I just set up a new G1023 TS, I love the saw. The fence is nice and tight and moves smoothly into position. My issue is the cursor on the fence. Depending on which eye I use to line up the cross hair or what foot I’m standing on, there is no way to accurately position the fence cursor over the tape measure on the fence rail.
Has anybody else had this issue?
I e-mailed Griz Customer Service and was told I need to stand directly over the cross hair to line up with the tape measure………. Right!
What’s been your experience?
Replies
"What's been your experience?" I wish I had some experience with it (but at least now, I have a Unisaw) so can't comment there. In problem-solving mode, though, I wonder if you couldn't superimpose another piece of plexi or something over it, with a near-identical line, giving you an aide to see when you're directly over the line(s) (the two line would become one if you're sighting directly down).
i have a grizzly 1023slx and had the same problem. I like the cursor on the powermatic table saw so i called powermatic and bought there cursor and also there measureing tape
i peeled off the grizzly tape and applyied the one from powermatic and there cursor fit right where the grizzly cursor was, i think i might have reemed out the screw slots a little
the powermatic cursor sits real tight to the tape and just has a thin etched line on it making it easy to read. i later bought a wixey digital read out and attached that to my fence it is real nice and super acurate
I recently upgraded my table saw with an aftermarket Biesemeyer fence system and had the very same problem. Perhaps my solution would apply to your problem to? In my case the transparent cursor assembly steps down from the T-guide to the fence where the tape measure is glued. See cursor_1.jpg file. My problem was that the step was not low enough so the lower section was too high above the tape. The solution was to increase the height of the step by cutting away a section of the cursor assembly and replacing it with parts I cut from leftover transparent acrylic sheet I had in the shop. I used cyanoacrylate glue to join the parts together. Now my cursor is 1/64" (thickness of my business card) above the tape.
For me the cursor and the tape are for rough measurements. Matter of fact I almost never use them. The fence will probably move slightly when you lock it anyhow. My fence when locked moves about 1/64" towards the blade.
mike
I added a Wixey digital fence readout to mine. It's not necessarily any easier to see, but it does resolve the conflict of reading the cursor accurately. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/100_0255.jpg
Mike
What kind of fence do you have? If it's a Bessemer, these type fences are pretty much built the same.
I believe there are set screws on the back used to square up the fence that may be too loose. Your fence mounting doesn't hug the rail when you move it, then when you cinch it down it finds its lock down position. It sounds like it's about 1/64th out as you indicated.
It took me several tries before I nailed mine. Set the screws so that the fence is square when you tighten it, then turn each screw in the same small amount until your fence stays square when moved.
Good luck.
Hey RonI have the same saw. I got much better accuracy after I threw away the tape that came with the saw and replaced it with a Starrett. The Starrett has better defined, crisper lines, a white background and doesn't stretch when you apply it. I think it was ten bucks.David B
About $7 with tax at my source David. I have 3 working daily and keep a back-up. You are absolutely correct about the thinner lines which does make it a more crisp read. Then I measure anyway. ha.. ha...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
I've got the 1023slx, and I try to look down from directly above. Obviously if you are not you will get a slight skew left or right. I use it to get in there close and as always trust my tape. I found a long time ago that I measure everything with a single tape then if i'm off a bit its the same bit. So I double check with the tape from the inside tooth to the fence. What's the old sayin measure twice cut once. I know that don't help, but thats what I do. Don't sweat it, once you've used it a bit you will get to know your saw and it will take a second to know if your on. I've had mine for over 5 years now.
I was married by a judge - I should have asked for a jury.
George Burns
Ron,
I have this same problem on my Grizzly saw with a Shop Fox fence. The magnifier on the plexiglass, in my opinion, is the problem. That and the fact that the hairline stands off the tape too far. The hairline jumps around, depending on where I view it from.
My older Beismeyer fence that had no magnifier and sat very close to the tape was much easier to use and more accurate.
When I get the chance, I'm going to try and replace the plexi the way another poster in this thread did. It shouldn't be difficult; just haven't gotten around to it.
For those who use the tape on the fence system only for "rough" gauging and then use a tape for the final measurement, that seems like a step backward to me. If you get the fence and cursor dialed it, it should be very accurate. Plus, you can reset the fence while the saw is running, which is a big benefit in production situations.
Zolton
If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
Thanks everyone for your feedback.
I dug up an old Craftsman cursor last night that I had buried in my junk. I think I can make it work! It is two peices of rectangular convex plexisglass butted together. The butt joint forms a distinct clear and visible line. I can set it up off the tape just a hair and get a precise view of where I am at on the tape, even if I'm not looking straight down.
I need to make an "L" shape bracket using plexiglass and glue everything up using super-glue. I think I'll do that tonight.
PS: Back for an edit.
Well my previous idea didn't work, it was to difficult to accurately see the tape marking, so instead I cut the curser in half. Using just a half I scribbed a line on the bottom side and filled the line up with red paint. Then I superglued a new lexan bracket and set the new curser a hair off my tape and it's going to do the job. My scribe line just covers the index lines on the tape; I may well be able to split the 32 index in half to move a 64th.
Now to build my confidence level regarding its accuracy. I'll be double checking initially, but I'm confident I'll be putting my tape measure down. My fence does not move when I cinch it down after I position it.
