Cabinet saw shopping (long)

[Charlie Self]

Where do you get your info? GG1023SL; G1023S.

Charlie Self "They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." George W. Bush, St. Charles, Missouri, November 2,

2000

[Darrell Dorsey]

From the Grizzly catalog and website. Both of these saws have 26" capacity, not 30". I even contacted Grizzly to see if they could sell a G1023SL without a fence or provide a 30" fence. They could not do it.

Darrell

[John Grossbohlin]

If you really need 30" over the various 25-26" Grizzly fences simply order a

52" fence and cut the rails off... The steel is soft and a good hacksaw, and mill file to deburr, would handle the job.

John

[Wes Stewart]

Yes, I got the Delta base and it's worked out fine for me. It seems to me that there were some assembly order problems, but I don't remember exactly what they were, so I guess they weren't a big deal. Just a few long-forgotten swear words [g]. The saw moves around easily and even in my somewhat cramped space I can "park it" nicely.

Unfortunately for you, the foot-operated lift mechanism is going to interfere (or vice-versa) with your cabinet.

FYI during my set-up process I documented some thoughts with the intent to post them here. As I recall, I didn't follow through, nevertheless, here they are:

1. Decided to buy locally (glad I did) from Woodcraft during their March (2004) 10% off sale. Went with a 30" Biesemeyer fence and Delta mobile base. Paid all of extra for home delivery.
2. Week later, saw arrives. Two Woodcraft guys deliver in PU truck with no lift gate. Call next-door neighbor over and four of us skid it down a couple of 4x4s without incident. Tilt indicator was bright red before unloading and big hole in box but no apparent damage. Sell Craftsman saw to neighbor for hundred bucks.
3. Manage to single-handedly get saw off pallet onto mobile base. Work stops here during three-week trip.
4. Back home, back to assembly. Options are: open all boxes and do inventory and then lose parts before they are needed; or, wait until parts are needed to open boxes. Choose second option.
5. Assemble left-hand cast iron extension wing. Doesn't line up. Make it flush with the table front and rear and it sags 8 thou midway along the joint line although one inch back from the front, the extension is proud 4 thou. Left front outside edge of extension droops 20 thou.
6. Call Wendy at Woodcraft. She says Delta will drop ship replacement to me. Work stops for a week.
7. UPS man brings new extension wing. This one is worse than the original! The finish is horrible. On both wings, it appears than when the grinding wheel was introduced to the iron there was a lot of chatter. The first couple of inches bear witness to this by being very rough and showing the wheel marks. If I eat enough Wheaties, I can turn this thing upside down and use it as a wood rasp. Say to hell with it and reinstall original extension wing. Determine that part of the misalignment is an artifact of the main table having a high spot at the left front edge. Aligning the wing to this spot creates misalignment along the rest of the interface. Use flat grinding stone to hone this high spot down and fiddle fart around until I figure it's good enough.
8. Install front and rear angle supports. Instructions say that front support that holds rip fence rail must be installed to exact dimension of 2 27/32" below table top. No way in hell will this happen without enlarging mounting holes in table top. Start elongating holes with rat-tail file. Slow going. Decide that since angle surface is too low, another option would be to add shims between angle and fence rail. Bolt on fence rail using ¼" flat washers as shims. Works dandy.
9. Time to mount the laminate extension table. Manual says, and photos show, mounting of "Z-bracket". No Z-bracket to be found in boxes. Call Woodcraft. They say they will call Delta and call back. Next day after not hearing from Woodcraft, I call Delta. Guy says, "Oh, the Z-bracket isn't used with Beisemeyer fence, the manual is wrong." While I have him on the phone I mention misalignment of fence rail. He says, 'Be glad that it's too low, that way you can use shims for alignment, some of them are too high then you have a real problem." Lucky me! I also mention extension wing problem. He says he will send another.
10. Ten days later, UPS man comes with extension wing. The box is completely shredded and it is obvious that somewhere along the line, the extension has exited the box and landed on a corner against a hard object. Unless Delta sends somebody out to retrieve this one, I now have a heavy-duty surface plate of questionable accuracy.

End of old story.

The saw works fine. I'm using my old Freud blade. Tried a super-duper Forrest WW-II and it shook the saw apart. I know it was just a bad one, but it went back for good. The fence is a dream, although there is a slight dip in the laminate facing. I also got the Delta splitter and did away with the blade guard. See:

doesn't come with instructions and has to be tweaked depending on which tilt you get. Makes an interesting mental quiz.

