Question for (S)CMS owners

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi folks,

after checking a couple of catalogues, I found out that the mitre range on SCMS differs from type to type.
+- 45°, 50°60°, 52°/47° etc.
Which mitre range do you find most useful on a SCMS? Is +- 45° sufficient?
How often do you make cuts that require a wider range?
Would you recommend the feature that allows left and right bevelled cuts?

Thanks!

I almost forgot ...
Has this Dewalt SCMS ever been available in the US? Any experiences?

Christian

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I've never seen that one Christian. I have a 52*/48* saw (I think)...the Makita 1013. I have on occassion needed the extra capacity, but it's few and far between.

I do love the double bevel SCMS...makes all kinds of cuts possible without flipping the work.

[Andy London]

I have never seen the saw in your link in Canada nor in my travels around the USA. 95%+ of the time 0 to 45 is all I use, there have been many times during house construction however where I would go the full 60 degrees, especially in deck building for some reason

[Per Swenson]

Christian,

I am a trim carpenter by trade and for what I use

the saw for is installations mostly.

That said this is not a perfect world, and there is no

such thing as a 90 degree corner. In any house.

Especially near the ceiling or the floor.

Thats is why I have a bosch angle finder.

There are other more complicated reasons for having that

extra 5 degrees or so. I do not know if this is going to translate

well but instead of thinking in 90s think in 180s. Then 50 degrees

subtracted from 180 will give you 130. I am sure this is not

making sense and some one more versed in technical writing

will explain it better. Suffice to say in house work you want all the degrees

you can get.

Now about the dewalt.... I took a picture of the makita.


Per

[Dale Thompson]

Christian,
Your link was news to me. I've never seen it before.

I've got the DW 708 SCMS and have never felt limited by its abilities. It's a great saw and holds its settings extremely well. One thing though, don't believe a word of the dust collection malarky that they try to sell you. There is no such thing as a (S)CMS which will collect dust properly or even close to the manufacturer's claims. The DW 708 is NO exception - sputter - sputter - cough - cough - AAAACHEW!

Dale T.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Dale speaks the truth there! The Makita isn't any better!

[Richard Wolf]

Per makes sense to me. I use the DW708 for railing and stair work. Most stairs are built at 41 or 42 degrees. Like Per explained so well, often I need 59 or 58 degrees. I also like the very high fence on the Dewalt, its great for railing profiles or cutting crown.

Richard

[Jeff Fritzson]

Most of my work has nothing to do with trim work or stairs but rather with workstations, furniture and boxes. I did not see the need for me to have a dual compound and decided to get the Bosch 10" slider. It has delivered on everything I have asked of it. Although I do have some interior trim work I may take on myself, the small number of jobs where I will cut crown and take advantage of a dual compound saw did not seem to warrant the extra expense for me.

If I was a professional trim or finish carpenter I am sure I would feel different. The capabilities of the saw that's right for you will depend on what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend. This is one tool where I was able to save because I did not need all the features of some of the great saws mentioned.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi folks,

thanks for your replies.
Per, I think I got it. As a corner that is supposed to be 90° actually hardly will be 90° a mitre saw that only offers +- 45° won't be sufficient. The only "problem" is that I don't know if a slightly wider mitre range would be worth spending significantly more money. And while you prefer the Makita (and I do believe that you know why), some Dewalts offer a wider mitre range.
The perfect solution for triming would probably be this saw but unfortunatly, it's only a CMS and not useful for cutting larger boards. If money weren't an issue I'd get it and a Festool or Mafell pull push trimming saw for larger items.

The Dewalt DW 701 I mentioned is probably THE SCMS for on-site use among professionals in Austria/Germany. In fact, it's the classic saw that was originally developed by Elu and today (the Dewalt line replaced Elu in 2000 I think) you still find many Elu saws but also new Dewalts of the same type among professionals. That's why I thought it might be a good tool.
Another aspect that I'd like about this saw is that it doesn't seem to take up that much space compared to other types.

Regards,

Christian

[Mike Stanton]

I have the dewalt 708 slide compound miter saw and I have it bench mounted. It has 60 degrees right and 50 degrees left it does almost all the cuts I use sometimes not tho. Mike

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I have a craftsman SCMS and it miters from 50-45 and has double bevel... I love the double bevel feature the most.

[Steve Cox]

I was doing some boat work and came up short with the miter range on the DeWalt. After that experience when I went shopping I looked for the greatest bevel range I could find and wound up with the Bosch 12" slider. Sometimes it is a little large to be convenient but overall I am very pleased.