Hi Everybody:
I know this doesn't count as a gloat--no pictures yet. But the Grizzly G0691 table saw that I ordered last Saturday was delivered on Thursday by UPS Freight. I asked for a lift gate, and waited most of the day for the saw to be delivered. Got tired of waiting, and decided to go down into the shop to make room for it. I heard some noise outside, and by the time I got out there, the driver had wheeled the saw into the garage. No visible damage on the crate or any of the boxes.
I called a local erecting company to see how much they would charge to move it into the basement: $1000. Yeah, right. My neighbor has an appliance dolly, so I called him over. He came with his dolly and his 13-year-old son. It took us about 15 minutes to uncrate the machine, load it on the dolly, and get it down the stairs. Nobody even broke a sweat.
I spent the last couple of days setting it up in my spare time. Here's what I found:
- The saw itself was well packaged, and there was no damage in shipping.
- I'm basically happy with the quality of the machine--with a couple of exceptions noted below. The trunnion is massive, raising and tilting the blade is smooth and easy, and it appears that the fence can be adjusted for parallel as well as a Biesemeyer.
- The riving knife is solid and both the knife and guard are super easy to install and remove. No complaints there. I can't imagine how it could be done any better. I also like the split guard.
- Off the crate, the blade was almost dead on parallel with the miter slot (within .001 inch)
- The extension wings are pretty close to dead flat, within .0015. The table however, is warped a bit. It dishes by about .003 inches in the center of the table to the right side. Not a huge problem, but enough to make me uneasy. I was able to get the left extension wing installed without much of a lip, but there was no way to install the right wing without a lip.
- The faces of the fence are not even close to flat. That made it difficult to adjust the fence to be parallel to the miter slot. I removed the face, and aligned the bare fence casting. It was extremely rough, and covered with paint. I was able to get it parallel within about .002 inches (without the face attached). But the face has both high and low spots that vary by as much as .020 inches. I'll contact customer support to see if they have any suggestions. Has anyone solved this problem?
- The overall design of the fence is good I think. I like the nylon bolts that eliminate slack. I can move the fence, and it stays parallel to the miter slot. We'll see how long they last...
- One corner of the extension table was damaged--it was obviously dropped by somebody. I already contacted Grizzly to get a replacement.
- I haven't gotten around to replacing the cord and plug yet. So I haven't started it up. Maybe tomorrow.
- I also ordered the shop fox mobile base with extension. I was able to get the saw mounted on the mobile base by building it around the saw. I haven't noticed any bending at the casters yet.
Overall, I'm happy with the purchase so far. I still have to wire it, check for runout on the arbor and flange, and saw some wood! Maybe tomorrow.
Jeff