# Is the sliding feature worth the money for miter saw?



## volunteers (Mar 4, 2011)

I did some 12'' cross cuts for my last home project. I have a cheap small table saw and I could not control the accuracy at all. So I used my circular saw with guide. The accuracy is OK but I am not satisfied and it is inconvenient. 

Now I want to take a look at miter saw for my future use. Is the sliding feature worth the extra money? Or I just save all the money to buy a better table saw? Thanks for suggestions.


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

volunteers said:


> I did some 12'' cross cuts for my last home project. I have a cheap small table saw and I could not control the accuracy at all. So I used my circular saw with guide. The accuracy is OK but I am not satisfied and it is inconvenient.
> 
> Now I want to take a look at miter saw for my future use. Is the sliding feature worth the extra money? Or I just save all the money to buy a better table saw? Thanks for suggestions.


Hi Will, IMO a 12" cross cut is a stretch for even a slider and most table saws haven't got the infeed capacity to do that very safely either. Handling a long board on a table saw for a crosscut of any length can also be dicey. I put in a 10" slider because of the size of my shop. Crosscutting anything over about 4' long I run into interference issues with something. A 10" slider gets me out to about an 11" crosscut capacity, Infeed area on my table saw only gives me about 8 or 9". Anything outside those parameters I use a circular with an edge guide or guide clamp. Takes a little extra time to set up but I can get some decent cuts with a good blade.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

I've got a 10 inch slider, which I love. It has been a great tool for plank flooring, wainscotting, and other jobs that require a longer cut. If I had to do it again... maybe a 12 inch miter saw might be my first choice. 

The biggest issue with the slider in my case is the footprint it takes up. With the tubes all the way retracted, it needs a lot of space behind the saw. It can take up too much space in a crowded shop.

A couple of new sliders have a space saving design, but they're a little pricey.

A speed square and a circular saw do a great job for the infrequent wide crosscut.


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## TheOakDude (Oct 11, 2011)

New ones from either De Walt, Makita or best yet Metabo 315mm blade offer unbelievable accuracy and functionality.
Clearly depends upon your budget/amount of use you will put it to, to warrant £600.00 etc. But they really are awesome bits of kit. I couldnt live without mine now I have got used to having the facility.


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

Hey Will, I have the Hitachi 12" sliding compound miter this saw has a sliding feature which allows it to take up less space from wall than my old 10" Dewalt , (sold 2 old Dwalts and 2 Craftsman since I purchased this saw) it is mounted in a table along wall in my shop 12' on one end and about 5' on the other, gives me plenty of room for long cuts. I use this for alot of cuts and frees up the table saw for ripping and other uses


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I haven't found anything more accurate than my TS and my crosscut sled for straight crosscutting and it gives me about 16" width plus fairly long, depeding on how much weight I'm holding up. 
I have a 10" slider but it is not the most accurate. I use my father-in-laws 10" chop saw and with blade stiffeners and a good blade it is very good for crosscuts and mitres but has limited capacity.


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

Sliders tend - _tend_ - to be less accurate than their standard cousins. But the depth you aren't going to easily get with a SCMS.

Your best options, IMO, are for a better table saw or a RAS. The former could be accomplished by simply adding aux infeed, outfeed and extension tables to your saw, any saw.

I want the Hitachi Warren has, but even with it's system it would still take up significantly more room than my 10" Hitachi does.


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

To the nub of your question:
A good, accurate table saw is the workhorse of most shops. 
While a SCMS is very handy, a good TS is much more so.
As Doug mentioned, a speed square and a circular saw works well for cross cutting wider stock. It's fast and accurate. I might add, a good, sharp blade vastly increases the enjoyment of the experience.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

I would go for the good table saw over a slider. The table saw in the heart of your shop and a cheap inaccurate one is just a waste of lumber and time. Keep you eye on Craigs list and you should be able to get one at half the cost.


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## cagenuts (May 8, 2010)

A decent Table Saw and an INCRA Miter 5000 will let you do anything a SCMS will do but potentially more accurately.

