harbor freigth 12" Sliding Compound Miter

[cody michael]

i am thinking about buying this 12" Sliding Compound Miter'. i don't have the money to buy a expensive one. my sister is building a deck and i'm gonna try getting her to buy it for me for my help. it would get used on her deck to cut 45 degree cuts (on deck boards) and for 4x4's and later to chop down boards to length. (general woodworking)

if accurate i would use it to chop long boards to final length for general furniture construction. if not very accurate i would use it to rough them out leaving an inch or so to make stuff easier to work with then finish on table saw.

does anyone own this on or the 10in? i have a picture of the 12 inch for 119$ anyone know where a current or almost current coupon is?

the 10 inch is 89$ 12 inch is 119$ is it worth extra money?
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98194

[Brendan Plavis]

I wouldnt.... I saw earlier this week, Craftsman(I know Crapsman(I use an old CMAN, and it works quite nicely)) SCMS going for $207(GMC going for $122) and a CMS going for $108 w/ stand.

I think anything tool would be best not from HF... The only power thing I hear is good, is the DC system from them...

[Robert foster]

Have you looked at the price today? It seems that several things have taken a large increase. I was looking to buy their 9X20 Metal lathe at 699 minus coupon but it changed from 699 to 999 overnight. Maybe they increased the "quality" that much.

Bob

[Dave Sweeney]

I would think that the HF SCMS would be just fine for the deck project and most other general carpentry projects. As far as the woodworking uses you mentioned it probably will get you close but not dead on accurate.

[david brum]

I briefly had a 10" slider from HF. It worked, however the bearings on the slider were extremely rough (kind of like gravel) resulting in a relatively jagged crosscut. It would be acceptable for general construction, but not even close for furniture work. Lots of tear out as the blade oscillated through the cut because of the coarse bearings.

In that price range, you could get a decent chop saw or perhaps a better slider from craigslist....

[cody michael]

has anyone on here ever used this saw?

[Tullie Templet]

My dad bought a 12" in 2004 and it was junk. The power button broke the first day of use, the bearings were horrible, the blade wobbled, didn't slide very well and was an all around piece of you know what. Now that was in 2004 but there is no way I wound spend $200 on one. JMO

[Jonathan Hsu]

I've got a 10" slider. Certainly nothing fancy, but for 80 bucks I'm ok with it. It was purchased to make a small deck for one of those plastic sheds. Just don't expect it to be very accurate. Lots of tear out with the supplied blade.

As with most things. Understand what you need it to do and what the tool's capabilities are and if the price/benefit equation works for you then go with it. So, if it is a bit of cost for your sister for your help then this cheap (price and quality) SCMS might be appropriate. But if you're looking for something more, then maybe go in on a nicer saw with her. That way she gets her deck and you get a more useful tool for the long run.

Side bar: I wanted to buy the Milwaukee that HD was clearing out for $300 back in Jan, but the money was better spent on other tools (I'm a total newbie to WW so there's alot on my list). Now if the Mil was available on sale at the same time I was buying the HF, I would have spent the almost 4x money for it b/c that's a hell of alot of saw for $300.

[cody michael]

okay thanks for your advice. i have other harbor freight stuff and its always been good enough for me. if its not perfectly accurate i have a tablesaw. i would love to get a nice 4-500$ saw but its not possible. i think i may go look at it in the store and see what i think,

when you guys say not accurate what do you mean. would something like this be okay for final cutting like bookshelf shelf or a small table top tip thing?
are we talking an 1/8 off or a 1/64?

[Craig McCormick]

I have been using the 10" version about 5 years. We have installed over10,000 square feet of wood flooring and several thousand feet of base and crown, not to mention all the scraps I cut up to burn in my wood fired hot tub.
I would buy again. I felt pretty silly putting an $80.00 blade in an $80.00 saw but it makes a huge difference.:):)

Azcraig

[george wilson]

I NEVER have use for a slider. But,to put up my 400' of shop shelving,I needed something to deal with 16' boards. I just bought a Lowe's GM brand,cheapest of the line slider. I carefully tweaked it,and it did cut just fine. I really cannot say I'd recommend it for cabinet grade work,but for my shelving,which is actually pretty nice,I used it.

