Thread: Sliding compound mitre saws

Good tools = good job. Crap tools = less than adequate results, in my opinion and experience.

I have a Hitachi C8, pretty happy with it. Great trim carpentry saw, excellent capacity. Has done a lot of work over the years that I have had it and still accurate. I lust after the 12" Festool machine but can't quite justify it just yet.

Cheers

Welcome Yael,

I like many others started out with either a GMC/Ozito or Ryobi as a first saw. I wish I had spent the extra the first time. The ryobi was replaced within weeks as it would not cut square and could not be adjusted, the replacement was little better. If accuracy is important spent the extra.

It really depends on what you are intending to build.

I do most of my saw work with my 10" table saw.

I am currently looking at the makita 1018 (@$550 at total tools) it mitres left and right where as the 1017 only goes to the right.

but good luck.

Pappy

I agree with Enfield guy and Pappy. Nothing worse than being unhappy with a tool that cost more than $100. Spending more for the better quality and reliability is good insurance in my book.

I think that you will find that you may not need the slide feature for most applications. Yes it is nice to have but for 95% of all sawing tasks it goes unused.
If you can afford the little extra for the Makita 255mm 10" 1650W Compound Mitre Saw, you won't be disappointed and it will last you a very long time.
Cheers
SG

Ah Scribbly! Your comments are always valued of course. No floods your way? Must be a change.
I agree - if you are just starting off you probably don't need a SCMS. Down the track if you keep up the work , you can spend the $1000 and get something good.

Graham

this may be a dumb question, but if you don't get the sliding part, does that mean you can't do cuts as wide as you could with the sliding part (does that make sense?? I'm assuming it would cut as wide as the diameter of the blade??)

Originally Posted by yael

this may be a dumb question, but if you don't get the sliding part, does that mean you can't do cuts as wide as you could with the sliding part (does that make sense?? I'm assuming it would cut as wide as the diameter of the blade??)

That's pretty much right. A slider increases your cutting capacity but also adds to the chance of a less accurate cut on cheaper saws.

I have a ryobi slider. It's fine for rough cutting of timber but if you want anything accurate, look elsewhere.

I would go for something of better quality, such as the Makita, even if it meant waiting until you could afford to purchase one. You wont regret getting a better quility tool.

Steven.

Originally Posted by Carry Pine

Ah Scribbly! Your comments are always valued of course. No floods your way? Must be a change.
I agree - if you are just starting off you probably don't need a SCMS. Down the track if you keep up the work , you can spend the $1000 and get something good.

Graham

Compliments of the season CP. We thought that we had a reasonably wet time up here until we saw what everyone else was getting. By comparison it has been almost idyllic weather.
Today was utterly glorious - 27 degrees and a light breeze. I do think that the coming weekend will be interesting though.
Apologies for this digression. I agree with your assessment.
There is a lovely new Bosch SCMS with a double hinged movement that takes out the rails that appear on most SCMS.
I think it would be worth saving up for.
Cheers
SG

G'Day "yael",
I've had Bosch GCM 10 SD Professional, Double Bevel Slide Compound Mitre Saw
GCM 10 SD Professional - Double Bevel Sliding Mitre Saw - Bosch Power Tools for Professionals
for 3 to4 years and it was worth the extra,
though I got it on a super special of under $700.
I believe the Bosch Blue Range is a tool that's been built to last for a long, long time, similar to Metabo, Hitachi, Milwaukee and the like;
which means I shouldn't have to repurchase this type of tool again.
Cheers, Crowie

As Scribbly Gum said do you need large cutting capacity? Work out what you want to use it for and what size stock you will be cutting, then check different saw specs for their cutting abilties and buy something to suit.

A compound only saw is far easier to keep accurate thanks to less moving parts and you can't go wrong with a Makita.

A fitter and turner mate bought one of those $299 Ryobi SCMS's years ago to renovate his house. He spent weeks and weeks trying to keep the thing accurate (as I said he's a fitter and turner and thinks everything should be accurate to within 1 billion microns!), at full stretch the thing has so much slop it wasn't funny. The thing still runs, but was relegated to firewood duties not long after purchase.

Just bought a Ryobi bench saw you are not wrong about the slop everywhere, I will have to make new attachments for the mitre gauge at least 1/16" play in the slots ,but apart from that the best of a bad bunch,handy sliding attachmnet which widens out both sides.I'll keep working on it till I get it acuurate and workable(COULD TAKE SOME TIME)

Ok, seeing as I am what my husband calls "a used car salesman's dream", you guys have convinced me to forget the ryobi and go with the makita (That, and my anal retentive nature is a standing joke amongst friends, and if my cut was more than 1mm out it would annoy me no end...)

So, now the question becomes - what is the minimum I can spend in the higher range to get a decent saw - one that will cut accurately?? Is the $500 Makita going to do it, or will I need to go much more past that? Are there other brands other than Makita which I should be looking at?

Lucky it's my birthday in a few weeks, although I think this will be the next 5 years worth of presents

Originally Posted by yael

Ok, seeing as I am what my husband calls "a used car salesman's dream", you guys have convinced me to forget the ryobi and go with the makita (That, and my anal retentive nature is a standing joke amongst friends, and if my cut was more than 1mm out it would annoy me no end...)

So, now the question becomes - what is the minimum I can spend in the higher range to get a decent saw - one that will cut accurately?? Is the $500 Makita going to do it, or will I need to go much more past that? Are there other brands other than Makita which I should be looking at?

Lucky it's my birthday in a few weeks, although I think this will be the next 5 years worth of presents

hi yael,

my first saw was a 2 nd hand black and decker, back in scotland. it sucked, but it was my first one.

after ariving in oz my first purchase was a makita circular saw and a down payment on the big compound makita. it is/was great, but heavy. i got fed up lugging it around for small(section timber) jobs i bought an small ozito compound slider, that actually wasnt to bad! but i couldnt handle the ribbing on building sites from other carpenters.

i then splashed out on the small sliding makita, its pretty good but only bevels one way, unlike its big brother.

i wonder how the ozito would have went with a fine tooth blade and a tune up?

but i dont want to steer you wrong, go the makita!(or do some research on that ozito,but don't blame me, lol)

Originally Posted by yael

Hey everyone,

So as I start out on my journey I figure I need a saw... It was suggested I get a sliding compound mitre saw, as that will do most types of cuts that I need. I was planning on spending around $300ish on it.

I have no real idea about what is good or not (except my first cordless drill being an Ozito, and I figure if I am going to throw money away, and I can do it in more creative ways than that), so just wondering if somebody can give me the basics and what is good, bad etc. Does anyone suggest I buy something different?

I was looking at the Ryobi EMS2026scl for $299 from Bunnings... I have seem a similar one from GMC, but I'm not sure if they are a good brand, and I had heard they were in receivership or something?

I did like the Makita ls1017l for $499 but its a little out of my budget and I'm not sure that I would use it that much more to justify the extra $200, vs putting it towards a different tool as I expand my collect. The only other Makita that comes near is this .

Anyway, your collective experience would be greatly appreciated

ryobi is crap and gmc is even worse, i recon second hand is they way to go or otherwise youll need at least $500 for a good one