Thread: New CS Mitre Saw Suggestions

Have you concidered buying a secondhand Radial Arm Saw?

I bought one a couple years ago, It's an OLD B&D industrial. Metal, NOT plastic. I paid $250 for it & it was a mess.

A mess, but with loads of potential. Nothing was square to anything else & the blade looked like the top of a Milo Tin, but now... What a beauty.

I made a rolling trolly for it with 3 draws in it. It has folding wings that open out to 3m long & cuts perfectly square every time. It has positive stops on common angles on two axis, with the bonus of being able to adjust the height, & rotate the head through 90degrees although I have a table saw for ripping, so I don't use this. 2 additional advantages ar increased height for thicker materials & increased length of cut over a SCMS.

About the only disadvantage I can think of is this is no where near as portable as a SCMS, but if you are doing Reno's on your house as opposed to a builder that has to take his tools where the work is, I don't see this as a problem.


Steve

Originally Posted by Ticky

Have you concidered buying a secondhand Radial Arm Saw?

I bought one a couple years ago, It's an OLD B&D industrial. Metal, NOT plastic. I paid $250 for it & it was a mess.

A mess, but with loads of potential. Nothing was square to anything else & the blade looked like the top of a Milo Tin, but now... What a beauty.

I made a rolling trolly for it with 3 draws in it. It has folding wings that open out to 3m long & cuts perfectly square every time. It has positive stops on common angles on two axis, with the bonus of being able to adjust the height, & rotate the head through 90degrees although I have a table saw for ripping, so I don't use this. 2 additional advantages ar increased height for thicker materials & increased length of cut over a SCMS.

About the only disadvantage I can think of is this is no where near as portable as a SCMS, but if you are doing Reno's on your house as opposed to a builder that has to take his tools where the work is, I don't see this as a problem.


Steve

Thanks for the reply Steve, I had not considered a radial arm saw to be honest. I am not sure if my skills would be up to making use of such a tool.

This will mostly be used for architraves and skirts and some decking works so I'd assume the largest size I would work with will be 100 x 100.

But I will look into them anyway.

Thanks!

I'll give the Makita a +1

Hi Dane, I bought a cheapie to help with finishing off a house we had built to lock up. It was OK for this but I had to check the angle each time I moved the blade to a new position. The problem with the cheapies is that the stop mechanism is usually just cast into the base and therefor neither positive or accurate. The more expensive ones usually have an accurately milled metal quadrant that pretty much ensures accuracy.

Originally Posted by safari

Hi Dane, I bought a cheapie to help with finishing off a house we had built to lock up. It was OK for this but I had to check the angle each time I moved the blade to a new position. The problem with the cheapies is that the stop mechanism is usually just cast into the base and therefor neither positive or accurate. The more expensive ones usually have an accurately milled metal quadrant that pretty much ensures accuracy.

Thanks guys, I ended up going with the LS1016, the other one I was considering was the DeWalt DW717XE. I couldn't really separate a clear winner in terms of build and longevity. So I went with the Makita as they have served me well in the past and hopefully the China built stuff is up on quality from when they first started manufacturing there.

I think you will be fine mate