Miter saw for perfect 5" crosscuts

[Michael Wildt]

I think you got a lot of good replies already. One thing that was a requirement of yours was dust collection. The only one I have seen being really good is the Festool. Not sure about the Bosh on that nor Dewalt.

[Eric DeSilva]

Where are you located? There is a guy in the Woodbridge VA area that has a warehouse full of OMGAs... 3PH, but selling them cheap. Former deck construction co. going out of business.

[Jeff Duncan]

What are you going to be doing with this saw that makes the ultimate perfect 90 so important? Any new chopsaw once tuned should give you a 90 degree cut. I have an Omga and they're great saws for making dead on cuts all day long without a sweat. In a shop with a lot of product being cut I highly recommend them, but for light use they're probably a bit excessive. The dust collection is actually well designed and works pretty good. They're also not portable at a bit over 200 lbs IIRC for my 14".
The DeWalts for me are inexpensive jobsite tools that do a decent job for what they are. They're lightweight which is good for portability, but it's the portability or rather the actual transporting of them which tends to knock them out of alignment.
Of course there's also CTD and Pistorius which both make top of the line saws with prices reflecting the quality. Really depends on what your needs are as to what will be the best tool for you.
good luck,
Jeff

[Greg Cole]

My DW716 is pretty accurate. Then again I try to stay out of the brand name bashing, that bandwagon's awful full here.
Buy a decent brand and dial it in. If you want it to stay dialed in, don't drag it outside for building a deck, fence or general construction jobs & don't loan it out to a buddy or neighbor.
I don't use it for the most precise cuts as I'd rather use a good miter gauge or a sled on the TS for cabinetry-furniture cutting tasks-purposes.

[Jonathan Spool]

I only use my miter saw to cross cut stock that is too long to be acurately handled on my table saw. Or, if I am on a job site an whacking out flooring, trim or siding etc.

If its precision you are looking for, and you are interested in cabinetry, my 2 cents is to invest in a good tablesaw.

[David DeCristoforo]

If you have $1,300 to invest, you want this:

http://www.omgainc.com/productfamily...sub_id=0&pid=9

...trust me.

[Frank Shannon]

Where are you located? There is a guy in the Woodbridge VA area that has a warehouse full of OMGAs... 3PH, but selling them cheap. Former deck construction co. going out of business.

I'm in Texas but I would pay shipping if he's willing to box one. I can't use 3 phase.

[Neil Clemmons]

Frank -

I have the Kapex and have been very pleased with it's accuracy and dust collection. There are a lot of discussions on it on the festool owners group forum.

You might also consider the Milwaukee 6955-20 which I have heard is a great saw.

Good luck -

neil

[Larry Edgerton]

I use an old Delta cast iron workhorse with the jackshaft drive for cutting all of my cabinet parts. Its the best I have found other than the Omga. I have their radial arm saw and love it.

Of the currently available off the shelf saws I like the Hitachi 10" slide compound the best. Omga not included......

I do not like a 12" blade for fine work. They have too much tendency to wallow in a compound cut.

[Larry Edgerton]

Where are you located? There is a guy in the Woodbridge VA area that has a warehouse full of OMGAs... 3PH, but selling them cheap. Former deck construction co. going out of business.

Got a link? I have three phase........

[Jim Kountz]

Any chop or slider SHOULD do that, and I'm suprised that anybody would accept anything less. My Makita 1013 with the better stock blades has been doing it for going on 7 years now.

I couldnt agree more Steve, well said. If I couldnt crosscut a 5" board perfectly Id throw it in the trash.
And I love the guys who say a Dewalt saw cant do this and is not accurate. I laugh my butt off everytime I see these posts!! Some people are really ill informed!! I have 4 yes four different Dewalt saws and I welcome anyone to come on over, bring your best squares with you and try my saws. With the exception of the one that fell out of my truck a couple years ago, any of my saws will crosscut perfectly.
I'll hold the light for you if you want. Any takers? Lets make it interesting and put a few hundred on it!!

[Frank Shannon]

I'm a FOG member. And that pretty well describes my feelings about the Kapex. The finest, most innovative SCMS ever made, but....... I've followed all the discussions there about the Kapex. From an emotional standpoint I would be happier with a Kapex than anything else I could buy, including the high end chop/miters costing thousands. That's the Festoolian in me; but I've got to control my emotions and be logical here. If a pukey yellow DeWalt is the better way to go then so be it. But I'll be darned if I'll plug my CT33 to $219 DeWalt chop saw. On the other hand, if an almost as cool Omga is the way to go so be it.

