Sliding mitre saw - big or small?

[recipio]

I would say get a 12" saw and put a quality blade into it. You can cut mitres vertically up to about 100mm or more which saves having to tilt the saw over to 45". If you are not tilting the saw then you can put on a ply fence with zero clearance which makes it a lot safer for cutting small pieces.
I have a Milwaukee with the digital display ( sadly not made anymore ) and a set of brushes lasted about 10 years with occasional use so there is a good argument for induction motors. They are messy machines even with extraction so if starting from scratch again I would design some kind of totally efficient dust extraction. A 'Chopsaw hood ' is available online which relies on gravity to collect the dust - the compromise is an ever expanding unit taking up precious space.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I bought one of these for mine - looks ridiculous, stupidly expensive, but my word it works. 100mm dust port on the bottom; pretty much nothing escapes.

 

[Doug71]

I have a 10" saw and have rarely needed to cut anything above it's capacity.

Mine gets moved around a lot so I like the fact it's easily portable.

 

[Transit80]

I have a Dewalt 12" saw and got to say its great, does every thing you want a saw to do. Bought it a few years ago but have allways used it in my old workshop never on site. Im using it now to build my new workshop as we have moved house and the shop is going to be smaller and the saw will not fit into the new one as it is too big. Im waiting for someone to do a review on one of these new Hyundai 10 inch sliders as it is not too big at the back. The next saw will be a 10" as I have a few 10" blades from my old Hitachi, another great saw, had it since 2005 and it never let me down even after being in the back of the van since then.

 

[recipio]

Nice to see an old post revived. ! I would have said get a 12" saw every time but if you mainly cut nothing bigger than 2 x 4s or picture frames then a 10" will be fine. Miter saws have become the new radial arm saws but for crosscutting anything over 200 mm then a table saw is more versatile. It cuts downwards on the marked line and it's easier to change out the blade to suit the material. As I said in another post dust collection is a real problem with miter saws and you should really have access around the back of the saw. Must look out for one of those hoods.

 

[TRITON]

I've been using a DW700 for a number of years, got an industrial trend IT/SB/9120016 80t blade in it, and for just about everything its been fine.
I know theres 12" versions, but 9 times out of 10 you're using it to cut small section.

Might replace it with the latest incarnation - DWS774. Cheap going at under £200.
Just as long as i can put my blade in it. They cost originally £170, though I got them for £15 a pop in a Trend clearance sale(so bought 2 )
Looks like I'll be sticking with 8" for a long while