Mitre Saw reccomendations

[Mik3y]

Hi guys,
I'm after some reccomendations for a decent mitre Saw for doing 2nd fixing and some fence work.
Figured I'd throw a grand at it.
I've come here for reccomendations as the reviews on Saws online are a mine field.
Any input is very welcome.
The more accurate the better and not bothered if its corded or cordless. Im usually a Makita buyer but open to other brands.
Thanks

 

[Trevanion]

I'm after some reccomendations for a decent mitre Saw for doing 2nd fixing and some fence work.
Figured I'd throw a grand at it.

:shock:

I've got a Metabo KGS254M which cost me £200, it's dead accurate after adjusting it properly out of the box and has done an absolute mile of work.

The machine is only as accurate as it's user and the cut is only as good as the blade you stuff in the machine.

 

[bourbon]

+1 for Metabo, I have it's little brother the 216. Mine was accurate out of the box. It has a repeatable trenching facility. The Bosch I looked at, You had to reset the depth every time, And that was 600 notes!

 

[Mike Crabtree]

Hi,
A grand gives you a good range. Top of the lot for me is Festool Capex a bit more expensive but the absolute business. Laser line accuracy . I love mine. Also good is the Makita and Bosch have a good one too. I have a Dewalt too which has a good cutting depth but it snatches on start up and is a bit cruder. I think the importance of compound cutting on both sides plus a good soft start motor is what to look for. I am a self confessed Festool fan but recognise you need to sell a kidney to buy some of their kit. Good luck.
Mike

 

[DBT85]

If you're dropping that kind of money get the big bosch with the fancy knuckle hinge sliding mechanism. Think it's o ly available as a 300mm in the UK, but it's in both 10" and 12" in the US.

 

[sunnybob]

I would get the knuckle jointed bosch if I had enough money spare.

 

[Petey83]

I've got the Makita LS1216nad rate it highly. It's accurate and clean cutting. Some. Reviews on line hight an issue with the saw head not being parallel to the rails along the length of travel. I've not experienced this but by all means adjustment is possible and easy enough.

I've had a kapex and rate this higher. The Kapex seemed delicate by comparison and has known motor issues.

I considered the Bosch glide very carefully before getting the Makita but aside from it being a ton weight I felt there was to much to go wrong with the arm assembly - so many bearings......

 

[Doug71]

Kapex is nice, has the best dust extraction and a few other nice features. Works really well with the dedicated stand and wings but that would push you well over budget (just checked the price and wow it's gone up since I got mine!).

The motor issues are supposedly sorted on the new ones.

 

[Mark A]

I bought the 10" Makita LS1019 (the one with rails positioned at the front of the saw) but had to return it due to an misalignment issue with the motor assembly/sliding rails.

I then bought the big Bosch with the robot arms, but that had exactly the same fault. I returned it under warranty, and after four months (Bosch lost the saw three times...) they sent me a replacement. I sold it and bought the 12" non-sliding Metabo. Compared to the Makita and Bosch it's crudely made, with rough castings and cheap plastic components, but at half the price and no problematic sliding mechanisms I can put up with that.

The fault with the Bosch (also applies to the Makita) documented on the official Bosch forum:

https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/e ... 03-t#/main

 

[Petey83]

I bought the 10" Makita LS1019 (the one with rails positioned at the front of the saw) but had to return it due to an misalignment issue with the motor assembly/sliding rails.

I then bought the big Bosch with the robot arms, but that had exactly the same fault. I returned it under warranty, and after four months (Bosch lost the saw three times...) they sent me a replacement. I sold it and bought the 12" non-sliding Metabo. Compared to the Makita and Bosch it's crudely made, with rough castings and cheap plastic components, but at half the price and no problematic sliding mechanisms I can put up with that.

The fault with the Bosch (also applies to the Makita) documented on the official Bosch forum:

https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/e ... 03-t#/main

The Makita is a relatively simple fix although not an official one but there's enough threads about explaining it. Mine does not seem to have the issue and it's a great saw with close to Kapex levels of dust collection.

 

[Mark A]

Does the fix involve inserting a length of 3x2 between the rails and prising them into alignment?

I didn't fancy doing that to a brand new almost £600 tool.

My saw wasn't from the first batch they produced so Makita were aware of the issue and continued production despite there being numerous complaints and even Youtube videos highlighting the fault.

 

[owen]

I've got the big dewalt sliding mitre saw and have no problems with it what so ever. The blade hadow line feature it has is really accurate compared to previous saws I have used with lasers. I had the older big dewalt before this that lasted roughly 15 years of day in day out use before the motor burnt out, gave it to a friend and he replaced the motor and is still using it. It's still as accurate now as the day it was bought.

 

[HappyHacker]

I have the Bosch GCM12SDE, with the bars rather than the knuckles. A great machine, excellent capacity and half reasonable dust collection for a mitre saw, if I remember to connect the hose to the vacuum.
BUT
I have found that with the blade at 90 degrees to the fence when sliding the blade moves sideways about 2mm while staying at 90 degrees to the fence. This is the problem described on the Bosch forum. It was out of warranty when I found the problem, I had just assumed that my setup was poor on the few long cuts I had made. From the comments on forums Bosch are not interested but I have not tried contacting them. It has never been misused and has not been moved out of my workshop.

So it works great as a chop saw but the slider is hopeless for accurate work if you get a "wrong un". Fortunately I have a table saw but it is not much use for putting a mitre on the end of a 4 metre length of skirting.

 

[Sideways]

I have the induction motor version of the Metabo. KGS254iplus. £600 ish at FFX these days.
It's a massive saw but installed on a dewalt rolling stand intended for their jobsite table saw, it's mobile and easy to lift up onto the legs.
I love this saw.
My buddy laughs at me because I don't really have room for it, but the quality is great, the motor is quiet, and dust extraction is as good as you'll find on a SCMS.
Oh, and the hold down clamp is excellent too ...
I use a big Makita regularly and the Metabo's better.
I like the Bosch with the jointed arm, it takes up less space but it's not better built and costs twice as much