3 ms·

Do you have any experience with cheap (<$200) miter saws?

mturmon 6y ago
I have a 10" Delta that's about $160. It's not a slider. It advertises as compound, but setup is not repeatable, so I only use it for 90 degree cuts. (Perfect example of a "feature" that turns out to be useless in practice.) I have used it for rough carpentry and it's perfectly OK for that. I also make furniture and do finish carpentry (DIY, not for sale), and that miter saw can only be used for rough cutoffs in such work. I have to do all final cuts on the table saw with a sled or a miter jig. So in truth, the miter saw is 90% useless for that work, because even awkward rough cuts on long stock can be done very quickly with a hand saw - just a basic Japanese-style pull saw that costs about $20. Some of the Tacklife saws that are about $200 are sliders as well as compound miter. I'm skeptical that you can do anything more than rough carpentry on such a machine, because the slide mechanism introduces even more play. Of course, I haven't used the saw. One of the merits of using machines in the shop (as opposed to hand tools) is that a quality machine is repeatable and predictable. You can't allow a 44 degree miter or a cut that's 1/16th too short in finish carpentry, so you can't use a mediocre miter saw. The reason you can't ever be making 44 degree miters is that you may have already milled that piece to final dimensions in width and height, and a mistaken cut will require repeating all that work. In fact, such a mistake might not be recoverable if you were trying to achieve a grain match in un-painted work. Many of the above factors are not relevant if you really just want to do basic framing!
- starpilot 6y ago
  What really is "basic framing"? I'm thinking of build a rectangular desk with a rectangular "apron" of 2x4's for stiffness. Would this be along those lines?
  - mturmon 6y ago
    I mean like framing a house, shed, or garage with 2x4s. Not furniture! If you have ever built a picture frame that you intend to hang on a wall and have people look at, you will know how hard it is to get good miters off a "just ok" miter saw.

I have a 10" Delta that's about $160. It's not a slider. It advertises as compound, but setup is not repeatable, so I only use it for 90 degree cuts. (Perfect example of a "feature" that turns out to be useless in practice.) I have used it for rough carpentry and it's perfectly OK for that. I also make furniture and do finish carpentry (DIY, not for sale), and that miter saw can only be used for rough cutoffs in such work. I have to do all final cuts on the table saw with a sled or a miter jig. So in truth, the miter saw is 90% useless for that work, because even awkward rough cuts on long stock can be done very quickly with a hand saw - just a basic Japanese-style pull saw that costs about $20. Some of the Tacklife saws that are about $200 are sliders as well as compound miter. I'm skeptical that you can do anything more than rough carpentry on such a machine, because the slide mechanism introduces even more play. Of course, I haven't used the saw. One of the merits of using machines in the shop (as opposed to hand tools) is that a quality machine is repeatable and predictable. You can't allow a 44 degree miter or a cut that's 1/16th too short in finish carpentry, so you can't use a mediocre miter saw. The reason you can't ever be making 44 degree miters is that you may have already milled that piece to final dimensions in width and height, and a mistaken cut will require repeating all that work. In fact, such a mistake might not be recoverable if you were trying to achieve a grain match in un-painted work. Many of the above factors are not relevant if you really just want to do basic framing!

starpilot 6y ago
What really is "basic framing"? I'm thinking of build a rectangular desk with a rectangular "apron" of 2x4's for stiffness. Would this be along those lines?
- mturmon 6y ago
  I mean like framing a house, shed, or garage with 2x4s. Not furniture! If you have ever built a picture frame that you intend to hang on a wall and have people look at, you will know how hard it is to get good miters off a "just ok" miter saw.