Well, I came across this saw sort of by accident. My old 12-year old 12″ miter saw has been nursed along for a while…brushes, switch, blah blah…it started acting up again.
I was planning on getting the makita or the bosch 10″ saw. Tried them out, as well as a slew of others, the biggest drawback for the makita was the handle and trigger. It just didn’t fit well with my previously broken and now fused wrist. It was actually painful to operate.
So I started down the run of sliders. Some wowed me with the generous size of the bed and fence. On others the fence looked skimpy. The bosch had a slightly out of square fence, most of the others were right on. I love the size and accuracy of the bed and fence on the milwaukee. Nice.
Surprisingly I really liked the cam-type miter and bevel adjustment on some of the saws. It was different, but easy and fast. The milwaukee has a cam action on the bevel. Lift the cam halfway and you can tilt the head until it snaps into one of the bevel detents. Lift it all the way and you can tilt left/right to wherever you want. Easy and well balanced.
What I would have liked is some sort of positive “dead-center zero” set screw, so I could calibrate the bevel to zero, then after taking it out of zero, just pop it back to the previous setting by bringing the set screw into contact with the stop. A flip-type of paw would have worked well, flip the paw out of the way to tilt left/right, flip the paw back for it to act as a zero stop for dead-center. The zero-degree detent was factory accurate, though.
The milwaukee has what I thought to be a gimmicky digital readout. I’ve found that in use, it’s quite functional in terms of being able to accurately repeat a non-detent angle down to the smallest margin. The milwaukee also has a “fine adjustment knob” for the miter. Again, I thought sort of nice, but gimmicky…nothing I haven’t been able to do manually. For me, again, it’s turned out to be a functional treat. It works well, and again, for tweaking a setting, too many times in the past I’ve tried to nudge the bed over a tad, only to go past my intended mark, then I have to swing the bed back over again…yadda yadda…I have to say the digital readout and the “fine adjustment” are actually nice for fine trim or cabinetry work.
The miter is locked into place with a twist knob. On a few of the saws when you locked the miter setting, the locking function would cause the bed to come off the desired angle setting by a fraction of a degree. That doesn’t happen with this saw.
The overall motion is smooth, both in chopping and sliding. With a good ergonomically correct fore/aft movement of the arm, you get clean cuts with no tearout from operator induced blade movement.
Lasers? Might have been nice on a non-sliding saw, but with a slider you can slide the blade to the tick mark on your wood being cut, so I didn’t feel a laser would be a necessity on a slider. I don’t miss it.
The work light on both sides of the blade is nice. I’ve always had a work light over my saw stand, but this one is fine. Could be a bit brighter, but that’s because of my age-induced blindness.
Dust collection? Seems okay. Nothing to praise or whine about.
Build? Seems equally as good and as bad as the others. It’s made in china.
Had I not already owned a 12″ saw and not already had a collection of 12″ blades I would have opted for a 10″ slider and shared blades between my 10″ table saw and 10″ miter saw. I’ve never had a problem using blades with “improper” blade tooth rake on a miter saw, so using table saw blades on a miter saw wouldn’t bother me.
But having a collection of 12’s made it easy to bring the milwaukee and other 12″ sliders into the buying process.
I do think that individual ergonomics, and what type of work you do, can really sway the buying process. This saw fit me well. Things that I thought I’d like about some of the other saws, I didn’t like. Things that I didn’t think I’d like about this saw I really liked.
I’m somewhat surprised I walked away with this saw, it wasn’t even on my consideration list when I started shopping. But after using it for a while, it works really well for me.
Replies
i have that saw without the digital....
I like it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Home Depot has the saw on sale for 499 as of yesterday.
ANDYSZ2WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT BEING A SOLE PROPRIETOR IS A REAL JOB?
REMODELER/PUNCHOUT SPECIALIST
That's what I keep hearing, but not by the one by me in Northern Jersey.Not that I can afford it anyway, but I could be persuaded.Glenn
Thanks for the feedback. First saw that saw at HD several days back. Looked interesting. Keeping an eye on it.
We are using Young Jack's DeWalt 718 12" slider for cutting this fascia at assorted compound angles as we replace the termited bits. It chomps right through the stuff.
Sure, it can be done with a Skill 77, but not happily or very safely. With the slider you can tweak it, test it, play with it and cut it. I am won over.
The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
Follow-up after receiving a few email questions, and also after spending a couple of days running a room of base, crown, and building a built-in desk and bookcases:The digital miter angle and the fine adjustment knob is just excellent. I love it. What I thought was a gimmick is just the nuts. Bang-freaking-on-accuracy.Dust collection, I duct taped a 4" round flex hose to the oval dust outlet port that's on the back of the saw. The saw has a plastic "guard" on each side of the blade that funnels dust to the port. With a vac it's damn clean. No dust at all. I even took a couple of scraps of MDF and chopped away, it caught 98% of the fine dust. Muy bueno. You could use this in a living space no worries.This saw has a solid clear plastic guard surrounding the blade. My old Dewalt (705 Type 1) had a perforated guard, you could "peek" through the perforations/slots in the guard to better line up the blade with the cut line. I can see through the guard to get the blade on the line, but there can be a bit of distortion at times. I do, at times, raise the guard up to get the blade right on the cutline.Part of that is my eyes are going bad. Dam, it's tough getting old.The work lights are fine, but I wish a bit brighter. Not as big deal though.The action on the saw is excellent. Extremely smooth. The fence and bed are generously sized.All for now.
