Req. For Comment, Grizzly G1023SL Table Saw

[LP]

I'm a few days away from springing for the Grizzly G1023SL left tilt cabinet saw. If you own one of these, I'd appreciate any comment, positive or negative.

[tony1158]

Well, I own the 1023s, the right tilt one. I love it.

Tony

[LP]

[TWS]

I have the G1023SL and I love it. Be prepared though - mine arrived two days after ordering it...

The saw is solid, has plenty of power, and I really like the left tilting feature. I suggest you order some zero clearance inserts from Grizzly because most of the third party inserts are made for right tilting. One drawback of the left tilting is that thicker blades move the cutting edge toward the right so your right side scale will be off by the additional thickness of the blade. This doesn't bother me since the only thick blade I use are dado blades and I don't align these cuts with the fence rule.

The advantage is that the blade tilts away from the fence for angled cuts so short pieces w>I'm a few days away from springing for the Grizzly G1023SL left tilt

TWS

[RonB]

I have owned the right-tilt 1023S for about 2-1/2 years and it is a great machine. I saw your second post and you might want to think about:

1) getting it unloaded. Mine arrived in Wichita, KS about 36 hours after my internet order. I had it held at the trucker's dock because most won't unload. They helped get it onto my pickup and I had help meet me later that day at home. If you have the trucker bring it out, make sure he has a lift gate on his truck.

2) Don't assemble anything untill it is pretty close to its final resting place and I strongly recommend a mobile base.

3) Once you get it on the floor, leave it on the shipping pallet because it can help you mount it on the mobile base (again, strongly advised). I tied the base to the pallet and my wife and I could fairly easily rock it onto the base, from the pallet. Then assemble table, fence rails, etc.

4) Order the motor cover if it is still an option.

5) Just enjoy setting it up. I did have to shim one of the table extensions using the tape method described in the book. The other side was fine.

6) Stick with the basic SL, not the SLX. The "precision" Shop Fox fence provided on the X versions is smooth but contains moving parts and has had some issues in recent magazine reviews.

Yer gonna love it.

[LP]

Thanks for responding. Good news on the shipping.

I've had a left tilt Craftsman for years so I'm aware of the scale difference. And I'lll probably continue to make my own inserts.

Looks like I've made a right choice :)

[mnterpfan]

I have the 1023S right tilt. I can't comment on your exact model. But, I am very happy with mine. The entire order process from Amazon through delivery went smoothly. Very quick delivery. The Shop Fox Fence box was mangled but there was no damage.

The only downside was that I had to order the motor cover separately. It seems like they should have just included it and jacked up the price by $29.00. This was not a showstopper.

The 3hp motor is whisper quiet and very smooth. I was planning on using link belts but have found no need so far. The fence is awesome. I added the Tolpin Ultimate fence on top. It makes it very heavy but is very useful. The miter gauge is very heavy duty as are the handwheels.

The fact that this saw uses a 20amp 240v breaker was one of my debating points. I'm really glad I decided to bite the bullet and get it though.

Good luck,

Eric

[TEF]

I also have had a 1023S for about one year and love it. I have used it to built some kitchen cabinets and fabricate some solid surface countertops and would highly recommend the extension table and longer fence rails (to the right of the blade). With a little assistance, it is relatively easy to work with 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" plywood and 10' sheets of 1/2" solid surface. The saw appears to make precise cuts without much effort providing one has a good blade and I have had good luck with full-kerf blades. It is very stable, smooth and quiet too. After owning a cabinet saw, it would be difficult to revert back to a lightweight contractor's saw.

In my case, the trucking company delivered the item to the door in a vehicle with a lift and all of that was included in Grizzly's standard shipping fee. I would also agree with the other owner who suggested the mobile base. It is a very useful option especially in a workshop that does not have unlimited space.

The only minor complaint would be that dust collection is not perfect. While my 2 hp DC works well with most dust above the 4" port, there is always a 2" layer of residual dust that collects at the bottom of the cabinet. Last of all would be to suggest the use of zero clearance inserts. Cuts seem to be much cleaner, but I am not sure that this may negatively affect the DC operation.

Good luck on your possible purchase.

[Brian Mahaney]

I've had my 1023 SL for a few months now. I love it. It's a solid machine that I will be using for many years. I think you will be happy with it. I'd like to offer some downsides for purposes of perspective, but I have found none worth mentioning.

Brian

[Lewis]

Hi, Let me start by saying that I don't own one of these (although I wish I did!). I have a JET contractor's saw with a Shop Fox "original" fence. I believe that is the fence that RonB is trying to steer you away from. (Calling one fence "Original" and the other "Classic" always struck me as a bonehead move. Apparently Grizzly has fixed that problem by calling one the "Shop Fox Fence" and the other the "Shop Fox Classic Fence." Much better. At any rate, the fence I'm talking about is teh one Grizzly provides on their Z series cabinet saws, like

I like this fence a lot. It is easy to adjust, and once adjusted, seems to stay that way. It is very easy to move into position (or move out of the way), and very easy to lock down once you've got it where you want it. Once locked down, it is *very* solid. Yes, there are internal parts, and the mechanism is a bit complicated, but not unduly so. And it is this mechanism that lets the fence lock down hard in front and back, but still allows the fence to glide out to the far end of the 50" rails with a touch. If you can, get your hands on a saw with this fence and try it out before you order your saw. Doesn't Grizzly have a referral service where they put you in touch with somebody owning the tool in your area? Lewis

[RonB]

Good input and I am glad you are having good luck with the precision fence.

You made a good point. If you call Grizzly's customer line they will put you in touch with two people in your area that have made similar purchases (they volunteer to do this). I did it and their input did sway me. It might be an opportunity to get to play with both fences without driving to Washington or Missourri.

RonB

[J]

I have the right tilt one too. I'm quite happy with it.

1) get a scraper of some sort (I used a razor) to do a first pass at removing the cosmolene. It will save you time and you will use less solvent.

2) Don't forget to buy a plug/cord for it. Mine is a 220 volt one. The saw does not come with a plug and the cord is rather short. I removed the factory cord, put on a short (~2 foot long) cord and twist-lock connector and then put together a nice solid extension cord. This way it is easy to move the saw around without a cord dragging.

3) Get a mobile base too and put it on the base before you attach the cast iron wings.

Other than that, the setup was smooth.

-J

[tony1158]

Hi, mine was dead on right out of the box. Have a helper handy.

Tony

[Baby Peanut]

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[D. J. Dorn]

I've had my 1023SL about a year now and it works great. The rip capacity is only 26" in the standard saw and since it's left tilt and there is no reason to have your fence on the left side of the blade, I shifted the rails to the right about 9". Now I have a better rip capacity and had enough room to put a router table in the extra area. No regrets at all and if you would like a couple of pictures, I would be happy to send them.

Don

[Jay Knepper]

There is at least one good reason for having the ability to put a rip fence on either side of the blade. This is making a piece with angled sides, whose cross section is a parallogram. If you can't move your rip fence to the opposite side of the blade you end up with the "pointy side" of the parallogram tending to sneak into the gap between the bottom of the rip fence and the table.

Jay