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Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw
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I have one of those piece of shit King Canada's and for the love of god I can not get the fucking thing true. Following their instruction's every thing lines up fine until I do the inevitable and get the silly idea that the back fence needs to be tightened down. This in turn causes the fence to move back to it's old out of whack position. Oh how I wish I had the cash for a real saw. Did I mention that this thing is a piece of shit?
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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instead if tightening the fence, can you clamp it?

who's smarter than you're? i'm!
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Before I bought the Hitachi, I had a small Ryobi where the left and right sides of the fence weren't parallel (fence was bent). To compensate, I just used the left side and compensated by subtracting a degree or so from my cut angle.

Good luck.

king of the road says you move too slow
KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [ttocsmi] [ In reply to ]
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Good point, I'll try a new back fence and if that doesn't work I'll put behind the super duty and do a super tune.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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I feel your pain. Square is fine on mine. Angles are what confuses it. They just aren't accurate enough to get good fit. I didn't go top shelf but enough you should be able to make a damn square.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [j p o] [ In reply to ]
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I wish I could justify a 12" makita or dewalt however I want a new fence for table saw too.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Took me a long time to get mine fully square - but I eventually bought this set for true miter cuts - it is brilliant


https://miterset.myshopify.com/




Good luck

Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz
Last edited by: feman: Mar 19, 17 9:54
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Weld the fucker on.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [owen.] [ In reply to ]
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May as well. The POS is warped anyways.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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racin_rusty wrote:
I wish I could justify a 12" makita or dewalt however I want a new fence for table saw too.
On the verge of buying one. They just came down in price for some reason.
I allot bought a cheaper one but afraid of what you ran into. Or blade wobble, read about that in reviews a lot.

I like the weld idea

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Leddy] [ In reply to ]
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The Milwaukee 6955-20 looks like exactly what I want
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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The desalt version of that here is $400. Model without the slide cut feature is down to $299. No laser line though.

I usually up sell myself when it comes to tools.

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Leddy] [ In reply to ]
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The DeWalt is a fantastic saw. Ive got the 10" DCSM saw. That is my go to workhorse. I've built houses, decks, done finishing, hauled in/out of the truck, banged around, dropped, every day over 6 years in all types of weather and has only needed minor adjustments from time to time.

I'm no DeWalt fan boy but that saw owes me absolutely nothing. I'll get another for sure.

If I were to have a saw set up in a shop that wouldn't see much abuse, I could see myself with the Makita (which is my usual preference).

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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That's a strong review! The one I usually borrow is a dewalt 12". The owner does side work building. Decks, additions, finishing basements and things like that. He's beat the piss out of it and it still cuts true. At least to my DIY eye.

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Leddy] [ In reply to ]
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If you really want to up-sell yourself you could try this:


https://www.festoolusa.com/...und-miter-saw-561287

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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BCtriguy1 wrote:
If you really want to up-sell yourself you could try this:


https://www.festoolusa.com/...und-miter-saw-561287

I don't have one of those but i LOVE their track circular saw. Renders the table saw almost obsolete for larger pieces.

As far as a miter goes. I inherited a POS hitachi and it's tough to get a decent cut from it. If I graduate from pallet furniture to real cabinetry I'll spring for something more competent.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [SailorSam] [ In reply to ]
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SailorSam wrote:
BCtriguy1 wrote:
If you really want to up-sell yourself you could try this:


https://www.festoolusa.com/...und-miter-saw-561287


I don't have one of those but i LOVE their track circular saw. Renders the table saw almost obsolete for larger pieces.

As far as a miter goes. I inherited a POS hitachi and it's tough to get a decent cut from it. If I graduate from pallet furniture to real cabinetry I'll spring for something more competent.

I lust after their track saw. I have a small garage, and would love to use that instead of trying to manhandle sheet goods in that tiny space. I recently bought a festool dust extractor which generally lives attached to the table saw, but could easily use with their track saw (that and I need to find as many uses for the thing as I can... it's hard to justify having what is essentially a $1000 shop vac).

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [SailorSam] [ In reply to ]
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SailorSam wrote:
As far as a miter goes. I inherited a POS hitachi and it's tough to get a decent cut from it. If I graduate from pallet furniture to real cabinetry I'll spring for something more competent.

