Thread: Opinions for a Mitre saw and Table saw (Australia)

Makita, Bosch, Dewault pick one that suits your requirement and budget

Is that order of preference? And Also there a million different ones for those brands, using my budget and preference listed above do you have an recommendations? Thabks for the reply though

They are all good but you need to go to some of your local power tool suppliers (Total Tools, United Tools, Gasweld and the BGS), look at the pros and cons of each in relation to what your work needs are and your available budget,
Personally I use all Makita power and cordless tools and have done for 40 odd yrs.

Jarrod I have two of the Makita drop saws you referenced and they are fine for the most part. A quality blade makes all the difference with accuracy. The cheaper blades walk and flex which gives you a poor cut. I have also used the high end Bosch one and don’t think it performed any better
I have the Makita table saw as well and probably would not get it again, I have tried the Dewalt one and the fence is much better as it is retained from both sides of the table.

There is a new Makita drop saw with the fixed rails in a vertical position and that looks to be a great saw and what I would buy now but I think it is closer to $1000 from memory

Originally Posted by rwbuild

They are all good but you need to go to some of your local power tool suppliers (Total Tools, United Tools, Gasweld and the BGS), look at the pros and cons of each in relation to what your work needs are and your available budget,
Personally I use all Makita power and cordless tools and have done for 40 odd yrs.

yeah been going to heaps over the last couple of weeks and researching online also, i used to use makita for everything and so did my pa who taught me everything. The only reason i questioned makita is of such overwhelming reviews but unsure if its people just complaining because they are surprised you need to make adjustments out of the box or if its really poorly made and dosent hold a setting once adjusted or parts not square due topoorly manufactured pieces that cant be adjusted. Hope that makes sense

Originally Posted by Beardy

Jarrod I have two of the Makita drop saws you referenced and they are fine for the most part. A quality blade makes all the difference with accuracy. The cheaper blades walk and flex which gives you a poor cut. I have also used the high end Bosch one and don’t think it performed any better
I have the Makita table saw as well and probably would not get it again, I have tried the Dewalt one and the fence is much better as it is retained from both sides of the table.

There is a new Makita drop saw with the fixed rails in a vertical position and that looks to be a great saw and what I would buy now but I think it is closer to $1000 from memory

So the

Makita LS1018L is fine in your opinion and no problems with accuracy and quality and holding the accuracy without the need to keep readjusting? The only main reason I truly want to be sure is I save and save and it takes a while so if I get something which is the same level as my equipment now then it will be a very long time before I can do this again. Also tool shops have all said the same thing about I wouldn't be able to return it once used for a fault as im worried about.
I wonder why the

Makita LS1018L has such a bad rep?
Also what Dewalt one are you referring to?

Purchase the best you can afford. I would stay away from that Makita saw seeing the reviews and from personal use of one, though that may have been due to the owner and how he treated it and all his other tools.

Bosch Blue and Milwaukee are good brands though I haven't personally used their saws.

Originally Posted by PJM16

Purchase the best you can afford. I would stay away from that Makita saw seeing the reviews and from personal use of one, though that may have been due to the owner and how he treated it and all his other tools.

Bosch Blue and Milwaukee are good brands though I haven't personally used their saws.

Yeah thinking I might stay away from it after two people on here saying to be warry and also all of those reviews, just need to figure out what bosch is best, although haven't even looked at Milwaukee as the only ones I saw were crazy high prices

Originally Posted by Jarrod89

So the

Makita LS1018L is fine in your opinion and no problems with accuracy and quality and holding the accuracy without the need to keep readjusting? The only main reason I truly want to be sure is I save and save and it takes a while so if I get something which is the same level as my equipment now then it will be a very long time before I can do this again. Also tool shops have all said the same thing about I wouldn't be able to return it once used for a fault as im worried about.
I wonder why the

Makita LS1018L has such a bad rep?
Also what Dewalt one are you referring to?

You do need to fine tune the adjustment to get it cutting square out of the box and that will take you 10-15 minutes but it doesn’t need to be done again for some time
If you can spring the extra money I would go for the newer model which has excellent dust extraction as well and you can set it up against a wall as the slide arms extend forward so it saves you a lot of space. If not the LS1018L is every bit as good as the others in that price category

With the table saw I don’t know what model number it was but you can see in the link how the fence is held on both sides of the table Sydney Tools
Whereas the Makita is only at the front and the fence can flex a bit which will effect the accuracy. They are a portable Contractor’s saw so unless you need it to be portable I wouldn’t buy any of them and direct your attention to one of the little workshop style saws. I can’t advise you on which one as don’t have one but there are plenty of members who could if that suits your needs better

Just a general note, if you are doing this as a bit of a business, consider your purchases carefully and whether the cheaper item will still meet your needs in a year or twos time so you are not starting again

Ok, yeah i have no problem with sitting down for a while and adjusting, so at this stage I'm going to pit it against a Bosch for some more research and see how they go.

As for the table saw i like the fences that clamp on both sides and thats why i was saying the Triton TWX7 CS001? Or is that not a decent one? Or do you think the Bosch GTS10J?

Yeah thought about it and dont see me turning this into more than it is so think these will be more than fine as love it as a hobby but dont want to turn my hobby into something I'm overwhelmed doing or end up hating.

My personal view is that chop saws are accurate enough for carpentry and that’s about it. I have a pair of Triton 2000 workcentres, a Dewalt chop saw and a multitude of other power tools; all of them are adjusted and checked to death but I still don’t rely on any of them being better than +/- 0.5mm accurate.

Have you considered keeping your current power set up for roughing out to size and refining with hand tools? You can make an absolutely dead on square shooting board in under an hour from scraps and you can pick up a hand plane from a flea market for about $20. A shooting board allows you to gently creep up to the finished dimension with incredible accuracy and remains the system of choice for many professional woodworkers.

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

My personal view is that chop saws are accurate enough for carpentry and that’s about it. I have a pair of Triton 2000 workcentres, a Dewalt chop saw and a multitude of other power tools; all of them are adjusted and checked to death but I still don’t rely on any of them being better than +/- 0.5mm accurate.

Have you considered keeping your current power set up for roughing out to size and refining with hand tools? You can make an absolutely dead on square shooting board in under an hour from scraps and you can pick up a hand plane from a flea market for about $20. A shooting board allows you to gently creep up to the finished dimension with incredible accuracy and remains the system of choice for many professional woodworkers.

yeah that's as accurate as I need it as mine is all carpentry really as no fine work, however my current setup does not even meet those standards. I have thought about the shooting board and that would be fine for the odd piece here and there but time wise its not cost effective for my situation unfortunately. When you say chop saw do you mean a mitre saw? or are you talking about the ones that do not have a slide function?

I see second hand miter saws all the time in Facebook marketplace. I even saw a really nice B&D (from when that was a good brand!) radial arm saw for peanuts earlier today; and it's not the only one I've seen recently.

Keep your eye on FB marketplace and Gumtree. I see good quality power tools on there all the time.

I am referring to a simple compound mitre saw, I hate sliding compound mitre saws as they are even less accurate. We have a pair of Makita SCMS’s at the Bundaberg Woodworker’s Guild and they are only accurate enough for house framing. A standard mitre saw is much more rigid and resistant to bending or deflecting the blade away from your cut line.

When I need accuracy I go all old school; the timber is marked with a knife line, I’ll use a power tool to get as close as I dare and finish it off with a hand plane taking shavings down to the line. It’s actually very quick and much more satisfying than trying to chase a pencil line with a spinning blade.