FYI, for those Dewalt newer saw owners here.I had purchased the Dewalt laser setup and although great and accurate when adjusted - it would get knocked out of adjustment just by setting up and tearing down the saw - so basically useless, cause it's a pain in the butt to adjust.Waste of $50.BUT, the new LED double light attachement is the cat's meow! This little $50 accessoryu goes right on the saw exactly where the laser attach was ans illuminates both sides of the blade that results in an exact shadow line of the blade showing exactly where the blade will be cutting.No adjustment, no tweaking - they just work.Win/win really, cause even if you are so cool that you don't need a shadow line to line up the blade, having some light is useful on the saw for darkish cutting conditions or finishing up while it's getting late.I thought the Milwaukee's lights were for the same purpose?Very handy, and I don't care what anybody says - it's there, it's handy, it's accurate - Heck yes I'm using it.JT
Dewalt was giving away the laser or something else when you bought a saw. Of course, I took the laser when I bought a 716...now I wish I'd taken whatever the other choice was.
It could be a rock, and it would still be more useful than that thing.
I bought one of those L.E.D light things. Couldn't get it to
line up (as there are no adjustments ;). The line was to far towards the center on both sides. Plus when you lower the blade the angle of the shadow changes, found it disconcerting. Also, the cut outs on the blade guard created all sorts of sub-shadows
I guess you could call them. What with the light not being all that bright to begin with, these extra shadows messed with my eyes. I called Dewalt thinking something was wrong. I mean how could the
alignment be wrong on something with no alignment? Unfortunately they
weren't familiar with it yet. So didn't have any ideas.
It only gives you a sharp shadow when you bring the blade down close to the board. Not nearly as cool as I'd hoped - you know, sharp shadow with the blade up like the lasers...But when you bring the blade down to the wood - you get a sharp shadow EXACTLY where the blade is going to cut.Yea, I know, why not just bring the blade down to see where the cut will be, but for odd moldings or miter cuts - Heck, for any cut - the ability to see exactly where the blade will cut makes for more exacting work.And considering how many times I've set up my little Makita Flourescent light next to the saw when finishing up at dark or dreary days - the extra light aside from the cutting reference is handy to have. JT
Don't get me wrong, I love the concept. Perhaps if the light was
a whole lot brighter, it's short comings would be overcome. I'll bet a better version comes out this fall!PS
Adjusting that dang laser is like trying to read Sanskrit!
That laser was the hardest thing in the world to figure out how to adjust!I loved having it when cutting finished mitered stair stringers out of maple plywood though - some very exacting cuts...JT
I consider the Milwaukee light to be more of a general cut line illumination than defining where the cut line is with a shadow. On this saw, the right light is maybe 2-1/2" away from the blade, the left build about 1-1/2". The shadow on the right side of the blade is more defined than the shadow on the left.I wouldn't consider the shadow on the Milwaukee, even with the blade 1/4" from the wood, and with the blade stationary or spinning, to be sharp enough to use it to define the cut line.One other thing I absolutely LOVE about this saw...no trigger safety. Just a trigger switch...use your left hand, your right, your thumb or your pinky finger...pull the trigger/switch and away you go. Sure we all get used to the dual action required for most triggers with safeties...but I'm liking the simplicity of not having a safety.
Mongo, I saw the Milwaukee at H.D. the other day and it looks like a nice saw.The price was $629, marked down from $699. Maybe the $499 one is the older style without the digital readout.?The saw looks like it would be a beast to carry. How is it for transporting and do you know the weight?
Literature says it weighs 65 pounds. Hmmm. I have been moving it around, and it doesn't seem that heavy.I've seen the 12" non-slider for about $499, but the slider is $600+ around here. I got it for $543, that was with a 20% discount when they first started carrying it. It's marked at $679 now. Not sure what the box stores around here are charging.
I was in HD a few minutes ago and it was still 499.
ANDYSZ2WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT BEING A SOLE PROPRIETOR IS A REAL JOB?
REMODELER/PUNCHOUT SPECIALIST
Was that $499 for the new $12 slider? that sounds like a misprint. Id buy one before they figure it out.
Here's the Dewalt cut line shadow light - in daylight, no less. Not bright sun or anything, but still it's not too bad.Completely accurate.Made a mistake in the picture files - look at the one labeled photo.jpg - the Dewalt saw one is just a pic of a circular saw.Julian
That set up looks great. I've used a Makita with the red laser and it disappears in the sun. I've got a DW 716 and this looks like a nice feature to add.--
James Kidd
http://www.carpenterconfidential.com
Yes, $499 for the slider. Was just there at one in Northern VA and that's what was listed.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Sounds like a super deal, i would buy one quick before they notice the misprint.
I saw it for $499 (12-inch slider with digital readout) here in Charlotte, NC. If it weren't for the fact that my work has slowed down so much, I might have considered getting it.
There are two saws that seem to look the same but one of them has a constant speed mechanism and weighs about twelve pounds more. As far as I can tell from the specs, they are otherwise the same. The model number 6950-20 is about $500 street price while the 6955-20 (the one with the constant speed mechanism) runs about $670, give or take a bunch. I don't know that for me, the constant speed feature would be worth the addition $150+. A quick check on Amazon shows that about 85 percent of the purchases are for the cheaper model rather than the constant speed one.
The more expensive one slides. The other does not.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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I bought the slider with CSD. The CSD wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me, but I wanted the slider.