My dilemma

[SamG340]

Hi all struggling with this a bit looking for some advice pls

Id like a sliding mitre saw , especially with a depth stop to make lap joints and tenons.
seems very handy, trouble is my shed isn't massive (12' X 8' )and they take up a lot of room . I've seen the really expensive ones like the Bosch that don't need big clearance behind them but they're out of my budget . Are sliding mitre saws worth all the space ?

Also looking for some other recommendations for good budget tools pls ?

I'm after a table saw & planer jointer & a track saw

Any help appreciated thank you

 

[artie]

Hi Sam, Welcome.

Looks like I'm first up.

If your shed is wood you could cut out a piece of the wall and make a little addon to house the cumbersome part of the saw.

Assuming there's room outside.

 

[Jameshow]

Hi Sam, Welcome.

Looks like I'm first up.

If your shed is wood you could cut out a piece of the wall and make a little addon to house the cumbersome part of the saw.

Assuming there's room outside.

Make a dog flap that moves out as the saw extends!!

 

[artie]

Make a dog flap that moves out as the saw extends!!

That might be a bit draughty.
I was thing more of an enclosed box, sort of crude bay window without the window.

 

[steve66]

How big is the budget?

 

[SamG340]

How big is the budget?

Lower than that lol .

 

[SamG340]

That might be a bit draughty.
I was thing more of an enclosed box, sort of crude bay window without the window.

Now that's not a bad idea !

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get a stand and use it outdoors - you need space around it, it'll drive you nuts if you fix its position in your shed.

 

[Stevebod]

Get a stand and use it outdoors - you need space around it, it'll drive you nuts if you fix its position in your shed.

..my shed is the same size as yours, and this is what I do, got a stand from Aldi for £40, and just set it up outside. (You need to anyway if you are cutting long pieces?)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yup. Mines a small single garage. Lidl £40 stand.

 

[Jones]

That's a lot of kit for a limited budget. My advice would be buy quality, possibly second hand rather than cheaper tools and decide what you actually need. A track saw can do most of the cuts a small table saw and mitre saw can do, maybe slower and with more setup but possible. If you don't want to hand plane then a planer thicknesser is essential. For one off cuts a hand saw can be as quick as setting up a power tool.

 

[Sideways]

Just a thought, but if the budget it limited concentrate your money on 3 things :
A quality secondhand router
A tracksaw
A secondhand Kity 3636 or similar 10x8" planer thicknesser (and a cheap chip collector type extractor - any P/T is virtually unusable without extraction)
You can do an awful lot with those three and some hand tools.

Leave the sliding mitre and tablesaw for later.

But what do you plan to make ? The advice here will be different if you want to make furniture / doors & windows / garden planters....

 

[SamG340]

Nice to see an active forum thanks for all the advice .

Had my eye on those mitre saw stands nice to be able to pack it away when not using .

I've got a good few internal doors to make, they're all ledge braced & framed in the house right now but they're shabby and not well built so planning on building new

Also I've got some fantastic mahogany I'd like to make some end grain chopping boards out of so I think I'm going to need a table saw for that

Has anyone had their hands on the titan jointer planer from screwfix ?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-tt...ai_5QUGiUGG4oK9cnDhoCNOgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Lazurus]

I picked up an Evolution Rage 3 and was pleasantly surprised at how good it is when set up correctly, but yes it does need a chunk of space.

 

[SamG340]

I picked up an Evolution Rage 3 and was pleasantly surprised at how good it is when set up correctly, but yes it does need a chunk of space.

I heard with the evos you can only use their branded blades is that correct ?

I saw a bundle of there's with a table saw, track saw and sliding mitre for £500~ in January sales .. I was very tempted ..

 

[MARK.B.]

My advice would be not to jump in with both feet just yet take a little time and look for decent second hand machines as you can get a lot more for your hard earned cash

 

[recipio]

A Mitre saw is the wrong tool for making Lap joints and tenons. It can be done but milling away wood with multiple cuts is very inefficient and not particularly accurate. For the amateur I would suggest a tenon jig used with a table saw. However mitre saws are here to stay - they are very good at holding their settings and have become the 'go to' tool for crosscutting. If your back is to the wall there is nothing wrong with hand tools - they just take longer.

 

[jcassidy]

A table-saw, a planer/thicknesser, and a sliding mitre saw - Unless you're using all those outside, you'll need to budget in extraction of some sort?

+1 for doing it outdoors. The amount of dust those things throw up is horrendous.

A sliding mitre saw sounds just the job for what you're doing - repeatable cuts on long lengths. I ended up buying a (cheap) tracksaw to trim the tops & bottoms of built & shop-bought doors (a square door into a non-square doorway will not go!). I could just have made a jig for the circular saw but a good excuse is never to be wasted. Final finessing is with a hand plane.

I think a box extension is a brilliant idea, a pity I didn't think of it before laying out my benches...

 

[StephenArfer]

You might consider the DeWalt DWS774. It's on Amazon right now at £239.
It has no sliding bars and can be used with the back right up against the wall. The only projection is the extraction hose (which works well). I bought one a few years ago for exactly the reasons that you outline. Sadly it doesn't have a trenching stop but as already pointed out there are several other methods for making lap joints. The saw is light, it's easy to store away until needed when it can clamped to the bench.

 

[BucksDad]

Another option is the Hikoki C8FSHGJ1Z which is also compact and cheap and does have a trench stop. I did some half laps with it, and others said, didn't work very well!

I have an evolution stand which works great. As I will also have a small workshop, I'm going to set it up in the workshop, and work out a way to keep it on the quick release bars that came with the evolution stand - it can then be used for small cuts as needed, but not too difficult to then take it outside and use the stand for longer lengths when required