Miter Saw Woes

[Gene Michael]

I have a Craftsman 10" MS that was fine for the first couple of years. Now, the two sections of fence are out of alignment with each other. Because they are connected by the center piece, I can realign the fence as a whole, but not one side with the other. There is about a three degree error between the two sides.

Sears says the problem was cause by storage in an unheated shop that caused the fence to bend from shrinking and expanding due to seasonal changes. Has anyone ever heard of this or experienced a similar problem?

I can buy a replacement from Sears, but expect that the same problem will occur again if it's caused by seasonal heating and cooling. Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Sounds like a bunch of BS to me. Is it a aluminum fence or something else? For that excuse to stand, the manual better have said something to the tune of "climate controlled shop use only". Bet it didn't. I'd also bet that it was a poorly made part that failed, because Craftsman built that saw to hit a specific price point, not nessecarily to really work longer then the warranty.

[Derek Stevens]

Yank the fence and construct a new one of hardwood. and never buy sears....

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Yank the fence and construct a new one of hardwood. and never buy sears....

I kept the fence, but made a sacrificial zero clearance fence out of hardboard & shimmed it true.
I also learned the last part also - avoid Sears/Craftsman miter saws.

IMHO - buying a replacement fence is throwing good money after bad.

Put it towards an upgraded saw & keep the Craftsman around for rough work where "dead on" isn't a requirement.

What's a real pity is the Craftsman I had (the $199.00 model w/laser) was a really nice saw to work with. Excellent feel, decent power, dead on after fiddling w/it and shimming it.

It literally tore itself to pieces though.

- The blade/arbor developed a "wobble" after a very short period of use. That wobble caused the blade to kick up small pieces of cutoffs and toss them (with considerable force I might add) into the back of the saw/fence. The first victim was the laser. One piece hit the laser and sent it flying.

- I'm convinced the wobble of the arbor caused a distortion of a very good 80T Freud thin kerf blade. That blade made ~ 50 perfect "baby bottom smooth" cuts before it started to show little signs of rough edges on the crown molding I was cutting.

- The fence went out of alignment (similar to yours) and all my best efforts to realign it failed. I used shims to bring it back true, but it wouldn't hold. The Allen screw that held the right side of the fence wasn't holding. I tried everything I could think of - locktite, both red and blue, super glue, any and all lock washers, etc. The fence still slipped a bit.
Since I was still basically happy with the saw (plus into it for >$100), I just lived with it and adjusted often.

- The final straw/failure came when I lifted the saw by the carry handle to move it. The handle stayed in my hand, and the saw stayed on the miter station .

All of the above happened within two weeks of the saw going from new in box to being destroyed. I'd bought the saw ~ 14 months prior to use in anticipation of the job it was going to be used for, so it was nonreturnable. I was so pressed for time/so disgusted with it, I decided I'd save my blood pressure by not even trying to argue the point w/Sears.
(I was also a bit afraid Sears would replace it ).
I also had three other miter saws I could fall back on.

I eventually replaced it with a 10" DeWalt - non slider - no frills.
Ergonomically, the DeWalt isn't anywhere close to the Craftsman.
Like I said earlier, that POS felt wonderful & for the first ~ 50 cuts, I was in pure hog heaven.
The DeWalt is a much better saw though. It's solid & holds it's settings.

[Vince Shriver]

Maybe Sears can sell you a little sweater you can put on your saw for those really chilly nights! Sears has always been pretty good about replacing tools that go bad from non neglect issues, but sometime you just have to put up a little squawk - I'd go back and tell them you want a new fence.

[Thomas Williams]

Not sure the answer from Sears was correct. But generally these type of call centers are run more to handle volume rather than provide quality answers.

If you are not wanting to invest more money into repair parts or a new saw, I would install a wood fence and shim it back to accurate. It should be fine for hobby type use. For me, I use a table saw and shooting board when I need the most accuracy.

[Michael Stanley]

I have a Delta 12" that had the same issue. I was able to straighten the fence by placing it on my bench with a block under each end and tapping in the middle with a mallet. This took a while as I was very carefull not to strike the casting to hard and checked my progress often. It's dead straight now.

[Jimmie Mayfield]

While Sears' explanation could be plausible if the fence is constructed from two or more types of metal with different thermal expansion coefficients, it smacks of poor design.

If it's not misaligned by too much, you might relegate that saw to general construction tasks (or sell it to a DIYer who will use it only for those types of tasks) and buy another saw. Amazon and Toolking (and others, I'm sure) typically list refurbished Dewalt saws at a pretty good discount. Saved $100 on mine and the only indication that it wasn't brand new was the "R" engraved on the motor housing. I want to say Amazon had some refurb Bosch and Makita CMSes, too, but it's been a while so I could be mis-remembering.

Rich, you're not alone. I recall reading customer reviews on Sears' site where their handles have broken off.

[Brian Keith]

Gene your not alone with fence problems, I to have a 10"(slider) with a fence thats off. Bought it last March and just this week went to Sears with complaint and now Im waiting for a new fence next week. Good luck with yours.

[Jim Kountz]

Maybe Sears can sell you a little sweater you can put on your saw for those really chilly nights!

Ok thanks for that I spewed coffee everywhere......LOL

[Craig McCormick]

I had a Sears miter saw with the same problem. I sold it at a garage sale and bought a Delta.

AZCRAIG

[Sonny Edmonds]

I did my research and got a refurbed Hitachi years and years ago.
Haven't cried since.
Did you know that Hitachi invented the SCMS?
Well, they did.
Think about that when you decide to upgrade.

[fRED mCnEILL]

I had the same problem with my Makita but not due to any defect, rather a mishap while using it. I was able to "coax" it back into shape with various different precision tools i.e. hammer. vice etc. Works perfect again.

Fred M.

[John Thompson]

Have to agree with Sonny on the Hitachi. I have used them for the last 6 years and one reason is the fence is two section with adjustment on both sides. I would put on the sacrificial and shim as mentioned by several.

Sarge..

[Peter Quinn]

I have a makita with an aluminum fence, it works like the post man; warm, cold, sleet or snow, summer and winter. No sweater or heater needed. Sounds like typical Sears smoke up the behind BS. Do they really believe people will buy that explanation? Sorry to be so strong on this, but when the pump/motor on my 2 year old washer broke for the third time and I realized I'd failed to enter the class action law suit against Sears for that particular model (not having realized I'd bought a badly designed lemon that required a class action law suit to protect consumers) I decided I had bought my last item from sears short of shop vac filters. Their 'We didn't build it, we just design and sell it, must be your fault' brand of costumer service doesn't work for me. Given their retail performance of late, I'd say a lot of other people have come to similar conclusions.

You can add a sacrificial fence as described in other posts, I do anyway on my slider as a ZC backer and precise cut line indicator (more accurate than ANY laser I've seen) but not because the fence is warped. A few coarse shims and a few pieces of paper as precise shims should allow you to get within wood working tolerances.

I'd start saving for a new brand of saw personally, one built by a manufacturer that measures their tools service life in years or decades, not months. Plenty of good brands to choose from. I have seen some very old hitachi's in service that are still a pleasure to use. Do you suppose a replacement fence will perform any longer than the original given Sears hasn't admitted any manufacturing defect? Probably same part, same problem sooner or later.