Miter saw with adjustable depth of cut

[Jim Barstow]

Are any SCMS with an adjustable depth of cut like on a radial arm saw?

[Michael Peet]

My Makita SCMS (LS1013) has a depth adjuster. I understand this model is discontinued, but would be surprised if newer ones didn't have this feature.

Mike

[Jim O'Dell]

Jim, I think many of them are these days. It's a simpler mechanism. My Hitachi has a bolt with a lock nut that acts as a stop for how far the motor/blade come down to the table. It will allow you to do non through cuts, or even nibble away and make a dado. Not the best use of the saw, but it will do it. I'm sure the other major players, Bosch, Makita, DeWalt, etc will do the same. Jim.

[Thom Porterfield]

There is. But it's a Cro Magnon solution. I have the Makita Michael has--the mechanism is a wingbolt mounted in a swing-away device. Out of the way, the saw cuts "through" the table. In position it is (very tediously) adjustable to do things like dados, etc.

I think the reason it isn't any better is that it's an afterthought on a machine that was conceived as a simple chop saw, not a "different way of looking at a radial arm saw".

[Jeff Monson]

kapex has an adjustable depth of cut

[Matt Logana]

Id look for an SCMS.. not a CMS... I did a dado once on a CMS... it didnt look right nor was it functional, since the bottom was rounded, and to get the right depth, you might have to saw through the piece in the middle...


Alternatively you can get a Radical Harm Saw, as known by some, to do all the dadoing and stop cuts you want... since it can be pulled back making a nice flat dado... But only if you have a free wall..

[David Helm]

I have used many different brands of mitre saws during my carreer. They all had depth of cut adjustments. The previous poster who suggested a slider has it right. If you want a straight bottomed cut you need a slider.

[Will Overton]

Bosch 12" slider has an adjustable stop. But, I don't think any are designed to handle a dado blade. For one or two dados you can use the nibble method.

[Neal Clayton]

i have the bosch, it can be used for roughing out a notch in a stud or something similar but a flat bottom cut it will not give you.

[Thom Porterfield]

A SCMS (such as the Makita LS1013) will make flat cuts across the board, as long as the board isn't wider than the travel of the slider. For very shallow cuts, you may have to put a scrap between the work piece and the fence, or the last bit of the cut will be, as mentioned with non-sliding chop saws, rounded.

Harder to do is to get a uniformly flat dado, since you are (also as mentioned above) limited to single-width blades. Each cut is off depth just a little. The reason is that there is some flex in the up-down motion of the saw head--on a sliding saw, that's a big cantilever--and it's difficult to impart the same pressure for each cut. It's frustrating, but there's a work around: for the one or two such cuts I make from time to time (mainly because it isn't worth setting up the TS for them), I set the depth a bit shallow, then clean up and bring to level with a sharp chisel.

[Prashun Patel]

Jim-
What are you attempting to do? If it's to make a dado, then IMHO, yr much better off using a router with a straight or spiral bit.

The only time I found it most appropriate to use a MS on a non-thru cut was when I made a tablesaw blade holder.