Horses for courses though, if you mainly install trim then the SCMS is the answer.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hilton sort of touched on the key point. If you're wanting portability, and if you're doing carpentry rather than shop based woodworking, than nothing can touch the SCMS. For accurate repeatable rafter compound cuts, the SCMS is the answer. On a jobsite, the builder's saw is the competition, _not the TS_ (maybe a RAS if you have one...but it is portable in only a minimal way; basically a two man job to move it.
For crosscuts on long 2x boards, the TS is just plain out of the race, _especially_ in the shop!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I should have added that the SCMS and the TS are complimentary, not competitors. When I'm doing a shop project I use them both equally. For fast accurate crosscuts on the smaller pieces, _with unobscured visibility of the cut_, the SCMS wins hands down (I always have my blade-guard on the TS when ripping and crosscutting.)


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

volunteers said:


> I did some 12'' cross cuts for my last home project. I have a cheap small table saw and I could not control the accuracy at all. So I used my circular saw with guide. The accuracy is OK but I am not satisfied and it is inconvenient.
> 
> Now I want to take a look at miter saw for my future use. Is the sliding feature worth the extra money? Or I just save all the money to buy a better table saw? Thanks for suggestions.


Am I missing something? I read all the post, and nothing mentioned the length of the wood you were cutting. A long piece of wood can be hard to control for one person - unless you have a very wide side extension on your saw. 

I have a Harbor Freight bench saw, about $75 new some years ago. Made a accurate saw sled, and have no problems making accurate cuts. Once you fine tune the saw that it. I have a small shop, so four foot lengths is all I can make cuts on, but have no problem with those. With a larger area, and either a helper to hold the end of the lumber, or something to support it, I have no doubt I can still make accurate cuts.

I had a 10" HF mitre saw. Maximum cut was rated at something like 4" wide. So I made a custom base out of 2X4s that maxed the cut at something like 7+". Of course that cut down on the thickness of the material being cut, a lot. I only used it for 90% cuts, so it was non-adjustable. Worked like a charm, and very accurate. Well, it finally burnt up. Turned out I could get the 12" HF slider, on sale, for less than another 10", so got the 12". It's a little different setup, so am still working out how I'll make a base for it - should increase the cut by several inches, same as before. 

Table/bench saw, with saw sled, and as long as you've made an accurate sled, you'll have all the accuracy you'll need. I have the mitre saw because with some of the small pieces I cut, it's much faster, and with my setup, just as accurate - otherwise I'd probably just stick with the HF bench saw.


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## Chris Curl (Feb 13, 2012)

NEWBIE ALERT!



Gene Howe said:


> To the nub of your question:
> A good, accurate table saw is the workhorse of most shops.
> While a SCMS is very handy, a good TS is much more so.
> As Doug mentioned, a speed square and a circular saw works well for cross cutting wider stock. It's fast and accurate. I might add, a good, sharp blade vastly increases the enjoyment of the experience.


when you say "speed square", are you referring to one of these?


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## Bradleytavares (Feb 25, 2012)

The Hatichi slider is the work horse of the shop. At on time I had two of them. Couldn't even consider using a table saw after these. Great for dados and for depth of cut operations.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Chris Curl said:


> NEWBIE ALERT!
> 
> 
> 
> when you say "speed square", are you referring to one of these?


Yep. That's the one.

You can also make a shop built T-square guide that will show you exactly where your cut will be.


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## wbh1963 (Oct 11, 2011)

volunteers said:


> I did some 12'' cross cuts for my last home project. I have a cheap small table saw and I could not control the accuracy at all. So I used my circular saw with guide. The accuracy is OK but I am not satisfied and it is inconvenient.
> 
> Now I want to take a look at miter saw for my future use. Is the sliding feature worth the extra money? Or I just save all the money to buy a better table saw? Thanks for suggestions.


I wouldn't think of a slider as being a cure all, but it is a very viable option to increase both the accuracy and maximum width cut of your crosscuts.

I thought about getting a slider before picking up a used RAS. A slider would certainly be a better choice where portability is concerned. When it comes to accurately doing repeat cuts, I don't know of anything that can keep up with using a stop block on a RAS.

I spent lots of time thinking about building up a bench that would max out the capabilities of my compound miter saw. All I really wanted was a vastly extended table area around both sides of the blade and the ability to use stop blocks for repeat work.

Providence in the form of a random opportunity to trade an unused computer of mine for a RAS settled the matter before I was done with the design phase of a bench for the miter saw.

Not only did the table design of the RAS support 2x12 sized boards, I found out day one that the fence on a RAS is seldom more than a 1x3 of the desired length! Of course, hanging around a place like this can make a guy ponder whether it would be worth the effort to put T-Track along a fence for the super quick and easy stop block action!

