Wickes Mitre Saw

I've got some skirting board to fit and thought I'd treat myself to a mitre saw to ensure I do a good job. I bought a compoumd mitre saw from Wickes for £19.95. I fitted it all together and thought I'd just do a square cut at the end of the skirting board to clean it up. After checking the result though the end was way out of square. The blade had drifted from left to right by

7-8mm over a width of 100mm. I checked the skirting was securely clamped and sqaure to the saw, made sure the blade was nice and tight and tried again but with no difference. As there is no adjustment for this I took it back and exchanged it for another one. I thought I'd picked up a new sealed pack but when I got home although the pack was still sealed for the main part the end had been opened and sellotaped up. All the components inside were out of their packing and had obviously been used. I didn't want to risk it so I took this one back as well and changed it for a new sealed pack. Pretty predictably this one doesn't cut square either running out in the same way as the first one although not quite so much. What's annoying is that I can't really see why it's happening. I've checked everything with a set square and everything looks pretty good. I'm kind of loathe to go back to Wickes for a third time so I've tried putting some packing under the blade where it's fitted to the frame to sort of twist it in the direction it needs to go counteract it's tendency to drift off line. As I say, there is no adjustment you can make if things aren't right.

Just wondered if anyone else has found this problem and maybe come up with a solution.

TIA

John

Reply to
Nodge
Loading thread data ...

I don't know that saw, but does it lock into several common angles, or is it one that has a pointer and then you turn a knobe to clamp that angle.

If the former, take it back and complain.

If the latter, the pointer to the angle of degrees may have taken a knock and requires re calibration.

HTH

Dave

Reply to
Dave

It's the sort where you can tilt the saw and lock it at preset stops up to

45 degrees.

Having said that it occurs to me that I'd get a better result if I laid the skirting board flat on the base of the saw and tilted the saw over at 45 degrees rather than standing the skirting on edge and swinging the saw through 45 degrees. I'll give that a try tomorrow.

John

Reply to
Nodge

You'll never get an accurate cut with this saw in a million years. You need a picture-framers quality saw to do this task accuratley :-

formatting link
is the one that I use for all skirtings, architraves, cornice (and picture frames too!) etc. and the results are absolutley 100%.

Of course, if you are intending to paint the skirting, you could just fill the gaps - once you prime it and paint it, the gap should be invisible.

Mark.

Reply to
mark.hannah

Well, exactly. The blade is too fine, and too flexible.

Doesn't look a lot different to me

Reply to
Stuart Noble

It might not look a lot different - but the difference is in the machining of the saw guides and the angle locking mechanism - plus the tension on the blade is adjustable. Believe me - the difference is like night and day.

Mark.

Reply to
mark.hannah

I'm sure there are differences in quality but IMO it isn't the ideal tool for cutting 100mm x 25mm. Like all fine toothed blades it tends to wander if it can't clear itself, and softwood dust is particularly sticky

Reply to
Stuart Noble

Hide quoted text -

Power tool would be better - but better but you won't get a more accurate hand-tool than the one I pointed out.

Mark.

Reply to
mark.hannah

Power tool would be better - but better but you won't get a more accurate hand-tool than the one I pointed out.

Mark.

Thanks for the replies.

Just to say that I got the job done by laying the skirting flat on the base and tilting the saw over at 45 degrees. It's a lot more faffing about as you have to reset both pairs of pillars for each cut rather than clamping the skirting vertically and just swinging the saw round from one 45 degree angle to the other.

John

Reply to
Nodge

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.