Hello again!
Thanks to all for the input on table saws, dinemsioning lumber etc. Now I’ve moved on to my sliding compiound miter saw. Like the previous posts this my first time using it. I read lots of stuff and settled on a Makita ls1013. I was cut pieces for the apron on a stand for my portable planer requiring some compound cuts. I noticed that when i made cuts (9 deg. in this case) flipped the piece over and rotated the table to the other side and lined the saw blade uo with the cut just made that there was about a .5 deg. difference in the cuts?? Is this normal? and if not what can I do about it?
Thanks ed
Replies
Id first look at your blade. If its a Thin kerf id say plain old deflection. Upgrade to a regular Kerf.
Check the fences on your saw. There are a number of adjustments you must make in order for the saw to be correctly set up. The steps are in the manual that came with the saw. I always check mine 1013 for square, cross and vertical before any critical cuts, then I check the angle on a piece of scrap before the final cut.
Do you have a high quality many tooth blade or a cheaper one.
I bought a Makita scms a few years back, it had the same problem only worse.I have good blades. The saw simply could could not be made to cut accurately. I returned it for a replacement, same problem again. I then tried a Milwaukee. The roller bearings rumbled like a freight train and the adjustable fence did not line up. Back again, got a Dewalt, blade run out so bad you could almost cut dados. A replacement was the same. I then purchased a Bosch. The main fence could not adjust enough to line up with the support fence or to eaven cut a 90 deg. angle. Bosch Fed Ex'd me a replacement fence with larger adjustment holes. I could now cut 90's but only with the extension fence removed. The fence also was not flat. Because the Bosch seemed to suck less then the other saws, I filed the fence flat and ground off enough of the extension fence to keep it out of the way.
Was this karma for not picking up that hitch-hiker in the rain back in 1971 or are tool manufacturers trying to sell us crap? Out of seven saws a dozen phone calls and two replacement fences and a few hours of tinkering I was finally able to scrape together a working saw.
The problems with these tools were not minor. Some were due to bad design, others lack of quality control or sloppy manufacturing. I sympathize with begining woodworkers who don't yet have the experience or confidence to know when the problem is not with them but with their machinery.
I wish I could suggest a brand of saw but I havn't found one to recommend. What ever you do don't accept junk. If Makita can't make it right, return it.
Good luck, Glendo.
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