Contrarian advice: ditch the POS CMS. Look around a bit and get yourself an old Dewalt radial arm saw, preferably a 50 year-old round arm like a GW (or a GA if you want a light industrial machine). The old Delta turret saws are good, too. Radial arm saws are out of fashion, and good ones show up on Craigslist regularly for $100 or so in good shape. Tune it up, put a good blade on it, and adjust it once, and it will cut square and true for the rest of your life.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [eb] [ In reply to ]
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I think the biggest issue with radial arm saws is portability. Pretty hard to lug 'em around to job sites which really shouldn't be an issue for the home hobbyist's such as myself. Hmmmm, this could be an enabling moment.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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I don't think I could talk myself into that !

"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Leddy] [ In reply to ]
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I've used a few tools from Festool, and while they are well thought out and have a certain bling factor, there aren't many that I feel justify the price tag. They also seem to have durability issues. I haven't really seen many in use professionally. DeWalt, Bosch, Makita (and, IMO to a lesser degree) Milwaukee usually make comparable offerings at half the price that will last you longer. Festool's big thing is dust collection integration, but in the last few years the other manufacturers have been catching up (largely due to health and safety regulation, I think).

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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racin_rusty wrote:
I think the biggest issue with radial arm saws is portability. Pretty hard to lug 'em around to job sites which really shouldn't be an issue for the home hobbyist's such as myself. Hmmmm, this could be an enabling moment.

You want portable? Just put it on a trailer!


Yeah, they do weigh a bit. The one above is a GR and weighs about 400 lbs. A GW weighs about 200. The smallest Dewalt made was the MB series; they swing a 9" blade. I'd guess they weigh 100 lbs or so.

The best of these for a home shop would probably be a GWI (1.5 hp motor, 10" blade), or a GA (2 hp, 12/14" blade).
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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So far I'm having decent luck with my Ridgid chop saw.
It is on house number four
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [eb] [ In reply to ]
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May have found a Dewalt 770 close by, motor is dual voltage and I just happen to have a lonely 220v plug waiting for a new friend - assuming the amperage is correct. Just waiting for a call back.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Bumble Bee] [ In reply to ]
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Rigid tools are pretty solid for their price point. I used to be a big fan of their table saws (recently switched to Bosch - a better saw, but, a lot more expensive), and have some of their finishing nailers which are fantastic. Love their chop saw stand too.

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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I don't know much about the 770. If you want to research it, owwm.org and the Delphi RAS forum (http://people.delphiforums.com/snotzalot/sawdust/) are the places to go.

And if you want to check out a cool WW2 video that features the Dewalt RAS, take a look at .

Don't worry about guards and hearing protection, and have a smoke while you're at it ...
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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BCtriguy1 wrote:
Rigid tools are pretty solid for their price point. I used to be a big fan of their table saws (recently switched to Bosch - a better saw, but, a lot more expensive), and have some of their finishing nailers which are fantastic. Love their chop saw stand too.

I went and picked up the saw yesterday. Anyone and I mean anyone considering buying a cheap sliding compound. Take a step back & re-evaluate. If you're in my situ, were the saw has only been used outside once or twice in 10 years - do yourself a favor and hit Kijiji (Canuck version of craiglist) and find a retired good quality RAS. The guy I bought this one from had no idea that it could rip and the table wasn't scored for anything other than cutting 90's! The motor arbour is solid and best of all - it took me longer to find the tools to tune the saw than it took to tune the saw! Very happy with my $100 canadian purchase!
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Be very careful about ripping with an RAS. While it can be done by the very nature of the saw it can also torn your wood into a projectile.
Find a decent able saw for ripping. Much safer.

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [jriosa] [ In reply to ]
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I already have a beaver for that.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Cool. Hate the fences on the old ones, but with a bit of care they work well

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [jriosa] [ In reply to ]
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The fence on the old girl is definitely less than desirable. It's set up on a rod which has a habit of binding, which then causes me to whack it with my and to get it to move. Not the best way keep the fence square to the world. Thinking of buying a new fence or possibly finding an older saw with a quality fence. I like the beaver but it's only an 8", I would like to get something in the 10" range.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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I still hang around some cdn woodworking forgings. You have the saw of my youth some 50 years ago. If you check out mule fence on Google, the have retrofit fencing for these, but even second hand you are probably better getting a lightly used modem 10" contractor saw with a good fence.
Oh and freud fusion thin kerf bladders are your friends with smaller motors.