Right now my fence is a 7" long chunk of hickory flooring that extends far enough beyond the right side of the blade to let me set the stop out to about 54/55 inches.

Because it can do Dado cuts well, I prefer the RAS over a sliding miter, but that is the only thing the RAS does the slider doesn't that comes to mind right away. That might not be important to you, just thought I would toss it out there.

Sure a lot RAS saws can be used to rip cut by rotating the motor, but they don't do it as well as a TS. (IMHO). The prawls and riving knife on my RAS are a bit of a joke.

The most obvious downside to the RAS is that it is a bit of a space hog.

I'm getting a little better at the speed square + circ saw thing as well. I use that method sometimes for low quantity cuts of full length boards when it's not a good time to clear the stuff away from the RAS.


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## rayschimpf (Sep 30, 2009)

I wouldn't give up my sliding compound saw for anything unless your offering me a new one. Anyone that wants to take mine will be pulling back a bloody stump. I use mine daily and its very accurate for all angles I use it for finish carpentry. 

Ray


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## wbh1963 (Oct 11, 2011)

OK, now I find myself wondering if any of the sliders have long arbors and fat blade guards.

If I could mount a dado stack on it, then I would have to get one and try it for cross grain half-lapping cuts.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

*Being Versatile...*

Will, This is a very good thread (yet with very little to do with routers), so much so that I felt the need to include some photos. Please pardon my very limited abilities as a photographer.

For many readers of this, I see this as an opportunity to provide vital info to some of you at what could be a pivotal moment. Numerous very good points have been brought-up herein, and here is what I have observed:

My prototype building business causes me need to work with a variety of materials and shapes and sizes almost unimaginable. For the bulk of my work, portability is not an issue; but there are those times where large materials must be made more portable to get to my shop. When especially heavy sheet materials must be used, I sometimes have the vendor provide it in smaller sizes (precut). At other times, it gets broken-down before going through my basement door. Most of these material "breakdowns" are made using a hand-held circular saw, but different situations call for different tools. Never do I relocate my bigger saws upstairs for this work.

I have a table saw, a sliding compound miter saw and a good assortment of other tools, but the heavy or bulky stuff never leaves my shop. The workbench that my SCMS is attached to is 16 feet long and I have three locations where the SCMS will "port" perfectly along this workbench. For 99% of my work, the middle bench position works great. By the way, I no longer need a radial arm saw (mine was a DeWalt) nor a [non-sliding] chop saw (mine was a 14" Hitachi).

When long boards need to be crosscut, I usually utilize the SCMS. In the first group of photos, you can see which saw I have. You can also see the crosscut capacity, as there is a 12" rule parallel to the kerf groove. Since the "floor" of the SCMS is not the workbench (as with many RAS), I made a pair of "chocks" that elevate the workpiece to be level and aligned with the saw's "floor". These chocks are simply a way to allow material to lie flat - even if it goes to the end of my bench.

Certainly, and even as much as I enjoy using my SCMS, it is not the tool of choice for some materials. For many of those other materials, a better choice is the table saw. You can see my table saw in another photo. Both of these saws cost about the same, and even though some cuts can easily be made one either saw, neither saw is ideal for everything that my occupation calls for - therefore two saws - both were about $500.00 each. I had several saws that I was disappointed with, but these two saws have served me well for several years and if they had to be replaced, I would get another of the same here.

Safety is another consideration when buying anything that has the potential to remove or seriously damage your body. Always look into how you will be using a tool when considering a new acquisition. Versatility is key to me, but may not be for someone staying with one kind of work. Many of us focus on one type of work 99% of the time we spend in our shops, one of these saw types may be better suited than the other. When I am not designing or making prototypes, I often make abaci and if I could only have one of these saw types, it would be the table saw. If I were making picture frames, I would probably choose the SCMS. Fortunately, I have both, so I can literally pick the tool that I feel is safer and more convenient at that time.

Since the subject of dado joints came-up, let me say this. I do not use dado blades. This to me is where a router really shines. Dado blades that I used in other's shops have been too darn time-consuming. Certainly dado joints up to 11-12" long could be made with my SCMS and up to several feet long on the table saw...Why?


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

OPG3 said:


> Will, This is a very good thread (yet with very little to do with routers), so much so that I felt the need to include some photos.


Not being about routers, in this forum, is OK.. That's why it's "Tools and Woodworking". Similarly, "The Finishing Touch" is about finishing, which isn't router-related. 

