On 2004-12-17 15:43:03 -0600, loutent said:

I went to Sears this afternoon to take a look - in particular
at the $950 (list) cabinet saw.

Much cheaper these days.

I was a lttle disappointed to tell you the truth. I didn't have
a lot of time, but there were a few things that jumped
out at me.

The first thing I went for was the Bies fence. Maybe I'm mis-
informed, but I was expecting a massive extruded aluminum
fence - the Biesmeyer labeled one that had on the machine
was some sort of phenolic (I guess the HMW stuff). When I
pressed the handle to lock it, the fence front jumped - is that
normal? To be honest, the Craftsman fence on the next lower
priced "contractor type" saw looked sturdier.

While a properly installed Bies may slide slightly when you lock it
down if it was not parallel, it should not jump. Perhaps it was not
installed properly. Properly installed, the Bies fence is much better
than the other contractor fences to which you are referring. The
Grizzly 1023 classic fence will certainly be more similar to the Bies
than the contractor fences.

Second, I turned the wheel that controls the blade height. Again,
I thought it was a little "dinkey" (?). Not much better than what's
on my 15 yr old $300 import.

Although the side handle/knob was missing, I got the
impression that the one control wheel adjusted BOTH the
blade height and angle - you must pull or push a knob
on the side - I'm not sure, but it wasn't what I would
call sturdy.

Your impression is wrong. There should be two wheels -- one for tilt
and one for height. This is what happens when a 16-year old sales
clerk puts together the display model.