Sticky slides on a Makita LS1013FL SCMS

[Paul Coffin]

Hi All,

For Christmas I was "allowed" to purchase a Makita LS1013FL sliding compound miter saw. Amazon had the saw on sale for $475, so I printed out their web page and took it down to home depot. The sales person I talked to said it was their policy to beat the competition by 10%! so that took it down to about $425. Coupled with a $100 gift certificate I was only out $325.

But I am seeing one problem with the saw. I have just found some time to use it and I have discovered that as I pull the saw forward, and then set it down to begin the saw stroke to the rear, The slides seem to be sticky (or not free to easily move) for a moment at the very beginning of the saw stroke. It does not happen every time but is very annoying when it does happen. Has anyone else seen this? Any sugestions on how to fix this?

Thanks for the help,

Paul

[John-Paul Murphy]

mine does that some times...make sure the slide lock screw is loose. that's what happens to mine.

[Paul Coffin]

I have that knob turned as loose as it will go, I am going to spend some time looking underneath the saw to see if I can see anything strange going on.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Paul, somethings goofy there, shockingly enough, they should not do that. Give it a good inspection, I bet you find a chunk of scrap, or something to be the culprit. Great saw, and congrats.

[Al Garay]

Paul,

I have a new 1013F (no laser), same issue as you. I used it yesterday and had the same hesitation when I went to start sliding forward. And it is very clean.

[Tom White]

I have exactly the same problem - drives me crazy .....

[Paul Coffin]

I think John-Paul may be onto something here. I had been loosening the inner lock ring in the handle until it stopped on the outer most handle. You can unscrew the inner handle further if unscrew the outer handle some more. I did not think this was needed because I was able to loosen the inner handle several turns, but maybe it needed a little more. On a few sample saw motions it did not hang up. I will not be convinced untill it work without hickups for a while.
Thanks for the suggestion.

[Bob Feeser]

Good point. I have the both the LS1212, and the LS1013. The 12 does not have that initial resistance that you speak of, but the 1013 does. I have the 12 setup on the Rousseau miter saw stand, and consequently it is the one that I use all of the time. So I have not fiddled with the 13 much. It was on sale at Amazon with a 449 price tag and an instant 50 dollar savings, plus Makita was giving away a 100 dollar drill, so I figured I could sell it on eBay. So for that price I wanted the 13 for a portable saw. I will be following this thread to see what the solution is. I figured it would work itself out. The possiblity that the inner release handle has to be loosened all the more is interesting.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

This means the rails are not prefectly sealed....had one that did the exact same thing...take it back and get another one.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

Yeah I agree it sounds like you have a defective saw. I've had my LS1214L for around 2 years now and have not had a single problem with it, and I use it everyday.

[Bob Feeser]

I have to update my post. I went into the shop and tried pushing on the brand new LS1013, never really used, other then to cut 2 sample cuts, and pushed on the sliding saw. Rather than a tightness in the beginning of the cut, then an easier release, it instead gave me a little more tightness all the way through as compared to my well used LS1212. The well used LS1212 has an easy slide feeling all the way through.
My previous statement about the LS1013 was due to my immediate impression that the amount of energy to push the sliding saw was a good bit more then the LS1212. But as it is will all things that create resistance, everything is tougher to get started, overcoming inertia, then once it get moving. Concentrating this time, to see if there is a tough spot at the beginning, it just isn't so. It can create that illusion but it is even in its resistance all the way.
Think about it. If something has no resistance to it at all, it would move without any hesitation even at the beginning. If it has more resistance, it would require a graduated amount of effort until you arrived at the point where the resistance was overcome, then once that level had been achieved, it would continue to move along.
(Pause)
I just went down to the shop again, and wanted to make sure if there was a resistance when the saw was fully extended before a cut, and once again, an even amount of resistance all the way through.
So the question is does the initial resistance appear as an illusion, or does it really lock up in the beginning. I know a super tight fit now can become a very firm and accurate one later. On the other hand an easy glide now, can become a sloppy fit later.

[John Browne]

Just checked mine and it's as smooth as silk. Takes virtually no effort to make it slide. Fairly new, little use, no banging around. Always vacuum off the dust when I'm through using it.