shroud and a slot into the base.