[OP]
Member
Ok. Put down your pencils. Went with the Milwaukee. It gets great reviews. $50 more than the Dewalt, I had to order online but I can return to my local big box hardware store if needed. I liked better dust collection/digital miter which seems to get good reviews/longer warranty for otherwise very similar capacity. The rails slide into the table underneath. It's a little different design. I'll post pics and first impressions next week hopefully.
Contributor
I had to also return a Ridgid because of run-out. It was absolutely terrible. I now use a combination of saws; for large cuts the Bosch works great, for smaller things the Makita 0714 proves the best saw. It's wonderful to use. Because of it, I cannot justify the expense of a Kapex.Originally Posted by Steve Wilde
[OP]
Member
Well, it only took HD 5 days to ship it, 3 hours later it was at my local UPS center. Sat there over the weekend and finally got it today. Not that I'm impatient.
Had just enough time to unpack it and make two cuts. I have no idea how accurate it is at this point. First cut was a 2x12 scrap I had lying around. That was a two step process with the old saw. Cut like butter. Next was a 8x3 piece of poplar. Again, no problem, nice and smooth without any hint of bogging.
The dust collection really works well. I'll have a large hood behind it connected to my DC system anyways, but it does a nice job.
I have an old two sink bathroom vanity with drawers that I'm going to convert to a miter station. I'll post pics when that's done. Trying to find a decent, full kerf 12" blade to put on this bad boy. Leaning towards a 60T or 72T Freud at the moment. I'm a little concerned the 90T+ full kerf blades will put a lot of strain on the motor.
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Member
I have that saw and have been using it extensively over the past year or so to do lots of work in the house. It's a good saw. I have worked a bit with Kapex too, that has too many plastic parts that break too easily. My finish carpenter had two (yes two) Kapex and was using as a spare part replacement to get the other one going (he had a very nice collection of tools btw).
Contributor
Sweet saw. I wouldn't worry about the blade, I have had a thin kerf 100 tooth blade on my 12" DeWalt for years. I would keep the original for construction lumber, not that hard to change out.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Contributor
Wow, that saw sure looks like a monster.
Member
If you're dead set on getting a full kerf, go through Tom @ Carbide Processors (phenomenal products/service and you support a fellow Creeker). For my CSMS I use the Forrest WWII thin kerf without run-out problems. My RAS and TS I get custom blades from Tom.
-Lud
[OP]
Member
I'll look into that. Also found the amana age heavy duty miter blades- full kerf, 80 teeth. That's a reputable brand, isn't it?
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[OP]
Member
I'll post a few thoughts on the saw. Was about 0.1 degree out of square, nit picky I know, but easy enough to correct. The miter detents, however, are not even close to accurate, but the detent override plus digital scale make it easy to set it, write down the angle, and it's as repeatable as a detent. It seemed like all the saws I looked at had one big detent plate, it would be nice if they would make the individual detents adjustable. Of course this is with the thin kerf blade, maybe it's deflecting a bit. Full kerf Amana blade was delayed by weather, hopefully here next week.
Adjusting the bevel was a different animal. I'm posting this for the benefit of anyone who gets as frustrated as I did with the lack of instructions on the bevel adjustment, if you don't have this saw, just know that it's a pain and the instructions are not clear or effective.
Milwaukee 6955-20 bevel: It was way out of square on arrival (more than a degree, which is a lot to me). The instructions to correct it are not clear, refer to three different screws that are not labeled or pictured in the manual. The process they describe in the manual doesn't work. You're supposed to release the detent clamp (after you figure out which two screws control the clamp) , which is different from the big red bevel clamp, and then there's an adjustment screw that moves the tooth that sits in the detent. You adjust this right or left until it moves the saw right or left and then tighten the clamp. The only problem is that when you loosen the clamp, there's about 5 degrees of play in that tooth. so when you tighten it back down, go away and come back to that setting, you can be way off again. So what I did was set the saw at 90.0 (all the way down, like it would be making a cut) using my digital miter scale. locked the red bevel clamp. took the back off the bevel arm where I could see all these parts I was blindly adjusting, loosened the clamp, adjusted the set tooth until it went up and down easily in the detent without slop, tightened the clamp screws, and now it sets dead on every time at 90.0 degrees. For other bevels I'll use my digital angle gage.
Like I said in my other posts, I'll use my TS and incra miter gage as much as possible, but when I need to use the SCMS I want it to be as accurate as possible. I think I can get that with this saw. The sliding mech is very smooth with no appreciable slop, although it's a little different than most saws. This one is fully extended all the way back, and fully retracted when you pull it towards you. Don't know if one is better than the other.
Where did I put that?
Contributor
A.G.E. is AMANA's budget brand.
[OP]
Member
yes, but their regular miter blades are close to $200. This was a more palatable $90, similar to all the freuds i could find. It was the only full kerf blade I could find that didn't have aggressive 10 degree rake angles. It's gotta be better than the OEM blade, I hope.
Where did I put that?
[OP]
Member
Finished (mostly) my miter station today. Not bad for $60 in materials. Got the vanity from a remodel job.
I take back what I said about the miter detents. They are spot on. The factory blade had a ton of runout. The Amana full kerf blade is much flatter. Cuts very cleanly. No hint of strain on the motor (apparently has some type of electronic speed control).
Looks like I can only post one pic at a time from my phone.
Where did I put that?
[OP]
Member
Dust collection is very good. I'll build a hood next.
Where did I put that?
[OP]
Member
Last picture.
Where did I put that?
Member
i have several saws . i do have a kapex ,but i also have a milwaukee 12" slider .like others have said it is accurate .i could not say kapex was more accurate . but my main point is if your going to put it in your shop and you have a DC then this is not a bad way to go .a 4" hose will hook up to the milwaukee .with a 1hp DC hooked to it I get excellent dust collection .which in a shop is nice . though this saw is huge .
the kapex gets good dust collection with even the most powerful of my vacs hooked to it . But all the saws out there these days are great .need to figure what features you could really use .which is easier said then done .
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