Buying a Sliding Compound Miter Saw - Need Counsel

[Paul Richard]

Hi All,

I’m in the market for a good quality, compound miter saw. I’ve been checking out the Festool 10”, Dewalt 779 (12”) and Bosch 12” with the robot arm. The positive reviews for all of them are off the charts. The negative reviews are all over the place, from crazy tight blade lock screws on the Dewalt, to excessive lateral play and plastic on the Bosch, to small cut capacity on the Festool. My requirements are cut consistency, accuracy and cut capacity. I’m a hobbyist getting close to retirement, and I expect to be using it quite a bit more. A buddy of mine has a Ridgid 12” and he complains about consistency and accuracy. I’ve spent some time with him trying to dial it in to no avail. It has tons of power, but when doing a larger cut it deflects - it’s obvious when you check the cut board for square or the zero clearance insert.

Do you all have some thoughts on what I should invest in? Or, are there threads where this has been covered at length?

Thanks for any feedback or direction.

Sincerely,
Paul

[Aaron Inami]

For "cut consistency, accuracy and cut capacity", I would go with the DeWalt. I think that the DeWalt miter saws have always been very good. The major complaint on the DeWalt (as well as other miter saws) is dust collection, which is just horrible on most miter saws. The Makita has decent dust collection, but suffers on accuracy and factory slide alignment as well as soft metal used for the detent presets. The Festool is the best for dust collection, but is on the smaller side and very expensive.

[Rich Engelhardt]

When I joined here back in 2006, a lot of people had the opinion that a miter saw had no place in a wood working shop, it was only good for construction.
I scoffed at that idea.

What did I know?

Slowly over the next dozen years, i swung around more and more to that point of view.

Today, every once in a while the bug bites me to get a sliding compound miter saw. I've learned to ignore it most of the time.

Seriously - why do you want a sliding compound miter saw? What do you see using it for?

[roger wiegand]

Having been blissfully unaware of the supposed failings of SCMS, I've been happily using my Hitachi for the better part of two decades now. It's the tool of choice in my shop for cutting anything to length, it seems to achieve that with consistency, accuracy and adequate capacity quite admirably. I've outfitted it with a Fence system sold by Biesemeyer long ago so boards are supported 6 ft on one side of the blade, 8 ft on the other. The adjustable fence stops make for as accurate length repeatability as I could imagine. It's something of a space hog, but wants only a fraction of the space it would take to do the same cuts on a sliding table saw. Setting up angles and bevels takes a little bit of fiddling, but, in my experience, less than setting up the same cuts on the table saw. Once set up the resulting cuts are completely reproducible, making it ideal for low scale production work. With an add-on zero clearance fence I've been cutting hundreds of small parts for organ pipes to length on my SCMS, they come out identical to my ability to measure.

I can imagine if you throw one around in the back of a pickup truck or apply gorilla strength to wrenching it to do what you want it to do you can easily produce a bad cut, so I'd question the utility of such a saw on a construction site. In the shop however it can deliver great results over a very long period of time. I suppose a RAS would be an alternative to do many of the same things, but I don't see any advantage to what feels like a more dangerous tool. If I could double the size of my shop I'd have a sliding table saw in a heartbeat, but that's just not in the cards.

Yes, dust collection is horrible.

Sorry I really can't speak to the modern offerings, my old one is still going strong.

[Robert Hayward]

I had a radial arm saw for most of my life, a one owner Rockwell Super 900. Was taking up too much space in my now garage shop so I reluctantly sold it and bought a Bosch GCM12SD thinking that would be the answer to saving space and still having about the same cross cut capacity. Due to accuracy issues the saw is an expensive cutoff saw being used only for cutting a board to length. A 7 1/4" hand held circular saw would do the same thing for a lot less money.

Back when I worked in the field I had a Dewalt 10" chop saw that was dead accurate. Do not remember the model number but it was before the sliding models on the market now. Very limited cross cut capacity is why I also sold it. In hindsight I should have kept the old Dewalt and used it along with the 7 1/4" Makita hand held.

[Andrew Hughes]

I have a Bosch glide with a 12 inch Forrest chop master blade. It’s a good trim saw with a wide cross cut.
Good Luck

[Keegan Shields]

I had the Bosch 12" glide "robot arm" saw and found that the off-center handle caused it to deflect if I wasn't careful. I switched to a Kapex and the results are better. It is not an Omga and I don't expect that level of accuracy from it.