Heck, in the "Lobby" forum, you never know what you'll find!! As long as the discussion follows the Member Respect Policy, there shouldn't be a problem!!


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## Chris Curl (Feb 13, 2012)

i was at home depot this evening to get some new hinges for a cabinet door that broke, and they had a low end ryobi SCMS that had been returned (open box). when i asked how much, the guy said $50 off. i jumped on it. 

so we got it to the cash register and the lady there said a manager needed to approve it. the manager only approved $15 off, so i said no thanks.

damn it


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## Fraise (May 19, 2012)

*But a router will do it...*

The router will cut timber to the millimetre if you cut first with a circular saw (skilsaw) then clamp a batten to your workpiece as a template and run the router with a bearing cutter next to it. I hade to copy some eccentric shaped boat locker lids and chose this method because there wasn't a right angle among them. 



BigJimAK said:


> Not being about routers, in this forum, is OK.. That's why it's "Tools and Woodworking". Similarly, "The Finishing Touch" is about finishing, which isn't router-related.
> 
> Heck, in the "Lobby" forum, you never know what you'll find!! As long as the discussion follows the Member Respect Policy, there shouldn't be a problem!!


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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

kp91 said:


> I've got a 10 inch slider, which I love. It has been a great tool for plank flooring, wainscotting, and other jobs that require a longer cut. If I had to do it again... maybe a 12 inch miter saw might be my first choice.


Hi Doug

I've had some experience of using 12in sliding mitre saws (DW and Makita) as well as 10in ones (I have a Mak) and I really don't favour the 12in machines - they are a lot heavier, a lot larger,. but worst of all they tend to flex more making cuts in architraves, etc less than ideal at times. I'm looking at replacing my Makita LS1013 some time in the near future and the two saws I'm leaning towards are the deWalt DW717XPS and the newer Makita LS1016 which has a small footprint. I've tried the dual slide (12in) Hitachi and found it wasn't really all that accurate and the Bosch Axial Glide which was pretty good for a 12in saw and had a relatively small footprint for a 12in saw (no tubes, see) ruled itself out by dint of its' weight.



kp91 said:


> A speed square and a circular saw do a great job for the infrequent wide crosscut.


I agree, they can and do, but I'd really only use that solution for framing. I don't think that it's particularly accurate. 



DaninVan said:


> If you're wanting portability, and if you're doing carpentry rather than shop based woodworking, than nothing can touch the SCMS


Dan in Van has it - on job sites the SCMS is king, but on job sites I for one tend not to be ripping down timbers. What I do do, however is to break down copious quantities of sheet stock (MDF, chipboard, plywood, etc) for which there is only one tool worth having - a rail saw

Personally I can do without a table saw - I'd never do without an SCMS

Regards

Phil


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

Phil P said:


> Personally I can do without a table saw - I'd never do without an SCMS
> 
> Regards
> 
> Phil


+1 with Phil. I think he is spot on with that and other points he covered.

On the jobsite- My Miter Saw 1st. Table saw when needed, 2nd place. 

I have a 10" CMS and a 10" SCMS. The SCMS gets the most work. I take care of it and it makes me money. My CMS I save for framing, clunker / knock-around work (usually keep a general purpose blade on it), but only where things need to be "consistent"... Angles or studs at the same length (stop blocks), etc. Framing you have 1/4" and is not rocket science or parts for a rocket. That CMS is a work horse, but it has a different job for me. It's been knocked off a second story and kept on ticking (testimate to Ridgid Tools). Most of the time, the CMS stays at home. 

At home- Depends. Mostly on the SCMS. My table saws get used more than my jobsite TS does on on jobsites (different kinds of work), but they still get used less than the SCMS. Radial arm saw gets thrown in there (not mobile or portable). Both the SCMS and TS are setup next to each other. The CMS stays on the shelf.

Circular saw? Depends on what I'm doing. A lot of framing work. I do have guides where I can get some pretty accurate track saw cuts for breaking down sheets, but easier on my back to do on my TS. You aren't going to break down a sheet on a miter saw- length of cut. Before I built that new table, I broke all my sheets down with a circular saw on either a break-down table or just 2x4's on sawhorses.

Phil- Is a "track saw" the same of what you call a "rail saw" where you are?

