Amazing Saw for home project?

[sunny nic]

Hi, fellas. What kind of Saw do u guys use? Was wondering anyone of u have experience with this Miter Saw? It is said to have a lot of features that allow for quality work and it would allow the home handyman to do good work without the price tag of a professional grade tool. Sounds great, right? I'm not sure it is that awesome. Any thoughts? Is it nice tool for home project?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I bought that saw - actually a "better" version of it that came with a stand - on a Black Friday sale.
It sat unused for a year and two months. I unpacked it, dialed it in to perfection, stuck a decent Freud 80 tooth blade on it and installed crown molding in the living room of a rental.
When I finished the crown, I moved it down to the basement of the rental, changed the blade out to the original and began to use it to frame in a wall.
Midway through the framing job, I picked it up by the carry handle - and - that's exactly what I had in my hand - the handle.

The handle broke off of the motor housing and the saw was scrap.

I ended up going to my "backup" CMS to finish the basement. My "backup" was/is a Ryobi 10" that I bought for $59.00 on another Black Friday sale.
Wonderful saw. Twice what the Craftsman was for half the price.

I've posted this story before here and some have mentioned the breaking of the handle/motor housing as being a common thing on the Craftsman miter saws.

In all honesty though, that saw and it's upgrade brother have one very good feature. There's a lot of room on the right side of the motor for tall stock.
I have one of the Benchdog crown molding jigs & it fit easily under the right side of the Cman.
It won't fit under the right side of the Ryobi.

My "go to" CMS - the one that replaced the junk Cman is now a DeWalt 713. I sprung for the extra $$ for it because I wanted something a little better than decent.

One CMS that get's a lot of favorable mention that you may want to look at in the $100 to $120 range is the 10" Hitachi at Lowes. They have the one w/out the laser for $109.
You might want to look @ that one and ask around about it instead of the Craftsman.

[Curt Harms]

speaking of Hitachi, here's another possibility.
http://www.reconditionedsales.com/Hi...29___i237.aspx
Shipping for me would have been $12. Hitachi seems to have a decent rep and their professional grade nail guns are highly regarded.

[David Larsen]

This saw is at the lower end of the spectrum. It will do what you want in a basic fashion, but you could end up with some accuracy issues if you set it up and compare your compound bevels and miters. Solid quality will be lacking and it will feel a bit flimsy.

If you only want something for small projects here and there, then it would work for you. If you want something to set up in your shop for fine furniture making, trim, and accuracy, then I would look elsewhere.

[sunny nic]

This saw is at the lower end of the spectrum. It will do what you want in a basic fashion, but you could end up with some accuracy issues if you set it up and compare your compound bevels and miters. Solid quality will be lacking and it will feel a bit flimsy.

If you only want something for small projects here and there, then it would work for you. If you want something to set up in your shop for fine furniture making, trim, and accuracy, then I would look elsewhere.

I would just use it for small projects.

[Greg Peterson]

Accuracy and ease of of use are usually sacrificed in low priced tools. Project sizes can be a consideration, but performance is just as important for small projects as it is for large projects. Accuracy is accuracy.

[Marty Paulus]

I have an older version of this saw. It has served me well to date for what it is. I have it in a home made mitre stand with a DeWalt 80 tooth blade. It worked OK until I learned about the high tooth count mitre blades and such. It works great now other then the limits of a single bevel 10" saw. I am looking at 12" dual bevel saws as a replacement on my stand but will keep this for off site work.