Do you crosscut for furniture parts parts with it? When did you buy it and what were your motivations. I'm really interested in that 5" and under range because I do fine with the wide stuff on my MFT and there's a lot less of that anyway. How about the grinding, you had any of that?

[Frank Shannon]

What are you going to be doing with this saw that makes the ultimate perfect 90 so important? Any new chopsaw once tuned should give you a 90 degree cut. I have an Omga and they're great saws for making dead on cuts all day long without a sweat. In a shop with a lot of product being cut I highly recommend them, but for light use they're probably a bit excessive. The dust collection is actually well designed and works pretty good. They're also not portable at a bit over 200 lbs IIRC for my 14".
The DeWalts for me are inexpensive jobsite tools that do a decent job for what they are. They're lightweight which is good for portability, but it's the portability or rather the actual transporting of them which tends to knock them out of alignment.
Of course there's also CTD and Pistorius which both make top of the line saws with prices reflecting the quality. Really depends on what your needs are as to what will be the best tool for you.
good luck,
Jeff

Thanx for replying, you're just the person I need to talk too. You must be cutting furniture/cabinet parts with that Omga.

Once purchased and installed this saw will never move unless the shop is rearranged. It will be used for cabinet and furniture making, not trim carpentry. That being establish I'd like to pick your brain a little further.

Say your volume was less. Would you still buy the Omga?

What's the differenct between an Omga and the common brands, i.e. Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, etc. And remember, the saw will never be moved and will only be used for cabinets and furniture. It will never see a door jamb. Is it simply that the volumn would kill the common brand or is it more? Are the cuts substatially better on a saw such as the Omga as well as supporting more volume. The tone of the bulk of the replies is that it is more a question of volumn.

Or if your volume was less would you not even cut door and face frame parts at a miter/chop?

What about long rails and styles for pantry doors? Awefully convinient to lay those long boards down on a chop platform rather than stick them off the end of a sled probably without a stop. Don't know why I hate pencils so much. Maybe it's because they've lied to me and let me down a time or two.

Do you have some sort of automated stop system like a Tiger Stop? If not do you have some method for permanent stops for standard lengths?

With the 14" 3hp you must have something like the T 50 350. Retail on that saw today is close to $3000 for 3 phase. For lighter use what do you think about the lower end Omga, say the T 55 300? It's actually a couple of hundred less than a Festool Kapex.

Sorry if I'm prying. You may not want to totally spill your guts about your work processes to the whole wide world. Thanx again for the reply.

[Frank Shannon]

I use an old Delta cast iron workhorse with the jackshaft drive for cutting all of my cabinet parts. Its the best I have found other than the Omga. I have their radial arm saw and love it.

Of the currently available off the shelf saws I like the Hitachi 10" slide compound the best. Omga not included......

I do not like a 12" blade for fine work. They have too much tendency to wallow in a compound cut.

If you didn't have the Delta would you buy the Hitachi or an Omga?

[Frank Shannon]

I couldnt agree more Steve, well said. If I couldnt crosscut a 5" board perfectly Id throw it in the trash.
And I love the guys who say a Dewalt saw cant do this and is not accurate. I laugh my butt off everytime I see these posts!! Some people are really ill informed!! I have 4 yes four different Dewalt saws and I welcome anyone to come on over, bring your best squares with you and try my saws. With the exception of the one that fell out of my truck a couple years ago, any of my saws will crosscut perfectly.
I'll hold the light for you if you want. Any takers? Lets make it interesting and put a few hundred on it!!

Jim,

What about the little DeWalt, the 10" miter, DW713? Others seem to like it and really looks well worth the $196 I see it for at Amazon. What about the 715 an 716. It would be nice to have belt driven saw so that leads me toward the 716.

What do you think about 10" vs 12". Some think the 10" is better for fine cuts.

One thing I haven't mentioned in my critera is that it would be great if I could get the saw up close to the wall. So that leads me toward a non-slider or the Festool Kapex. I am a commited Festoolian (or maybe I should be committed as in put away) but I have serious doubts about the value of the Kapex.