I will be buying a new mitre saw sometime in the very near future and I was wondering if any of you have specific preferences.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to a 10 inch double compound but am curious which is actually the best. The ones I’ve seen are the 12 inch Dewalt, the 10 inch makita and the 10 inch delta. I’ve also heard of a 10 inch Bosch but have yet to see it.
Any opinions are appreciated.
Replies
I just got the 12" LS 1220 Makita ......... it's worth a look. Nice capacity for a non slider. Check out Tool Crib/Amazon .......... reconditioned tools. They carry a new tool warranty for sometimes a lot less $.
You can't go wrong with the 705 DeWalt. The price is down to 300.00 and the saw is a jewel. Easy to use, tough, relatively light-weight and accurate. I've had mine for around 6 years and used it five or six days a week on framing and trim jobs. Superior to most of the rest of the comparably priced saws. Look at FHB's tests of chop saws from a year or so ago. I believe Mike Guertin and Rick Arnold checked out several and pointed out the stinkers in the group. Good hunting!
Spend a couple of extra bucks and get the 706 which is a double compound saw (it also has the newer fence)..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Phill-
That would be about $150 couple extra bucks.
Ken Hill
Someone posted this same question just a couple weeks back, you might find more results in archives.
As for me, I use the Makita LS1211. I`ve had it about 7 yrs. and it is a pleasure to work with. I believe the 1211 has been dicontinued, but should I need a new one in the future, it will DEFINETLY be a Makita
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
I really love my DeWalt 12" compound chopper. I've had it for about three years. Tool Crib has good prices...don't order the dust bag cause its absolutly worthless,,,,,grrrr.....but I really like the saw a lot. VEry heavy but I have an old Makita when I just need a few dozen simple cuts..and when the cuts are even simpler I use a new Jorgonson hand miter saw. Feels like it weighs two ounces compared to the choppers. I use it a lot. Why drag any electric chop saw to a place where your gonna make only a dozen cuts or so? Not to mention the hand miter saw is so much cleaner and the dust just falls to the ground and doesnt blow all over the room..I think we maybe forgetting hand tools and their place!
BE well
Namaste'
Andy
It's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy, that was about the smartest thing I ever saw you post. I wonder how many of us actually have a hand miter saw?
I guess we are talking chop saws here, (I don't speak Dewalt geek), but I just saw the Hitachi 8"slider on sale for $369.
I never heard of anyone that didn't like that saw.
The 12-inch DeWalt would be my choice (assuming you don't want to escalate your purchase to sliding miter saw). The larger capacity of the 12 over the 10 comes in often for cutting crown molding, and wide stock generally. (The Dewalt is also the only one I know that has stops for cutting crown molding laying flat on the table to give you the appropriate compound angle.) It has the perforated see-through gaurd so you can set the blade on your mark accurately. It's very powerful, and at $300 a great buy. Tony
I bought the Makita LS1220 (12") a while back and really like it. I believe it comes with an "extra" 70T carbide blade now; supposedly the 40T stock blade wasn't that great -- I haven't used it yet as I've done nothing but trim with it so far. You can find it locally for $270-$300. I really like it. Whatever you get, you want the flat D-handle. If you do much trim you will be cutting on both sides of the blade and the D-handle lets you cut with either hand. If you will be using it a lot, or if you think you will be "stepping up" in the future, go ahead and bite the bullet and get a slider -- lots more you can do with it, and easier, than with a CMS.
I have the 705 12" Dewalt since about '96. It has developed a vibration that stays no matter what blade I put in it. The engineers admitted that they have a peculiar problem with it in the arbor that is "supposedly" fixed on the newer ones. I've had enough other Dewaly problems that I'm not confident enough to pluck down big bills with them anymore. I also use subs who have the Makita and the Hitachi8". We share. Even before the vibration became noticeable, those others produced much finer work for nice mitres - glass smooth cuts.
Excellence is its own reward!
