Slidin Miter Saw Advice

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
After a few months of searching the classifieds for a miter saw I've found out that I'm too slow to get a deal and I'm probably going to have to buy new.

Would like some anecdotal evidence from the peanut gallery. I do not trust any online reviews. I'll be using the saw as my main crosscut machine for fine work.

Unsure about 10 vs 12 inch. I've owned a couple tens in the past (both Makitas) and use a 12 at work often. I guess the 12 is just for cutting crown? The actual cross cut capacities don't seem very different. Having a good stand available is important to me. The stand we have for the work saw is utter garbage.

What I have gathered so far:

- Festool is too expensive to have the motor burn out rate it has.

- Makita has problems with the slider alignment.

- Dewalt seems to be the go to for miter saws? I would call my experience with dewalt sub par.

- Quality as a whole seems to be going downhill.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
Disclaimer: I don't have any experience with this particular saw. Based on other of their products I've used I'd give a serious look at the Bosch 10" sliding compound miter saw. Unless you're in construction a 12" sliding compound miter is probably bigger than you want. Also, most of us have a table saw that uses 10" blades so a 10" miter saw means you can interchange the blades.
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
Disclaimer: I don't have any experience with this particular saw. Based on other of their products I've used I'd give a serious look at the Bosch 10" sliding compound miter saw. Unless you're in construction a 12" sliding compound miter is probably bigger than you want. Also, most of us have a table saw that uses 10" blades so a 10" miter saw means you can interchange the blades.

I'm in construction. Haha.

I run rip blades in my table saw, so I wouldn't interchange anyway.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Disclaimer - I am not a SCMS user or owner
Sliding makes the most of the cross cut capacity (doesn't it?), not the diameter of the blade,
Blade size determines depth of cut (doesn't it?).
I wonder why you would need a 12" blade in the shop. I have read that 12" blades flex more, so some prefer 10" blades for precision work.
Unless you need to cut more than 3" deep, why would you want a 12" blade?
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
first I made my living with a dewalt miter box fo 40 yrs, it is still running in my shop :}:}:} for the dollar De walt is best bang. Run GOOD blades, Diablo are good for the buck,better grade freud and amana. IF you are running small wood pcs in shop 10 is fine but at times 12 is just a few bucks more, that gives you much greater capabilities. NO THIN BLADES full width 1/8 blades no flex
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
first I made my living with a dewalt miter box fo 40 yrs, it is still running in my shop :}:}:} for the dollar De walt is best bang. Run GOOD blades, Diablo are good for the buck,better grade freud and amana. IF you are running small wood pcs in shop 10 is fine but at times 12 is just a few bucks more, that gives you much greater capabilities. NO THIN BLADES full width 1/8 blades no flex

Thanks for the advice. We run the thin blades at work and I hate getting those curved cuts.
 

Martin Roper

Martin
Senior User
I have a 12" Hitachi (now Metabo) SCMS. I moved up from a 10" non-slider Ridgid that couldn't even cut all the way though your standard decking board. It always left about a half inch.

What I like about it is the ability to gang cut several boards to the same length with one cut. It also has the slides on the side rather the back so it can fit fairly close to a wall. I paid $350 for it on Black Friday last year. At that price it's a good value.
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
I have a 12" Hitachi (now Metabo) SCMS. I moved up from a 10" non-slider Ridgid that couldn't even cut all the way though your standard decking board. It always left about a half inch.

What I like about it is the ability to gang cut several boards to the same length with one cut. It also has the slides on the side rather the back so it can fit fairly close to a wall. I paid $350 for it on Black Friday last year. At that price it's a good value.

Just a littttttle lift. Haha.

Thanks for the recommendation. Now I'm thinking I should wait til after Christmas.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Thanks for the recommendation. Now I'm thinking I should wait til after Christmas.

Why would you wait if you need it now? Do you intend to use it for general woodworking in your shop or use it for your construction work? Do you cut a lot of 4 x 4 posts (3.5" x 3.5")?
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
Why would you wait if you need it now? Do you intend to use it for general woodworking in your shop or use it for your construction work? Do you cut a lot of 4 x 4 posts (3.5" x 3.5")?

I would use it for both. Because I do my shop work in my driveway, there isn't much difference between shop work and site work.

