Tom,
Even the Grizzly is a great improvement over a circular saw. I say
"even a Grizzly" because I own one I'm looking to upgrade. Mark got
it right about the fence. If you always make last move in the same
direction, the results will be predictable, and accurate enough.

If you want a basic saw to test the water before you spend a lot of
money, the Grizzly will do. If you expect this to be the last table
saw you ever buy, keep looking. My main complaint with my Grizzley is
not the fence, its the trunnion. The sector the blade tilts on has so
much slop in it that the blade cannot be adjusted so that it stays
parallel to the slots. I can get it parallel, but after tilting and
returning, it has moved due to slack and it's not parallel anymore.
This is not something that can be adjusted out; I've got to live with
it or trade up.

Now if you still want a Grizzly, I'll sell you mine cheap enough that
you can buy a great fence with your savings. Seriously, for $150 plus
shipping you (or anyone else) can have a good used saw with only the
problems I've mentioned.

Good Luck
DonkeyHody

(Tom Murphy) wrote in message . com...
Hi Everyone,

I've done my due diligence with a Google search, but since I'm so new
to this world I'm not sure I understand what I'm reading.

Okay, to the point...

I'm considering the purchase of a modestly priced table saw such as
the Grizzly 1022 series. What is a reasonable expectation for accuracy
of the standard fence on a quality machine, specifically with regard
to it being parallel to the blade?

I will not be doing super precise work so I'm less concerned about the
width scale, but in my opinion, a table saw fence is useless if it
does not reliably clamp to parallel within a few hundredths of an inch
over the length of the table.

Am I going to have to buy a top-end fence to get there? I truly feel
that if I have to manually adjust the angle of the fence for every
set-up, then I might as well stick with the circular saw for my
current work.

This is a great group. Thanks for helping this newbie along.

Tom Murphy