A friend who has a wood shop (that I use a lot!) is thinking of replacing his old Craftsman 12" radial arm saw, with a 12" sliding compound miter saw. I was wondering of what you woodworkers think the advantages or disadvantages would be. Also any recomendations on which SCMS to buy would be appreciated. Thanks, Cliff
What about portability?
-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA
Sure it is. I switched years ago so that I could pack up and use the gear onsite for installations.
The same would hold true in a home shop situation where you wanted to get the saw close to the work.
Then too, there is the issue of footprint. My former setup with the RAS took up a whole shop wall and locked it in to dedicated service.
Mind you, I've a collapsible fence and stand system that lets me pack and go in less than two minutes.
YMMV.
Regards, Tom. Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
Hmmm, guess I'll trade in my cabinet saw for one of those little direct drive jobbies so I can take it with me and use less space in my shop.
Get both if you need to be portable. I did.
-- Jim in NC
The great attraction of analogies is that they can seem to provide a ready answer to a problem.
The great fault of analogies is that they must be constricted to a carefully thought out level of equivalence.
I often spend eight to ten hours a day at my table saw. It lives, as it should, at the center of my shop floor. It is the closest thing I have to a fixed footprint machine (although, it too is on rollers).
In a relative sense, I spend very little of my shop time at my SCMS.
Most of the work that needs to be done by my Unisaw could not be done by a more portable saw.
Most of the work that used to be done by my RAS is easily accomplished by my SCMS.
The RAS demanded seventy five square feet of shop footprint and could not be moved without difficulty.
The SCMS, with its collapsible fences, takes up much less space, can be moved closer to the shaper, tablesaw, molder, jointer as needed, and has uses in the field, saving the cost of extra machinery.
I don't know what you do for a living but, as a cabinetmaker, these are important considerations to me.
Regards, Tom. Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
That would be like replacing your TS with a circle saw... Makes no sense at all unless you have TS around anyway.
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Which I believe I did - it's just not *your* level of equivalence.
I on the other hand don't do much more than rip boards to width on mine. I use the RAS for cutting boards to length, dados and rabbets, half laps, long bevels, etc.
I on the other hand spend more time at the RAS than at the tablesaw
I've yet to see one that will easily plow dados and rabbets.
Mines on rollers and only takes up about 12 square feet.
I'm not sure how you work, but my miter saw sits next to my assembly area I only use it for cutting already milled pieces prior to assembly. I've never had a need to move it next to the shaper, jointer etc. The couple of hundred bucks for the CMS was worth it as I can take it on location, use zero clearance inserts for very exact cuts, and I can raise it to a fairly high working level which really saves my back but I would never think of it as a substitute for my RAS. Even if it slid, they're two completely different tools.
YMMV and sounds like it does.
After careful consideration of the above I find that you have proven your point and I am now willing to trade my BT-3000 POS field saw for your underused cabinet saw - straight up.
Please advise.
Regards, Tom. Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
I see you're branching out into comedy writing now.
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CMS/SCMSs cannot (of all the models I have ever seen anyway) take stacked dado blades.
-- Regards,
Dean Bielanowski Editor, Online Tool Reviews
- Woodworking Techniques & Projects
- Kreg Right Angle Clamp
- Bosch 3912 (GCM12) 12" Compound Miter Saw
- Dowelmax Doweling System
- Ryobi CDL1802D Pro Series 18v Cordless Drill
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Not to mention that you cannot rip a board with a cms or scms.
Leon
All depends on the size of the board to be ripped...
Have you ever tried to rip using a dado setup??? Aw never mind...
Yes! Very exciting!
Who's the Keeper of the Klown Hammer these days? Some one please set it to "Satire" and give this guy a klocking.
I have a RAS, CMS and TS. The RAS gets the most use it seems. I use the TS just for ripping, The CMS for miters and the RAS for all other crosscut and dado work. If a SCMS can't take a Dado blade, then when I my 25 y/o RAS dies, I will buy another.
Leslie Gossett
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