I am an absolute newby to woodworking and have never owned a slide compund mitre saw before. I saw a couple on my road trip to Brisbane from Townsville last month and even dropped into Carbatek for a quick $400.00 splurge on some much needed non powered hand tools. But the one thing I wanted and couldn't afford was a slide mitre saw so I did a couple of searches and narrowed it down to a few models. I bought the Ozetio one one admittedly pure price and I liked the way the table locked into big fat locking holes. So off to the big B and parted with $170.00 I looked longingly at the Ryobi but at $299.00 it was way out of my price range.

So far I have used it for making some very basic wooden candle holders with cuts up to 75 x 35mm pine and glued pine/merabau stock with no problems at all.

The 45 degree locking both left and right are a bonus. You can quickly switch between the two without having to reverse the stock. There are also infinite adjustments between the two but without the locking positions set in the table. Slide is positive and quite easy to use. It took a short while to get used to the power switch/slide combo but after about 3 cuts it started to feel quite natural. As I said I have never owned or used one before.

Ozito CMG-404
1600W
Blade size 210mm

So on the positive side:

Pros
Locks nicely into position.
Mitre angles are 45 left and 49 right
Adjustable angles via set screw
Bevel 45 degrees left only. (But works like a charm large, locking handle makes adjustments very easy.)
0 degree capacity is 205 x 55mm

It comes with dual slide rails which makes it very stable
Trenching capacity is something I haven't tried yet but am itching to do so.
and a dust bag. Side stock support arms and a single stock clamp (2 would have been nice but it has both a left and right socket so you can change it around.

Cons:
Dust bag is very small
Small cutting capacity but this was the biggest i could find for the price.
It's messiest machine (apart from me) that i own. It's capacity to throw dust up to 4 metres is quite spectacular.


Conclusion: Out of the box and into service took about 15 minutes. Blade was properly secured and the only parts which had to be fitted where to two stock support arms, the mitre locking knob and dust bag. The Instruction booklet wasn't hard to follow. While it may not be a Tradesman Quality tool it suits my handman urges quite well at the moment.

__________________
I make sawdust with powertools.

I'm glad your happy with your saw.

The Ozito SCMS was my first ever saw. I needed it to make a workbench and found it great for that purpose. However, I found when accuracy was needed it didn't perform very well. I eventually got rid of it and got a Makita LS1214 SCMS.

The only thing I would recommend doing is getting rid of the dust bag (it's useless) and hooking up a vacuum cleaner/shop vac to the dust port. You'll find it much better, and have less dust flying around.

Another thing you could do to stop the dust flying around your workshop is to build a box behind it, which will enclose all the dust into that area.

Andy

Thanks for the suggestions Andy. I have an old house vacuum cleaner which hasn't got a floor attachment so might swing that into service as the weather cools off.

I have relocated it immediately inside my roller door and 90% of dust is venting straight into the yard. With the humdity and rain I am currently getting it isn't going anywhere except straight onto the lawn. Off to try my hand at a picture frame. That should try out the accuracy.

__________________
I make sawdust with powertools.

so wierd, i was just on about this saw on another thread! i found it really good for rough stuff, i cut heaps of framing even 300 wide lvl's iirc, you could almost hang it off your tool belt as well, pretty light.

good luck

__________________
darren stewart

http://oldschoolcarpentry.com.au

I'm in the market for a scms and did drool over the selection at the Big B last time I visited. I'm interested to hear the comments about accuracy of the Ozito. Is that an issue with many scms? or is it a reflection of the the lower price you pay for an Ozito (I've had use of a rather nice Makita scms which has spoiled me).
I guess I follow the adage - you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get

With any mid to lower priced powertool (and some more expensive ones to their undying shame) such as any circularsaw, it is always best to replace the saw with something better.

The supplied blade is usually a shocker and will only ever give you a rough cut. Replacing the paint can lid shaped thing made to resemble a saw blade (180mm) that came with a $98 Ryobi mitre saw with a basic Irwin crosscut 40 blade did wonders for the accuracy of the cut. A blade which is actually circular in shape, properly centred and balanced makes a cheap Ryoby/Ozito suddenly perform. It changed my attitude from near violently churlish to cheerful.

