# Finally bought a mitre saw!



## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

On sale at BORG.

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/...artial&Ntx=mode+matchall&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

Not top of the line or contractor grade or anything, but reviews are good, and the price was good. 

I just did a few basic test cuts to try it out and the cuts are actually very nice even with the stock blade. I find it kind of silly that the laser requires AA batteries when you are feeding it 120v AC but guess it would have been more complex to add a transformer/rectifier combo.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Red Squirrel said:


> I find it kind of silly that the laser requires AA batteries when you are feeding it 120v AC but guess it would have been more complex to add a transformer/rectifier combo.


No, it's so that when the power is out you can still see how much wood your wood saw would saw if your wood saw could saw wood.

Nice saw, Red. You''ll appreciate the laser. I know this because my miter saw is too old to have had one, but it still works great, so I appreciate it when I am on a site and get to use one of my buddys' more modern saws.


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## carpenter7501 (Apr 14, 2011)

Watch out. Lasers will go out of alignment. Cut a bunch of hardwood trim with a 1/2 degree angle before you realize and yikes:blink:


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## WirelessG (Mar 22, 2009)

If you want to check if it's square, cut a 1x6. Leaving the left piece where it is, fold the right piece on top of the left piece so that the ends are on top of each other. If the saw is out of square, it'll show up twice as bad when comparing the two ends (i.e. if the blade is 5 deg out, the angle between the two ends will be 10 deg).


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## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

carpenter7501 said:


> Watch out. Lasers will go out of alignment. Cut a bunch of hardwood trim with a 1/2 degree angle before you realize and yikes:blink:


That's good to know. So every now and then I guess I should test it, draw a line where the laser is, and see if that's where it cuts. 

I just tested it quickly to see if it's square, and it looks good. The cuts seem to be very clean too considering it's the stock blade.


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## WirelessG (Mar 22, 2009)

The blade that came with it is likely a general purpose blade, which may or may not suit you. If you are going to get into cabinet work, you may want to get a 80 tooth blade, will give a cleaner cut, but it slows down the process. Below is a link from Rockler with some info on different blades. Scroll down to the bottom to read about the various parts of the blade what sorts of designs are available.



http://www.rockler.com/articles/saw-blade-selection-guide.cfm


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## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

Most of my work will probably be larger lumber, so think I'll be fine with that blade, but I may still get a higher tooth blade at some point if I start doing more precision work. I do want to eventually get into cabinetry/desks and such. 

Also, stupid question, but are blades interchangable between tools? Like is a mitre saw blade the same as a circular saw or table saw blade? (assuming the same size)


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## WirelessG (Mar 22, 2009)

I believe they are to an extent. As you said, they have to be the same diameter. And they also have to be the same type, which is often not the case. Table saws typically rip material and miter saws cross cut. The general purpose blades try to combine both types. If you try to rip with a cross cut blade or visa versa, the saw will labor through the cut and give you poor results.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

As Wireless said, you'll find that you typically use one type of blade more on one saw than the other and vice versa, but they are otherwise interchangable. Once you sharpen, or pay to have a blade with 80 or more teeth sharpened once or twice, you'll find it easy to remember to switch to a combination blade on your miter saw when you don't need a finer cut.


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## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

some blades not interchangeable do to rpm of equipment. check that blade and machine are compatible


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## hate2work (Apr 21, 2011)

They recommend negative hook blades for radial arm saws because of the potential for grabbing, not sure if that applies to the sliding miter saws as well. My standard miter saw works well with standard positive hook blades


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## nateshirk (Mar 11, 2011)

I bought that exact same one a little over a year ago when the manual mitre saw I bought was being just too rediculous, and time consuming. 

Make sure your blade is tight. Not sure how many cuts you made so far, but it wasn't long before I noticed the blade wasn't stopping when I let go of the trigger. It's been fine since. But I think it's a tad off of square. Every time I make a mark, and use a square to draw the line, the laser isn't lined up perfectly. I'll try the "cut and fold over" test to see if maybe it's just the laser. I never eally did use the laser as a guide though. i bring the blade down to the line and line it up. Plus you can't even see the laser if your cutting outside on a sunny day. 

Have fun with it.


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## Old Country (Apr 21, 2011)

Negative hook blades have less blow-out on underside larger chip clearance slots are better for soft lumber an alternate bevel 60 plus tooth blade won't tax the saws power too badly triple chip tips require a lot of power to work properly better left in table saws with 3+hp combination blades should have a raker tooth in each set of teeth to prevent run-out hollow ground blades are great for fine work but cost a premium to buy and sharpen would use a 48 tooth combination for softwood alternate bevel 60+ tooth blade for baseboards / casing and a 80-100 tooth alternate bevel for denser hardwoods leave the triple chip and hollow ground blades for laminated sheet goods


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