I Delta Tool Boxes

Review by W. Raley : SWEET SAW

My experience differs from some of the other reviewers. First, adjustment was not great right out of the box: both bevel and miter were almost 0.5 degree off. I found adjustment slightly tedious, but who cares, the adjustment mechanism provides for great precision and strength. Took me about twenty minutes to get it perfect. Second, I can't produce the gap in the middle of a cut that other reviewers found to be a problem. Eight to twelve inch cuts in mahogany ply, 3/4 and 4/4 cherry, white oak, and mahogany have been dead on (placing the cut edge on my table saw table shows no detectable gap, and miters show no gap). Third, I've made a couple of hundred cuts or so in the above woods using the blade that came with the saw, and they are smooth as glass, allowing clean miters with no gap. Many of my miters involve odd angles and often I need to swing the miter both left and right (for hatch covers on a yacht), and I find the miter lock override very easy to use, and the scale to be accurate. When I use the 45 degree left and right stops, the 90 degree joints are perfect. So far, I have used the saw only in my shop, where it glides beautifully; have not had an opportunity to test the cold weather problem mentioned by another reviewer. I like the laser as much as I like any laser; handy for some cuts in oddly angled pieces (e.g. hatch covers), but, whenever practical, lining the blade up with a marked line is still the most reliable way, in my judgment. Everyone is right about dust collection. The bag misses most of the dust, and with the port connected to my shop system probably ten percent of the dust escapes. I really like the upfront controls and the adjustable handle. The quiet power and the fast acting blade brake are nothing but pleasure. All in all it's one of my favorite tools, and I love using it.

Review by M. Pennington "master carpenter" : sad

I, like many other reviewers, make my living using miter saws, so I have tried almost every one available. I chose the Bosch because my experience with their products in the past has been flawless. The thing that first attracted me to this miter saw was the 60 degree miter capacity, which is worth the price of the saw by itself when siding on the gable. When I received the saw, it had some issues. I would suggest every owner check their fence to be sure it is true(I had the same problem with my Makita). The "uni-fence" design is a great idea, but the manufacturers seem to have a difficult time making them straight. This can be fixed with a little trial and error by clamping across the table and pulling the fence back and forth until it is right. (Don't forget to loosen at least one of the fence bolts, the outside ones are almost impossible to loosen) It doesn't take much force, and the magnesium (I think) has almost no rebound. Once this is fixed, there is a glimmer of hope, but the problem is hard to catch at first. Even a 1/32" gap behind the straght edge will cause the blade to burn when cutting wide pieces. My saw table also had an alarming amount of wobble in the table, but tightening the pivot bolt on the underside of the saw helped to correct this some. (Again, there is a fine line, tightness here also makes the table difficult to turn.) The bevel/miter controls are where this saw really stands above any other. They are intuitive and positive. The dual compound feature was a quantum leap in miter saw technology, but most other saws make it cumbersome. This saw makes it really easy. The knob to the left of the lock lever allows positive control and locks the blade square(plumb) if you want it to. Here again, my saw may not work correctly, because it looks like there are 3 positions, but mine only engages 2. Still, it is easy to release, and return to square. My advice to any potential buyer is to ponder whether you really need the 12" size. When cutting large crown molding, it really shines, but the larger diameter blade deflects significantly more than the 10". This makes the 10" more accurate for most cutting. The 12" blades also cost almost twice as much, and cannot be used for crosscutting on the tablesaw. The cutting capacity of the 12" is about 5" x 12", and the 10" is 4" x 12". Either will cut a standard 4x4, and neither will cut a 6x6. I gave it three stars because it is disappointingly inaccurate. I thought I had finally found the perfect trim saw, but it really is an average performer in a really sweet package.

