Bosch miter saw _ 12 inch slider _ play in angles

[andrew whicker]

This miter saw has some slop in the angles you lock into. Not a lot, but it is there.

I've been accepting defeat for a while on this one particular problem. Mainly because it's not a huge deal. But I just made a new zero clearance bed and it has me revisiting the issue.

The only way to reasonably fix this seems to be by fattening up the tongue that slots into the angle slots. Has anyone done this? I'm thinking something sandable but also holds up..( bondo? ) to one side of the tongue. Get it to fit tight and adjust the table rotation as necessary.

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[Curt Harms]

I have a Hitachi slider and yes there's a tiny bit of slop just using the notches. This saw has the notches to select common angle but then you can turn the miter knob as a lock at any angle. When I was setting this saw up I set the saw to 90* using the notches then applied moderate pressure to the saw handle and turned the locking knob. That removed any slop due to the notch locking mechanism. Then set the fence so it's as close to 90* as I could manage. When I move the miter adjustment I use that same moderate pressure before locking. I jointed and ripped some pieces from poplar so it was as straight as I could manage then cut some 45* and 90* miters, put them on the table saw table and checked for fit and square. They were as good as I felt I could expect from a SCMS. If I wanted better miter accuracy and repeatability I'd probably have kept the non-slider saw.

[andrew whicker]

Yeah, that basically describes what I'm doing too. It does give good resulrs

[John TenEyck]

I have a Bosch DCMS. I've never noticed a problem with the preset angle notches. If you tighten the lock it stays put. Any deviation after that is in the arm, etc. The problem I had was everything needed to be adjusted to work properly. I bought the saw after reading all the glowing reviews of how it was perfect out of the box. Horse puckies. Nothing was perfect; far from it. Two hours or more to dial everything in and it's been great ever since, for what it is, a miter saw. If you want perfection, use a shooting board to trim those miters, preferably one I made.

John

[Bill Dufour]

To remove slop do as suggested. Push/pull handle to right or left depending on how you use it as you lock down the miter. Adjust so it is exactly 90. Then always push in that direction with that force as you use it. 3-5 pounds of force is plenty.
With it turned off pull the saw to full extension. Push left right and watch the blade move side to side next to a pice of scrap touching the blade.
Bill D