More adjustments on sliding mitre saw

[David]

My MacAllister COD250DLSM doesn't look to be set up quite right at the centre setting.

Thanks to previous assistance I've got the 45 degree tilt more or less there but when over at 45 degrees it is at a slight angle cutting front to back.

The rotating base has click stops at significant points, like 15 degrees and 22.5 degrees and of course zero degrees.

Still no manual, and I can't see any obvious way to adjust the click stop. There is a small amount of adjustment of the red pointer, but I would really like the click stop to be at zero degrees.

Now the angle is with the cutting guide at the back of the saw, which lines up the wood to be cut.

Is this the bit that should be adjusted until the cut is at right angles?

I can fiddle it each time using a marked up piece of wood and the clamping screw but it would be good to be able to rely on the click stop.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

O.K. - scratch that.

It's just a shit saw.

I set myself up with marked up wood, and it became obvious that the saw was at roughly 90 degrees to the wood (zero degrees on the scale) when vertical, but when tilted over to 45 degrees the front to back cutting line was offset by around one degree marking on the scale on the saw base.

So I'll just have to set up by hand each time I want to do a mitred cut.

Cheers

Dave R

[Bob Minchin]

I'm afraid that you have discovered the usual adjective to be applied to macalister products. They are made by something like GMtools and available for badging by retailers and BNQ were heavily into them for a while. I think they have cut down on the range significantly but still there is not really a long enough barge pole to handle the remaining ones with.

If you are in the market for a half decent make, I bought a Makita to replace my FERM cheapy when it let out the smoke and have been very pleased with it. It is not a slider but I understand their sliders are also good. Mid range price and netter than mid range performance IMHO.

[stuart noble]

I think an awful lot of saws might be a degree out when tilted to 45. If the discrepancy is constant, make up a jig of some kind. You'll still be quids in

[fred]

In article , Bob Minchin writes

I think once you accept that fact and stop getting cross about it then you can adopt working practices that compensate for the setting inaccuracies.

I was doing a large studding project followed by boarding out and fitting with skirting, architraves and so on.

I would quickly set up for one job, test cut on a bit of scrap, re-adjust and do as much work as possible on that one cut before I needed to readjust.

When it came to mitres I would do the first part as close a possible to the required angle and then test fit a piece of scrap to mate with that before I used up the precious finish material. As this was in an old building it turned out that nothing was square anyway and so an empirical fit would have been needed anyway. They all ended up bob-on and probably faster than angle setting.

I haven't needed to use the pile of s**te much since but it was invaluable on that job despite its limitations and I just couldn't justify the cost of a proper one for the amount of use it would get.