The mitre saw guru please share your wisdom.

[hajsaftar]

Hi all,

First of happy new year to everybody. I am looking to buy a mitre saw. To give you a very quick background here are a few points

1) I do bits and bob around the house, so no specific job. However I don’t mess with structural aspects of the house (i.e. joists, roof etc.), other than that I do everything around the house.

2) I would commit suicide before I buy another cheap tool. I have lost count of the number of times a cheap tool wrecked a very expensive material (kitchen worktop was last experience). So please whatever you recommend it should be quality.

3) I already have a dewlat jigsaw and a circular saw .

4) I am going to buy from eBay, either new or very lightly used. eBay money I would pay is up to £200, which works out at the £400-£500 retail shop price range.


Now with that out of the way, I can get to the mitre saw. My questions is really about what type I should go for? 10inch, 12 inch, sliding not sliding? To help further, here is some info of what I want the saw for.

1) as I said I will not be ripping through joists or anything. The thickest I imagine I would cut is your standard 2 inch partition wall timber, garden shed timber etc...

2) however, I also do some very light work, things like laminate flooring trims, door skirting, kitchen cornice, crown etc.. will a big 12inch rip through these?? can you get a any sense of accuracy cutting a 2cm thick maple trip with a 2000W beat? or will this depend on the blade?

3) the "widest" I will ever need to cut is a laminate flooring (anything more than that I will use the circular saw). Now, is it any point to get a sliding one just for this?

4) if accuracy and power made 10, I want at least a 7 on accuracy and 3 on power/capacity.

5) mobility is not a real issue for me, so a flip mitre/table saw could also be an option, are they any good or will the same thing that happens to all “multi” tools happen with this too (i.e. you buy it thinking you are buying two good tools in one, then you realize you bought half of each tool which together make one crap tool which does neither job properly)


I know you guys don't like vague requests for help, so I have tried to be quite specific here. look forward to your suggestions.

 

[Waka]

hajsaftar

Welcome to the forum.

Regarding the mitre saw my preference would be a sliding compound mitre saw, having the extra width of cut is always useful if not always used.

As to the make, there are a lot of good machines out there, mine is a Mikita 1013 and I've had it fior about 9 years withy no problem. There arte other good makes out their like Dewalt that are recommended, I'm sure their owners wil be along shortly.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I would agree that a sliding compound mitre saw is the way to go. The extra width of cut is far more useful than you will ever imagine it is going to be - a lot of laminate flooring is too wide for a small fixed mitre saw. It is almost like having a mini radial arm saw - perfect for any job around the home.

I use a DeWalt 712 and have always been pleased with it. You don't see many second hand ones which is a recommendation in itself! A tip when buying DeWalt is to phone round all your local (50 miles) stockists and find one who deals in 'factory reworks'. These are new machines under guarantee but which have been in and out of the warehouse for one reason or another. You will pay around half price.

The dealer I use is Stockport Power Tools on 0161-474 0000

If you want a cheap bargain, though, these look interesting. They appear to have a warehouse full of them!

Cheers
Brad

 

[Keith Smith]

Another vote for the DeWalt 712, I've had bigger and more expensive saws, the DW708 for instance but I prefer the 712, it's accurate, it's easy to set the angles, has a good cutting capacity and is a good price. The dust extraction is poor but that is unfortunately par for the course with sliding mitres.

The Makita LS1040 is a nice saw, it doesn't have the same range as the 712 but it is accurate, and if you don't want to spend so much money is a good choice. It also takes up a lot less space in the workshop.

Watch out buying on ebay, there are lots of clones of the Makita and they are rubbish.

Hope this helps

Keith

 

[Philly]

I recently bought one of these A great price for a saw with a braked induction motor and good capacities. It also has a small footprint! I believe it is a badged EB saw.
Well worth it (especially at their sale price)
Philly

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi hajsaftar

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers
Neil

 

[wrightclan]

Hi hajsaftar,

Welcome to the forum.

Brad

 

[hajsaftar]

Brad, is that the red brick building next to Wicks and Mfi before the roundabout?

 

[Rob_H]

I agree with the votes for the 712 - mine is a real workhorse and i couldn't manage without it. Dust extraction is a problem, but I don't know of many mitre saws that have got around this issue.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi hajsafter, welcome aboard.

I have the Bosch GMS10SD (I think) and am very pleased with it. I'd buy it again.

HTH

 

[John McM]

I recently bought one of these A great price for a saw with a braked induction motor and good capacities. It also has a small footprint! I believe it is a badged EB saw.
Well worth it (especially at their sale price)
Philly

Philly, I'm seriously of buying this. What do you like and dislike and would you buy it again. Seems a great price. Is the build quality the same as the EB
Cheers
John

Happy New Year to all

 

[Shivers]

I noticed that the american company delta are starting to sell their range over --i would seriously consider one of their --they last a lifetime/top quality build---like from the 60's almost,rugged straightforward,no nonsense designs

The dewalts are nice --but wearout to quick for me.


regards shivers.

 

[stevel]

I've also got the Delta sidewinder. It's easy to adjust and very accurate. Powerful with good capacities. Noisy as all brush motors are and difficult for dust collection but I would recommend it.

