Anybody else have this saw? I've had mine for a month and have mixed
feeling about it. Going from a home-built TS, it's my first real saw
and thus luxurious in many ways.

It is tremendously satisfying to make cuts with. It was not set-up out
of the box. I was able to set the blade to .001 with respect to the
miter slot, but it's drifted to being out by about 2 mils. That *is*
after moving it miles all over the shop in a re-arranging exercise.
Forrest WWII 40T blade.

There is some cupping and dishing in the table, varying maybe +/-
..005, maybe more. Shop Fox claims the manufacturing tolerance is 20
mils, which strikes me as being way too much. The wings required
shimming and still aren't optimized. I said good enough after many
hours.

The arbor tilt and blade height adjustment do work very smoothly,
better than the Unisaw I examined.

The Biesemeyer clone fence is a mixed bag. It's a somewhat crude
affair, fabricated from essentially angle and square(?) iron stock.
Except for the lumpy HDPE fence face (to be replaced), it functions
very well, but I find myself wishing for a more refined mechanism.

I looked at the Unisaw and was mostly impressed. I wish I had the
Unifence on this saw, but I steered away from Delta because of recent
reports of QC problems. The 1677 is an attractive machine. Very solid,
heavy (I know--same as 1023), beautiful cream paint. Left-tilt 220V,
3 hp, which is waaay more than enough. Very heavy gauge metal cabinet.

I know that overall it will serve me well, but I think I wish I had
sprung for a General or Bridgewood, or something that is another notch
above this.
Dave

I have the 1023 which is essentially the same. Got mine about
3 months ago. It is so far better than the imported contractor
saw that I hade been using for 15+ years, that I have very
few complaints.

I also had a little trouble with wing alignment. After fooling
around for a couple hours, I reversed them and believe it
or not, that completely solved the problem. No shimming was
needed. I had miniscule runout - so little that I thought that I
would not be able to improve upon it.

I have the SF fence too and I don't know what you mean by
"lumpy". I have found it to be very solid, square and accurate.
Maybe I don't know what a more refined fence would be like,
but I am very satisfied.

The DC system is very good and the power and weight are
a real plus - especially when feeding sheets of 3/4 ply
through it - which I seem to be doing a lot lately.

I'd like to upgrade to the WW II for my next blade, but the
Freud 60 tooth I got from Amazon is doing a good job so far
and it was around $30 IIRC. No burning at all.

I expecially like the way the saw "feels". The handwheels are
big, solid and silky smooth. The fences glides smoothly and locks
down easily but firmly.

For $1K, I think it's a good value. I don't believe that spending
twice as much would get you twice the quality - at least from
what I have seen in shopping around.

Lou

In article , Interious
wrote:

Anybody else have this saw? I've had mine for a month and have mixed
feeling about it. Going from a home-built TS, it's my first real saw
and thus luxurious in many ways.

It is tremendously satisfying to make cuts with. It was not set-up out
of the box. I was able to set the blade to .001 with respect to the
miter slot, but it's drifted to being out by about 2 mils. That *is*
after moving it miles all over the shop in a re-arranging exercise.
Forrest WWII 40T blade.

There is some cupping and dishing in the table, varying maybe +/-
.005, maybe more. Shop Fox claims the manufacturing tolerance is 20
mils, which strikes me as being way too much. The wings required
shimming and still aren't optimized. I said good enough after many
hours.

The arbor tilt and blade height adjustment do work very smoothly,
better than the Unisaw I examined.

The Biesemeyer clone fence is a mixed bag. It's a somewhat crude
affair, fabricated from essentially angle and square(?) iron stock.
Except for the lumpy HDPE fence face (to be replaced), it functions
very well, but I find myself wishing for a more refined mechanism.

I looked at the Unisaw and was mostly impressed. I wish I had the
Unifence on this saw, but I steered away from Delta because of recent
reports of QC problems. The 1677 is an attractive machine. Very solid,
heavy (I know--same as 1023), beautiful cream paint. Left-tilt 220V,
3 hp, which is waaay more than enough. Very heavy gauge metal cabinet.

I know that overall it will serve me well, but I think I wish I had
sprung for a General or Bridgewood, or something that is another notch
above this.
Dave

Good idea about the extension wings.

A dial indicator across the fence indicates a variation of +/- .005 or
more. The distribution is such that is shows up on long cuts. Not a
big deal since I'm going to replace it with a wood face.

I can't fault the handwheels and locking mechanism. Very massive.

I really do like this TS. I was using it extensively yesterday and was
reminded just how much. You're probably right about not getting
proportional return on a 2k$ saw. Probably better to spend the money
on a planer and jointer, after I find a new router, then build a
Router table, etc ...
Dave

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 11:29:16 -0500, loutent wrote:

I have the 1023 which is essentially the same. Got mine about
3 months ago. It is so far better than the imported contractor
saw that I hade been using for 15+ years, that I have very
few complaints.

I also had a little trouble with wing alignment. After fooling
around for a couple hours, I reversed them and believe it
or not, that completely solved the problem. No shimming was
needed. I had miniscule runout - so little that I thought that I
would not be able to improve upon it.

I have the SF fence too and I don't know what you mean by
"lumpy". I have found it to be very solid, square and accurate.
Maybe I don't know what a more refined fence would be like,
but I am very satisfied.

The DC system is very good and the power and weight are
a real plus - especially when feeding sheets of 3/4 ply
through it - which I seem to be doing a lot lately.

I'd like to upgrade to the WW II for my next blade, but the
Freud 60 tooth I got from Amazon is doing a good job so far
and it was around $30 IIRC. No burning at all.

I expecially like the way the saw "feels". The handwheels are
big, solid and silky smooth. The fences glides smoothly and locks
down easily but firmly.

For $1K, I think it's a good value. I don't believe that spending
twice as much would get you twice the quality - at least from
what I have seen in shopping around.

Lou

In article , Interious
wrote:

Anybody else have this saw? I've had mine for a month and have mixed
feeling about it. Going from a home-built TS, it's my first real saw
and thus luxurious in many ways.

It is tremendously satisfying to make cuts with. It was not set-up out
of the box. I was able to set the blade to .001 with respect to the
miter slot, but it's drifted to being out by about 2 mils. That *is*
after moving it miles all over the shop in a re-arranging exercise.
Forrest WWII 40T blade.

There is some cupping and dishing in the table, varying maybe +/-
.005, maybe more. Shop Fox claims the manufacturing tolerance is 20
mils, which strikes me as being way too much. The wings required
shimming and still aren't optimized. I said good enough after many
hours.

The arbor tilt and blade height adjustment do work very smoothly,
better than the Unisaw I examined.

The Biesemeyer clone fence is a mixed bag. It's a somewhat crude
affair, fabricated from essentially angle and square(?) iron stock.
Except for the lumpy HDPE fence face (to be replaced), it functions
very well, but I find myself wishing for a more refined mechanism.

I looked at the Unisaw and was mostly impressed. I wish I had the
Unifence on this saw, but I steered away from Delta because of recent
reports of QC problems. The 1677 is an attractive machine. Very solid,
heavy (I know--same as 1023), beautiful cream paint. Left-tilt 220V,
3 hp, which is waaay more than enough. Very heavy gauge metal cabinet.

I know that overall it will serve me well, but I think I wish I had
sprung for a General or Bridgewood, or something that is another notch
above this.
Dave