Thumbs up on the Makita
Thanks all for your input. I think that by what most have said I will probably look to the Makita. From what I saw of it it is pretty smooth and you don't have to push down as hard as the others( I'm really not a wus).
Before I do dive in though I'll have to find the Hitachi. I haven't come across one yet.
The Hitachi was one of the first sliders, and if you have a budget for one saw I would jump all over it. Sweet tool that laughs at work.
They are giving these away now, and it is worth a look.
Hudson
The Hitachi 10" double bevel slider, its great, not a fan of the low fence because I was always use to the tall fence on my Milwaukee but this saw is great, dont know what it costs though, I didn't buy it.
Doug
The low fence is hard to get used to but the Hitachi probably gets the most use for trim on the jobs here. Still, I think my next will be a Makita. That's a hard admiossion for me to make because I really don't like a lot of Makita tools. There motors have got to be the strongest, longest working units going.
a sales man told me not to buy the Bosch because in his opinion, it wasn't built solid enough for daily use. I'm supposing that he had seen a few come back.
Excellence is its own reward!
We are going to bait and switch this guy into spending $500 in no time.
The fact is I could cut most of what I cut with a $150 chopper. You know something, I used to. I'll tell you one more, that same saw is still $150 today.
Now, what should the perfect saw be? What do I know, I only try every tool that comes on a jobsite. I find fault with every one, for different reasons.
(Piffin, I hope the Makita you are thinking of is a LS1013, I'd tell Makita how to make this saw perfect, but you know they don't listen)
My fathers day present came yesterday. A Hitachi 10" DSCMS. 469$ @ Tool crib. Free Shipping and a free 72 tooth blade.
The 72 tooth blade is backordered, but the 36 that is on it made some glass smooth cuts in a pine 1x4.
My first project is to make some taller aux. fences. The saw comes with some short composite ones that will slide together closer to the blade to support small workpieces/cutoffs. It shouldnt take much effort to make some taller ones out of some birch ply.
Now I gotta make something for DW so I don't have to listen to how much my fathers day present cost for the next ten years!
Mr TOOLDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
12" dewalt, nice and light, does 99% of your mitre chores, sometime, I still get out "BIG MO", 15" hitachi, can't give that saw away.no turn left unstoned
Hudson,
The "someone else" Jaybird is refering to is me. I posted the same quiestion a few weeks back. I did some research and found a review of CMS in American Woodworker issue #71 pp 83-87. I also found a review of SCMS in American Woodworker issue #53 pp35-41. You have to pay for reprints but I can fax them to you if you want. Bottom line: Makita took the Editor's Choice Award in both catagories. The only area that DeWalt excelled is the micro guage and magnified cursor. I have since purchased a factory reconed LS 1220 from Amazon for $249 no tax no shipping. It comes with a cheap 32T blade so I bought a Forrest Chopmaster on ebay. I have used it only once so far and I can see that I'm going to like it. It's VERY quiet. So much so that I thought it wasn't getting up to speed! The other guys are right about the bag - it fills up after a couple of cuts. Quite honestly if I had a need for 2 saws I would like to try the Hitachi 8" slider. I have yet to hear/read anything negative about it!
I have the DeWalt dual compound slider and love it. It is a bit heavy but I'm willing to live with it. Something else to think about is what your going to put it on. After several makeshift jobsite stand I eventually made myself a really good folding stand from a FH article many years ago and it served me well. But when that was ready to be retired I didn't have the time to build a new one. The best thing I ever did was to buy the SawHelper Ultrafence http://www.sawhelper.com. It is fantastic. Fast setup, accurate and versitle and you can order right and left tables as long or short as you want to fit your specific needs. I have 8' left and 3' right. I am thinking about ordering a longer right side table when I have the bigger rooms to work in. I've been working with a friend for the last couple of years who had a beat up Hitachi saw with no more guard, and practically the same homebuilt stand. He liked my setup so much when he finally broke down he bought the same outfit as me.