JCB table saw

I have a JCB table saw .... been using it for a couple of years - great value tool .... buy good blades and it will last for years.

Something that has (or can be upgraded to) a real cross cut sledge will make all the difference for accurate cross cut work. For rip cuts then the fence has a big part to play, so make sure that is good, and has a way of ensuring that it remains parallel to the blade. Axminster do a fence upgrade that will fit many budget saws and make them miles better (with a decent blade).

AIUI the OP wants to cut the shoulders on the housings into the heads and sills of door frames (a few or lots?) for horned door frames. So a cross-cutting, deep cut (i.e. the blade doesn't come right through).

Two problems, the crown guard and riving knife must be removed (which is a bit of a safety issue, not permitted in the workplace under H&S law - but do what you want at home) and second - I'm guessing you would be cross-cutting a heavy-ish peice of timber about a metre long, close to one end - as John says, that will be hard to keep parallel without a dedicated sliding table.

Best way to do it would be a sliding mitre saw with depth stop facility - quick and repeatable - but those tools are expensive. Cheaper methods would be a router and make a suitable jig (slow but neat results), handheld circular saw and suitable jig (fast and reasonable results) or handsawing (as good as your skills).

Were you planning to make lots of kerf cuts and then hand chisel out?

I just had a top of the range 12" Makita SCMS off eBay for £190 ;-)

I just paid rather more than for the 12" Bosch. Though they did chuck in a couple of quality spare blades and an absolutely useless stand (so I hustled at the builders merchants and got a few quid off the ex- display bosch stand).

I was umming between the Dewalt DW718, Bosch GCM12SD and the Mak - what's your impression of the plusses and minuses of it?

Bosch - heavy and awkward to move around, slide not quite as rigid as my old DW700, blade guard is a contraption, blade change awkward (because of the guard) - but all adjustments brilliantly solid and easy to use, everything well thought out (apart from the guard) and it produces first class cuts, nice material stop, nice material clamp, easy to set back support clearances when blade angles are weird (problem on my old DW), blade halts very quickly, huge capacity.