Sliding Miter Saw follow up question

[Paul Dell'Anno]

Narrowed choice down to the Bosch Glider or the new Makita 4 rail saw. Festool is way out of my price range. Looked at the Dewalt DW780 (was first on my list), but the slide mechanism didn't impress me. I have a few questions for everyone out there:

1. Is the lack of laser guide on the Bosch a minus?
2. Is there really much difference in cutting capacity between the 10 and 12 inch saws? Looking at the specs, the 10 inch saws look like it meets/exceeds what I normally do, but will I regret not having the extra capacity.

Any comments are appreciated and thanks for the previous responses.

[Steve Griffin]

1) No laser is a minus, but a small minus. It really comes in handy once in a while, but cabinet makers have lived without it for centuries. I find it helpful if you have marked an odd angle on a board and you can find it instantly with the laser, rather than measure it or do the trial and error dance.

2) You can answer a question about capacity better than strangers on the internet. If you are wanting my opinion, a 10" saw would drive me nuts. I frequently cut table legs, or deep angled cuts or simply just want to hold a 5" piece of molding vertically rather than tilt the saw. Blade cost is a non- issue, as 12" blades cost about the same per tooth and last longer between sharpening. I'd also put the 12" blade as more important than a slider, since for the rare wider cuts my table saw slider does fine.

[David Kumm]

I'm old school on the laser but mainly because I don't use one and have been happy to set the blade down on the mark to test the position. I'm a 10" guy but I have a sliding table saw for deeper cuts and use the SCMS for trim work. They aren't the most accurate machines in the world and IMO the blade deflection on the smaller blade when taking that last 1/2 saw kerf cut is less. You will likely get used to whatever you get and be happy if the machine quality is good. Dave

[Patrick Galpin]

Paul, I have had the Bosch glider since November, great unit and really happy wiht it. The lack of a laser is not an issue to me as I don't believe it would be accurate enough for a lot of my cuts. I use a knife to mark if i am doing fine work and a laser is not fine enough in my view. The 12" blade gives me more flexability and 14" cross cut capability is really nice to have. Love the unit and don't regret the purchase at all

[Roger Bullock]

If you are farming a house the laser is nice. If you are doing fine woodwork, not so nice. As to size, bigger is better.

[Van Huskey]

As said a laser is not a deal breaker for fine furniture. I use mine just to get the board in position quickly then sneek up on the cut as usual. If you are going to use the saw for any "rough" work it can be a time saver but can be added easily.

There is a difference in capacity from 10 to 12 inches just like on a table saw, it just depends on what YOU cut which one you need.

[Chris Parks]

Interesting, the Bosch Glider as supplied in Oz has a laser. I didn't think it did until my son found the switch! It is in fact three laser lines to denote the blade width etc. Do others use three lines or just a single line?

[James Baker SD]

my thoughts on lasers are if they aren't adjusted perfectly, they help you make poor cuts. I do not use mine often.

as per diameter of blade, my experience is that 10" cut more accurately than 12" (limited to a small sample of saws however), so if you need accuracy and not the capacity go with 10". If you need the capacity, choice is made for you.

[Mike Heidrick]

The LED light over the DeWalt's blade casts a PERFECT shadow line that never goes out of adjustment. You can see the blade down to the individual teeth. The slide on my 10" Dewalt works awesome. That saw is heads and shoulders above my Hitachi 12" C12LSH.

[Rich Engelhardt]

1. Is the lack of laser guide on the Bosch a minus?

My Craftsman had a laser.
I used it a lot.
One day a cutoff flew up and took out the laser.
I had to resort to using stop blocks and measuring.

The quality and accuracy of my work too a quantum leap forward....

[Sam Murdoch]

I don't know about the Bosch or, for that matter, about the specific Makita that you mention but a Makita (and Festool) feature that is very, very, very useful is the adjustable depth stop. This stop allows you to easily set up to cut mortises in faces or edges of stock or even to cut an occasional tenon shoulder. I would be a frustrated little cabinet maker without this feature. Never think about not having a laser - though I'm sure I would like it if I did have a laser, but not having my Makita depth stop :eek:.

[Doug Colombo]

I also had concerns about the saw not having a laser but ended up buying the Glide as the footprint of the unit and the cutting capacity were more important to me (based on my uses for the saw). So far, I have not missed the laser - I figured that I could always add an aftermarket laser but have not found the need to as of yet.

[Timothy Wolf]

Sam,

The Bosch also has a depth stop on it, I saw it in a video on youtube.

[Marty Paulus]

My Bosch 12" slider has the depth stop but no laser. My old 10" had a laser but it was useless in anything approaching working light levels so I learned to just sneak up on the cut. My biggest improvement was using a knife for the cut line.