Making a better fence and a zero tolerance table insert are other modifications worth trying. An enclosed dust extractor is another neat option. Mine come from cast out vacuum cleaners from the hard rubbish - now I have one for every stand alone machine. I'm rather pleased with end result - a 0.1mm accuracy. I kid you not.

Not Possible! scream the Feathered Festo Fanciers Fanclub. Well, true my Morris Minor of a Machine will not last as long and will go out of plumb long before a Festo but I rather like tinkering.

I have a sinister lusting for Festo but too many moths in the wallet. So all you Festo owners - do not invite me into your shed. I will not be responsible for my actions. (foaming at the mouth; rolling eyes back; spastic limb movements - thanks Linda Blair).

Thanks for the good advice re the blade

Mike,
Be Carefull with the Ozito Slide Compound Mitre Saw. I had one which suffered a catastrophic failure about six months ago. I bought the dual rail 8" version and I was cutting a compound angle when the clear blade guard somehow flexed into the path of the blade which jambed and came loose from the arbor. The diecast metal blade housing got damagd and the guard completely destroyed. Fortunately the arbor did not completly come free and retained the blade by a couple of threads. I could've lost my arm from the shoulder if it had (or worse). A very frightening experience.

Needless to say , the saw ended up in the bin and the base went to the recyclers. There are no replacement parts for these saws. It eats motor brushes like there's no tomorrow but I found a Makita replacement that fits perfectly. I think I kept the box with the code numbers but you can go down to your local power tool repairer with the originals and get a size match. Sometimes these guys are lazy and you need to be persistant with them.

Cheers,
Peter.

Hi, would this be a good first saw for someone? and is this saw good for cutting pine and for little / odd jobs?

Cheers,

Hoover

I'd buy ozito over ryobi anyday. Your paying for a name and in my experience SOME ozito stuff is very good and some not so great. The rotary hammer drills are unkillable and even plumbers are using them. My router has been ok for what it is. I had a look at the scms stands yesterday and IMO the ozito was as good as any of them at $99 compared to $250 plus for some others.

Regarding blades I can demonstrate this. I've fitted cheap chinese blades to my tablesaw to do rough cuts recycling timber, and rough they are. Lots of tearout and even some loss of accuracy. I regularly use that saw as a jointer/thicknesser with good blades in it. And yes I'm talking about high toothcount chinese blades I'm not comparing 20 tooth to 100 tooth.

While I'm at it, I was just stunned at how expensive bunnings is. I spent over an hour walking around rocklea yesterday, virtually everything I looked at (assuming it was in stock) was 25-100% dearer than you can buy equivalents elsewhere. I bought nothing..

Lower prices are not the beginning...

__________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. L.J. Young.
We live in a free country. We have freedom of choice. You can choose to agree with me, or you can choose to be wrong. Me.

Would you buy an Ozito electric chainsaw over a Ryobi? even though Ryobi is $130 and Ozito is $99

Yep, even if the ozito was 130 and the ryobi 99. I had a quick look at them in Bunnings the other day. The boss loves my 24" chinese but it's too heavy for her. She was considering a small light saw for pruning. The little electric ones are a weight she could handle and of course no pull start.

Chainsaws are now so cheap they are throw away items...

__________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. L.J. Young.
We live in a free country. We have freedom of choice. You can choose to agree with me, or you can choose to be wrong. Me.

I think I've made my decision on my chainsaw then,Ozito it is.

Just understand neither are suitable for knocking down 100' ironbark. They are small low powered pruning saws.

You can get a medium size petrol on ebay for that sort of money if you need to do more serious lopping.

__________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. L.J. Young.
We live in a free country. We have freedom of choice. You can choose to agree with me, or you can choose to be wrong. Me.

Yes I understand that, it'll only be for small size tree's