Grizzly G0771Z - user opinions / thoughts?

[Bill Carey]

My Grizzly G1022 finally died. 20 plus years is not too bad. Anyone using the G0771Z? I'm not too worried about the fence because I have a shop fox classic that I can replace the alum rails with. Curious how you like working with it.
Thx

[Bill Carey]

Wow - I had no idea the G0771Z was so popular. (ya - I'm talking to myself. My wife says I'm the only one that will listen to me.)

[Bill Dufour]

It might help if I knew what it was. With a fence I assume a saw or shaper of some kind. Maybe it is the American dream made in China with a picket fence.
I am sure that adding a Z to the model # makes buyers think they are getting Zomething better then the old model.
Bill D

[Bill Carey]

LOL - it would have helped if I said it was a table saw. Live and learn. I figured if someone had one they would know. An american dream like one of the old Sears house kits - made in China.

[Bill Dufour]

My BIL grew up in a Sears kit house assembled in Detroit from a kit made somewhere else. I think it was made around 1900? Henry Ford got involved with making cast iron molds to make cast in place concrete houses at some time.
Bill D.

[Christopher Cox]

I have one on order. They've been out of stock but are supposed to be coming in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it is once I'm able to test it out.

[Bill Carey]

I ordered one myself yesterday. 1-25-18 seems to be the date. I was on the fence about the fence but I can always replace it. I would have to jump thru some hoops to get another 220 circuit in the shop, so I decided to just go with the G0771Z. Based on the fact that my G1022 lasted almost 30 years I'm pretty confident ordering from Grizzly. Let's compare notes after we get them set up.

[Christopher Cox]

Not having 220 in my basement shop was one of the main reasons I went with it. It seemed to be the best value for a 110v saw. I also did not want to deal with getting a heavier saw down into my basement. The fence is supposed to be an upgrade on the original G0771 as I guess there were some issues with the original design. Looking forward to testing it out.

[Christopher Cox]

I received my saw, but unfortunately I'm not able to finish setting it up, due to a major problem with the extension wings. 1 out of the 3 holes on the sides of the wings was drilled slightly too high, making it impossible for me to get the wing flush to the table. Same problem on both wings, and both sides have an issue, so I can't just swap them. The bolt on the incorrect hole can't be threaded unless the wing is sitting below the table. It's not something that can be fixed with shimming. They're making me ship the wings back to them to inspect before they will send out new ones due to the cost of them. Not super happy about this, especially since I have to figure out how to pack them up myself. They told me to reuse parts of the crate for the saw to pack it up. I tried to talk them into sending new ones first so I could reuse the packaging, but they wouldn't do it. This was coming from a supervisor.

[Nick Decker]

That sounds like the kind of problem that could've been solved by you sending them photos to document. They send new wings, you send back the old ones.

[Randy Heinemann]

The main reason I probably wouldn't buy a Grizzly tool is my understanding that Grizzly will not ever provide onsite service under warranty. I have no way of verifying this because I don't own any Grizzly tools although thought seriously about a Grizzly table saw at one point because of price and generally high ratings. I bought an 8" Jet Helical Head jointer awhile back and have been completely satisfied wth their warranty service. They sent out a 3rd party service company twice for warranty covered repairs. The repairs themselves were not serious. However, they would have taken me a lot of time and effort complete. We all want to buy tools that don't require service under warranty or otherwise. The fact is that tools sometimes do require service. Grizzly requires the tool to be shipped back at owner's expense if you can't install the parts yourself. That's expensive and difficult to accomplish for a home woodworker. Just some input on Grizzly in general. I do hope, though, that the problems noted here are simple to solve and resolved quickly.

[Mike Kees]

Chris, why dont you just fix the wings yourself ? Seems like you could just drill the holes slightly larger and then use a washer on the bolt . How far off is the alignment ? I would probably do this myself rather than go thru all the pain of returns and waiting etc. However it is your saw and your decision,good luck,Mike.

[Christopher Cox]

One hole on each side of the wings is off by 1/16th of an inch vs the others. It forces the wing to be too low to the table by that much on that side. It's off by just enough that you can't get the bolt into the thread when flush. Since this problem is the same on each side of both wings, it makes me think there are probably others on the production line that were like this as well. The hole would probably have to be elongated slightly to be more like an oval. I considered trying to drill it, but I was worried about the bit slipping back into the hole, since I would have to drill on the edge. The problem with doing this is that by modifying it, I would be voiding the warranty. I haven't been able to finish setting it up and don't know if there are other issues yet. I also don't have any experience drilling metal, so I decided not to try to fix it. If it were used, then I probably would try. I've already received the return authorization and have them boxed up, so I guess I'm just going to send them back to exchange at this point.

