Is my CMS toast?

[Greg Scarpelli]

I have an older(10+years) sliding 12" Makita CMS that has lots of use and more abuse than I care to admit. When trying to true the saw I noticed that as the blade slows there is a very slight wobble.

Is it time to send it to pasture? If so, any suggestions? I don't need the slide as much as I used to and would like a more accurate saw if that means sacrificing the slide feature.

Thanks for your help... Greg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would say it could be the blade or the motor bearings.

[Jeremy Brant]

Options: while unplugged, try grabbing the blade and seeing if there is any side to side play (bearings shot), or try a new or proven flat blade to verify it's not the blade. Also, I had a similar issue with a non-sliding 12" dewalt. As I didn't have time to troubleshoot the saw and it was borrowed from my dad, I went and bought my own saw. When I got the chance I started troubleshooting by swapping parts from the new saw...it turned out to be a combination problem involving the blade securing bolt, the arbor 'filler' that goes inside the blade hole, and the backer 'washer'. Some combination of these had gotten bent somehow and was causing the wobble. At speed the wobble wasn't evident similar to your situation.

[Chip Lindley]

...has lots of use and more abuse than I care to admit...

Sounds like the blade is warped, or the bearings are shot. Install a different blade and see if you get the same wobble. If the bearing is shot, you should be able to grab the blade and feel some slop in the arbor, up and down, or front to back. Perhaps even in/out.

If you are handy at disassembling tools and reassembling without having left-over parts, proceed to take the Makita apart and spring for new bearings. If the cast housing that the bearing fits into is wallowed out, thin metal shims must be added around the new bearing and all held in place with LocTite bearing compound.

[Greg Scarpelli]

I am going to buy a new blade and try it, both of my blades are older and have been resharpened multiple times. We used to cut a lot of timbers with the saw, occasionally getting the blade in a bind... so it's possible that we warped it that way, or countless others.

There isn't any play in the blade at rest, but if a new one doesn't help, I'll start changing bearings, etc.

Thanks for the suggestions.