Overall, I’m happy with the Bosch 4000 I bought to replace my old 10″ Craftsman, except for the miter fence. I thought the Craftman’s fence was sloppy in the table; anything larger than 10″ is impossible to accurately cut on the Bosch. Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone recommend a better replacement miter fence?
Thanks.
Replies
It's very possible that your fence is defective and not locking properly. I've sold many of the 4000's and have never had your type of complaint. I checked my floor model and found it to be as accurate as one could expect from a portable. A portable cannot be expected to perform with the accuracy of a 2000.00 + cabinet saw which is why you only paid 500.00 for it. No disrepect intended but many folks buy these saws with the expectation of producing fine woodworking. Truth be told, it just aint gonna happen without a lot of after the fact hard work.
For a couple of hundred bucks you could buy a Rousseau table/fence system. It might get you closer to your expectations. The only problem now is that you've spent the same amount of money as you would have if you bought a General 50-185-M1 contractors saw and it comes with a 2hp motor, 30 in Beismeyer style fence and cast iron wings.
Sincerely;
The Tool Guy
Thanks, Tool Guy. I bought the Bosch so I could carry it outside if I had to do a lot of cutting. My old Craftsman still worked well, but is definitely not portable. As el papa points out, my terminology is incorrect; I'm speaking of the miter gauge. Either the slots in the table are too wide or the bar on the gauge is too narrow. It's very surprising to me that a tool as well-designed as this would have such a loose miter gauge. It's bad enought I' m looking for a replacement with an adjustable bar. I've heard about the Rockler and Incra gauges, but wanted to know it there are others and how folks like these.
Now the mitre gauge problem is something that I can agree with! Why they didn't take the extra step and make it an adjustable t-slot is beyond me. However, the slickest mitre gauge out there right now is the Kreg. Its fairly new to the market and currently in its second evolution. Kreg demo'd it a week ago and then I ran it through my own tests on my 25 year old Makita 2711. It performed admirably and is less expensive than most other aftermarkets. Its certainly worth looking at if you are thinking of replacing your stock mitregauge.Sincerely;
The Tool Guy
Thanks, Tool Guy, I'll check it out.
I am a little confused by your terminology, do you mean the fence or the miter gauge? I bet you mean the miter gauge (Bosch terminolgy). If that is what you mean then I agree, it is too sloppy in the slot for reliable cuts. You could make a cross cut miter-sled and be done with it. I make most of my cross-cuts with a sliding miter saw just to avoid this problem.
If you mean the fence then try a few minor adjustments because I find mine to be "right on" all the time.
By the way, a new Freud carbide tipped blade makes an excellent upgrade for this unit. It makes a difference like night and day.
Thanks, el papa. You're right, my terminology is messed up; I'm speaking of the miter gauge. I needed to trim the ends of some 11.5" wide plywood, and between the miter gauge bar being both too short and undersized for the table slots, it was only by chance that anything came out square. I realize that this is a pretty wide cut for a saw like this, but attempting this really accentuated how sloppy the gauge is. I've heard of miter sleds, but I've never used or built one. The fence (I've always called it the rip fence - wrong there too?) was fine out of the box after about 5" of adjustments, and has been fine since.
For my general uses, I've thought the stock blade was fine. Maybe it's been a while since I've used a good-quality sharp blade...
Overknight,
Interestingly, most of us have gone the other way...buying the table top/portable model and then either the conrtactor or cabinet saw because of frustration with quality cuts.
My little crappy table top could not accomodate aftermarket miter guages. Also, the space between the edge of the saw and the blade is about half that of a contractor/cabinet saw..and therefore, makes both a miter guage or a crosscut sled of marginal utility with larger panels.
Anyhow, I ended up throwing a Freud in the Skill Saw and, with a couple of templates, made beautiful cuts...until I got a cabinet saw. Perhaps you'll need to use your contractor saw for the panel cuts and if the Incra Miter guage fits your Bosch and Craftsman along with a crosscut sled on the Craftsman that could help. Good luck
You're right about the space in front of the blade; it's maybe 2/3 what the Craftsman has. I guess that's what you give up to get portability.
Maybe I'll try to replace the bar on the existing miter gauge. If I can find some bar stock that I could get machined down to the size of the table slots, and maybe make longer, the existing gauge might be okay. Thanks.
I am doing a big job with African Mahogany and for some reason it has been eating all my blades up so I found some chips out of my original Bosch blade and replaced it PDQ. As soon as the Freud arrived I knew I had should have replaced it from day one. The wood moved through the blade like it is being cut by a laser and it leaves absolutely NO kerf marks. I can now go straight from the saw to glue up without touching the jointer. It also made the already accurate rips near perfect.
I have a stubborn streak (cheap) and will have to say this is the first "premium" blade I have ever owned and it won't be the last. Money well spent.
I have the same stubborn/cheap streak, el papa. I haven't done much fine work with the Bosch yet, but maybe I'll look into a Freud. I have some Craftsman-brand carbide blades from the old Craftsman saw. Do you think these are worth getting sharpened?
I don't know. I guess ot just depends on the kind of blade the Craftsman's were to begin with. You're not likely to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. The Freud was a surprise to me as I had always used carbide blades for decades but was shocked the first time I used it. There is always a slight "resistance" when you push a piece of wood through a cut and that resistance is just gone. Kind of a spooky feeling, like you are looseing your sense of touch or something. You can hear it cut and see it cut but by-golly it offers no resistance or change in vibration/harmonics. If the old Craftman blades gave you that sort of feeling (or if you are happy with the way they performed) then sharpen them by all means, it sure is cost effective.
El papa, maybe Santa will bring me a Freud. I'll see how it feels, and then decide if I should sharpen the Craftsman's. Thanks.
I have the Bosch, which I use only as a job site saw.
I do think you are asking a lot of what is really a cheap, lightweight TS. Such saws are used mainly for ripping, and their cross cutting capability is limited -- but that is really true of any TS.
To compensate for this inherent weakness, a homemade mitre sled is, I think, your best option. The simplest is the one I first saw Norm Abrams use -- a 1/2" sheet of ply with a single runner set at 90 degrees, and a 1/4" strip on the top side (mounted at either the front or back) to retain the piece you are cross cutting.
I will say the mitre guage on my Bosch is not excessively sloppy, so there may be something wrong with yours.
I wouldn't consider the Bosch a cheap tablesaw; compared to a Unisaw or a Powermatic, yes. Frankly, I don't think the quality of my work would be much improved with a cabinet saw. There's more room for improvement in me than in the saw.
I moved to the Bosch because on the Craftsman 1) the motor is dying, 2) the fence is garbage, and 3) the miter gauge, I felt, was too sloppy in the table slots. To upgrade these parts would have cost at least what I paid for the Bosch, and I can take the Bosch outside if I have a lot of cutting to do. I got this saw used (abused) with quite a bit of rust on the table. It cleaned up fairly well, but I felt the slots were now too wide. Still, after some new arbor bearings, the saw gave decent service for about twenty years. The Bosch is new and much smoother than the Craftsman ever was, with a far better fence. However, the miter gauge is much tighter on the Craftsman than the Bosch. Very disappointing.
Thanks for the miter sled suggestion, though - this may be my best bet.
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