Cheap compound mitre saw

[Adrian]

I'm going to be getting through a fair bit of sawing in the near future,
so can definitely swing something through domestic management. But, long
term, it's not going to get a LOT of use, so nothing "pro-grade" needed.

Let's say <£100 or so.

Is there anything particular that's caught your eye either way, as a good
buy or a "Dear gawd, avoid like the plague"...?

[Bob Minchin]

You won't get much that is decent for that price TBH.
Certainly avoid a slider at the bottom of the market.
They nearly all need careful adjustment out of the box to get any degree
of accuracy/repeatability.

Depending on how you are able to care for your tools, maybe buy a
quality one that will hold its value and sell it on perhaps.

Makita, Dewalt perhaps?

[John Rumm]

At that price point, avoid anything that is sliding - go for a fixed
pivot one.


--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <liiuvg$1iu$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,

Nothing more frustrating than setting the thing to say 90 or 45 degrees
only to find the cut being out.

Other thing is what it will be used for. If say you regularly make
shelves, you may need a slider - and one which can cope with the width of
material you need. Which can rule out the smaller ones.

--
*Eschew obfuscation *

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[chris French]

In message <liivah$eqq$1...@dont-email.me>, Bob Minchin
<bob.minc...@YOURHATntlworld.com> writes

>Adrian wrote:
>> I'm going to be getting through a fair bit of sawing in the near future,
>> so can definitely swing something through domestic management. But, long
>> term, it's not going to get a LOT of use, so nothing "pro-grade" needed.
>>
>> Let's say <£100 or so.
>>
>> Is there anything particular that's caught your eye either way, as a good
>> buy or a "Dear gawd, avoid like the plague"...?
>>
>You won't get much that is decent for that price TBH.
>Certainly avoid a slider at the bottom of the market.
>They nearly all need careful adjustment out of the box to get any
>degree of accuracy/repeatability.
>
>

not directly helpful to the OP but I've got a Rexon 8/12" mitre saw,
which probably cost about £100 about 10 years ago.

It seems fine, and accurate enough (for my usage anyway, skirting,
achitrave, general woodwork etc.

It has a laser guide, which I thought would be a gimmick, but is quite
handy. Though that does occasionally need a bit of adjustment

--
Chris French

[Roger Mills]

On 15/04/2014 10:43, Adrian wrote:

I've got one of these, which has always done everything asked of it
(maybe I'm not too demanding?)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7113079.htm

I bought it a few years ago when it was £70. Despite what others say
about avoiding cheap sliding saws, the sliders on mine are very sturdy
and smooth, and I've not had any problems with them.

Downside? The dust collection bag doesn't work very well and the laser
is - at best - intermittent, but I regard that as a bit of a gimmick
anyway, and don't bother with it.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

[Roger Mills]

On 15/04/2014 13:01, Roger Mills wrote:
> On 15/04/2014 10:43, Adrian wrote:
>> I'm going to be getting through a fair bit of sawing in the near future,
>> so can definitely swing something through domestic management. But, long
>> term, it's not going to get a LOT of use, so nothing "pro-grade" needed.
>>
>> Let's say<£100 or so.
>>
>> Is there anything particular that's caught your eye either way, as a good
>> buy or a "Dear gawd, avoid like the plague"...?
>
> I've got one of these, which has always done everything asked of it
> (maybe I'm not too demanding?)
>
> http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7113079.htm
>
> I bought it a few years ago when it was £70. Despite what others say
> about avoiding cheap sliding saws, the sliders on mine are very sturdy
> and smooth, and I've not had any problems with them.
>
> Downside? The dust collection bag doesn't work very well and the laser
> is - at best - intermittent, but I regard that as a bit of a gimmick
> anyway, and don't bother with it.

P.S. I've screwed mine to a worktop offcut with some battens on the
bottom so that it can easily be used on a Workmate (with a batten
clamped in the jaws). When not in use, it sits on the top of my table saw.

http://www.mills37.plus.com/Saw_use.JPG

Others might find the idea useful regardless of which saw they use.

[Adrian]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:25:22 +0100, chris French wrote:

> It has a laser guide, which I thought would be a gimmick, but is quite
> handy. Though that does occasionally need a bit of adjustment

Ta. I'd seen it in the specs, and wondered if it was a gimmick.

