Do I really need a compond miter saw?

[aschueler]

I noticed a few days ago that my craftsman miter saw wasn't perfectly square to its fence. I thought I had really carefully done that, but whatever I finally got around to looking at it again today.

Checking with several good squares I found that one side of the fence squares to the blade, but then the OTHER side of the fence does not. Laying a long straight edge against the entire length of the fence shows some gaps here and there.

Thus, my saw sucks.

Mulling this over, I have seen a table saw accessory from Kreg for what looks like pretty accurate miter cuts/cross cutting. It's a whole lot cheaper than buying a quality miter saw.

Or maybe I should see if Sears has a fence replacment they could sell me? As long as THAT one isn't off?

[Jammin]

Does the fence bolt onto the body of the saw. You maybe able to shim the fence and get it square.

[aschueler]

Fence is kinda horse shoe shaped; it curves behind the saw and it's actually one unit. Not the kind of thing that I could shim.

[farmerkev]

I am not sure, I think the table saw idea sounds good, my shop teacher has told me to NEVER buy a craftsman powertool. The prices are too good though, and I bought a craftsman table saw, it sucks ( I dont mean to bash products, and know several people could say all good about craftsman) I also bought a router, it broke and cost me a nice router bit, but the repalcement router seems pretty nice, although Ive only used it a few times. The main problem I have found with craftsman is that they outdate their equipment often, and then you can no longer get replacement parts. I will stick away from the craftsman power tools for now on, but they have some of the best hand tools on the market.

Sorry though, wasnt much of an answer, but the kreg idea would probably be a goog bet.

[Don]

Hey, aschueler - It really depends on if you need portability or not. We've all gotten used to mitre saws and thinking they are the be-all end-all. They were really created around the need to have something on the jobsite. If you can get the cuts you need on a table saw, you will probably find you are more accurate.

dawjr

[old_guy]

Just a thought --

Is it possible to take a stiff piece of MDF, or something similar, and just attach it to the face of your warped fence. You'd have to shim it to line up properly and you'd lose a little width on your cuts -- but it might possibly save it from the scrap heap. Cross cuts are so much easier and safer than on a table saw.

[Dagster]

My CMS is mostly a cut-off saw or jobsite saw. I use it to cut rough lenghts when building furniture etc... I take the final cut to the tablesaw. I do own a rather nice blade for the CMS though and once in a while will square it up real nice and use it for a run of cut-offs for furniture making. For the most part I use my tablesaw with sled or other fixtures.

I also have a home built panel saw. Wonderful for cutting pieces down to manageable sizes, sort of the same use I have for my CMS.

Oh, I do use the CMS for interior trim work though but I'd like to have two set up so I can zero them in and leave them.

Darren