I love my DeWalt miter saw, but it's not a slider. I may have an option to upgrade (?) to a slider. What are the advantages of a slider - I've never used one?
[OP]
Member
I love my DeWalt miter saw, but it's not a slider. I may have an option to upgrade (?) to a slider. What are the advantages of a slider - I've never used one?
Contributor
A slider lets you make wider wobble cuts.....
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
Contributor
LOL..................And it wastes more shop space...............Rod.Originally Posted by Rich Engelhardt
A slider lets you make wider wobble cuts....
Contributor
I am not sure you really need a sliding miter saw in a woodworking shop. While they are nice, a non-sliding 12" machine should take care of the majority of your cross-cutting needs. Fine Woodworking magazine had an article on setting up a miter saw, and the author suggested the use of a non slider for a ww shop, which should take care of the majority of your needs.
Having said that, if I got a wild hair and a pile of cash, a Festool Kapex would be in my shop in a heartbeat.
Member
Agreed 100%, I have a 10" Bosch slider , it is a very good saw but needs to be recalibrated every couple of years to cut accurately, would love to have a Kapex in my shop but a 12" non-sliding Milwaukee or a Dewalt would be most likely my next purchase if I had to replace the 10" slider.
Member
The sliders I have used have been sloppy with a lot of flex. I much prefer my non-slider for good accurate angles... but I have a radial arm saw for longer cuts (and dados). Of the sliders I have looked at in the store any that I would trade my non-slider on I can not afford. There is just a lot more mechanism in a slider which has to be engineered VERY rugged to have a chance at minimizing flex.
Member
I am still using a 25+/- year old 8" Hitachi and it still works great. Probably like a car with 250,000 miles ... it has become so idiosyncratic, it can only be operated by its owner. I replace the blades as needed ... several times a year.
One thing the slider does well (enough) that can't be done easily on a simple miter (but is easily done on a RAS) is to cut dadoes. Especially on a job site that happens more than anyone probably cares to admit.
Must say, the term "slider" had me scratching my head. It seemed such a huge leap to go from a miter to a sliding table saw. Finally it dawned on me what you were asking.
Last edited by Bill Adamsen; 10-21-2015 at 11:56 AM.
"the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” Confucius
Member
You could get a Bosch glide for only half a pile of cash. It is a great saw and solves the same problem of the huge bench space taken up by sliding miter saws.
Steve
Contributor
The major advantage of a slider is, as previously stated, the ability to cut wider boards. While some SCMS may take a dado blade, my old Delta doesn't. My biggest complaint is the inaccuracy of my slider and it's inability of reproducing accurate miter angles even while using the manufactured miter stops. I have to check, reset, recheck, reset every time I change to a new angle even if it's just going between +&- 45º. Eventually I won't be able to get parts, it will wear out and I will replace it with a non-slider.
Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 10-21-2015 at 12:30 PM.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
Member
Per Ken's comment, I should qualify that cutting a dado on a sllding miter requires (at least in my case) multiple passes and incrementing the board.
"the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” Confucius
Member
I also use a 12 inch CMS and a RAS instead of a slider. I bought the RAS first and it seemed to make more to get the CMS. My main usage is in the shop and to my knowledge ALL the sliders take up too much space behind the fence. Even the articulated arm Bosch. I use my RAS and Hitachi 12 inch on a 24 inch deep bench. The knob of the Hitachi sticks out but I have the bolts purchased to reduce that several inches.
Member
Bob, I'll give you the typical answer: it depends. If you just want to quickly break down materials and refine your cuts via other methods (shooting board, cross cut sled on the TS, etc), I think a slider is useful. If you want joinery-level accuracy right off the saw, then a slider isn't a great choice. I don't even really like my non sliding miter saw for that level of accuracy.
I've never tried the festool though, so I supposed I could be convinced.
Contributor
I use my mitersaw for simply cross cutting, more than anything else. I wish I'd bought the slider. I really do.
Member
I have a 20 year old Dewalt miter and still love it. I actually still have the original blade that came with it and it works well. However, a slider does allow you to cut from the front and direct the saw dust back into the dust collection better than a fixed miter saw. I'd love to have a kapex, but I've settled for the Bosch. I can't bring myself to spend that type of scratch on a miter saw.
Member
The Dewalt non-Sliders, DW713, 715, and 716 are all fairly accurate saws with good dust collection. The Dewalt sliders all loose precision and dust collection by comparison.
Don't think a Kapex is somehow magic just because it costs a bunch of money. I have one and it is excellent in many ways but I'm not sure about the logic of buying one at the current silly price. It is oriented toward light weight and flexibility and isn't any more precise than a DW713 for $200. It certainly isn't any more precise than my Makita LS1214L which I sold used to someone that appreciated it for $550 used when the later Makita saws were about that price. AT the time I bought it, the Makita was the only slider that had roller bearing glides for precision on BOTH glides. The Makita was replaced by the Kapex because the Makita need WAY too much depth and threw sawdust EVERYWHERE, not because the Kapex was more precise. I sold my used LS1214L for $550 and upgraded to the Kapex for $1050 because of bench depth and dust collection, not because I gained any precision. Now that the Kapex is $1400, I would just laugh.
The still-current Makita LS714 is still fairly accurate for wide cross cuts but won't do much depth with a 7.25" blade.
I also have a Rigid 10" non-slider that my father gave me with a good blade installed for 90 degree cutoffs. It does great!
The not-too-deep Bosch Glide is the king of wide crosscut but stupidly heavy so limited to a shop only.
In one shop that is a furniture manufacturer with about a dozen Miter Saws nobody wants anything to do with any saws for precision 90 degree cut off except the DW713, even with the Kapex sitting there. Production upcut saw finally eliminated that. Now for someone doing mobile work on trim, crown, etc. the Kapex might be worth the money.
If you have a Dewalt non-slider, I would think hard before getting rid of it as they are something Dewalt did well and I'm NOT a
Dewalt lover.
What do I want? and OMGA with Kapex slider, angle adjustment, and dust collection. Still made out of OMGA cast iron and weighing 150 pounds but that is just me.
Last edited by Greg R Bradley; 10-21-2015 at 10:20 PM.
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