[Adrian]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:41:18 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

> Other thing is what it will be used for. If say you regularly make
> shelves, you may need a slider - and one which can cope with the width
> of material you need. Which can rule out the smaller ones.

No plan for shelves - at the moment... Initial job is a couple of hundred
planks of 100mm t'n'g board.

[Adrian]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2014 13:01:31 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

> I've got one of these, which has always done everything asked of it
> (maybe I'm not too demanding?)
>
> http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7113079.htm
>
> I bought it a few years ago when it was £70. Despite what others say
> about avoiding cheap sliding saws, the sliders on mine are very sturdy
> and smooth, and I've not had any problems with them.

Mmm. Interesting, thanks.

Have to admit, Argos would have been on my "Run a mile" list, assuming it
was all disposable crap.

[Tim Watts]

On 15/04/14 13:01, Roger Mills wrote:
> On 15/04/2014 10:43, Adrian wrote:
>> I'm going to be getting through a fair bit of sawing in the near future,
>> so can definitely swing something through domestic management. But, long
>> term, it's not going to get a LOT of use, so nothing "pro-grade" needed.
>>
>> Let's say<£100 or so.
>>
>> Is there anything particular that's caught your eye either way, as a good
>> buy or a "Dear gawd, avoid like the plague"...?
>
> I've got one of these, which has always done everything asked of it
> (maybe I'm not too demanding?)
>
> http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7113079.htm
>
> I bought it a few years ago when it was £70. Despite what others say
> about avoiding cheap sliding saws, the sliders on mine are very sturdy
> and smooth, and I've not had any problems with them.
>
> Downside? The dust collection bag doesn't work very well and the laser
> is - at best - intermittent, but I regard that as a bit of a gimmick
> anyway, and don't bother with it.

I got a Metabo

http://www.saverstore.com/product/20544899/7725665

when Screwfix had it for about 30% off 5 years ago. It was out of true
but I loosened the bolts and reset it and later bought a finer TCT blade.

It's been pretty decent. Not super-dooper but good enough for skirting,
4x2 chopping and many many jobs like that.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <lij985$tsu$2...@speranza.aioe.org>,

If that is ok as a max width you shouldn't have too many problems finding
a decent one within your budget.

I have a bit of an oddball one - an old B&Q (PP) slider with a 250mm blade
which generally does most I ask of it. But it doesn't have indents for 90
degrees etc so needs careful setting for when it matters. I'd love a
quality one of the same size - but it would be hard to justify the cost.
However, at the price I can't really complain. The ability to handle 12"
planks is extremely useful to me.

--
*i souport publik edekashun.

[Andy Burns]

Adrian wrote:
> I'm going to be getting through a fair bit of sawing in the near future,
> so can definitely swing something through domestic management. But, long
> term, it's not going to get a LOT of use, so nothing "pro-grade" needed.
>
> Let's say <£100 or so.

I recently needed one to chop up and mitre some sleepers, decided I
wouldn't have very many jobs for it afterwards, so couldn't justify a
"decent name" tool, ended up buying a 10" SCMS from Cromwell Tools for £107

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131046292419

Came with two blades, I expected to have to fiddle with it to get the
angles true, but it was fine out of the box (laser line needed a bit of
tweaking) it doesn't have nice smooth bearings on the slide like a
decent tool would have, and it doesn't have smooth-start on the motor,
so there's a bit of a kick, but it has quick stop

[Andy Burns]

Roger Mills wrote:

> I've screwed mine to a worktop offcut with some battens on the
> bottom so that it can easily be used on a Workmate (with a batten
> clamped in the jaws)

I just drilled four holes in the jaws of my workmate, and used some
bolts and wingnuts to attach the saw directly.

[JimK]

Define "sleepers"?

Jim K

[Andy Burns]

JimK wrote:

> Define "sleepers"?

new oak "half" sleepers, sold as 200x50x2400, most tend to actually be
+5% in one or more dimensions.

http://www.uksleepers.co.uk/product/New_Untreated_Oak_Half_Sleeper

They say most will have all four good edges, but some will have one
"waney" edge, that was about right, 3/4 of them were all square, I can
easily chose the less than perfect ones for out-of-sight positions in my
case.

They cut and plane-up a treat, pong a bit though, they were stacked with
spacers in them after being sawn, and they'd left plenty of sawdust on
them, and presumably all the rain earlier in the year had caused the
mould in some of the clumps of sawdust.