They wanted me to reuse some of the shipping crate from the saw for packaging, but I didn't want to in case there's any other issue with the saw, so I had to make my own boxes. I also told them that I was worried about them getting damaged on the way back since I have limited packing materials on hand and they said they've already been flagged as defective so it wasn't a big deal. If that's the case, then why do they need them back first? Also, I'm not sure why they can't just send new ones and have me send the old ones back using their packaging. Most companies would just bill you after if they never get the return back. I also had to make two separate boxes because they gave me separate return labels for each one.

[eugene thomas]

The on site service comment . So what company in the grizzly price range provides that?

[Christopher Cox]

Just to give an update, I received a call from tech support. I was on my way to the store and was going to drop the packages off to be shipped while I was out, so they got a hold of me just in time. He said it was ok for me to try drilling and it wouldn't void my warranty. I can still send them in if I can't get it to work out. He suggested to try using a hand drill and put the bit into the hole and use the side of it to grind away and try to create an elongated hole. I went home and tried doing that, and it seems to be working, but is also going to take a while. Any other ideas or is that the best way? I do have a drill press. Would it be better to use that? I had to stop for now because I ran out of time, but can try to work on it over the weekend.

[glenn bradley]

The on site service comment . So what company in the grizzly price range provides that?

None. That is part of what you are not paying for at this price point. People want Wal-Mart prices and Nordstrom services; not going to happen.:)

[Nick Decker]

Chris, are you drilling into the saw or into the wings? If the saw, I wouldn't do it.

[Christopher Cox]

Wings, not the saw. The wings have a slightly larger hole than the bolts to give a small amount of adjustability. The saw holes are threaded for the bolt to go into.

[Nick Decker]

Ah, I see now. Like you, I'm not experienced with metal work, but if Grizzly said go for it, all you've got to lose is some work and probably a few drill bits.

[Matt Day]

Okay, let me get this straight, you have one hole in an extension wing that is off by 1/16”? Just drill it out with a bit that is 1/8” larger than the existing hole. Assuming you have enough material surrounding it to allow it. Cast iron is super easy to drill, so a handheld drill is fine. I’d use multiple bits, moving up incrementally until reaching the size that works.

[Matt Day]

You have to expect to do that once in a while when you buy on price point. Buy Powermatic or Felder or something if you don’t want to deal with. I’m sure grizzly would take it back and give you a new one, but it’s a lot faster to make a simple fix yourself.

[Mike Kees]

Chris if you only need a sixteenth of an inch just drill the hole out with a larger size and leave it round. cast iron drills easily if you have a good drill bit (new) . Mike.

[Bill Carey]

I too received my saw. I did not experience any of the pain Chris did. Sorry to hear about the problems Chris. The packaging was pristine - not even dirty. The saw went together easily. The only problem I had was the threads for the motor cover, back panel and dust connection were painted and needed to be cleaned out. Not a big deal. The left wing needed a single piece of tape below the holes to bring it up to flat with the table. Other than that the table was dead flat using 2 different straight edges. The saw runs smooth and quiet.

I was worried about the fence being aluminum, but it is heavy and when locked down it does not move. I had to square the fence to 90 to the table. Again, no big deal. I'll work with it for a while before I sell the shop fox fence from my old Grizzly (which lasted 30 years).

I was sorry to read your post Chris - I know how excited I was to be getting a new saw, and how disappointed I would be to have to f around fixing it before I even used it. If you have any questions or just want to vent, pm me and I'll give you my number. Good luck - hope you eventually enjoy the saw as much as I am.

[scott spencer]

Wow...hard to believe a company wants you to start "elongating" holes in a brand new machine and Micky Mousing it to try to get it in the shape it should have been in when you received it...I've read of far too many situations like this from this company.

Since Grizzly sells a lot more saws than most companies, it actually makes sense that you'd read about more issues. That doesn't necessarily correlate to a higher defect rate though. In cases where a dealer is involved, the dealer will usually intercept issues like this before it gets passed on to the customer. Without a middle man and the associated markup, you have to be willing to take on the role that the dealer plays. No doubt those holes should have been right, but they weren't, so the path of least resistance is to drill them out.

[Curt Harms]

Just to give an update, I received a call from tech support. I was on my way to the store and was going to drop the packages off to be shipped while I was out, so they got a hold of me just in time. He said it was ok for me to try drilling and it wouldn't void my warranty. I can still send them in if I can't get it to work out. He suggested to try using a hand drill and put the bit into the hole and use the side of it to grind away and try to create an elongated hole. I went home and tried doing that, and it seems to be working, but is also going to take a while. Any other ideas or is that the best way? I do have a drill press. Would it be better to use that? I had to stop for now because I ran out of time, but can try to work on it over the weekend.

