Thread: Drop saw or slider??

Welcome BulletHead,

You have come to a great forum and the place to ask questions....

If you are only going to cut straight stuff that is narrow and at most an angle in just one direction such as fitting out mouldings in a house and you want something small and moveable then the drop saw is for you and Makita is a good brand.

If however you are likely to cut wide stuff or want to cut angles in two directions at once then the compond slider is a better option. I have a 12 inch Dewalt slider and love it...use it for framing work, craft work etc Yes it is heavy but it stays in my workshop. I suspect if I was doing jobs on the go I would go off and buy a cheap drop saw.

So the answer to your question is simply down to what you want to do with it!


Regards,

Chipman

Depends what you want to do but bare in mind that you can cut narrow pieces of timber on the slide saw but you can't cut wide pieces of timber on the drop saw. If you only buying one saw I would buy the one that is capable of doing both jobs.

Oh by the way. Welcome to the forum. plenty of advice here. Don't have to take it but plenty will be offered.

Makita are much better quality than Ryobi so get a Makita
Sliding saws are better than drop saws so get a sliding saw



If you really have to choose between the tewo, get the makita

A hard question to answer as it really depends on what you need/want in a saw and how much you wish to spend..

my 2c

If you are after guaranteed accuracy, you will probably need to look at Makita Blue, Bosch Blue, Hitachi etc. These will start at around $400 for a basic compound mitre saw and range up to around $1200 for a slide compound mitre saw. The cheaper DIY models (GMC, Ryobi, OZITO etc.) can be a bit of a lottery. You will find a mix of good and bad experiences. I rarely see people complaining that their Makita LS1040, LS1212, LS1214 etc is not perfectly accurate out of the box. Same with the other quality brands.

Accuracy becomes more of an issue with the volume of work you do. If you are just cutting the odd piece on weekends and can afford the time to make sure the saw is setup perfectly for each different cut then a cheaper model should be fine. I have a Makita LS1214 and know that when it is locked in at 45 degrees compound and mitre it cuts at exactly 45 degrees both ways spot on with no checking. This makes the tool a pleasure to use.

Many of the cheaper slide compound saws can tend to lose some accuracy when the slide is extended but can be OK in the normal mitre position near the fence. Some are just out all over the place. Check out the Ryobi in the shop and see how much flex there is when the saw is fully extended compared to a Makita/Hitachi etc.

If you intend to take the saw to jobs, then I'd look at just a standard mitre saw as it will be lighter, smaller and less prone to damage. You would rarely need to use the slide on site. A cheap Mitre saw will be good enough for framing. An accurate saw is usually needed for finishing work such as door and window trims.

If you go down the path of buying a saw at the cheaper end of the market, ask about the return policy in regards to accuracy expecially if the saw has no means of calibrating the fence or blade angle.

I survived for years with a Makita slide compound "clone" purchased from Carbatec. It did a heap of work but was never accurate enough for finer work. It certainly didn't owe me anything. Over the last couple of years I just didn't enjoy using it so was glad when it died...