New Grizzly 1023RL Flatness

[Ronald Blue]

I used to do tool and die/machinist work at an earlier job. Obviously there are tolerances for everything. Even seasoned cast iron takes some care to end up with a flat surface. By flat I'm talking as close to perfect as we could get it. under .001 and as I recall around .0005. It usually took a couple attempts to get here. This wasn't production but tooling related so we weren't proficient at it. We used a Blanchard grinder. What I do recall is it's extremely easy even under a literal flood of coolant to have the wheel lose just enough of the sharp exposed grain to have the piece start to heat up. This caused the cast iron to raise towards the wheel compounding the issue. This can happen amazingly fast. You are constantly watching what's happening in case you have to suddenly crank the wheel to raise the head. So we usually stopped several times to dress the grinding wheel. One last time just before the finish grind. Just kissing the surface on the last grind. What I'm saying has already been said. How much more are you willing to pay for that small gain in flatness.

[Alex Zeller]

It's easy to loose perspective when you want as close to perfect as you can get. Set it up the best you can and cut some boards. If it actually is an issue then worry about it.

[David Kumm]

Sorry I didn't remember the concave part. Is there a place between the base and the table where you can place a shim and then tighten down the bolts slowly. Take a little of the bow out, wait a couple day and tighten some more. Cast iron will flex if you go slow. Dave.

[Charles Coolidge]

Hi David,

I did verify it is the fixed table that is concave by .0045 on the left side. The right side is good. With it being concave on the left side the extension is sticking above the concave part where it is attached.

How far does the concave extend from the left edge towards the blade? I might look under the table to see if a shim could be inserted then pull the concave down flat with the corner bolts that attach the table to the base.

[Ken Howell]

Hi - Sorry it's been a couple of day.

David and Charles - That's a pretty good idea. The concave is about .0045. I think I'll try that if my cuts come out too bad.

Thank you.

[Bill Space]

I must admit that my G1023RLWX went together so easily and nice and looked so pretty, that I never checked the tables for flatness. I did check the blade/table miter slot relationship, and it was right on.

And I never had reason to question the cutting results.

From what you have posted as measurements, I am pretty certain you will be fine. I do not plan to check mine, although I do have a high quality 4' Starret straight edge...ignorance is bliss, right?

[Bob Riefer]

I must admit that my G1023RLWX went together so easily and nice and looked so pretty, that I never checked the tables for flatness. I did check the blade/table miter slot relationship, and it was right on.

And I never had reason to question the cutting results.

From what you have posted as measurements, I am pretty certain you will be fine. I do not plan to check mine, although I do have a high quality 4' Starret straight edge...ignorance is bliss, right?

It's like you stole the words out of my brain. This is exactly what I was thinking, but shoot.. now I kind of want to check.

[Cary Falk]

I put a straight edge across mine when I got it. It looked pretty good but I didn't measure anything. I think tried to pass a piece of paper between the straight edge and the table. I wouldn't sweat 4.5 thousands