SCMS question.

My 10" SCMS can cut a board up to 12" wide. There have been times when being able to cut something wider would be nice to have. Presumbably, your RAS has more capacity.

todd

you can't do dados on a scms, you can on a radical harm saw.

pretty sure there's no advantage to having both a chop saw and a scms

jc

You can. Try e.g. Bosh 4410.

There is no need for them if one has SCMS.

My chop saw can do miters but It's a bit tedious to set it up. And change blades. And clean the metal cutting debris off.

Max

Can you rip a board with your SCMS? I'd get rid of the miter saw over the RAS.

Can't you just turn your SCMS sideways? :)

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There is the matter of size/scale of what can be accommodated by the two.

"Leon" wrote in news:_dnXi.52876$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr11.news.prodigy.net:

I tried to rip a board once... My hands started to hurt so I got a saw.

Puckdropper

Like I said in my post I have both a RAS and a laser chop saw. I don't care if I cannot rip or dado on a SCMS, I can do that on my tablesaw. In the interest of getting a little more space in my shop I thought a SCMS would be the best alternative by getting a new laser SCMS. It appears that a lot of you would recommend the 12 inch one and that it can do everything a RAS can do except dado and rip.

Bosch does not recommend dado sets with the 4410. Their method outlined in the owners manual is to make multiple passes with a standard blade to cut dados. The other problem with using this method is that on most scms (4410 included), the depth stop mechanism is located very close to the pivot point, making precise depth settings and adjustments a major PITA. I don't know of a single scms whose manufacturer recommends use with a dado blade set.

WOULD you rip a board with a RAS (The Most Lethal POS Tool On The Frickin' Planet)?

There is only ONE reason for a RAS... dados leaving equal thicknesses to the outside walls of shelves, so the consistency of thickness of the plywood doesn't matter. Handy as hell for those runs of 12 to 16 book cases for library jobs. BTDT.

Cross cutting big pieces ----> table saw with or without sled.

Ripping----> Table saw.. MUCH safer than a RAS

(" Lets hang a motor with blazing speed, attach a sharp blade, hang the whole whirring contraption on a BALLBEARING sled, no less...and sell it at a department store... then tell them to RIP with too...")

What they don't tell you, is to keep a sterile bag handy and some ice, an auto-dialing 911 phone and a vehicle you can drive with one arm ....to the hospital. . . . . . . . . . . . . okay... maybe a little over the top.

C'mon Robatoy.... They *do* tell you to use a push stick. LOL

I was at the lumber yard picking up some 14' x 18" 5/4 mahogany (drive-by) but needed them to crosscut it to get it into the van. Guy puts it on the radical harm saw, begins to cut it when it binds, the carriage punches him in the chest and knocks him 7' backwards, arse over teakettle into a stack of pallets. That was all the reason I ever needed not to own one. Yes, I know some care in setup would've avoided it, but still......

jc

HE was lucky.

No, sounds like he was dumb...

I had only the RAS for a stationary piece of equipment for about the first 5 years; it and only a jointer for about 5 more before anything else. Never a problem--respect it, be careful and it's absolutely no more dangerous than any other woodworking tool...

That's true. 10" Bosh 4410 is good up to 12" board width (twice that if you bother to turn the board and make 2 cuts.) Radial saw might have better reach but it is not always true. And anyways it is not such a regular job to crosscut 12+" boards that justifies cost and footprint of a radial saw; occasional job of this kind can be done with other tools.

For a chop saw I don't see any reason to have one at all. Less for limited capabilities I was never able to make one cut straight. No matter how expensive and how good the saw and blade are. It's inherent design feature and there is no cure for it.

That is true, you have to make several passes with regular blade. And yes, it is not all that convenient and precise. But for such a job a table saw is much more suitable choice (one has a table saw along with SCMS, right?) And anyways I personally never cut dadoes with a saw; for me router works much better. I do have Freud dado set but I only tried it once and would never return to it; router is way better, easier to work with, and more precise.

Aren't miter saws required to meet blade spin-down time safety requirements?

It seems that a stack dado would quickly wear out the blade brake, if it would actually fit on the arbor.

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Good thing you didn't try to chop it...

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Different tools, different purposes -- while can always get by, and if were forced to choose on over the other, might go that way, it would depend on the work I was doing most at the time. Given the choice, I will continue to have both and use the more appropriate for the task at hand.

Either way, I won't denigrate the other...

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