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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BCtriguy1 wrote:
If you really want to up-sell yourself you could try this:


https://www.festoolusa.com/...und-miter-saw-561287
This.
Buy it once and pass it on to your son/daughter

Much of my tools are now Festool
They are ridiculously expensive here in Oz, but they really are worth it IMO

Disclaimer: I am a contractor
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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BCtriguy1 wrote:
Rigid tools are pretty solid for their price point. I used to be a big fan of their table saws (recently switched to Bosch - a better saw, but, a lot more expensive), and have some of their finishing nailers which are fantastic. Love their chop saw stand too.

The place I work at sells Milwaukee, Dewalt & we're a listed Makita dealer. (and cough cough king canada junk). We're more focused on the metal working / industrial side, I've never really pursued Ridgid wood working equipment outside of their shop vacuums. Which IMO are a better product than the ShopVacs. Bosch is off the list right off the hop since I can't access the replacement parts easily, so for that matter is King Canada since they seem to think a 10 year old mitre saw (in the words of the KC order desk person) is ancient.

Out of the brands I looked at, my top pick is the Milwaukee and the Dewalt dual power has me intrigued but I'm committed to another rechargeable system at the moment.

Funny jroisa mentions the Freud blades, I've been running a Diablo in the old girl since I bought it. I also just put one in my cheap ass Ryobi 18v saw. Ordered a coated thin kerf 10" blade for the RAS from Makita yesterday through our sales rep. I'm interested to see how it will compare to the Freud.

Beginning to wish I could still triathlon - it's a far cheaper hobby. Not as creative, but definitely cheaper...
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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Funny jroisa mentions the Freud blades, I've been running a Diablo in the old girl since I bought it. I also just put one in my cheap ass Ryobi 18v saw. Ordered a coated thin kerf 10" blade for the RAS from Makita yesterday through our sales rep. I'm interested to see how it will compare to the Freud.

For the RAS, look for a blade with low hook angle. The Freud LU83 is pretty good for an inexpensive blade.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [racin_rusty] [ In reply to ]
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It's going to be a bit of apple and orange comparison, between different diameters, horsepower, and forth patten. I do know birth Dewalt and festool have made big jumps to become competitive with freud, Milwaukee haven't heard so much.
Diablo is a good blade of you never plan to sharpen it (not that much carbide), but they are marketed to construction framers who would just pitch the blade and slap in a new one. Industrial blades will be thicker carbide and generally better balanced, so they cut a bit smother.

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [jriosa] [ In reply to ]
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That's very true and as far as that goes 2 entirely different cutting operations most of the time. Cross cutting vs. ripping. This is the blade I ordered from our rep.

And besides I have a nice Beaver...
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Andrew69] [ In reply to ]
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Andrew69 wrote:
BCtriguy1 wrote:
If you really want to up-sell yourself you could try this:


https://www.festoolusa.com/...und-miter-saw-561287

This.
Buy it once and pass it on to your son/daughter

Much of my tools are now Festool
They are ridiculously expensive here in Oz, but they really are worth it IMO

Disclaimer: I am a contractor

You're officially the second contractor I know who made the switch to Festool. The other is a young guy in his 20's getting started who's parents gave him $10,000 to buy tools with....

Do you find they are durable? I don't really see them lasting when put against job site abuse and frequent moving from site to site (also, you're a huge target for theft). I know a guy who has the Festool router and palm sander... both did not last long before starting to have issues. I am so far pleased with my dust extractor, but I experienced very real chest pains walking out of the store with a $1000 vacuum. I would like to get the track saw with 110" track, but the price tag... dear lord.

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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I find them great.

BUT, I also don't let anyone else you them!

When I had a heap of guys working for me, I would buy the cheapest, nastiest gear that would get the job done, as they would simply destroy whatever you put in their hands, Festool included.
Now Im on my own, I just buy the best stuff as it makes the job easier and the tools are simply a pleasure to use.

I know my kitchen guys also have all Festool stuff as well as they have had theirs for many years. They especially rave on about the cordless stuff. Cant believe how much work they get through on a single charge.

