Best chop saw, without any slop

[Tim]

Looking for a new ChopSaw without any side to side slop. Any recommendations?

[Duane Bozarth]

Been pleased w/ the DeWalt 12". I think any of the quality ones are ok.

Don't have any personal recommendations if looking for sliding type...

[Olebiker]

I replaced my Delta CMS with a Bosch Sliding Compound Miter saw. If you can afford it, get the Bosch SCMS. Dick "lost all faith in Delta products" Durbin

[SonomaProducts.com]

Bosch or Hitach are pretty much the standards from what I've seen.

[nospam_coloradotrout]

IMO, a CMS is less sloppy than SCMS; less moving parts.

Among the brands, hmmm.. good Q.

I kinda liked the newest Delta 12" dual bevel, but when I bought the Dewalt for $209 I had to make the leap.

A lot of folks like the Dewalt, but at least to me the fence and table do not meet at exactly 90 degrees. How that plays out in time, I'll guess I'll find out.

[Duane Bozarth]

...

I've done a of mitered moulding, quite a bit of large sizes and have never had a problem w/ mine...it's roughly 10 years of age by now...

[Kevin]

At the risk of starting a long digression, what caused yo to lose your faith. Mine is troubled.

[Olebiker]

The Delta CMS I had came with a blade that was a throwaway, it was incredibly noisy, and took constant maintenance to keep it so that you could rotate the bed.

My perception of Delta products except the Unisaw is that the company is relying on its reputation to sell products that are of less quality than those available from other manufacturers. Frankly, I am finding better quality in Ryobi products than in Delta these days. YMMV Dick Durbin

[Duane Bozarth]

Depends on precisely Delta product, of course...

Delta has definitely gone the route of introducing many products specifically to compete w/ low-priced lines of other vendors...a premium based on brand is a benefit of having a brand name. Unfortunately, it's like a personal reputation--easier to tarnish than rebuild.

[nospam_coloradotrout]

Yeah, all the user based positive feedback is what sealed the deal (along with the 209 pricetag ;-) ) for the Dewalt. I was looking at double or more for the Delta or Bosch. Bosch has less cutting capacity, and I kinda/sortta wanted the dual bevel. The $209 unit was a refurb (looked like new) at a WW show where they were selling them for $229. I bought the show display for the $209.

The fence alignment still bugs me, and when tighten>nospam [e-mail] wrote: >>

[Phisherman]

That's because no corner in a room is exactly 90 degrees. But, seriously, my DeWalt is accurate enough for me. I avoided buying a sliding miter saw, just because there's something else to be off kilter.

[Duane Bozarth]

Phisherman wrote: ...

Not all of it (in fact quite a bit) is architectural...a fair amount (and most of the really larger) is on pieces like secretaries and clock pediments, etc. I tend to build them close to square...but I'm not always perfect... :)

[Duane Bozarth]

nospam [e-mail] wrote: ...

...

OK, I was using it yesterday to cut bed mould on corner pieces for the barn...2 1x4's joined at edge w/ 1/4-round, a 2-1/2" long square section at the top for the mould to fit against w/ a 8" or so long piece of drip edge on the top...looks pretty dressy and is duplicate of the original detail.

Anyway, while cutting these I took the time to actually check the fence/table...I couldn't get a 1/1000 feeler gauge behind the square blade at the top of the fixed fence although there was a glimmer of light...the adjustable side was a little over 1-thou...couldn't get the

0.002 gauge in w/o releasing some of the pressure on the square. That's within the tolerances of any moulding I've ever seen.. :)

Of course, this is a ten year old saw...while new ones appear to be make the same way, I don't know if the finishing is still up to the same standard (or whether I just happened to get one that turned out to be dead-on).

The one thing I would like to see different is a way to close up the fence gap more on the left side where the angle blade clearance relief is...

[nospam_coloradotrout]

that is better tolerance than my new.. ah.. refurb one

the fixed fence to table is 90 deg. or close enough -- probably withing the .001

the slid>nospam [e-mail] wrote: