sliding compound miter saws

[Awlknottedup]

I have a Delta 10 in miter saw but after using a friends sliding compound miter saw I want one. I tend to buy most of my tools off Craig's list so what is a good brand?

 

[badboy1950]

get the 12" dewalt or hitachi.

 

[woodbutcher]

I have a Delta 12" sliding compound miter saw, and I like it. It is rather awkward to move from place to place, though.
Butch

 

[don t-9n180179]

I had very good luck w/a 10" Ryobi miter saw.
When it died, I bought a 10" Ryobi slider.
I would not recommend the 10" Ryobi slider to anyone for a variety of reasons.

JMHO....don t. ....

 

[Christopher S.]

I used a few delta 12" sliding compound miters that seemed to have a lot of slop in the trunions/slide mechanism. Granted they were used pretty hard. I personally own a hitachi C12LSH. It has preformed flawlessly for me in the cabinet shop. I was always skeptical of a laser, but after having one I could never go back.

 

[MarkinMO]

I bought a Sears Craftsman 10" sliding miter saw. Have had good luck with it so far. It works great for what I do. If you watch their sales sometimes you can get them at a really good price.

 

[C.R.]

I have a DeWalt 12 inch it works well 2 of my friends liked it and bought themselves one also

 

[rockyhawaii]

I got an Hitachi out of the dumpster and used it this weekend. The only thing wrong with it is that the slides were frozen with rust. A little PB Blaster and it works good as new.

 

[Fawteen]

My ex-SiL is a cabinet maker. He has a Hitachi.

 

[Bus Driver]

I noticed that Tom Silva on This Old House has been using a Fein saw. He made no comments about it. Did not appear to have laser line indicator. Some of his previous saws did have the laser.

 

[Bus Driver]

Apparently the Fein was just the blade, could not find a saw of that brand. Festool, a sister company(?), has one for about $1300.00, hopefully it would be extra special at that price.

 

[Vito]

Dewalt 12".Have been using them professionally for 9 years with no problems.Will buy another one when this wears out.Lighter and easier to move around then most of them.

Vito

 

[Jake in IL]

we use a couple of bosch's at work, I like them

 

[MSD]

I use a Bosch and like it real well. Good test is to extend the saw out and wiggle it to see how much it moves around. Some of the cheap made ones are not very stout that way.

 

[Jaden]

I have a Makita. Works great!

 

[NawlensGator]

I've had my Dewalt 12" model DW 708 for several years and I think it's great. Works even better with the aluminum stand (~ $200 extra).

 

[spacechem]

As in most things tool-related, it depends on you, your budget, and the work you do. I've learned one thing about power tools, and that is you can't be blindly brand-loyal. (boy, did I find the [i:2e98eeafc6]wrong[/i:2e98eeafc6] place to say that!) One company makes the best drill, but their saw may be terrible. Another has a good biscuit joiner, but that's all. There's also a lot of different brands made by the same company, but that doesn't necessarily make all of them exactly alike.

Best thing for you to do, depending on the work [i:2e98eeafc6]you[/i:2e98eeafc6] do, is to look for reviews and use those recommendations to reach you own conclusion. Fine Homebuilding caters more to framing and rough carpentry, and Fine Woodworking tends more toward finer, furniture work. Of course there's a lot of overlap.

I've never been disappointed with a tool because I spent too much money. I [i:2e98eeafc6]have[/i:2e98eeafc6] been sorry I went the other way...

 

[Paul in MN]

I did finish carpentry for many years in the 70's and 80's. I was one of the first buyers of the Delta 9" miter saw with a carbide blade. It was very good and did a lot of houses.

But then with the recommendations of Fine Homebuilding in about 2001, I discovered the Makita LS 1013 double slide. Both of my brothers and my son at that time had similar Dewalt saws, and after they tried out my Makita, they all 3 bought the Makita. The current models have the laser light and a white work light, both features I'd like to have. The saw has soft start and electronic brake and an excellent carbide blade. I have used it for pole barn building, framing, and finish work. It has always stayed in alignment. With the motor at 45 degrees, it has similar compound angle capacity on both right and left sides. It is reasonably quiet running and has very low vibration. There may be a better saw, but this is the best one I have run.

On a job where we were cutting set-in roof purlins, and cutting both ends, we set up 3 16' planks on horses to make a long bench and located and clamped 2 (Makita LS 1013) miter saws at the appropriate distance apart. You put the purlin on the 2 saw tables and cut both ends without ever having to move the purlin and not needing to measure it either. This same technique would work well for rafter cutting where angles are needed on both ends of the rafter.

Paul in MN