Piper27
Well-known member
Got a coupon from Harbor Freight for $79.99 for a 10" sliding compound miter saw. Wondering if anyone here has one of these, if so what do you think of them. Thanks alot
Harbor Freight Miter Saw
- Thread starter Piper27
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Conductor562
Well-known member
I had one about 3 years ago. It was the biggest p.o.s. I've ever used. I gave it away if that tells you anything.
Depends on what you are going to use it to do. It's basically a construction saw for framing, not a finish saw for woodwork. As a construction saw, I've been pounding the daylights out of my old orange saw for over ten years, but a friend who bought one for molding work said it was off a few degrees and made his work look like ****.
bigbearcraig
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 26, 2012
- Messages
- 129
Go to the Harbor Freight site and check out what people that have purchased them say. If the reviews aren't good, don't buy.
Conductor562
Well-known member
"It's off a few degrees" is being nice, very nice. Don't plan on doing any trim with it.
StevePgh
Well-known member
^^^ Totally Agree ^^^
That said, the design has subtly changed since my old orange one. That could mean it is better or worse. I personally don't beat mine up, and I'd much rather have the accuracy, so mine is slated for eventual replacement. Fantastic for 3 X 5 landscape timbers and lots of **** work.
They are probably worse than our orange ones. We have two stop nut adjusters to square ours up. Mine is off maybe 2 degrees as I've never adjusted it. Within 2 degrees for construction work is perfect in my book.
evintho
Well-known member
Keep an eye on CL. I picked this up for $100. Like a hot knife through butter!
StevePgh
Well-known member
I was able to adjust mine to be fairly accurate, especially when in the detents, the problem is there is a slight wobble that throws it off. If I am REALLY careful I can make a clean accurate cut, but nothing I'd want to depend on for repeatability. I threw away the wide kerf blade that came with it. When I bought it, I was a new homeowner, so it was for framing duties and I never expected to get into woodworking. Now that I am getting into it, I wish I had the money to spend on a better one back then, but I got my money out of it, and it is completely usable by someone else when I upgrade.
I've used some really nice and accurate Hitachi's, and a friend swears by his Delta (looks exactly like evintho's). A neighbor complains about his lower-end Delta, but he is by no means an expert woodworker, and I'd guess he hasn't actually adjusted his.
My father in law had a HF chainsaw "sharpener" (old orange style) that has so much side to side movement that I won't use it. I'm back to the Dremel for that.
StaggeringGoat
Well-known member
I have one. Like others say it's fine for framing work but not for making furnature. For rough, square cuts I haven't had one problem. I saw the exact same saw at Home Depot with different color plastic and a Ryobi sticker for twice as much.
Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. I stopped at Harbor Freight and looked at one of them set up. I wasn't really impressed with the quality. They had two of them in boxes underneath the one that was set up, and the boxes were all beat to hell and taped up. Made me think they were returns. Think I'll take EvenTho's advice and keep an eye on CL for a deal.