Cheers Steve

 

[andycktm]

John McM,
Rutlands have the metabo in their clearance line's, page 7

 

[Philly]

I recently bought one of these A great price for a saw with a braked induction motor and good capacities. It also has a small footprint! I believe it is a badged EB saw.
Well worth it (especially at their sale price)
Philly

Philly, I'm seriously of buying this. What do you like and dislike and would you buy it again. Seems a great price. Is the build quality the same as the EB
Cheers
John

Happy New Year to all

John
I've not spent too much time with it yet, just set it up and made a bunch of test cuts. It is very well built and smooooth! The sheer lack of volume from the motor is amazing-a mate came round the workshop for a play last week and couldn't believe it. And he has just spent £800 on a new DeWalt
I have some large carpentry jobs set up for the rest of the week-I;ll report back after I've given it a good workout.
Cheers
Philly

 

[engineer one]

i bought a 708 because at the time i could, and i was looking at doing a lot of deep skirting, but unless you regularly do 12x3 (whoops sorry 300 x75) there are definately better bits of kit, and it is a heavy lump
some say the 718 is not as good, but my locals all like them.

certainly a sliding machine offers more flexibility, so is worth going for, but i would be careful ensuring that at the money you talk it is a new or properly warranted machine. :roll:

paul :wink:

 

[hajsaftar]

Ok guys, can I first thank all of you for both your help and also for those you who welcomed me here. Would you agree if I summarize your suggestions so far in this way..

1) that there is consensus that a sliding saw is a must
2) Dust extraction seems to know no make/model boundary (i.e. all saws suffer from it) so I should just forget it ever being an issue in the first place

Now I would appreciate if you specifically gave your opinion on these

1) I am still not clear on the choice between a 10 (or 8.1/2) inch and a 12 inch. Is a 12 inch, a 10 inch just bigger and better? or is the accuracy/power balance different? Everybody seems to agree the DW718 is a bit of a dog, but is this true with all the 12 inch models in different makes. Basically what I am asking is if money were no object (well I can dream….) would every single one you go for the 12 inch with the full shebang, or not?
2) On the issue of dewalt, I have a question which might show my ignorance but I chance it anyway. I have noticed that they have a piece of black plastic at the end of the groove towards the pivot point side. 95% of used dewalt saws I have seen have eaten into this piece. I just cant find a reason what is this piece doing there and why does the blade eat into it? I would have a hard time imagining that dewalt could not engineer that piece not to interfere with the blade at all (if they couldn’t that would say a lot about the design of their saws), so it must be intentional, but why? It can’t be acting as a damper because once the blade goes into it once, it eats it away so the second time you go in at that angle there is no material to eat into… its very odd, any thoughts? It just seems to me like cowboy engineering but I am ready for enlightenment.
3) Finally, how necessary do you think is a stand? Some of the saws are bundled with stands. I was thinking of using my black and decker foldable workbench as a stand whenever I needed to use the mitre, will that work? I don’t have a workshop so there is no desk to permenantly screw the saw to it.
4) The loudest tool I currently have is a planer. With reference to that (well I mean in reference to your own planer. I am hoping they make the same sort of general sound….need to check that sound thread ) , is a standard no induction motor mitre saw much louder? I am ok with anything up to that point.

Once again thanks for your help. I will defiantly update you as I go along and will let you know what I get finally. These are what I am currently tracking on eBay (the bosch looks sweet). I also was seriously tempted to get that Metabo KSG 301 andycktm suggested (seriously means I went as far as adding it to the basket and putting the plastic info.. but last minute I held off because I found couple of reviews saying it is not very accurate, and the gurd mechanism is a pain to disengage…don’t know it is true or not)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=110074369348&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=120070467834&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=320061962544&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

 

[John McM]

Philly, ta for that I'll look forward to hearing how you get on. I really want it for x-cuts most of the time. If it's quiet and accurate it's for me.
Cheers
John

 

[RogerS]

2) On the issue of dewalt, I have a question which might show my ignorance but I chance it anyway. I have noticed that they have a piece of black plastic at the end of the groove towards the pivot point side. 95% of used dewalt saws I have seen have eaten into this

It's either that or expect the blade to chew through the aluminium fence :wink: Seriously, it provides strength to the fence around the spot where the blade has to slide through in order to cut through the stock. Some manufacturers might use a two part fence and the blade then slides through between the two parts. deWalt has a single piece fence but this has to be thinned out in the midde.

 

[Escudo]

Ey ey Haj

The Makita LS1040 is a nice saw, it doesn't have the same range as the 712 but it is accurate, and if you don't want to spend so much money is a good choice. It also takes up a lot less space in the workshop.

I've got one of those! Excellent little saw. Just the job in a small workshop. I got mine for £150 a couple of years ago and it has provided reliable and accurate service since day one.

The blade is 10" (260mm) I am working on a little fence for it which will double up as a pelmet for the blind in my workshop 8)

Makita seem to be a very solid make and I prefer the turquoise blue colour of the machines than that shocking yellow on the dewalt

Esc.