miter saw/ SCMS

Dave Black

Member
Messages
638
Location
Central PA
I'm moving my dust collector duct around, you may have seen my drill press DC thread. Anyway, while I'm at it I'm scooting some tools around to make things a little nicer and while I'm at that I thought that since I'm moving the miter saw it might be a good time to upgrade it. Right now I have a black and decker professional 10" miter saw, its wore out, doesn't make great cuts anymore. One of the things that really annoyed me was that I couldn't make cuts through 6" wide stock. I was thinking that I should get a 12" SCMS but now I'm thinking that a 10" SCMS would be just fine. Any thoughts on this, Like I said I had a 10" NON compound miter, It worked for most of my needs except for not being able to get through something that was 6" wide, or tall for that matter, and the sloppy cuts. PS I was looking at the CPO Bosch site, I don't have any thing against other brands, but I do really like my Bosch router and they seem to get good reviews for miters from what I saw.
 
Dave I very much like the Hitachi saws, I've got two and both are very good.

This one the >> C12RSH << is a 12" sliding compound miter saw with the compact design, so it does not have to sit two feet away from the wall. I have the little brother of this saw and I just love it!

$347 with free shipping hard to beat!

I have dealt with Reconditioned Sales before and they have been great.:thumb:
 
I don't have any advice on the saw, since all I have is a cheapie Delta CMS, but I'll +1 Stu's recommendation for Reconditioned Sales if you're looking at Hitachi tools.
 
i have a older model hitachi and it cost more than the one that stu is showing you,, at the price yu have on that one, you cant go wrong and i have got alot of miles on mine. hitachi makes good tools and so does bosch.
 
Dave I am going to give you a different view point that has evolved in my outlook.

1) In the beginning i purchased a all singing dancing scms. Yup 12 inch dewalt with slider, and compound ability both ways and bevel both ways. Great thinking was can cut anything i need. And this things gotta be accurate etc so even bought a fancy set of freud blades.

That was before i discovered the people here and specifically the guys that have already responded.

Then i find well in my small shop the slider aspect in the way the dewalt is made takes up a lot of room from wall to where you stand.

Then as time goes by and i get familiar with it i find well my table saw does the same thing for my purposes.

Time goes on and Stu posts his Dungeon rework of his SCMS work station, if you aint seen this post read it, its one of the most useful threads i know of on the forum related to this topic and the small shop.

Then you make your first sled for the table saw, and you get to see Nikkis threads on the sled concept and just what you can do on your table saw and safely.

Now my feeling to date is, if and its a big if, i could access the model that Stu bought in Japan, then i would change to that. And still say having a SCMS in a small hobby shop is worth it.

If you plan to cut loads of crown moulding like some guys who are pros here do, go for it.

For me it was a waste of money to some extent. I have used it to cut decking material and pressure treated construction lumber for rough work both in my shop and around the house but to do that i did not need a fancy slider nor the 12 inch.

If i had to do it all over again, i would follow the recon route, by a decent brand, but a 10 inch and with limited features.

Whatever you do, dont ignore the tune up when you get it. Make sure to adust the scales and check for square and consider putting in your own zero clearance insert in the rotating platform below the saw. Those plastic inserts dont provide support close to the blade.

I bought out of ignorance. I can say i had an excuse, i never grew up here and got to see these tools for the first time in the HD and the i need one of those dear, bug got the tool junkie in me.

Now i have the benefit of hindsight and the valuable experience of others to gain from.

Do some searches here, there is a goldmine of wisdom on this type of topic i am only scratching the tip of the iceberg.

Enjoy the journey.:thumb:
 
Heres what I was thinking, my 10" miter was fine except for not cutting 6" wide stock, and it being wore out. I don't need more cutting depth just more width. I was looking at the 10" single bevel scms from bosch. I think it is $349 with $5 shipping from CPO, It seems to be a pretty good price. Does any one know how much room is needed between the fence and the wall on these. This will go right beside the radial arm saw.( that is also old and getting sloppy but its there and paid for) so there is about 14" behind the fence already.
 
Dave I very much like the Hitachi saws, I've got two and both are very good.

This one the >> C12RSH << is a 12" sliding compound miter saw with the compact design, so it does not have to sit two feet away from the wall. I have the little brother of this saw and I just love it!

$347 with free shipping hard to beat!

I have dealt with Reconditioned Sales before and they have been great.:thumb:

Thanks for the website!!!...They have the compressor I just bought yesterday 20 bucks cheaper!!!! GRRRRRR.....

Thanks for the info though....went into my "favorites folder"
 
Heres what I was thinking, my 10" miter was fine except for not cutting 6" wide stock, and it being wore out. I don't need more cutting depth just more width. I was looking at the 10" single bevel scms from bosch. I think it is $349 with $5 shipping from CPO, It seems to be a pretty good price. Does any one know how much room is needed between the fence and the wall on these. This will go right beside the radial arm saw.( that is also old and getting sloppy but its there and paid for) so there is about 14" behind the fence already.

dave if your gonna spend 349 i would go for the 347 one stu showed they have taken the room into a new ears on that one if i had none then i would buy it because of its features and the room set up they have changed look at the slid mechanism,, its not like the old ones that took a whole shop to slide...they woke up on this one and robs does take alot of room and much more than this will.
 
I just got the Ryobi 10" with a laser and am VERY happy with it so far. Laser and fence are very accurate, even being reconditioned. And the price was very right. CPO does very well by me and I have never had an issue.

Again like the previous poster said, is cutting 8-12 inch stock.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HTJXZQ/ref=oss_product

For 99 bucks, you can't go wrong IMO

Good luck to you
 
I am now leaning towards the hitachi, I just happened to stop by lowes today to do nothing but look at the miter saws. I do like that the hitachi can be placed closer to a wall than the others. I do like the looks of the Bosch more than the Hitachi but I suppose that I am buying it to cut things and not to look at. I suppose since there were so many recommendations for the Hitachi that they are good quality and will last. Any last words before I pull the trigger, slight pun intended.
 
I am now leaning towards the hitachi, I just happened to stop by lowes today to do nothing but look at the miter saws. I do like that the hitachi can be placed closer to a wall than the others. I do like the looks of the Bosch more than the Hitachi but I suppose that I am buying it to cut things and not to look at. I suppose since there were so many recommendations for the Hitachi that they are good quality and will last. Any last words before I pull the trigger, slight pun intended.

Actually your pun brings up a good question, do you like the handle style of the Hitachi? Some guys like the flat handle?

DW717.jpg

Does the Bosch have this type of handle? Some guys really do not like the vertical handle like the Hitachi has, I don't find it a problem at all, but I'm just saying is all :wave:
 
fondle the handles,, i have always had a hitachi and used skills a fair amount so it just fit the same ..when i was down south working in cab shop they had the flat version dewalt.. it did feel right to me but after while i adjusted so try the feel like stu suggested and then got from there but i still vote hatichi for that price..
 
I've got the 10" Hitachi slider and it has done everything I've needed it to do. Plan to get a better blade for trim work. The one that came on mine is fine for framing, but it destroys hardwood. :doh: I just bought an Infinity to go on mine, but haven't mounted it yet. Jim.
 
I got home late from work today and the saw was here, I only had a few minutes but I pulled the saw out and it looked fine, I didn't see anything broke, It was't terribly well packed, it was just sitting in the box on a pallet, no foam or bubble wrap.
 
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