I do cut a lot of posts (usually 6x6), but I cut posts with a skilsaw. I think I use a skilsaw for most of the things a shop woodworker uses a miter saw for.
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
12 inch slider will cut 90% of a 6x handsaw zip thru the remainder or sawzall.Better cuts,ez r cuts etc. you just answered your own question LOL
 

Joe Scharle

New User
Joe
I have a Hitachi 12". And don't interchange a 10" tablesaw blade with a 10" sliding miter or radial arm saw. Tablesaw blades have a positive hook angle whereas sliding miters and RAS use a negative hook angle to prevent 'self feeding'. You only need to experience that once!
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
12 inch slider will cut 90% of a 6x handsaw zip thru the remainder or sawzall.Better cuts,ez r cuts etc. you just answered your own question LOL

I wouldn't cut a 6x6 post with a miter saw. Too heavy! I don't want to man handle that thing up to the saw. I cut them on the truck or on the ground or wherever they are. Haha.

After looking at the crown capacities, I need a 12"
 

tarheelz

Dave
Corporate Member
I am pleased with my new non-slider Dewalt 12" saw. It is dialed-in, dead-on accurate.

The sliders that I messed with all had too much play in them for me to be confident with them OR took up too much room. Truth is anything too wide for my 12" Dewalt, is going on the table saw sled anyway. I'll take accuracy over capacity.
 

Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
Joe, interesting what you said about blades. Self feeding is not an issue unless you use it improperly. You don’t pull back like a radial arm. You start at the most distal part of cut and push forward so you can’t get self feed.

I have a 12” Bosch axial glide and I am very happy with it. However, because of the weight, I consider it a stationary saw.

I recently bought a 10” Metabo non slider (used to be Hitachi) for a little baseboard job. I think it’s only 20# and at $130 I wasn’t expecting much, but it is a very adequate saw. But not adequate for a shop.

To my dismay, I had to cut all the 4 1/4” base using the bevel rather than miter, and it is a single bevel - not quite optimal! wish I had gotten a 12”.

I think a 12” slider is the optimal saw for a shop. You can’t go wrong with the Bosch. The DeWalt is also a very good saw probably the most popular among the trade guys.
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
Mine is also non slider,lmao it was years after mine that sliders were invented.
I wouldn't cut a 6x6 post with a miter saw. Too heavy! I don't want to man handle that thing up to the saw. I cut them on the truck or on the ground or wherever they are. Haha.

After looking at the crown capacities, I need a 12"
have you thought about a small chain saw for those 6x6? :cool: :cool: :cool: :D:D
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Back when we were fencing in the property and I was cutting a lot of 4x4 posts, I got tired of cutting them with a skilsaw and got a DeWalt 14" radial arm saw. About the same price as the larger sliding miter saws.

Roy G
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
I have the DeWalt 12" slider and am very happy with it (with the exception of the hold down clamps which are worthless). Very accurate, and it took quite a bit of sideways pressure to skew the cut any along the full slide length. Fences are actually vertical !!, and you can remove the upper fence if you need to do any serious bevel cuts. I like the belt drive, which is a bit quieter than direct drive, but iot does have one quik. It kicks up when you hit the trigger. Takes a little getting used to. Easy to trigger either left or right handed. Good lock-down features to prevent damage or getting shaken out of alignment for when you are going to transport it.

I bought mine at Lowe's about a month after Christmas, when DeWalt knocked off about $100 on the price. Not sure if they will do the same this year, but around Feb is when they have done it in past years.

I bought the one with the laser light, but don't use it for fine cuts. I find it more accurate to score it with a knife and set the blade teeth exactly on the line. The one without the laser is $50 cheaper, but otherwise the same saw.

It does take up a lot of real estate, but mine is on an old Rigid MSUV (Miter Saw Utility Vehicle) so it works well for me and is easy to position where I want it when using it in the shop.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
I don't know why they are out of favor here, but I have had 2 - Hitachi 8-1/2" SCMSs and they both served me well. Larger mouldings were easy to cut because the saw had preset detents to lay the moulding down in the saw and get a perfect cut. With an adjustable depth stop, kerf cuts for blocking in metal studs was simple. No, you couldn't single cut a 4 x 4, but a standard 10" miter saw does that on the rare occasion it is needed. The thing I liked most about them were they were lighter and easy to get on and off the truck or out of the gang box. Unfortunately, that also made them easier to steal.:mad::mad:
 

jlwest

Jeff
Corporate Member
I have a Hitachi 10" sliding compound miter saw that works great. Almost goes through a 4x4 but easy to flip and finish. Never had a issue with accuracy. It's designed for normal crown molding.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top