You can always work around something. I guess it comes down to whether you really want to go one route or another... what the route entails... and what the result will be and get somewhere near the same destination. The destination may be the same or not, but the trip there means a whole lot to me. If the result is not quality, then you're going to spend a lot more time and effort trying to make it so. Around here, There is not a lot of quality finish blades in a 7 1/4" size. Even the 7 1/4 thin-kerf's near here are not finishing blades.

You could do the same with many different power tools and hand tools if you had to... lots of jigs and such to help with a workaround... But what I have to ask myself is "what is going to make things easier, faster and turn out quality work?" That is- Within reason, common sense and my budget. Easier for me to justify something for my SCMS when tooling wise, most of my cutting is done on it/on a good kickstand.

I have a nice 8 1/4" Skill 5860 wormdrive that I used to use allot. It has sat on the shelve for 8 years.... I gave up on trying to find affordable blades for it. Now a days, it's hard enough to find "anyone" locally who stocks them at all!!! I have a fixture for it for a chainsaw blade/bar to use it as a beam saw, but why bother.

Back to sliders- Worth it? You bet! Extends your reach. Someone said less accurate? (Gong sounds) 12 years of using SCMS'es professionally and I haven't seen that. I have both CMS and SCMS, but I do my finish work with my slider. (As it sounds like Phil also)

10" or 12"? I migrated from a 12" slider to 10" slider. Blades were a lot cheaper. The blades are the same size as my tables saws. It was easier on my back to lug around. (Broken neck once, Broken back twice, torn muscles lower back twice, knee brace, ankle reconstruction on same leg, etc) I do not miss the missing 1" of depth at of a 12" blade at all. I don't cut 4x4's in a miter saw every day (Just to add some decorative architectural miters to cedar posts every once in a while).

But that is just me. SCMC'es have more "function" that a standard CMS. There is a learning curve on those extra functions. Like any saw, you have to keep what you have square and in tune. You have to be aware of those extra functions over a standard CMS (examble, miter across a distance of the slide, roughout thinning/dadoing, etc). You have to learn to use it. You have to have a need for it's functions. For most wood workers (professional and hobbiest), I feel the more you use it, the more you will use it.

Chris, you mentioned the Ryobi 10" slider... Of all ryobi's tools, I think that their SMCS is actually a very good/quality tool. They did things right with that one. The only thing I can say bad about it is that it doesn't store well (the slider is long). The plus on it is that long slider. It gives it a long reach... over other 10 inch SCMS'es. It keeps in tune well, even after continued used, transport and storage. It is priced very well for what it is. The service and support isn't what bosch, makita or dewalt is... More local service center, that also does other brands, has never had one in their shop, even for after-warrantee service. I haven't known anyone ever having a problem with that saw to ever need to get warrantee service on them. Marked down? If you were locking for one... I have no reservations recommending that saw and feel you would be happy with it.


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## FourEyes45 (May 23, 2012)

I love my Bosh 12 SMS I use it more than the table or RAS but Im just a newbe


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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

Hi Bob



MAFoElffen said:


> Phil- Is a "track saw" the same of what you call a "rail saw" where you are?


Yessir, in my case a Festool. I'm lucky in that in the UK we still have an independent saw industry which can and does turn out blades suitable for use on the Festool and similar saws, which are of comparable quality and *cheaper*. One local saw doctor carries these Atkinson-Walker blades.



MAFoElffen said:


> Back to sliders- Worth it? You bet! Extends your reach. Someone said less accurate? (Gong sounds) 12 years of using SCMS'es professionally and I haven't seen that. I have both CMS and SCMS, but I do my finish work with my slider. (As it sounds like Phil also)


Pretty much. In my case either a SW 216mm (8-/14in) or a Makita 10in - like you I "reserve" my 10in CMS for framing, etc. I've not been impressed with the three 12inchers I've used longer term - Makita LS1212 and DW708/DW718 - they all seemed to suffer a bit from blade/frame flex and we were forever tidying up mitres with the block plane. I've always found 10in saws to be more rigid, and I'm not alone in feeling this. But as you say, cheaper blades, less weight/bulk so 10inchers make much, much more sense in the real world

Regards

Phil


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## roofner (Aug 1, 2010)

I have cut 18 wide pieces of plywood with my SCMS if you have the cross bucks to support with stopblocks just make your first cut and flip it over and have board against stopblock and finish the cut. That with a 10".