As an alternative to drilling an oversized hole, you could consider a rat tail file or dremel-type tool if you have one of those. Oversized hole is probably the quickest and easiest though.

[Christopher Cox]

I too received my saw. I did not experience any of the pain Chris did. Sorry to hear about the problems Chris. The packaging was pristine - not even dirty. The saw went together easily. The only problem I had was the threads for the motor cover, back panel and dust connection were painted and needed to be cleaned out. Not a big deal. The left wing needed a single piece of tape below the holes to bring it up to flat with the table. Other than that the table was dead flat using 2 different straight edges. The saw runs smooth and quiet.

I was worried about the fence being aluminum, but it is heavy and when locked down it does not move. I had to square the fence to 90 to the table. Again, no big deal. I'll work with it for a while before I sell the shop fox fence from my old Grizzly (which lasted 30 years).

I was sorry to read your post Chris - I know how excited I was to be getting a new saw, and how disappointed I would be to have to f around fixing it before I even used it. If you have any questions or just want to vent, pm me and I'll give you my number. Good luck - hope you eventually enjoy the saw as much as I am.

Thanks Bill, I appreciate it. I'm glad you're liking it. The good news is that I managed to finish enlarging the holes and now have the wings attached. I had to use some aluminum tape to shim both of them, but now everything is flat. It was a little bit of a pain, but overall not as bad as I thought. It was better than sending them back and having to wait. Also, I didn't have to worry about the new ones getting damaged in shipping on the way back. I used a drill bit and stuck it in the hole and used the side of it to grind away at it, which was Grizzly's suggestion. I didn't have a big enough bit to drill a larger hole, and also drilling off the edge was making the bit slip into the hole. I also didn't have the right file, so that was the best method. I also managed to get everything else set up and it runs smoothly. I still have to finish adjusting some things and dialing everything in, but am glad I was able to get everything together and it seems like it will work out ok.

[Christopher Cox]

Just to give an update, I ended up discovering a major issue after I got everything up and running. My saw has a blade alignment problem. If you align the blade to the miter gauge slot, the alignment shifts slightly as you raise or lower the blade. This is the same issue that many people with the Ridgid 4512 have had. Over the whole length of travel, it is about 1/32" off. It took me about a week before I finally figured out what was going on.

There is another person over on the Lumber Jocks forum who has the same problem and also has a brand new saw as well. He demonstrates the issue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvpvVYdhgJo
Tech support sent him a new blade bracket (part #38) and he told me that made a big improvement and appears to be causing most of the issue. This part pivots off the motor and moves the arbor with it and may be causing everything to twist slightly, due to a manufacturing issue with it. They are sending me a new one, but the part is backordered and it looks like it could be a few weeks before I can get it. I'm going to try to make the repair and see if that helps. If not, I will have to send the saw back and see if Grizzly can fix it. If they can't, they'll have to give me a replacement saw or possibly a refund, as it's now backordered again. Making this repair myself is a lot less of a hassle than sending it back in.

I was surprised to have this issue, as there is no mention of it on any reviews, so it's not a common problem. If I can get this fixed, I'll be happy with it, as I like everything else about it, but right now it's way too inaccurate for me to use like this. It has been frustrating so far, but tech support has been very helpful and it sounds like they will be taking care of it, but right now I'm going to have to hold off on using it until I can get it fixed.

[Bill Carey]

Must be aggravating Chris - hope you get it fixed. I got mine from the same batch Cris did, and while I have not had the alignment problems he is experiencing, there are some bad details. The fence is kind of irritating: I have it adjusted just right in terms of the blade alignment, but the tape measure is off. And not just off where I can adjust it by moving the magnifier/reader. When set at 6" it's right on the money. When set at 18" it actually cuts 18 1/16" plus. Set at 28" it cuts 28" on the nose. And the end caps on the fence stick up above the fence body. And if I put the fence over the blade and rest a 4' level on it, it reads 2 1/8" on left end of the table, and 2 5/8" at the right end of the table. I'm thinking it might be time to drill out the Shop Fox rails and install it. And the knob used to tighten the angle wheel in place turns the wheel, so you have to hold it in place while you tighten the knob down to secure the setting. Dust collection could be better. Still waiting for the back ordered zero clearance insert. But these are quibbles I suppose. I've ripped 3" oak with it and it handles that ok. All in all, for the work I do with it, it's a fine tool. Pretty quiet, and very little if any vibration.