[Roger Mills]

That's fine if it's going to live on the Workmate permanently, but a bit
of a pain if you want to park it and use the Workmate for other things
when it (the saw) is not in use.

I suppose that, with wingnuts, you can fit and remove it without tools -
but still slower than doing up the jaws.

[John Rumm]

To be fair I built my first workshop with a £25 cheap 8" nutool chop
saw. If all you need is relatively square cuts lots of times, they will
all make a decent enough job of it.

[meow...@care2.com]

I got a Rexon and love it. It can even make perfectly clean cuts on laminate with the blade moving in the wrong direction and no support for the laminate surface. Only downide is it tends to jump on starting if not fixed down. To my surprise the laser proved effective & handy at times.

Some of the cheapies are worse than useless. I once had a Kinzo that adjusted cut angle on the fly, and the fence exploded violently too. I always use eye protection now! Stay away from plastic base tools if you care about the angle of cut.

Re depth of cut, with sufficient care its possible to cut halfway, turn the board round and cut the rest.

I'd seriously consider checking out your local used goods shops, you can get some fairly good kit sub 100, albeit often well used.


NT

[Adrian]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 04:02:44 -0700, meow2222 wrote:

> I'd seriously consider checking out your local used goods shops, you can
> get some fairly good kit sub 100, albeit often well used.

Mmm. Interesting thought. I'd not even considered that.

I've just been into Wickes for some other stuff, and they had an £80
sliding saw that looked & felt fairly solid, as best you could tell from
the very limited movement allowed it, tied down. But, of course, it
doesn't appear to be on their website...

[Adrian]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 11:51:50 -0700, JimK wrote:

> http://www.wickes.co.uk/1200W-Compound-Mitre-Saw/p/200362
>
> ?!?

No, this was a sliding one, I think 1500w. Same price.

[GMM]

On 15/04/2014 10:43, Adrian wrote:

I have a sliding Evolution Rage like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage3-s300-210mm-multipurpose-mitre-saw-110v/59451

The slide etc on it seems to be pretty good. I'm sure it's not the
sort of thing you would make fine hardwood furniture with but it seems
to do a good job for most general purpose applciations. The TCT blade
is very useful, as it will cut most metals as well as timber and I've
used it a few times for things like steel tubing.

If I had been buying for myself, I might have looked around a bit more
but it was a present, so I really couldn't complain. I don't think it
was the price they're quoting now though - probably more like half that
- but they often discount things like this for a while.

[Adrian]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 13:53:37 -0700, JimK wrote:

> Buy it :-)

Yeh, I'm thinking I should've...

[JimK]

Buy it :-)

PS why can't i see my own posts (via goggle gropes....)

Jim K

[JimK]

http://www.wickes.co.uk/1200W-Compound-Mitre-Saw/p/200362

?!?

Jim K

[Adrian]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:21:22 +0000, Adrian wrote:

> I've just been into Wickes for some other stuff, and they had an £80
> sliding saw that looked & felt fairly solid, as best you could tell from
> the very limited movement allowed it, tied down. But, of course, it
> doesn't appear to be on their website...

Just been back into Wickes.

The stock/price label was for something else. Oh.
But the SKU was cast into the base. A quick look on their computer, then,
to see what it came back with... nothing. At all.

And, no, they couldn't sell me the ex-demo one. The very helpful lass at
customer service went off to find the store manager (his label said so)
to check. Nope, definitely not possible. Apparently a lot of display
stuff is non-functioning, and he couldn't anyway, because all the
displays are controlled centrally. Hiho.

Googling the SKU comes back with one single solitary web mention of it -
TMH recommending it, in 2008... £99.99 back then...

Message-ID: <snsek.26154$E41....@text.news.virginmedia.com>

Hey-ho.

[mike]

> Hey-ho.

Wickes not selling the display model is a pain I've experienced before.

If the saw you were looking at was this one...

http://www.wickes.3dvp.co.uk/Catalogue_13_March-11_June/index.html#/216/

...it was a very good buy at £50.

I think it might still be around as the Draper SMS210A but dunno how much it is.

http://www.drapertools.com/en/catalogue/index.html

[Adrian]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2014 06:16:28 -0700, mike wrote:

>> > I've just been into Wickes for some other stuff, and they had an £80
>> > sliding saw that looked & felt fairly solid, as best you could tell
>> > from the very limited movement allowed it, tied down. But, of
>> > course, it doesn't appear to be on their website...

