New SCMS

[mailee]

Well I will be in the market for a new SCMS after my burglary and want to look for another one with the insurance money. Anyone any ideas what would be the best buy for a 10/12" sliding saw with a budget of around 0„5200? I know which are the best but can't afford to pay that sort of money I am afraid so must look at the budget end of the range.

[paulchapman]

Hi Mailee,

It might be an idea to spell out your budget in words because your posts are still coming across with that strange currency ;D

Cheers

Paul

[engineerone]

it also might be an idea to give us details of what you are likely to cut.

ie are you going to do lots of very deep skirting, and crown moulding etc??

do you really need a compound one or a normal one???
paul

[mailee]

Hi guys, yes I will have a budget of around two hundred pounds for this. I do have a small compound mitre saw of 8" Paul so don't need this for mouldings and small stuff. This will mainly be used for skirtings, crown moulding and the like so needs to be a big one of 10" or more. Ideally the big De Walt would be great but is out of my price range I am afraid. Just wondered if any of you guys had any recommendations on the cheaper versions. I have seen the SIP12" at a good price but know nothing about them?

[Scrit]

Hi Mailee

I've had quite a play with SCMSs this year, having used (so far) Hitachi C12FSA 12in (recently replaced), deWalt DW718 12in, Metabo 12in, Makita LS1013 10in (used to own one) and Makita LS1214 12in. Not yet tried a Bosch, though . What I'll say is that the 12in saws all flex much more than the 10in ones, especially in hardwoods. It seems to be a combination of the bars flexing and the blade flexing under uneven loading (especially when end trimming with a dust cut). The ten inch saws seem to fare somewhat better than their 12in cousins, possibly because they're smaller and thus a tad more ridgid and the smaller blades are stiffer, too.

I'm not sure what you'll get at around £200, but I know a 10in quality SCMS is well above that (in the region of £400+). You'll also not get a double bevel saw at that price, either, but if you are prepared to cut cornice moulding (crown moulding is so American ;D) flat then you'll probably be able to accommodate most mouldings on either an 7-1/2in mitre saw such as a Makita LS0714 or the 8-1/2in deWalt DW707 both of which have a 10 to 12in crosscut (at right angles). That DFW707 is a bargain price and just within youtr budget. I've used the DW707 in the past and they're tough little beasts - I know a local kitchen firm who have three of them in use and don't feel the need for anything bigger.

Scrit

[mailee]

Thanks Scrit but I am really after another sliding mitre saw. I will take your advice though and not bother with the 12" models after your info on them. I do need something that is pretty accurate of course and do use this machine a lot hence needing one pretty quick. I would if need be wait until I can afford a good one and maybe hire one for jobs in the meantime.

[Scrit]

mailee said:

Thanks Scrit but I am really after another sliding mitre saw.

Both the DW707 and LS0714 are sliders.......

[jfc]

I blew the motor up on a SIP 10" in two hours ;D

[mailee]

Sorry Scrit, I looked at the pictures of the saws and didn't see any rails on them so assumed they were just chop saws. I will have another look. Thanks.

[colincott]

I have the DW707 and am very happy with it

[Lord Nibbo]

There are three Dewalt 712's on ebay two are still under £200.... only hours to go though...

search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=dewalt+712

The second one at present £113.11 is only in York so not far to go and collect it... ;D

[mailee]

Well guys I have had a think about the SCMS and have decided I will go for one of the big De Walt's and pay the extra out of my own pocket. Considering the type of work I mainly do (Gazebo) It think it would make sense. I accept what Scrit has said about the accuracy of the 12" saws but for my purposes it should be accurate enough. Got to be an improvement on a Power Pro surely. ;D I am waiting for the insurance company to get back to me with an offer and will take it from there. Looking on the bright side though, it will probably give theives a hernia if they try to get away with this one. ;D

[engineerone]

having one of the older dw 708, i am certainly aware of the weight, as scrit says the tubes can move, but my experience is that if you take care of handling them and only use the lifting handle designed in, you reduce the problems somewhat.

i also think double cuts are a good idea depending on the width of the wood, ie a short cut, then another to get down to depth,
rather like routing in small stages.

i do know a number of people complained about the bars bending, but upon investigation, these were ALL site saws, that were thrown around in the van. if only one person uses it, the problems are i think fewer.

2p

paul

[Scrit]

engineerone said:

having one of the older dw 708, i am certainly aware of the weight, as scrit says the tubes can move, but my experience is that if you take care of handling them and only use the lifting handle designed in, you reduce the problems somewhat.

The problem is actually that the neck and bars both flex in cut which can cause accuracy problems. In addition the DW suffers from a locking mechanism which with heavy use will not lock except at the detents. This is partly because they are the only mitre saws around which don't have a screw handle lock and the locking is therefore that bit less positive.

mailee

If you are making decking/gazebos and need to rip have you also considered a flip-over? I'd also repeatr what I said re the 10in versus 12in saws. Some of the 10in saws have the same crosscut capacity as the bigger 12in ones and share the advantage of a double bevel cut - especially useful for handling coving, etc. The only differences are about 20mm less depth of cut - and £150 or so in price. Possibly one reason why saws like the Mak LS1013 are still so popular.

Scrit

[mailee]

Thanks for that Scrit, all taken on board. Bl**dy hell Senior if I had to lug it up stairs I would definitely put my back out again. Mind you not many people have gazebos built upstairs. ;D I was actually thinking of the depth of cut from the big De Walts as mostly the gazebo posts are 6" square and a pain to cut with the old 10" Still keeping an open mind though, as they say we are never too old to learn, just takes longer to sink in. ;D

[nickw]

senior said:

Can't say I noticed ;D

The dust, the wife or both?

[colincott]

Hi Mailee

Here is one that people seem to be happy with on the other site.

[Scrit]

mailee said:

I was actually thinking of the depth of cut from the big De Walts as mostly the gazebo posts are 6" square and a pain to cut with the old 10"

But 150mm is outside of the capacity of even the Panasonic 16in chop saw sold in the USA, although Omga probably does do a bigger machine (they make cast-iron chop saws), so whatever you buy you'll still need to turn stock over or finish the cut by hand. Not so bad on the first few cuts of the day but a bit off-putting bty cut #100, I know

Scrit

[Scrit]

They're apparently the only chop saws that the guys making caravans can't destroy. I'nm told that the average life for SCMSs was around 4 months in a caravan factory

[engineerone]

no wonder the gypsy caravans i see dumped around wembley
take so long to destroy ;D

if the makers take that long to destroy a scms.


paul;)

[pj]

Well I don't think the caravan industry are using them for their accuracy. Some joints could eat your whole cap never mind just the peek. ;D
And on the subject of caravans, why does the British caravan industry still struggle to make water tight caravans in this day and age? Certainly an area were Mr Continental kicks our a** and for many years.

Philip

[mailee]

According to the blurb on the De Walt website Scrit it states that it will cut up to 61/2" Am I missing something here?

[jfc]

Flip the timber over and it can cut 12" , hows that for bullshit ;D

[engineerone]

surely the 61/2 is width not depth ;D

interesting prospect, deeper than half the depth.

paul

[mailee]

From the horses mouth, quote from the website: 'Tall sliding fences support crown molding up to 6-5/8" nested and base molding up to 6-1/2" vertically against the fence while easily sliding out of the way for bevel cuts'
Now I did wonder how a 12" blade would cut into 6" of timber myself?? Now does this mean that it will only cut skirting type mouldings by using the back of the blade?