Edited 8/14/2009 4:31 pm ET by RonT
I never really use the cursor on the saw. When I need accuracy, I set the saw with metal rule that agrees with my tape measure or with the tape measure used for all other measurements itself. I've never found two different tapes or rules that agree with eachother enough to make the paralax problems with a cursor significant but then I don't know what the cursor on the Grizzly saw is like, either.
When I work in the shop with another person I make sure we're using tapes by the same maker and of the same length and model. We also start each day by making sure the tapes read the same and checking again if one of us happens to drop a tape.
I'm guessing you may be putting too much faith in the accuracy of using different measuring tools made by different makers. While tapes may agree at 16 inches, they may not at 32 inches and may be back in agreement at 48 inches. I don't find tapes particularly accurate and they're only really useful when the same tape is used for all the measurements in a given project. Even then one has to take pretty good care to keep things uniform.
Has anybody else had this issue? YES, I need glasses to see close up and what I see is something on a arc... NOT a flat field.
I really do not depend on my fence scales. I just use them for a 'quick position' and then get out my steel rule...
I did however drill a small hole into the lens of the fence cursor and put a brad (painted black) in the hole. The brad was trimmed just to not scrape off the rule printing... Worked pretty well. For me at least. However, I still get better results with actual measurements to the blade teeth.
OK, I'm old and stuck in my ways!
I also don't use the cursor on any saw (PM.. Uni.. Steel City) I have ever had except to get me close to the bulls-eye. On narrow rips I use an Incra rule. On wider rips I use a framing square. You can ignore the framing square increments as I added a Starrett self adhere tape to it's face. So.. I measure the distance from the fence to the inside tip of a tooth. With an ATB blade that alternates one facing left.. one right I rotate the blade so the measurement device touches the tooth angled to the fence side. Flat toothed rips blade teeth aren't as critical for precise.
Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Edited 8/15/2009 8:57 am ET by SARGEgrinder47
I use a 6" and an 18" Starrett steel rule. I layed them on top of the fence tape and the increments are dead on. Not to say I won't change my methodology but, I'm going to give it a go until I see that it won't work.
Oh it will work Ron.. if.. if.. you get the cursor aligned dead on the mark on the tape mark you used to set up the tape to start with. Trouble for me is.. looking at it dead straight. I tilt slightly from having change in my pocket or more saw-dust on one pants leg than another :>) But.. with that said it is not normally critical to me as I leave 1/8" proud on a rip cut to take 1/16" off each side on the jointer anyway.
Same with cross-cuts really.. I cut a story stick to be assured dead on before I set the stop and by doing so.. even if you are off a hair all the pieces are same lenght which won't affect anything on bottom line. Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
I have a magnified cursor with a scribed line on the bottom and the bottom is flat. I have the cursor set up so that I can slide a sheet, maybe two sheets of paper between the cursor bottom and the top of the tape. Looking straight down is not so critical.
Maybe Grizzly has updated their tape. I have confirmed that the tape increments align with my Starrett tape. I can set my scribe line right on any of the 32nd increments and know that I'm on the mark; or I can clearly set it in between marks for a 64th and clearly know where I'm at. And my fence does not shift when I tighten it down.
Like I said, I may change my methodology, we'll see.
It probably is accurate and so is mine for that matter... most of the time anyway which I will comment on in a minute. But.. when I got started doing this in 1972 my TS was a J. C. Penny Shopmate screwed under a piece of 2 x 4 ply with a rectangular cut-out for the blade. The fence was a piece of angled aluminum held on with two C clamps. No rails.. no tapes.. no lock downs... just me in charge of accuracy.
You not only had to measure with a framing square from the fence one of the front teeth.. you had to flip the square over and measure the fence to a rear tooth also to avoid toe-in which could cause kick-back.. then be careful to make sure you didn't move the fence when clamping it with the C clamps.
So.. measure twice.. cut once is a frame of mine that was instilled early for me personally and it has carried over. It takes me only a few seconds to do just that . I change blades about 6-8 times a day and can do it under 1 minute also with no real time lost. Even though I know my tape is correctly set.. I know for an absolute fact it is when I physically measure. I measure twice when hand cutting joints, etc. also with a hand saw.
And.. I can assure you that when leaning om the table as much as a TS gets bumped into... I have more than once (many times over the years) bumped my cursor out of position without realizing it. So... just a personal thing from me borne of circumstances and experiences I have en-countered in the long journey.
Good luck however you approach it...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Ya know Sarge, I was taught that you use the same measure for everything It was beat into me that if you shift tapes or rules you will get ever so slight differences that add up and cause frustration. I don't know if that rule is right or not, but it made sense to me so I've always stuck with a single rule to do my measuring (final) so I get close and check with the single tape. I guess if I'm off I'll be consistently off and it won't matter. Have a good one.I was married by a judge - I should have asked for a jury.George Burns
Interestingly enough Bones.. I have a Starrett self adhere tape stuck on my framing square.. Incra rule.. and TS fence just for that reason. And I laid them out before application just be sure they lined up. The only time I basically use something else is a 25' tape but.. I use a story stick on about everything and everything is going to be duplicate even if it were off a hair.
So.. bottom line is I was taught basically the same thing and it does make sense really...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
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