>> Just been back into Wickes.
>>
>> The stock/price label was for something else. Oh.
>>
>> But the SKU was cast into the base. A quick look on their computer,
>> then, to see what it came back with... nothing. At all.
>>

>> And, no, they couldn't sell me the ex-demo one. The very helpful lass
>> at customer service went off to find the store manager (his label said
>> so) to check. Nope, definitely not possible. Apparently a lot of
>> display stuff is non-functioning, and he couldn't anyway, because all
>> the displays are controlled centrally. Hiho.
>>
>> Googling the SKU comes back with one single solitary web mention of it
>> - TMH recommending it, in 2008... £99.99 back then...
>>
>> Hey-ho.

> Wickes not selling the display model is a pain I've experienced before.
>
> If the saw you were looking at was this one...
>
> http://www.wickes.3dvp.co.uk/Catalogue_13_March-11_June/index.html#/216/
>
> ...it was a very good buy at £50.

No, it was 186890 (1200w) rather than 200363 (1500w) - but I'd have
bloody leapt at that for £50, I think...

> I think it might still be around as the Draper SMS210A but dunno how
> much it is.
>
> http://www.drapertools.com/en/catalogue/index.html

£150 seems the going price...

[dennis@home]

On 24/04/2014 14:44, Adrian wrote:

>> ...it was a very good buy at £50.
>
> No, it was 186890 (1200w) rather than 200363 (1500w) - but I'd have
> bloody leapt at that for £50, I think...

how about one of these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Evolution-RAGE3-S-210mm-Multipurpose-Sliding-Mitre-Saw-B-Grade-230v-/131155087750?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&var=&hash=item643338b26c

[Adrian]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2014 20:33:03 +0100, dennis@home wrote:

> how about one of these?
>

> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131155087750

Aye, that looks bob-on - especially at that price! Screwfix's reviews
seem positive, and even their full-fat price doesn't look daft.

Anybody tried one in the flesh?

[JimK]

C grade for abt £50 too

Jim K

[Adrian]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2014 19:52:52 +0000, Adrian wrote:

>> how about one of these?
>>
>> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131155087750

> Aye, that looks bob-on - especially at that price! Screwfix's reviews
> seem positive, and even their full-fat price doesn't look daft.
>
> Anybody tried one in the flesh?

Soddit. Only one way to find out. Bought.

[newshound]

Me too.

[Adrian]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:57:21 -0700, JimK wrote:

> C grade for abt £50 too

But only 110v.

[Adrian]

...and delivered.

It's definitely been used, albeit lightly. It's the black "Stealth" (!)
version. Oooh!

First impressions are that it's a very solid piece of kit, more so than
the Wickes one I was looking at. I've just grabbed a bit of old 2x4 off
the a rubbish pile, and it goes through it like it's not there.
Beautifully clean cut.

The one snag so far? The pointer for the main horizontal rotation's a
little bit bent - we'll see what their service is like.

I'm a very happy bunny indeed at the mo. BIG thanks to JimK for pointing
it out.

[JimK]

/I'm a very happy bunny indeed at the mo. BIG thanks to JimK for pointing it out./q

Er believe it was our Dennis?

Glad you got a result tho :-)

Jim K

[newshound]

Mine's arrived too.

Similarly only very lightly used, seems reasonably well made. The slide
isn't perfectly smooth but I guess it might "run in" and I might add
some moly disulphide paste. Havn't tried it yet.

I've got the 220 mm because that was the largest 240 volt one available,
with hindsight it might have been better to get one of the larger ones
(currently 110 volt only), or wait to see if a 240 volt one comes up.

[Adrian]

On Mon, 28 Apr 2014 11:35:10 -0700, JimK wrote:

> /I'm a very happy bunny indeed at the mo. BIG thanks to JimK for
> pointing it out./q

> Er believe it was our Dennis?

Yep, you're right.

Thanks, Dennis!

[Adrian]

On Mon, 28 Apr 2014 17:52:24 +0000, Adrian wrote:

> The one snag so far? The pointer for the main horizontal rotation's a
> little bit bent - we'll see what their service is like.

Ten minutes after they get into the office, I've got an email saying a
replacement's in the post. Job's a good 'un.