Something I like about it,is that I have no room for it to live permanently,and it's light enough to move around. I just have TOO MUCH STUFF.

P.S.: I DID replace the blade,which had a thick coat of paint all over it,INCLUDING the teeth.

[Joe Shinall]

Cody, I have had the 10" Harbor Freight slider for 4 years now. I just bought a Makita off craigslist for fine woodworking but I am keeping my Harbor Freight model for rough ripping and yard stuff. It is definitely not accurate enough (a good bit of play back and forth in the handle) for fine woodworking but I would highly recommend it for deck building, etc if you don't have the money for a high dollar unit.

I've used it to put molding in houses when I was doing construction and as long as I watched what I was doing it was perfect. I've got hours and hours of use on it.

Use a nice blade and measure twice and you will be fine.

[cody michael]

okay thanks i looked at one today and i'm not sure what i'm going to do i would like a nice quality one but don't have the cash i might get the harbor freight or maybe get nothing

[Charles Krieger]

I had a $89 10" HF Slider for a few years. It was ok for construction work. I even put a masonary blade in it and cut bricks and concrete pavers. When I was finished with that project I sold it in a garage sale for $35. I got my money's worth out of it.

HF's return policy is ok so if you buy one and it is a lemon you can take it back.

Personnaly I think we all tend to bash HF a bit more than they deserve and I include myself in that too. I have had poor quality from other more reputable manufacturers as well as HF. One example is my PC MAG circular saw which has a blade out of alignment with the base by more than 1/16" from the front of the blade to the rear of the blade. Another example is my Powermatic 2000 which had an inoperable castor raising and lowering mechanism yet I love the Powermatic. PM fixed the problem at no cost to me. Since the PC circ saw was out of warranty they would do nothing to correct the manufacturing defect but would repair it for $79. I opted not to repair.

I bought a HF gantry type tile saw and took it back. They instantly refunded my money. I think I could have made the saw work but I didn't have time to spend on tuning it up as I was preparing my rental property for new tenants.

I have found some of HF's tools to be good enough to do the job and having them makes my life easier than trying to do a job without the necessary tool. (The one exception to this was the biscuit joiner that I could not use.)

I am not associated in any way with HF but I think they do offer the DIYer an alternative to the higher priced, higher quality tools.

[Jonathan Hsu]

This might be a better tool at minimal/no additional cost. Look up SKU#116704 at Lowes. It's a Hitachi 10" (non-slider thou, model # C10FCE2) for $100. Website says sale expires today, 4/26. If you have a Lowe's mover coupon you can get 10% off. If your Lowe's takes HF coupons then you can get it for the same $80 as the HF 10" slider.

Deal cribbed from slickdeals.

[Dennis Lopeman]

I have this one... or an older rendition. I got is ONLY for a deck project I was doing around my pool. It's crap, and feels like crap while using it. It wasn't smooth when pulling it through wood.

BUT - I DID get the job done! and I still have it. I will use it for just outside stuff on pressure treated wood, like someone mentioned up there. I didn't change the blade, maybe I should try that... I keep it in my overhang outside, so it's nice and rusty now!

I was lucky to find a Dewalt 7xx (first rendition) for $25 at a yard sale. It was in pieces but they were all there. The guy thought there was something wrong with it. There wasn't, and I put it back together in about 1/2 hour after getting the manual online website. I've gloated about it here on SMC!

I also have and old black and decker - or was it craftsman? 10" - not sliding, not compound. It's smaller, so I can lug it around.

at HF, you get what you pay for. I don't buy electric tools from there anymore. Just things like hammers, wrenches, etc. I "MAY" consider a Floor STanding Drill press... how hard is it to screw that up!? LOL