Replies

1. 
   dgreen | Mar 11, 2009 10:55pm | #1

   Do you feel a change in resistance when pulling down the saw with no wood under it?

    

    

   ................................................

   Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
   ~ Denis Diderot

2. 
   piker | Mar 11, 2009 11:32pm | #2

   I have an old Makita (LS1030, I think) that I bought 2nd hand, to take on site as it is so light & easy to lug around. It was doing the same thing as yours (probably the reason I got it for $50 CDN with a new Dewalt blade!) & found the fence bent slightly in the middle, towards the knuckle where the saw pivots. The blade got pinched with every cut & would kick back violently. Loosened the mounting bolts & pried it out with a large bar until a straight edge laid on the table showed it to be true, then re-tightened the mounting bolts. Works great.

3. 
   JohnWW | Mar 12, 2009 02:20am | #3

   I second Piker's diagnosis, this is a classic symptom of a bent fence, usually started by a kick back and then made worse since the misalignment causes more frequent kickbacks that further bend the fence.

   Getting the two sides realigned can be a bear. On some saws I just sawed away the arch that connected the two halves which allowed them to be easily aligned with each other, but this requires that each half has two bolts to solidly attach it to the saw's table.

   John White
   Shop Manager Emeritus of FWW

4. 
   USANigel | Mar 12, 2009 06:06am | #4

   How sharp is the blade? If you were cutting Something like Pergo it will kill the blade edge. Is the blade clean as build up on the teeth will make cutting hard.

   Burning will result from too many teeth for the wood thickness, the gullet of the tooth fills up and can no longer cut.

   A bent fence will cause problems at the front of the cut.

   I would try a new blade first.

1. 
   JohnWW | Mar 12, 2009 10:58pm | #5

   Actually a bent fence will cause problems at the back of the cut. When the blade is almost all the way through the board the kerf will close up at the back edge while it is still held open by the small uncut area of wood ahead of the blade.John White

5. 
   JeffHeath | Mar 12, 2009 11:02pm | #6

   I had the same problem with the same saw.  It was a bent fence for me.  I'd check that first.  I'm a little rough on my saw, in and out of the truck, etc....and it has happened three times.  All three times, it was the fence requiring a tweak.

    

   Jeff

6. 
   gatordoc | Mar 13, 2009 06:45am | #7

   No resistance at all when there is no lumber under the blade. The blade is in very good shape, but it was really trashed after I had installed solid wood jatoba (brazilian cherry) floor in my house. If Pergo is worse than that, I hope to never have to cut it.

   Okay, the bent fence is it! John W. mentioned that a bad kickback can start the problem and I think it did indeed start after a nasty gnarly piece of cherry jumped up and bit the saw, breaking the holddown clamp in the process. This is very likely when it all started.

   Thanks a million for the advice!

   Gatordoc, cuttin' clean once again.

1. 
   CHRISWALL | Mar 14, 2009 05:41am | #10

   I have the same saw and the fence does cause that problem and is difficult to straighten. If you cut the piece long then hold it against one side of the fence to cut again that changes the cut angle!!

   My saw also has the blade at an angle to the direction of travel; that is the arbor is not purpendicular to the pivot arm. I havent been able to fix that problem. Any ideas on that ?

   Chris

    

7. 
   BrianDerr | Mar 13, 2009 08:41am | #8

   Maybe the two fences, on either side of the blade, are each slanting in toward the back just at bit and when the piece is almost cut it fully registers with them and burns? It's a funny thing about the mitre saw; there's not a single fence you're dealing with, but two that must be in alignment. More like jointer in some ways.

   Brian

1. 
   gatordoc | Mar 13, 2009 11:01pm | #9

   My fence is a single piece, but was ever so slightly bent and resulted in the effect you described. I unbent it (not easy) and it works great now!Gatordoc