Radial Arm Mitre Saw

[Cod Roe]

I'm looking at buying a compound mitre saw, however going through the suppliers I have come across this:

claims to be a "Radial Arm Mitre Saw"

and this:

claims to be a "Sliding Compound Mitre Saw"

What is the difference? They both seem to be able to cross, mitre and compound cut.

Thanks

[Andrew Mawson]

The second one will do a longer cut for a given blade size, as the blade is drawn across the work, whereas the first only pivots into the work

AWEM

[Cod Roe]

Ok, I see that, but what is "Radial Arm" about the first and not the second?

Thanks

[George]

Its a pity you didnt want one when this guy was selling them,he must have sold a minium of 300 If you're not in a hurry just yet give it till the weekend to see if he's jst aquiring new stock,£70 will get you a good saw and is well worth it and to be honest SIP and Nu-Tool are not exactly good saws...NuTool stuff has lost its shelf life not many people stocking this brand anymore.

[John Rumm]

Which it is not ;-)

What is pictured is a sliding compound mitre saw (SCMS) - same as the sip below.

A Radial arm saw looks like this:

often have much greater cross cut capability, most will also do trenching cuts (which some of the better SCMS can do as well). Some will allow the saw to be rotated on it mount to allow the saw to do rip cutting. Unlike the SCMS, they usually don't allow a compound cut with a bevel on two axis.

Not much - the SIP will probably be the better tool and you might have a fighting chance of getting spares for it.

General info on mitre saws:

[George]

The idea of a radial arm saw is... Only the cutting head block moves in a radius the cutting surface stays put,whereas the Sliding mitre saw the whole cutting head block and the work surface move in a radius.

[Stuart Noble]

Looks like a standard chopsaw. And how do you get a 300mm cut from a

255mm blade?

If the bearings are any good, this would be a handy little saw, but this has always been the weakness with anything that travels in a groove. It's either too tight to move freely or too slopppy to be accurate.

[The Medway Handyman]

My DeWalt RAS (24 years old) will do a compound cut, but then it's the 'old' DeWalt.

[The Medway Handyman]

Personally I'd steer clear of NuTool.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Only thing I've got from them is a pillar drill and it looks exactly the same as other brands. It's been ok and was incredible value at the time.