Miter saws

CW
Nov 26, 12:52 am show options
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
From: "CW" <[email protected]> - Find messages by this author
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 06:52:10 GMT
Local: Sat, Nov 26 2005 12:52 am
Subject: Miter saws
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I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I
saw
that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt. That is the
one
that I was leaning toward anyway but I'm wondering about the others.
For
those of you who own other brands (or just have knowledge of them), is
there
any way to fine tune the angle settings?


Is money an object? If not do a google search for "Omga". It's an
Italian brand.
They've been using an Omga 10" miter box at my favorite mill shop for
about
8 years now. They only use it for their finest work. It looks and
feels like it
was machined out of a solid block of metal and is rock steady. It's
not very big,
but not very portable as it has a belt drive motor. Their Omga
radial saw is dead accurate and very solid as well.

CW wrote:

> I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
> looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I saw
> that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt. That is the one
> that I was leaning toward anyway but I'm wondering about the others. For
> those of you who own other brands (or just have knowledge of them), is
> there any way to fine tune the angle settings?

I have the Hitachi 12" and I like it very much. I almost went for the 12"
with the LED readout, but thought it overkill. I've been doing a lot of
crown molding lately and find if the LED was accurate it might be a great
way to go, since I now cut crown with the molding laying flat on the miter
table. None of this thinking upside down and backwards. I just use the cut
codes in the crown cut tables. Setting the miter and the compound angle
only. With the Hitachi I have you can get real close to what you need but
with the LED model you can come within 10th degree cuts, which would be
right on.

It does have good positive angle stops where needed and a laser which I
really don't use except to get close to the cut. Its easy to setup but
right out of the box it was right on. It's easy to carry to the jobsite
with two handles, and it does have an extended fence on the left side. And
of course the price was right. Half the cost of a Dewalt.

I'm sure the Dewalt has some benefits, I just can't think of any. I usually
try to buy American, but hell nothing anymore is built in the USA. So what
the hell.


Rich
--
"you can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"

I've had a Dewalt 12" for quite some time now. It's held up very well even
after I smoked the motor.

Was cutting a bunch of scrap from some rough sawn walnut that I bought and
was pounding away on the saw to cut it small enough for kindling wood.
Probably about 45 - 60 minutes into it, I stopped for about 1 minute and
noticed smoke pouring from the housing. Enough smoke that I was concerned
that it was going to go into flames so I pulled the plug and grabbed the
extinguisher I have in the shop. It didn't flame up but there was enough
smoke to set off the detectors.

Thought for sure that the thing was dead but it works just fine even after
that. Been using for about 18 months since it smoked and the only thing
that I noticed immediately after it happened the motor wouldn't shut off
when I let go of the switch. That only happened about 6 times and hasn't
happened since. If it did, I'd have a new 12" slider by now.

I guess that's a pretty good testament to the Dewalt.

I have owned the DeWalt 12" saw for a few years and find it completely
satisfactory. My previous saw was a Delta that was good enough for deck
building and not much else. YMMV
Tom
"CW" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
> looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I saw
> that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt. That is the one
> that I was leaning toward anyway but I'm wondering about the others. For
> those of you who own other brands (or just have knowledge of them), is
> there
> any way to fine tune the angle settings?
>
>

Nice looking saw though, Eh?

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> "CW" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Thanks to everyone who replied. Very helpful. I'm still leaning toward
the
> > Dewalt but that Omga looks quite good. Can't hardly justify the cost
> > though
> > as it wouldn't get that much use.
> >
>
> Holy Crap, the cheap on in single phase is over $1000.
> http://www.omgainc.com/productfamily_detail.php?cid=2&sub_id=0&pid=9
>
> Of course if you are serious and want repeatability, this is the only way
to
> go.
> http://www.omgainc.com/productfamily_detail.php?cid=5&sub_id=34&pid=90
>
>

Thanks to everyone who replied. Very helpful. I'm still leaning toward the
Dewalt but that Omga looks quite good. Can't hardly justify the cost though
as it wouldn't get that much use.

"CW" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
> looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I saw
> that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt. That is the one
> that I was leaning toward anyway but I'm wondering about the others. For
> those of you who own other brands (or just have knowledge of them), is
there
> any way to fine tune the angle settings?
>
>

"CW" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thanks to everyone who replied. Very helpful. I'm still leaning toward the
> Dewalt but that Omga looks quite good. Can't hardly justify the cost
> though
> as it wouldn't get that much use.
>

Holy Crap, the cheap on in single phase is over $1000.
http://www.omgainc.com/productfamily_detail.php?cid=2&sub_id=0&pid=9

Of course if you are serious and want repeatability, this is the only way to
go.
http://www.omgainc.com/productfamily_detail.php?cid=5&sub_id=34&pid=90

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 06:52:10 GMT, "CW" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
>looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I saw
>that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt.

We use the Dewalt 10" and have been very happy with it. It's used and
sometimes abused on a daily basis.
We also have the 12" that we use if we have molding too large for the
10".

Mike O.

"CW" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've decided to get a miter saw. I'm not interested in a slider. I have
> looked at the Dewalt, Hitachi, Delta, and Makita. The only one that I saw
> that had an adjustment for the angle stops was the Dewalt. That is the one
> that I was leaning toward anyway but I'm wondering about the others. For
> those of you who own other brands (or just have knowledge of them), is
> there
> any way to fine tune the angle settings?
>
>
I have had the Delta 12 incher for about 6 years now. IIRC the left and
right 45 angle settings had screws hidden up under the table some where. I
do not recommend a Delta. I have broken the guard bracket 3 times and the
ball bearing detent that locates the various frequently used angles fills
with saw dust and becomes ineffective.
Later models may have solved this problem.

Go to the manufacturers web site as most offer PDF owners manuals that you
can down load and see what kind of adjustments are offered.