Compound radial saw recommendation?

[DoctahDeane]

My older chop saw is no longer useful. Seems like Makita and DeWalt get good ratings. They come with either 10 or 12 inch blades typically. Would greatly appreciate any enthusiastic ratings of any saw not just the ones I mentioned.

[tony.latham]

I've got a Dewalt sliding bevel saw that I really like. 'Had it for years.

Tony

[DoctahDeane]

I've got a Dewalt sliding bevel saw that I really like. 'Had it for years.

Tony

Thanks for this endorsement. They get high ratings. A guy was at the house recently replacing a window high up and he had a Makita but said there'd been some problems (not with his but in later models). Always a bit of a crapshoot without a real user weighing in, so thanks again.

[MtnDon]

I am a Makita fan. I think I have 14 of their power tools, many cordless. My oldest Makita is a 3-1/4" planer that is now about 38 years old and I still use; used it a couple of days ago. I have a recent Makita compound miter saw (10") that I love. The only reason I bought it was that the 10 year old Makita miter saw I had was stolen along with a few other tools. I have replaced a few parts on some of them over the years, sometimes because something wore out from use and a few because I abused/dropped the tool.

I also have a few Dewalt and Bosch power tools that I am happy with.

[Greg M]

The 12” Bosch “Glide” dual bevel is really nice, and doesn’t take up as much space behind the fence because of the glide pivot arm. It is pretty speedy though at $800 Canadian.

[saltydawg]

I dont have much for wood working stuff, but my dad does. He is a high end hobby cabinet maker. His shop has almost every tool. He has what has to be a 15 maybe 20 year old sliding dewalt chop saw built in to a 14 foot long bench. He has been complaining about it for 2/3 of the time he has had it, about it not being perfectly square, wobbles etc. But he Is an absolutist perfectionist, but it has not upset him to the point of getting something new. So that says something about it, works very well unless you need absolute perfect repeatable cuts down to 1/10 of a degree every time.

[tony.latham]

He has been complaining about it for 2/3 of the time he has had it, about it not being perfectly square, wobbles etc.

Mine's at least 15 years old with virtually no slop (and it's had a lot of use). They are adjustable for square. Has he tried to fix that issue?

The stock dust hood sucks on these. (Or doesn't suck enough?) I found this 3D printed one that works like a charm:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:612670

I don't know if it would fit the new model.

Tony

[saltydawg]

They are adjustable for square. Has he tried to fix that issue?

Tony

Believe me when I say his issues with it are not something 99.9 % of users would even notice. I am talking he will cut 10 test joints on a miter joint and get them perfect before he even cuts one real piece. He makes everything out of solid wood, and does it beyond perfection. He is the only wood worker I have ever seen use a digital micrometer to make sure a drawer is square. Yes that anal, He built a jig that holds a micrometer for testing how square a drawer is. But he is retired and it gives him something to do.

He renoed the master bath in his house, and hired a tile company to do the tile in the shower, he handed them drawings of how the tile was supposed to fit. When he made the drawings he did tests on the roll on water proofing to see how thick it goes on so he could take account of the .010 thickness of the water proofing.

[tony.latham]

Yes that anal...

Sheeeeesh. I suspect my shop would drive him nuts.

Tony

[swoody126]

this old wood butcher has used many different brands and found most of the ones available to the general public to be as close to right as John Q can imagine

whichever brand you goto i would howsumever strongly suggest a 12" unit w/ one of those red Freud Diablo gazillion carbide tooth blades

if you don't intend to build it into a long table do get the folding stand w/ wheels on one end and handles on the other along w/ a couple adjustable roller outfeed stands to support longer parts

remember the sliding mechanism sticks out behind the saw as far as it will cut so that long table would end up standing away from the wall at least that far

my personal/current combination miter saw came from horror fright on sale w/ a coupon for cheap and so far it has 3.5 boats under it's belt

sw

[saltydawg]

Yeah when I go over to cut or do any wood work I tell him to leave the shop. When he built the table for the chop saw the adjustable stop has a screw that you can adjust to zero it out. He special ordered a 1/4 by 32 screw instead of a 1/4 by 20 so it was easier to get the resolution for adjustment. His table saw blade is exactly .003 over 12 inches out of parallel with the rip fence to avoid binding and kick back. He had to install adjustment screws for that because when he tightened the bolts it drifted to .004 and that was not what professional woodworkers and tool makers suggest, they spec .003.

But I will say he builds beautiful furniture, he built the sink bases for both bathrooms. it took 6 months each.

I once joked with him that wood workers are happy with 1/64 of an inch, and I do metal milling and turning as a hobby so I delt with .0005 to .001 measurements. That was when he showed me the drawer jig for the micrometer.

[Tom&Shelly]

My older chop saw is no longer useful. Seems like Makita and DeWalt get good ratings. They come with either 10 or 12 inch blades typically. Would greatly appreciate any enthusiastic ratings of any saw not just the ones I mentioned.

Shelly and I have been very happy with our Ryobi compound miter saw. (12 inch blade. +1 on SW's recommendation for the Diablo blade.)



We originally bought it a few years ago from a big box store (orange, if I remember correctly; blue if I don't) while we were renovating a house in town, to cut trim and such. It seems fairly true, and I don't think we went to any great effort to align it.

Had to use it on the concrete floor in that house, and we store it on the floor in our shop now, except when we use it and move it to the layout table. After the teardrop is finished and out of the way, I want to build a dedicated table for it. Because it is compound, that rail in the back sticks way out, so, as SW says, the table will be deeper than one might think at first.

Anyway, a pretty good product at a reasonable price.

Tom

[Treeview]

Salty

How does he react to squareness or dimensions taken in the fall then the winter? Wood moves. Wayyyy too accurate for me

I have a Dewalt scms. I like it a lot

[saltydawg]

Salty

How does he react to squareness or dimensions taken in the fall then the winter? Wood moves. Wayyyy too accurate for me

I have a Dewalt scms. I like it a lot

He crys and whines. Seriously he understands it, with the saw its also the first gen with the slider. It honestly is built to be a contractor saw, not a cabinet saw. Its the things like the notches for the angles that drive him nuts, too much play if you just let it go into a notch. Yes you lock it down, but the notch probably has a range of 2 degrees of slop.

He cut a piece of wood for me the other day to use as a jig to cut a block of plastic diagonal for me. He forgot his trig, looked up a trig calc online, and found out the angle he wanted was 38.7 degrees. He set his table saw using an electronic angle gauge, I told him 40 degrees would have been fine and close enough, that was when he told me used the angle gauge to set the saw. The jig was made from a 2x4 that he planed and jointed square and flat. He did not just cut the angle in to the 2x4, he made it look like a beautiful piece of wood, for something that took 10 seconds to cut, he probably had 30 mins in to the piece of wood. I am not joking or exaggerating about this jig, its all the honest truth.

[TimC]

I have an older Dewalt 10" that has served me well. It is compound but not sliding so capacity is less than desired. I have Freud 80t blades for it.

I took a chance on a H. Frt 12" compound sliding three years ago. So far it holds square and true well. The bevel locking feature seemed cheap but I haven't had any problems with it staying put and exactly where I want it. The stock blade has been fine, though it will eventually be upgraded to a Freud or similar.

On the H. Frt - I also found a guy on youtube that rewired the lazer light with a momentary on switch which made its use so much more user friendly. Previous to that upgrade the lazer was only on when the blade was running (worthless in my opinion). Now its only on when I press the button. I am one who once thought the lazer lines were an unnecessary option. Now that I have one that is aligned right and works well I'm sold on the idea.

Tim