So who'se into woodworking and can tell me about saws....

I need a good miter saw. I'd like...

-10" or 12" blade
-MUST have variable speed on the blade, because 99% of what I will cut is aluminum
-Sturdy enough to where I can clamp heavy (up to 50lbs) to the table for a cut without the saw disintegrating
-Reasonable accuracy, I don't want to have to shim it constantly or learn that a 45-deg cut was really 41-deg
-MUST be sliding (so I can cross-cut stuff up to 12" wide)
-Must have a laser, ideally would have one of those dual lasers that show the blade kerf
-Quality to where it's not gonna fall apart in a few months

One I looked at was the Hitachi C12LSH which is around $600, or the Makita equivalent for roughly the same $$$. I said I will cut aluminum, and I mean like thick sections, 1" thick plate, 8" wide for example. For those that don't know, a carbide tipped blade will slice through aluminum like butter... I use a table saw for it right now at work, but it's a PITA because the saw is stationery and the stock moves. When you're trying to hold an 80lb aluminum plate, it's tough, and I hate how the blade can sometimes catch the sawn off piece and kick it back. That doesn't happen with a sliding miter saw, and I can position the stock and cut it once it's clamped down.

The problem with cutting aluminum is that you ideally want to slow the blade down. The Hitatchi and Makita have around 3500rpm blade speeds. Some of the 10" ones go up to 4500rpm!

Now, I saw a saw by Festool called the Kapex. Has all the features I want, variable speed blade, sturdy, clamps on both ends of the table, kerf laser, etc. But it's $1,400.

So....

Are Festool saws good quality? I don't mind spending the $$$ if it will last, but of course I'd rather spend less if I can.

Is there anything besides a $1400+ saw that has a variable speed motor? The Festool lets you turn the speed down to 1200rpm, up to 3500+. That's ideal. I had never heard of Festool until now, so since I know squat about woodworking, maybe someone knows of another brand that has a variable speed blade?

I was this " close to getting a "Evolution Rage3" saw which claims to cut anything. But those bastards put a 10" blade with a 1" arbor.... all 10" blades have a 5/8" arbor, so it means you MUST use their blades. That's the scam - get the saw for $300, but pay $65+ for every blade for life. So I'm looking for alternatives.

 

I knew I should'a just PM'ed Uro

 

Well, it's actually a wood saw... I'm just gonna use it for metal.

It sounds crazy to some, but I was blown away too when a machinist told me that a carbide tipped blade will go through aluminum like butter... and it does. And big bits too - like 1" x 2" solid aluminum... it blasts through it almost as fast as it does through wood.


I've never heard of Festool so I dunno if they are any good. They claim to be the high-end of woodworking saws.

I was just wondering what else is out there (for wood miter saws) that is maybe slightly above the stuff you get at Home Depot and Lowes... with the major desire being an adjustable speed blade.

 

I'm pretty sure I am too inept to make a sled

But I was actually thinking a miter saw with a quick-set clamp on either side would be a lot faster since I just push the stock back up against the fence and - ZIP. Plus I can easily make a stop when I need to cut a few hundred pieces to the same length.

 

Familiar with them - but thanks for the tip anyway. Problem with cold saws is that they're hugely expensive (start around $2k) and from what I have seen, they are not generally any better at the job than a miter saw with a carbide blade. The motors are no more powerful, and most importantly they do not offer any sliding provision to cut wide stock.

I think a $1400 miter saw would still be a lot cheaper, last as long, offer cross-cutting, laser alignment and quicker cutting to boot.

 

LOL You're such ******


I was hoping some astute woodworker type dude was going to say "hey you should check out XYZ brand, they are a lot less than $1400 and will do what you need".

But all I got was jackassery.

I do regret making the thread though... in retrospect I feel like a weenie asking about saws in a serious manner. But I tried my best to pull it out of the flames and make it a serious thread, but to no avail. I know you only get like 3 or 4 dumb threads before you get relegated to PeterS status, and that's at least one for me that's gone down in flames. Since porn is verboten, I'm not sure what I can do to recover.... or if I should just slink off into the shadows for a while, or horn in on other threads and try to make witty comments like it's all cool, even when it's really not. You know what I'm sayin.....

So, assorted jackassery it is. I can accept that now. I'll do what I do when I trip on a crack in the sidewalk, and pretend like I was just spontaneously breaking into a jog for no reason.

 

Oy vey! My grandma cringed at that, and she thinks Henny Youngman is funny!

 

Good idea... I was actually thinking of buying a cheap miter saw and gearing it down... but from looking at a few chop saws we have at the shop, they all appear to have the arbor coming right from the motor to the blade, and I imagine a miter saw is probably the same, so conjuring up something to gear it down would be more complex than would be worth it.

I did look at a pretty nice cold saw that you load a bar into and it spits cut-to-length blocks out the other end but they wanted something like $10k+ for it, which is sort of nuts. What turned the light bulb on was that the motor ratings on the cold saw were the same as a miter saw - but I'll bet the cold saw is geared down to give more torque and that the Festool variable speed one just uses a speed controller.