collinb Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 So I parted with my Craftsman 10" SCMS and picked up a used DW708. (A bit of a beast.)Yet the frustration I had with the Craftsman remains ... I cannot adjust the full length of the fence for a true 90 degree cut in the middle of a long piece. I can adjust one half but the other half remains out of alignment.Then yesterday I was in the local WoodWerks Supply picking up some drawer rails and was talking to the lead on power equipment.(They carry Hitachi, Makita, and some other saw brands.) He put it this way: All the $500 models have the same problem. Only the $1500 model (Festool, of course) does not. iirc, the FT has a two-piece fence whereas the rest are one-piece.Yet he seemed to agree with me on two things: [1] It's called a miter saw for a reason -- it should cut accurate miters. (Otherwise it should be called a chop saw, imnsho.) [2] For $500 it *should* be alignable.So I'm going to look into a way of aligning that fence I may just cut the horseshoe and make other suitable changes. My principle, whether in woodworking, software develop, or photography is this: Tools exist to serve us, not the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Box store miter saws are construction tools. You can expect construction-quality cuts from them. The Kapex is designed for high-end finish carpentry where a more precise cut is required...crown molding, etc...joints need to be tight. Honestly the Kapex is fairly under-powered for some aspects of furniture making, but it's certainly the most accurate miter saw available in a hobbyist's (upper) price range.I would suggest using your miter saw for DIY and making your furniture miter cuts on the table saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodeuce Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I gave up long ago on a mass produced CMS coming with an accurate setup. I do my own "floor" and fence out of 3/4 MDF. By gluing an "L" shape. You can then shim and adjust as needed. been a lot happier camper since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collinb Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Box store miter saws are construction tools. You can expect construction-quality cuts from them. The Kapex is designed for high-end finish carpentry where a more precise cut is required...crown molding, etc...joints need to be tight. Honestly the Kapex is fairly under-powered for some aspects of furniture making, but it's certainly the most accurate miter saw available in a hobbyist's (upper) price range.I would suggest using your miter saw for DIY and making your furniture miter cuts on the table saw.But TOH does it on a SCMP .... ;-)Of course they also either cope or plane afterwards ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 But TOH does it on a SCMP .... ;-)They do construction and finish carpentry on a SCMS...and you'll notice they are often using a Kapex these days.Carpentry and fine woodworking are two different animals with two different levels of precision required. A gappy stud wall is who cares. Can't say the same for a gappy chair. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I had that issue on my old saw and added a 0 clearance fence with a shim (playing card) on one side. Wasn't perfect but, it was close enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collinb Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 They do construction and finish carpentry on a SCMS...and you'll notice they are often using a Kapex these days.Carpentry and fine woodworking are two different animals with two different levels of precision required. A gappy stud wall is who cares. Can't say the same for a gappy chair.I was hoping with the smiley you'd see that I was being just a bit facetious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I took it as you were being argumentative in a friendly way. That smiley means what you think it means. ^^^ So does that one. ^^^ Kev's idea is the way to go if you're hell-bent on using the DW. Won't do anything for deflection but shims can solve your squareness issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortan D Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I had that issue on my old saw and added a 0 clearance fence with a shim (playing card) on one side. Wasn't perfect but, it was close enough.That's the way to go when you need precision and clean cuts. You will always need the zero clearance fence to avoid tear out and/or cut short pieces anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collinb Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I took it as you were being argumentative in a friendly way. That smiley means what you think it means. ^^^ So does that one. ^^^ Kev's idea is the way to go if you're hell-bent on using the DW. Won't do anything for deflection but shims can solve your squareness issues. I used a semicolon. That's a wink. But I'm old-school on these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I have a miter saw and only use it for 2x4'sThese will cut up to 25" wide boards more accurate than any miter saw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteJr Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have a 15 year old DeWalt 12 in. Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw with a high quality blade.Whenever I use it and/or change the blade angle I use a very high quality gauge to check for 90 degree (or 45 degree) cuts. Unlike my table saw the miter saw needs constant tweaking but with experience and patience you can obtain very good results. Once you know your saws limitations it can be as accurate as you need it to be. Before I had the Dewalt I used a 10" Craftsman and achieved good results with a well made infeed/outfeed table and an extra helping of patient setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have a miter saw and only use it for 2x4'sThese will cut up to 25" wide boards more accurate than any miter sawOnly if the humidity is low enough. =p 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Only if the humidity is low enough. =pThat was so 2 weeks ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I have a miter saw and only use it for 2x4'sThese will cut up to 25" wide boards more accurate than any miter sawYou got another one set up for miters? Bevels? Compound angles? Doing crosscuts on the TS with a sled is great...do it all the time. But there's a lot to be said for the convenience of a SCMS...as long as it's a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 You got another one set up for miters? Bevels? Compound angles? Doing crosscuts on the TS with a sled is great...do it all the time. But there's a lot to be said for the convenience of a SCMS...as long as it's a good one.Well this handles miters and so far my Osbourne EB-3 has been fine for everything else. I'm sure down the road I'll stop by the green SCMS Koolaid stand but I'm good for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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