Track saw is a must have. As soon as someone on site sees me using mine, they go out and buy one as well!

I find the biggest problem with Festool here in Oz is the pricing.
ALL retailers MUST sell for the same price or Festool pulls the gear out of the store. Talk about price fixing!
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Andrew69] [ In reply to ]
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It's the same here with pricing. It's like buying apple products. Never on sale, never a deal to be had.

And yeah, I saw a guy ripping up sheets of finished plywood with the track saw hooked up to extraction. Perfect, splinter free cuts, not swinging huge sheets around the table saw and fighting with out-feed tables , no dust... Pretty much sold me right there.

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [Andrew69] [ In reply to ]
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track saws are the bomb. festool doesn't give its saws away, tho. i have a dewalt. had it for years. have made so many cuts i can't imagine counting. still good as new.

i also have a the track attachment for a router, permanently on a porter cable. i pretty much don't use my router table anymore. a track saw will change your woodworking life. no need for a panel saw. no more big cuts on the table saw or the band saw. spot on perfect and precise.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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Aren't the perfect cuts more due the blade? The dust collection would be nice, but then what job do you give your kid? :P

I have the universal track saw thingy from Lee Valley as suggested by jroisa that I'm fond of suggesting, I'm sure it's completely impractical for high output work like you do, but for a home guy... I can nail my cuts every time with reasonable amounts of setup. I'm actually going to use it this weekend to build my new built-in desk out of rough cut fir ~1x~10s that will get hand planed after being laminated together... and by hand planed I mean I'm going to attack them with a 9" sander/polisher.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [owen.] [ In reply to ]
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owen. wrote:
Aren't the perfect cuts more due the blade? The dust collection would be nice, but then what job do you give your kid? :P

I have the universal track saw thingy from Lee Valley as suggested by jroisa that I'm fond of suggesting, I'm sure it's completely impractical for high output work like you do, but for a home guy... I can nail my cuts every time with reasonable amounts of setup. I'm actually going to use it this weekend to build my new built-in desk out of rough cut fir ~1x~10s that will get hand planed after being laminated together... and by hand planed I mean I'm going to attack them with a 9" sander/polisher.

A blade can only do so much. Fibre support on the side where the blade is exiting the wood, not cutting in to the wood, is also crucial. That's why people use things like zero clearance inserts on their table saw. The motor on the Festool is strong enough that, supposedly, you could plow through 2" thick material without motor strain. When you're fighting for power, often the blade can wave leaving deeper saw marks. Also, I believe, but am not sure, that the arbor on the festool is a lot more solid and true then what you would find on a dewalt or makita circ saw. The difference between a good setup and bad one is the difference between barely having to sand your ripped edge, and spending 10 minutes per cut sanding down saw marks. You probably wouldn't notice much difference between your set up and the festool unless you were trying to make repeated cuts on pre-finished plywood or very thick stock and had to sand the edges down for edge banding or something like that.

I looked at the Lee Valley track saw guide. Those look solid. The draw for the festool really boils down to
1) Seamless integration for dust extraction
2) I believe they have some bells and whistles the basic track saw doesn't in terms of ease of layout, making accurate, repeatable cuts quickly, stops, plunge cutting, etc.
3) Bling factor

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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You are right on number 2 of your comment, but I still haven't be able to justify price at this time. I will take a minute more work my lv setup, but the bora clamp system is looking tempting.

Forget sanding cut marks, get yourself one of these - http://www.leevalley.com/...=1,41182,48945,54862 - two passes and all burn and rough cuts are gone. Seriously , 30 seconds to clean and edge.

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [jriosa] [ In reply to ]
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That looks awesome. Sigh, yet another tool to add to the want list.

I agree about the track saw. I can't justify it yet. Maybe that special project will come my way where it is so essential to the success of the project that I can justify working it in to the price :). One can dream, right?

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Squaring a Compound Mitre Saw [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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To ease your passion. You probably don't need it.
As a furniture builder I live and die by it for two reasons. Perfectly jointed edges for panel glue up first. Second, when working in cherry or walnut no matter how Cargill I am there can be slight burn malls on edoes because of the oil content. Quick clean up for both.
Oh, it is great on end grain as well.

Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements
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