Miter saw solutions?

[Matt Meiser]

I've got a really nice Makita 12" slider i acuired as part of a trade a few years ago which i have on a Ridgid MSUV. It all works well with the exception of a solution for precision repeated cuts--i have none. In my shop the my DC hood is huge but works. For portable use its heavy and a major mess maker. Luckily I don't use it outside the shop a ton and its easy enough to blow the mess out of my garage with the leaf blower which is more than half my portable use right now.

I was looking today at Fascap's Best Fence system which looks nice but is expensive and would take some work to adapt to the MSUV. It would solve the stop problem, but leave the portable use mess. Not a bad solution for most of my use.

I was also checking out the Kapex which of course has excellent dc in a fairly light, compact package. What I wouldn't spend on the Fastcap fence plus what I could get out of what I have now would put a decent dent in the price but would still require a major investment.

What other non-Kludgey options am I overlooking? I don't want something built into a bench and I don't want to add significant weight. I'm not opposed to switching to a different stand if that makes sense. I want something that won't be a major hassle to tear down to take to the house or somewhere else. Especially if reclibrating the fence is tricky.

[joseph f merz]

i have one of those 12 slider milwaukee -now that saw is huge . I also have a 12 dewalt that bevels both ways .This is my primary work saw and does 90 percent of what i do .I build arbors ,frame ,remodel and some great trim work . I have an old saw helper stand and boy do i appreciate the repeat cut feature .Cuts down on mistakes ,faster and increases accuracy .Anyhow might consider a nonslider . As for one of those stands from fast cap ,yeah it cost alot up front but if it pays off as fast as my sawhelper did then the purchase is a "no brainer" . When i got that saw helper set-up it was a big chunk of change -2 weeks later it was clearly a great purchase and did not seem so expensive anymore.

[Steve Griffin]

Hi Matt,
In the shop, there are few improvements more important than a nice miter saw station with a calibrated fence and stop and good dust collection. I'm always amazed to see shops without this--it's just as important as a calibrated fence on your table saw. I have built several saw stations, all are basically plywood box with a kreg or biesmeyer stop. I can take these to the jobsite and set on sawhorses.

Often for smaller jobs like installing a kitchen, I skip the stop system and dust collection and just take a saw and stand. I absolutely love the Dewalt compact stand. Especially if doing some trim, where there are no repetitive cuts, I just put up with the cave man method of using a tape and pencil to measure lengths. As far as dust control on a jobsite, hook up a vac or work outside or wear a dust mask.

-Steve

[Matt Meiser]

Well, I solved it.

i bought a Kapex. Ironically that let me build an inexpensive, simple set of wings which are about 2/3 done. It works great on my MSUV though eventually ill probably go for one of their UG stands. The EC on this thing with the vac is simply amazing. Ditto on the laser. I can split a pencil line on either side of the blade no problem.

Here are the first of my wings. I plan to add the Kreg Precision Measuring System. They just clamp on to mounting points that Festool provides. They install or remove in about 15 seconds.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/mattmeiser/3fe3a75a056ce2889deb8f983ea5812e.jpg

These T-tracks will let me make some crown stops.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/mattmeiser/7fb82e30cdfd493558043921613d32e6.jpg

Clamped in place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/mattmeiser/e069e84a99d7533946f69af8700d9259.jpg

Clamps are super simple. A piece of T-track, some maple a knob, and a little aluminum angle.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/mattmeiser/59f4d8df28df86e60cc5f07a9ae1dd41.jpg