Hitachi Sliding Miter Saw: Should I get it adjusted or is it a lost cause?

[Cooper Anderson]

About 2 years ago, I bought a used Hitachi C12LSH (12" sliding miter saw) on craigslist. It has never worked right. When I use the slider, it doesn't cut straight. Specifically, it doesn't cut square to the fence.

Because I don't trust the saw, I rarely use it. I use my sled for cross cuts, which always works well. Meanwhile, the sliding miter just collects dust.

This seems to be a familiar problem with this particular brand of Hitachi saw. But on the other hand, a lot of people seem to be very happy with this saw, so maybe I gave up too soon.

I'm considering taking my Hitachi into a professional repair shop to get it adjusted. Has anyone else had similar problems with this brand of Hitachi sliding miter saw? If so, what did you do? How much should I expect to pay to get it adjusted, assuming it can be adjusted? The manual doesn't explain how to adjust the fence, which is not comforting.

Maybe it makes more sense to buy a new one, rather than pay more $$ to repair my older Hitachi saw.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks so much.

[Ron Kellison]

If you have a decent square the saw should be easy to adjust. Each fence will be held to the frame by two bolts at the back of the fence. Just don't over-tighten the bolts when you snug them back in place. It should take no more than 5 minutes!

[Matt Day]

What have you done so far to try to remedy the problems? There's. It a whole lot to a miter saw, so unless the slider bars are bent or something crazy, it should be adjustable your manual should be able to walk you through the process.

Or, if you live in north east Ohio, I'll take the problem saw off your hands, free of charge.

[Tom Ewell]

Yep, get to know the tool. Every tool in my kit needs occasional maintenance from a simple dust off/lube to squaring up whatever saws that need to be squared up. It's part of having a working shop.

[Eric Schmid]

There is no guarantee that a new one is going to be square out of the box and if it is there is no guarantee that it will stay that way. Best to learn how to align it. Here is a good article on miter saw set up.

http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2010/07/23/miter-saw-tune-up/

[Bill Adamsen]

I've had the smaller 8-1/2" version of the Hitachi Slider for about 25 years. The precision and repeatability have always been better than adequate. I typically use knife or pencil scribe lines for cutting and the saw's detents seem to cut to the selected angle. I do use persuasion to move the blade hundredths or thousandths of an inch to meet the scribed line if necessary. But then I also use the saw for repeatable cuts and have never had an issue. The fence has required resetting but no other adjustments have ever been made.

As others here have suggested, following perhaps David Collins step-by-step setup guide will help identify and eliminate the issue. The saws are so fundamentally basic that one would think it could be brought back into perfect tune. As someone else noted ... even a brand new tool could (will) require setup and adjustment to perform flawlessly. I'd keep it and invest the effort to troubleshoot and bring into reliable service.

[Harvey Miller]

I had a non-sliding Hitachi that had been abused- the fence had a ding in it & was warped. I straightened the fence with a hammer (nothing to lose) and aligned it. On mine the fence was in two independent pieces (no bridge to join the sides). I adjusted one side to 90 degrees to the blade, then aligned the other side to the 'trued' side (I think I used a level as a straight edge). Put on a mdf zero clearance insert & fence front. It turned into a decent saw. Eventually I sold it to a apprentice trim carpenter. Aligning it made it an easier sell- and you don't really want to sell someone else your problem, do you? (At least no without warning them!).

[roger wiegand]

Nice article on setup, I'm going to apply it this weekend to my 10" hitachi slider. Too much moving the last couple of years and it got way off (like 1/16") I got it back close playing with the fences but it's still not perfect like it was before, so I think a systematic approach will help.

I have to admit to being amused by his use of "telephone book paper" as a thickness gauge-- I guess I'm going to have to visit antique stores in the area to track down such a thing!

[Mark Gibney]

Funny, I was admiring an Hitachi sliding chop saw just a few days ago. The lumber yard near me use one to shorten boards, and it is very quiet. I asked them if I could try it out, and I like it - it doesn't kick when the trigger is pulled (my Bosch kicks like a mule and screams like a Banshee) and was very smooth.

My Bosch is new and was way out of alignment when I first set it up. I expected it to be more difficult to adjust than it was, so I say you should poke around at your saw and see what you can do.

[Tom Deutsch]

Hello Cooper - I notice this is your first post; welcome to SawmillCreek! I hope we get to hear more from you. I agree with the others that you should expect to adjust any saw (especially a sliding mitre) for accuracy.

[Cooper Anderson]

Thank you to everyone who has offered advice. Much appreciated. This is a great website and I truly appreciate the responses. I bet 99% of everything I have learned, I learned from this site.

Here is the link from LJ that initially made me questions whether it was worth my time to try to fix my Hitachi saw. After reading this, I probably jumped too fast to the conclusion that my saw suffered from the same defect.

http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/699

Given everyone's responses, I'm going to dedicate some "family" time this Thanksgiving to fixing my saw. Thanks again for the advice.

[Cooper Anderson]

And if I can't fix it, then I'll soon have a hitachi saw for sale at a bargain basement price.

[michael langman]

Cooper, I had a Makita Compound sliding miter saw that I got from CPO a company that reconditions saws to new and sells them.
When I got my saw it would not line up to square and the back stops were very hard to adjust.
At first I was a little intimidated, and I am a tool maker by trade, but I disassembled the saw table and back stops carefully and closely examined the bottoms of all surfaces, checked parts for flatness an my cast iron table saw, and checked all bolt holes. I saw that a bolt hole was not giving enough clearance for adjustments and filed out the correct side of the hole to allow for more adjustment.
The saw has been fine since.
Look for things that don't look right, like small dings on edges, through bolt holes that have rub marks on one side, and parts that are not flat. Take your time and you should find something wrong.

[Cooper Anderson]

Thanks Michael. I'll follow your advice.

[Stuart Hicks]

Michael, I have a secondhand Hitachi C12RSH saw, and had the exact same problem with my fence, and my solution was the same as yours. I squared one fence (left side) to the blade, but the opposing fence would not allow clearance for fences to be coplanar (yes, I tried every position with both fences). So I filed out a bolt opening on the right fence to allow fences to be coplanar. Easy and straightforward solution IMO. The fence(s) haven't given me any issues since and the saw is still dead square.