There you have it.

Wes

[D. J. Dorn]

I have a better way. Since it's a G1023SL, you don't really ever need to put the fence on the left side of the blade, simply remove the standard rails and shift them to the right. I wound up with about 34" of rip capacity by only drilling a couple holes in the rail (not the saw) and filing the excess down that would then sit up in the slot. A drill, a file and about 40 minutes and I had a 34" rip saw and have never regretted it. In fact, I then put a router table over the new found space at the right and saved some more room and provided a table platform as well. BTW, after a year or so, I never have thought "I wish I had the ability to put the fence on the left side of the blade".

Don

[Darrell Dorsey]

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond with some good notes about your experience. I have to say you really have me concerned about my decision to buy the Delta. Many will say go with the Uni over the imports for the Delta quality and support. But gee!!!!. For my $1450 I'm expecting a good top, wing and fence. I'm not expecting a perfect saw, but I sure am expecting good fit and finish from the top and wing.

Did you get the extension for the mobile base as well? Is it needed?

-- Darrell

[Wes Stewart]

Not a problem. I had most of it already typed up...just never posted.

Part of my unpublished tale that I left out earlier was:

"In other threads I railed against what I perceived as lousy quality control and the fact (in my mind) that manufactures didn't sell saws, they sold saw kits; a bunch of parts that needed to be finished by the sucker-err---buyer, to complete the construction. I gotta a lot of flack over that one so without further ado or editorial comment follows the ongoing story of the Delta Unisaw?"

I stand by those remarks. No matter what you buy, you will get to finish the product, if my research is any indication. The one ace in the hole for me was that I bought locally from Woodcraft and they promised I could bring it back anytime during the first year. I had to pay sales tax, but Amazon wouldn't offer me this deal. If you have a local dealer, keep your city green would be my major piece of advice.

It's easy to wax poetic about these things, but consider what you're really buying. You're buying a steel box with a motor inside and a slab of cast iron on top. It is a "tool" used to cut wood (and if my "shop" is typical, to serve as an extra horizontal work and storage surface). There are pros and cons to all of them, so make a decision, buy one, never look back and have fun cutting wood.

Yes

Yes. The right side table (laminate) is supported by a pair of legs. These in turn are supported by the extension.

[Darrell Dorsey]

Thanks John for the suggestion. The Grizzly 52" version sells for approx. $1,380 (with shipping), then I have to cut it up. I can get the Delta for $1,450 (and maybe a little cheaper with a 5% first time buyer discount from WW supply) and free shipping. If a Delta is all the people say, then I might as well spend the extra $100 and get a Delta. I have nothing in against the Grizzly. I have a nice 8" Grizzly jointer. The jointer is wonderful and met my needs.

Also, I'm, not sure I really need the 30" fence. I know I've made many cuts that pushed the limits of the 30" fence. I'm thinking that I would miss it. Going with 26" seems to going in the wrong direction.

Darrell

[Darrell Dorsey]

Thanks again, the reason I asked it that my Jet has a right cast iron wing and a small table board, but no legs.

Darrell

[John Grossbohlin]

I struggled with this same issue. I had a Jet Contractor saw with 30" xacta fence and fought with sheets goods a number a times. When I got the Jet Cabinet saw it had the 50" xacta fence. I was going to cut the rails down to maybe 40" as I didn't think I had the room for the longer fence. However, before doing anything rash, I set the saw up with the long rails and put it on a Delta mobile base to see how it worked out. It's been like that for a year now and I don't intend to change it. Only once in that year did I have trouble getting something past the saw -- two days ago in fact -- and I simply lifted the cabinet over the saw. I can always swing the saw 90 degrees if I have to get something past it that is too heavy to lift over it.

With the dilemma you have, for $100 I'd go with the Delta. Of course you could take my approach and spend the $100 on a mobile base and leave the fence alone. ;-)

John

[Bob G.]

====================== I installed the rails offset about a foot to the left on my Jet...just to get a little extra room to the right of the saw...in my smallish shop.. Did this 15 years ago and while I "only" have about 40 couple of inches for a rip on the right of the blade I have close to 20 on the left... Works for me....

Bob Griffiths