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## TRBaker (Jul 5, 2012)

Will, I don't know if I missed something or what, but I was unsure whether you were cutting lumber or sheet goods. I use the table saw on sheet goods by cutting my lengths across the whole sheet and then ripping it to width. This is much safer and easier to control. Often we are ripping 12" cuts for things like multiple shelves, sides or bottoms on cabinets and we will be needing more than one piece each size. I found that if I ripped it first and then tried to cross cut on my saw,it would sometimes pinch and want to take out the back wall of my shop. Of course I was standing in the way, so it couldn't do that (duh). It was at times like that I wished I had a slider.


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## TRBaker (Jul 5, 2012)

For you guys having problems with blade flex on your 12" saws, I switched to a 96 tooth triple chip blade and it made all the difference in the world. However, it won't help any at all if it gets dull. That's what normally causes the blade flex. Some of that can also happen from blade wobble. Normally it isn't bearings going out that causes this. It is usually from someone overtightening the blade and warping the inner and outer washers that hold the blade.


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

TRBaker said:


> I found that if I ripped it first and then tried to cross cut on my saw,it would sometimes pinch and want to take out the back wall of my shop. Of course I was standing in the way, so it couldn't do that (duh). It was at times like that I wished I had a slider.


Troy- 

Agreed on TS (w/ a zero clearance insert) for breaking down sheet goods. My TS crosscut/rip table is 36"x60". I usually rough cut to 1/16 from, then bring to finished size.

I can remember over 20 years ago when I started as a carpenter, when that used to happen. That pinching would happen on ripping sheet goods also if I was pushing wide (and trying to hold the sheet down to the table) when the cut got to the end. That is... (without the piece "below" on my TS)

Do you have a splitter or riving blade on your TS? Either will help prevent work from pinching the blade by keeping the kerf open after the cut. If it does start pinching on the splitter or riving blades, you'll feel it in your hands in how it's feeding and change your hand position. If you don't have a splitter or riving knife (I prefer a riving knife), they are easy to make/install or there are universal fit splitters or riving knives to buy/install.

Another thing I used to do before I knew anything about splitters or riving knives, was to start my cut and cut until the sheet got past my support- turn off the saw. Clamp the sheet to maintain the kerf (and to help support the sheets together). Turn the saw back on and continue my cut.

Early on as a carpenter, the "new guy" had to break down sheets for everyone. On the jobsite, you rarely had someone to help you. Then I found when someone did help, it was hard to get a straight cut with 2 people feeding/supporting a sheet...


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

MAFoElffen said:


> Then I found when someone did help, it was hard to get a straight cut with 2 people feeding/supporting a sheet...


I sure can second that one!


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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

TRBaker said:


> For you guys having problems with blade flex on your 12" saws, I switched to a 96 tooth triple chip blade and it made all the difference in the world.


Hi Troy

The worst job was where we were panelling out a house - solid oak job, loads of built-up 4 and 5-part cornices. We tried everything - different blades, blade stiffeners (which reduced the depth of cut, so they had to go), new blade washers, etc. All three saws ran out noticebly more than the 10 inchers - and one of those saws was brand new, straight form the box. This is not just my experience, other fit-out guys I've spoken have expressed a similar opinion. As practicing tradesmen I trust their judgment to be able to set-up a saw dead square (they tend to gou out when driven round the country in the back of a van, so that's a must do at the start of any job)



MAFoElffen said:


> Then I found when someone did help, it was hard to get a straight cut with 2 people feeding/supporting a sheet...


Hi Mike

That's precisely why I love my Festool so much...... Quite apart from my feeling that trying to break down sheet stock over the top of any small saw (without a run off table) is downright dangerous

Regards

Phil


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

MAFoElffen said:


> Then I found when someone did help, it was hard to get a straight cut with 2 people feeding/supporting a sheet...


Ah, there's a trick to that. Only ONE person feeds, that's the one on the saw. The other person is there to support the cut pieces, period. If the second person holds the wood, or pulls it, the cut will be off. He/she is there to support the wood, just like a moving table or support; best way is usually just both hands flat on the underside, move backwards slowly, and careful to move in a straight line. Learned that going on to 60 years ago, when I used to support wood being cut by my grandfather on his table saw; works on sheet goods or lumber. He was considered a master carpenter, and it was amazing some of the work he did with just a table saw as his ownly power tool.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Help (NOT) Wanted*



Dmeadows said:


> I sure can second that one!


Like cutting planks down with a builder's saw..."Here, let me grab the end for you."
"NOoooo..."


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