Thread: 12" sliding mitre saw

You won't find a saw of any quality for that price you may be better to look at buying second hand, Bosch Makita etc.

A middle of the road saw will be ok for building and reno work.
Does it have to be 12'' ? That pushes up the price. Quite a few 10'' saws will be in your budget range. Most 10'' saws will cut almost as wide a board as the 12''. Its just a little less depth of cut. Do some google searching.
Regards
John

I think 10" would be ok, done the google trick but found mostly US stuff, hoping someone here might have found a good one to recomend

John

I recently had to make the same decision, with the same budget and settles on the Makita 1017L. It has all the features you're after, except dual bevel. the 1017L is exclusive to Bunnings, I had some vouchers so wanted to buy there.

The 1018L which is available from tool stores has the dual bevel and seems almost identical otherwise. I've had mine for 2 months and am extremely happy with it.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/our-rang...FZAGKgodBiYEmA

LS1018L | Mitre Saw Slide Compound 260Mm 1430W With Lasers | Makita

https://sydneytools.com.au/makita-ls...FYWVvAod9UgFPw

Plenty out there. As to picking well I would stick to the better brand names in your budget range. For building work however even a Ryobi would do the job and save you dollars but I expect that after the building work is done it will be good to have a saw to do other things with. A few years back I had some internal walls to replace after the white ants paid a visit. I got a cheep Ozito saw for the job and had no problems. Afterwards for finer work it was not quite accurate enough so I sold it. I do all the accurate cuts on the table saw and do not have a miter saw at the moment.
Regards
John

I looked into all the saws at Bunnings, the Bosch or Ryobi would certainly do what you need for general construction, but have a play with all the models that have been sitting on the shelf getting abused for a year. Of them all, the Makita was the only one that didn't have a part missing or something broken, and the bearings were still extremely smooth, others were very rough to slide, Makita was also much easier to adjust and get an accurate bevel reading.

If you're going to pay $459 for the Makita at Bunnings, you may as well pay an extra $30 at a tool store and get the 1018L which has dual bevel.

I have the 1018LS. Great saw. It is the lightweight job saw version of the LS 1016 which I was looking at but at $400 extra I couldn't justify the expense.

Hi John
Sound like you are undertaking a great project.

If you are using the saw for doing repeatable cuts then have a thing about getting a saw stand that has adjustable saw stops ... sure beats measuring every piece and scoring with a blade or pencil.

I have the laser with my saw ... but I never use it. I find that they are inaccurate and get out of whack ... reply on a good knife mark to get accuracy. Drop the blade down and see where the teeth are positions .. much more accurate than a laser I find.

Good fortune to you

Rob

I have a Makita 1017L for about 4yrs and are very happy with it, used it on plenty of Jarrah, Vic Ash and Pine with no problems

Regards
Keith

The Swartz is great value for money IMHO.

On the down side the angle lock is not as positive as youd find on dewalt etc.

Personally I have a dewalt 12" which must be about 10 or more years old now (trade use). I did have to replace a bearing about 18 months ago, set me back $20 and an hours labour.

Prior to this I had a 10" Hitachi. It too was about 10 years old and I gave it to a mate whi was juat starting out. The 12" came out later and I would have liked it.

If I was not having to move it around and was going to spend larger dollars I wkuld go for a Bosch easy glide.

DaveTTC

Turning Wood into Art

Let me bounce a few things about lasers off any CSMS.
A laser is great for construction but almost worthless for woodworking. The beam as seen on the work is too wide and fuzzy at the edges for wood working.

Better is technique. Mark the cut with a sharp pencil. Draw the mark where you need to "Leave the mark" in the cut.

Then, with the saw off, bring the blade down and align the teeth with the mark. Note: The teeth of the blade have a "set" and typically the teeth lean left or right alternating.

Raise the blade and turn on the saw. Make a scoring cut across the top of the wood, then lower the blade fully and finish the cut by pushing the saw back through the wood.

This process will give both accurate and smooth cuts.

BTW - Everything that I hear here in the US is that there "Ain't nothing better than the 780."

I see no ow significant value of a laser for said reasons. Gets you close but I dont think it is particularly accurate.

I have heard of a saw casting a shadow of exact kerf using an LED. Cant recall the brand. That does sound good and accurate

DaveTTC

Turning Wood into Art

I have the 12" ryobi sliding mitre saw. It's awesome, and works very well for my needs.

If I was using it as a tradie, I'd probably get something with a better name, but for the odd weekend useage, it's perfect. Would buy again.

As per Dave's suggestion have a read through this.