Accuracy is really a tricky topic that depends on what type of work you are doing. Different people can build the same piece of fine furniture and accept different tolerances - which is why you get such a range of answers I suspect.

I thought my joints were well fitted until I started using a shooting plane.


My strategy has always been to buy a used tool in great condition for a good price and if I don't like it, then resell it for what I paid. (both the Bosch and Kapex were used)

You might also consider a non-sliding miter saw if you are looking for a higher level of accuracy and don't need the cross cut capacity.

[Mark Gibney]

I'm in the middle of a job that needs parts cuts at consistent lengths that are too long for my table saw sled. I got a Craftsman 10" RAS off C'list and set it up for absolute 90° cuts, with a long table and shop-made fence with a tape measure.
The cut width is just over 14".

It's such a joy to use. I won't use it for anything but 90° cuts. Wish I'd done it years back.
I have a Hitachi 8" sliding miter saw that I pull out for compound angle cuts on rare occasions. So depending on what room have and what work you'll be doing there are ways to go. A miter saw / shooting plane might be the sensible solution for you Paul.

[glenn bradley]

Like some others here I was confused by the combination of statements . . . You say you are retiring but are getting a miter saw. Do you plan to do a lot of construction or room trim work in retirement? A CMS or SCMS takes up a large footprint and offers little in the realm of furniture making unless you are doing production work.

I understand there are folks who will give up their CMS or RAS when it is pulled from their cold, dead hands and that's fine. Experience has taught me that the space requirement can be way better utilized, tasks can be done better and more reliably on other tools, etc., etc.. JMHO and I know others feel the quirky machine warrants the real estate. Different folks is different

[Richard Coers]

I'm of the school where a sliding miter saw is for building decks and house grade trim. Not for furniture. But as with everything on the internet, there are always black and white and a little gray thrown into how accurate they are. I've owned a lot of brands over the decades and the only one I really liked was the old Hitachi 7 1/4" for furniture work. Some were horrible for shaving off a few thousandths. So remember, from 10 people you will get 15 opinions, and high accuracy for one person is a huge gap in the cut for someone else. I'm in the no gap is acceptable for furniture camp.

[Michael Burnside]

I have the Festool Kapex. Wonderful saw, easy to use, accurate and great dust collection. That said, it is my least used tool overall. Anything small'ish and I just use my crosscut sled and table saw and anything rough I just grab my Milwaukee M12 jig-saw and cut to rough length. It has a place, for sure, but don't over think this tool too much IMHO. At least not for fine woodworking.

[John TenEyck]

If you don't need portability, don't get a miter saw. A table saw can do almost anything better if not always faster. However, a TS is not such a great tool for cutting long parts, and that's where a RAS shines. A RAS has at least as much crosscut capacity of any miter saw, less deflection so better accuracy, and is an amazingly versatile tool. If you have the space, that would be my choice. If you shop well, you should be able to find a round head Dewalt or a pivot head Delta for less than a quality miter saw, and way less than a Festool. The Dewalt MBF is a wonderful trim saw, the GWI a great general purpose saw that can still run on 120V, and the GA a larger format, more powerful do anything well saw.

John

[Aaron Inami]

A really good Radial Arm Saw can be extremely expensive, but you can do some interesting things with it:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DcdevPlrH30

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZX1wu9Xo_9Y

Maybe browse used on ebay or craigslist if you want.

[Bernie Kopfer]

I used a Kapex for several years. It was accurate,relatively quiet, and very good dust collection. Sadly the motor burnt up and I did not have the time to buy a new armature and repair it. I purchased a 10” Bosch glide as a temporary fix. Two major problems showed up immediately. Dust collection at best is inadequate and on some cuts and wood sizes it is almost nonexistent. 2nd. The noise level is such that it requires protection to be worn at all times. With these two major strikes against it I’m looking forward to getting my Kapex repaired.

[Brian Gumpper]

I've been out of the tool buying game for years but why no mention of Makita? When I bought mine they were the gold standard on the woodworking forums. Don't remember the model number but see they still make SCMS.