Review by atimbomb : Fantastic - More than I hoped for

I couldn't wait to brag on this saw! Bought this saw just before Christmas and have done 2 major projects and numerous small jobs because I can't take my hands off of it. It setup in less than 15 minutes (and that consisted of screwing in the miter lock knob, installing the laser, and clearing a spot in the garage). Cut PERFECT 90 (zero) degree out of the box in locked position. I've now done everything this saw has to offer and it's DEAD-ON as it FLOATS through the cut. I've done depth-of-cut (dado) cuts at 45 degree bevel (left and right) to create shop jigs. Already done 4x4s and 1 x 12s at 45 degree bevel. Did floor molding miters standing upright against back fence (sliding arm feature is awesome for this). Cut free-form angle miters and 45, 22.5, and 60 all in the pre-set locking stops - this saw is TIGHT. No play in the dual arm slider - solid. Bevel and Miter functions both utilize pre-locking stops. Miter adjusts left and right by simple trigger button then locks into place. Table turns smooth and with little effort. There is NO play in the mechanism. The dual bevel and dual miter feature is a DEFINATE plus - have already used both when I wondered if it was ever necessary. Back fence is single piece to maintain accuracy from left to right side as it goes around the blade. Left and right fences slide in and out independently to accommodate bevels/miters - but a short 1 inch piece (unifence) stays in place so you always have a true back plane to square the work piece. The top part of the fence adjusts easily by loosing one knob - slides very easily in a groove and stays TRUE. Doesn't fall off and it's not clumsy. Have never had a cut-off jam in blade slot or against fence due to misalignment. Side extensions are helpful. Never had a work piece hang or snag on the side extensions or on the fence as I was sliding it across the table. Everything about this saw is clean and smooth and well aligned. It's got carry handles that seem to be placed in a balanced configuration although I've only moved it short distances (but MANY times). Has depth-of-cut setting (with quick release) which works on bevels and miters. Has a locking pin to lock the head in the down position for chop cuts or sliding cuts (or BOTH at the same time). Can also lock the slider at ANY distance from the fence. You can make any conceivable combination of cuts with this saw. This saw does not create saw dust - it creates saw "powder" and lots of it. Never seen anything like this before. RPMs are dead-on to make this saw glide through every cut. By the way, I used the standard blade that shipped with my unit in regards to all the comments in this review. Laser is accurate but personally I line the blade teeth up on the cut line before powering up the saw. Blade guard has NEVER gotten in my way - including 45 degree bevels - will likely be the FIRST blade guard I've ever left in place. Blade brake is very nice! Base has numerous mounting holes for when the day comes. I've actually used the left handed operator feature a few times (which requires no adjustment - has dual buttons). This was handy when the best/safest way to hold the work-piece was on the right side of the table. I built two large lofts for the kids' rooms. Serious projects with large (4x4, 2x8) to small (3/4" molding) lumber. Railings, ladders, bookshelves, tables, small hobby pieces, base molding (around 8 corners), and window sill - all using standard cutoffs to 45 degree bevels on up to 1x12" deep shelving. Cedar, pine, MDF, oak. All with perfect accuracy and perfectly flush joints! Including a couple of butt joints which are never a good idea, but were dead square with flat faces on this saw. I've been getting by for years with a top-notch table saw and circular saw - debating too long whether to add a radial-arm-saw or sliding-compound-miter. I grew up with a radial arm available for cross cutting - but have been paralyzed for some time to make a decision between the two. After reading NUMEROUS opinions on the web, I decided on SCMS. WOW! What a waste of time the last few years have been. The price of this saw is immeasurable to the headaches you will save and accuracy you will gain. I paid $560 with free shipping and didn't have to pay sales tax. It was WELL worth it. Now I just noticed that Amazon has $110 discount for $500+ power saws. I used my hard earned Christmas bonus to help purchase the saw but missing out on the $110 savings doesn't even phase me as this saw is a steal at $560 without any discounts. I could write more, but I've already spent so much time with my saw that I need to spend some time with my wife.... Family time tonight consisted of the kids helping dad screw some new (Bosch) shelves together in the living room while mom watched from the couch.

Review by P. Rush "RushDewalt" : Excellant saw, so far

Im a contactor and we do all our trim work in house. After 10 great years of service, our Dewalt 708 finally kicked the bucket. After reading all the reviews I could find and talking with other trade workers, I limited my choices to the Dewalt 718, Makita 1214, and the Bosch 5412. I thought the new Dewalt was a step back from our old 708. The head seemed to flex more , the rails are smaller diameter, I just didn't care for it. I liked the Makita, but just didn't care for the placement of the mitre scale over to the side. That left the Bosch. After reading some reviews of arbor problems on this saw, I contacted Bosch to find out if this was a common problem. They admitted that they had had an arbor problem early on but had resolved it about a year ago. So I bought the Bosch. First the cons: 1) First off the blade that comes with this saw is a joke. It had so much run out I thought the saw had the dreaded arbor problem. But after replacing it with the blade from the Dewalt it ran true and smooth. 2) I didn't care for the laser. In projects its line slightly to the side of the actual cut line. I felt more comfortable doing it the old fashioned way and just eyeing the blade to the cut line. Therefore the laser now resides in my glove box. 3) The mitre table was dead on out of the box. But the bevel was out 1.5 degrees. Setting the bevel on this saw is a little more difficult than it should be. It involves loosening 2 bolts, a set screw, and turning another bolt for the actual adjustment. I will say that once its set it should stay set for a long time. The pros: 1) What a sweet cutting saw, with the correct blade and the saw adjusted correctly this is one fine trim saw. Plenty of power and very accurate. 2) The front bevel control is great. Time will tell how it will hold up on the jobsite, but this is really a nice feature for repeditive bevel cuts. I dont think it will be long before other saw makers will start offering a similar feature. 3) The adjustable handle,extending table, and detent overide are all nice features that make using this saw even more efficient. All in all I really like this saw so far. Its almost made me forget the sad demise of my trusted 708, almost. But I can highly recommend this saw, just count on replacing the blade. Update: Well, I've returned the saw to Amazon. As the poster a couple of posts above mine has mentioned the cuts on wider boards (6" to 11") left small gaps in the middle of the cut. At first I thought I might have had some blade deflection, but after changing blades ( I only use full Kerf blades) a couple of times the cut remained gapped at the same place in the cut. The first 2 to 3 inches the cut was perfect after that it was simply off. If for example you cut across an 8" piece of 3/4 birch plywood then butted the cut edges together you would end up with a gap 2 to 3 inches long in the middle of the cut. Not a large gap, but large enough to require some filler. Not what you need for stain grade cabinets. Also, at least on my saw the slides were very temperature sensitive. At 40 degrees the slides were very tight. At 60 degrees and above it was fine. My Dewalt never did this. Its really a shame, I liked the features of this saw alot. And weather my problem was caused by an slight arbor problem or a minor slide problem it just isn't do for my kind of work. I am now in the process of ordering a Makita LS1214. It dosen't have all the features of the Bosch, but hopefully it will be more consistant in its cut. Therefore, I have to lower my rating to 3 stars.