Miter Saws

[RipChord929]

Going to be doing some building this year, shopping for a new miter saw. Have my old Craftsman 10inch no slide.. Want a new 12inch double bevel slider, mmmmmm yeah, bad boy saw!

Candidates are, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, and Bosch, and maybe Hitachi.
Any builders out there with experience on any of those? Comments welcome!

Buyers reviews are kind of hinky these days, competitors putting in the poison pill!   I hear it happens alot these days!

  RC

[Meatwad]

Ive never had any problems with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Just make sure you dont get the cheaper ones

[DaCoon]

We have a Bosch at work and you probably wouldn't believe the applications we use it for. I don't remember what the model # is but it has a 45deg turn on the table, the cutting head itself rotates to approx. 33.9deg, and the arm slides in and out about 6in.
Dewalt also makes some really good products, but I guess it really all depends on what you want to spend.

Happy Easter      

[RipChord929]

Oh yeah, forgot!  I'm in the 7 or 800 range, for a top quality contractors unit. Don't want to have to buy one again!
But I dont need one of those 3000$ saws, lol! Rediculous!

  RC

[68ZooM]

I have a DeWalt compound miter saw, great tool and i use it alot 

[uptown]

Ive never had any problems with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Just make sure you dont get the cheaper ones

+1

[bj229r]

I bought a piece of crap no-name slider from Harbor Freight 10 uears ago...still going strong....I even saw fire wood with it

[phatzo]

I have a DeWalt 355mm metal chop saw. A thousand times better than any of the others I've had.

[1sum41]

Ive never had any problems with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Just make sure you dont get the cheaper ones

+1

[morfiend]

 I've used tools made by each of these manufactors,Bosch and milwaukee are both industrial grade! Dewalt makes industrial grade tools or "homeowner" so be careful which series you get.The Hitachi tools are first rate,but back when I was using these saws they only had a 7 and 1/2 inch compound sliding miter saw. I see they now have larger ones available and depending on price they would be my first choice.

 It really comes down to usage,you say your going to be doing some building,but are you planning on making a living with these tools? Or are you simply doing some reno work around the house and neeed or want a better tool than you have!

 If it's to make a living,buy the best you can get,if it's renos get the tool that has the most features and does what you need for at reasonable price.

 When it comes down to it the 4 makers are all pretty good,just have to be careful with some of the Dewalt lines!

   Porter Cable is another good tool maker,I have 1 of their belt sanders,it's 25 years old and was worked for 10 years on a daily basis.

   

[Sonicblu]

building a house as we speak well you know what i mean.

< is going to go with the Craftsman 12' compound miter Saw. Cause it has a laser beam on it.

Looked at a bunch Ridge, Dewalt which is a revamped line of black and decker they couldnt sells tools they had such a bad name. So they came out with the Dewalt line. Anyway All my other power tools are Milwaukee. Have hole hawg, 10" chop saw 6 of there 1-1/2 rotary hammer drills. < will drive a 3" carbine hammer bit right though concrete. Have had every cordless tool size they make. have two sets of the new 28v battery powered ones. the list goes on and on. I swear by Milwaulkee. YOU can't go wrong with Milwaukee in my opinion.

But I like craftsman miter saw the best so Im going to try it.

<S>

[RipChord929]

Thanks for the input guys
It takes a full day to go to and from my nearest Lowes hardware, so I do as much shopping as I can by computer.
Want to buy a saw that will frame and trim, a do it all unit! And don't want to buy one again! For my usage, a top quality unit will probably serve for the rest of my life, so yeah I'll fork it over for a good one!

i looked at Craftsman, they have a Pro series, bevels Left and Right, looks well made, but lacks some of the fine adjustment capability, belt driven, good price..

Suprised at the good reviews on the Hitachi units, apparently they are pretty good quality, have all the features, but heavy due to a cast iron base, and a little clumsy, belt driven, good price too..

Milwaukee and Makita are direct gear driven, all ball bearing and bevel gears, a plus in my book!  have all the features, fine adjustments, very high quality, and excellent warrantees. The Milwaukee is a fine unit, no doubt, most powerful, very polished, and user friendly!  High on my list!

Dewalt and Bosch, (both Top of the line series saws), super nice units, but are belt driven.  The Dewalt has the most capacity, will cut a 2x16 or a 4x12 at 90deg, impressive, but the adjustments seem primitive compared to the others.  And the Bosch, is known for high quality and accuracy, and longevity, the industry standard!

Narrowed it to the Milwaukee, because of the gear drive, very high quality, ease of useage (even a dummy could use it well).. Dewalt because of the big capacity, and found it on sale for 577.00$ Killer deal for the DW718..   And the Bosch, because of the excellent overall quality.. I've tried a Bosch 12inch before, very nice!

Decisions Decision, lol!  I love gettin new toys!

Thanks all   RC 

[morfiend]

 Dont let the fact that a saw is belt driven stop you,that usually means the blade is on a sepperate arbour and sometimes allows for adjustments. The directdrive saws can wear bushings and or bearings ant this will cause the arbour to move about and can affect the quality of a cut!

 Another thing,if you should jam the saw for whatever reason,the belt will shear long before any harm is done to the motor.

  I had an old Dewalt,not a B/D made Dewalt,that was beltdrive. It was the best mitersaw I ever owned,unfortunately it had no compound feature and was only 10 inches but it and the belt sander worked everyday for 10 years and are still going strong.

   

 PS: you can usually replace the bearings in a belt drive saw,the ones that support the blade,though truthfully I havent thoroughly checked the newest sliding compounds to say for fact you can!

[oneway]

Going to be doing some building this year, shopping for a new miter saw. Have my old Craftsman 10inch no slide.. Want a new 12inch double bevel slider, mmmmmm yeah, bad boy saw!

Candidates are, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, and Bosch, and maybe Hitachi.
Any builders out there with experience on any of those? Comments welcome!

Buyers reviews are kind of hinky these days, competitors putting in the poison pill!   I hear it happens alot these days!

  RC

You don't use a 'Miter' saw to build...you use it to trim out the building you just built...

You rarely if ever need a compound capable tool to cut building or framing stock...99% of the cuts are simple 90 cross cuts...when you come across the need to make the rare compound cut in framing...use your worm drive 7.25 Skil saw...you do own one right?

If your demand/operation requires high output cross cutting...you need a radial arm saw...and if you want 4x cross cut you will need at a minimum a 12" radial arm saw...

Perhaps your looking for a chop saw...that is a saw that is NOT a sliding compound saw...these saws in the 12" range are perfect for light duty production uni-planer cutting of framing stock to feed a small a crew...

Don't mix apples and oranges...sliding compound powered miter saws are for trim work...if you need to chop framing members get a chop saw...or a radial arms saw...

If you want the best...buy a Delta...they still make things with cast then machined iron...

Oneway

<S>

http://www.cadframers.com/whitney/gallery.php

[Dragon]

I have a Bosch 12" and the matching stand.  DW was nice too, but bang for the buck, I'd go Bosch.

If you've never used a stand before, I highly recommend getting one.  After not using one for 25 years, I picked one up 2 years ago and absolutely love it.


Pick yourself up the best blade you can.  A great saw with a POS blade will be a POS saw.