blade deflection in thin kerf miter saw blade

[Travis Conner]

This is the dewalt blade that came with the saw. It's a dws780 12'' sliding compound miter saw. I don't know if this is normal, but I can take my finger and push sideways on the blade and it deflects like an 1/8'' very easily. Is this just normal for a thin kerf blade or is it just the dewalt blade? I always upgrade my blades and use the original one for rough lumber if I need to. Also does this saw already have the blade stabilizer on it?

[scott vroom]

This is the dewalt blade that came with the saw. It's a dws780 12'' sliding compound miter saw. I don't know if this is normal, but I can take my finger and push sideways on the blade and it deflects like an 1/8'' very easily. Is this just normal for a thin kerf blade or is it just the dewalt blade? I always upgrade my blades and use the original one for rough lumber if I need to. Also does this saw already have the blade stabilizer on it?

Just make sure you don't push it sideways with your finger when making cuts and you should be OK ;)

[Earl McLain]

I have that saw and blade--has cut surprisingly well with no deflection in cut. Granted, i don't often cut mitered bevels, which is where i would expect deflection.
earl

[Bill White]

I just don't trust OEM blades regardless of brand.
Never had that bad a deflection on a thin kerf blade of any size.
Bill

[Lee Schierer]

I think as long as you have substantial wood on each side of the cut you will see little deflection. If you trim a piece right at the end then you are more likely to notice the deflection.

[Travis Conner]

I'm going to put a good amana blade on it like I did my table saw, but amana says to use a stabilizer if you're cutting stock over 3/4'' thick. Does this saw have a blade stabilizer already? Also does the blade stabilizer decrease the depth capacity of your cuts?

[John TenEyck]

A thin kerf came on my Bosch 12" DCMS. It deflects pretty easily when you push sideways on it and I thought for sure I would see a lot of deflection during cutting. I was wrong; the think cuts beautifully. I can't speak for the Dewalt, but not all stock blades are junk. I see no reason to change the blade on my Bosch for the furniture and trim work I do with it.

John

[Myk Rian]

Also does the blade stabilizer decrease the depth capacity of your cuts?
Ummm. Yes.

[Larry Edgerton]

A thin kerf came on my Bosch 12" DCMS. It deflects pretty easily when you push sideways on it and I thought for sure I would see a lot of deflection during cutting. I was wrong; the think cuts beautifully. I can't speak for the Dewalt, but not all stock blades are junk. I see no reason to change the blade on my Bosch for the furniture and trim work I do with it.

John

The blades that come on hitachi slides are as good as they get as well. Makita blade, so, so. Never used a Dewalt blade that I liked however.

Larry

[Lee Schierer]

Blade stabilizers add little to modern pre-stressed saw blades. I have an old set that belonged to my Father that were precision ground with a slight concave surface on the side that was to be toward the blade. When placed against the blade they would actually put pressure against the blade, which would in theory stiffen the blade. The stiffeners sold these days are not precision and in my opinion add little if anything to getting a better cut. Buy better quality blades like Freud, Amana, Woodworker. Personally I find that Freud blades offer the best cut quality for the price.

[Peter Quinn]

I can't speak to the quality of the stock dewalt blades, but the 12 TK do deflect when stopped, seem too thin to be effective, when you wind them up they seem to stiffen up from the centrifugal force and cut decent. Certain species will release tension in a long miter that can push the blade around, say white oak or hickory for instance. I've found its often best to take a rough cut close to my line, then recut to final dimension.

[Ben Murphy]

Travis, I hope it's ok to bring up this long dormant thread. I was wondering what solutions you came up with for the deflection problems. I just upgraded to a 12" from a 10" miter saw. Same as yours, a dws780, and the blades (2 Freuds so far) are deflecting 10 times as much as the 10" ones did. I can't tell about the dewalt "fine finish" that came on it cause it's warped so badly it doesn't have to deflect to cut crooked. I believe that all those laser cuts in the Freuds, that are supposed to dampen vibration and minimize warping due to heat, make them that much flimseyer. My first plan is to try stiffeners (if I can find anywhere that's not sold out) and if that doesn't work I'll get a Forrest Chop Master. What did you do to cure your problem?
l think the smart thing might be to exchange it for another 10". dw717 maybe.
And speaking of the 780, I love everything else about it, like it better than the Bosch, but the dust bag sticking out the back of the slide is the most retarded thing I've seen on a power tool in years.
Sorry, I'm not usually this long winded

[scott spencer]

You should never encounter that much lateral force during a cut, but obviously a thinner blade will be more prone to deflection than a full kerf of equal quality. In this case, the DW is not a great example of a top quality TK blade, plus the 12" span will have more deflection than a 10" span of the same thickness. A quality full kerf blade 12" blade would be better for a crosscut saw.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

When a friend borrowed my first DeWalt 701 miter saw, he ruined the full kerf blade it had on it.
He replaced it with a thin kerf (same brand) and it didn't performed nearly as well. Not as stable when cutting hard stuff.

[Eric Schmid]

A good TK blade can work well for most cuts on that saw. The exception would be beveled cuts, more so the closer you get to 45. For woodworking I prefer a full kerf blade on a 10" saw. That said I get very clean cuts on a 14" chop saw, but it's not a slider and wouldn't bevel if I wanted it to.

I also agree, I have never met a Dewalt blade that I've been impressed with... actually their track saw blade is decent.

[Chris Padilla]

Travis, I hope it's ok to bring up this long dormant thread.

Checking Travis' profile, he hasn't logged into SMC since November, 2015, so he may not get the word on your question, Ben. Just an FYI.

[Ben Murphy]

Thanks Chris,
I've received some good answers anyway. The deflection I was observing in the thin Kirf 12" blades was with red oak. Now I've done a test cutting 1x6 t&g pine at 45deg miter, 30deg bevel, something I've done literally thousands of times with 10" saws. I could only get near perfect cuts 2 out o 10 times with my 2 thin Kirf 12" Freuds (I sh*t canned the dewalt blade). I finally found 6" Amana stabilizers w 1" arbor which I'm sure would fix the problem but I'm considering retuning it and getting the DW717. I need accuracy all the time and the increased cutting capacity rarely.