Recommend me a benchtop forward rail miter saw?

[ps2cho]

I want to build a miter station and other than the Festool (probably more than I want to spend at $1700...) My existing Dewalt 779 wont work.

There is the Rigid, Makita, Bosch GCM12SD, Wen and Metabo...
Each one appears to have negatives to them. The Matika the rails don't slide for bevel cuts and you have to remove them (really?)
The Rigid and Wen both say the dust collection is non-existant and Rigid is out of stock everywhere.
...The Bosch appears good but theres no factory LED/Shadow Light.

Anyone help guide me here on which to buy?

 

[nadogail]

I am Very Pleased with the 12" Miter Saw i bought at Harbor Freight.

 

[ps2cho]

I am Very Pleased with the 12" Miter Saw i bought at Harbor Freight.

Its not a forward rail miter saw.

 

[jar944]

I have a bosch glide. I'm not a fan of it for anything beyond rough framing.

 

[tak1313]

I have the GCM and haven't had issues with precision, but being DIY, it's not like I depend on it either (but I am an@l when I do make stuff).

All sliding/gliding saws flex, and for me, there is no more flex than the saw I used to use (Dewalt DW708). I got the GCM for space reasons (plus it's cool looking), and find it's very precise as long as I'm careful with my body/shoulder position along with making sure I don't put lateral pressure when sliding/gliding - but that was also the case with the Dewalt. I did have to increase the glide resistance because it felt weirdly loose/easy initially (there's a screw in the arm that can increase the push/pull resistance).

The stock blade that came with it *****, but the stock blade with any saw *****. I never use stock blades and just keep them for rough/garbage cuts.

I did find this phenomenon with the GCM and braking. The first blade I replaced it with was the ultra-thin kerf Ridgid. It's no longer sold, but it was made by Freud/Diablo and they still have an equivalent in their lineup. With the ultra-thin kerf, the braking didn't work very well, and I thought it was an issue with the brake mechanism and just kept going with it until one day when I swapped out a full kerf blade with a negative rake because I wanted to see how a negative rake blade did on a slide miter (never used one before). Lo and behold, the brake worked fine. I've been using a regular kerf (positive rake) blade from CMT for awhile now, and the brake has been working great.

Before buying the GCM, I read a few complaints about the glide mechanism not being perfectly perpendicular (ie. the blade drifts from left to right or vice versa as the arm moves across - not a function of angle), but I also read the same complaints with every saw I looked at.

If I feel I need 'extra' precision and the cut isn't too wide, I lock it and use it in a non-gliding position.

 

[tarbellb]

Nobody wants to read the question, or dont understand what a rail forward miter saw is? (barring you Jar944)

Highly recommend you look at the (now) Metabo HPT / Hitachi version.
Looks like they may have stopped production on the corded version - C10FSHCT?

But the 36v version is still selling on Amazon HERE

This design was out before the Kapex, has been field tested, and still a great saw. Rail forward is definitely a cool design that I wish more companies adopted. Good luck.



corded sells at Lowes and Acme, both currently oos

 

[whateg01]

Nobody wants to read the question, or dont understand what a rail forward miter saw is? (barring you Jar944)

Highly recommend you look at the (now) Metabo HPT / Hitachi version.
Looks like they may have stopped production on the corded version - C10FSHCT?

But the 36v version is still selling on Amazon HERE

This design was out before the Kapex, has been field tested, and still a great saw. Rail forward is definitely a cool design that I wish more companies adopted. Good luck.



corded sells at Lowes and Acme, both currently oos

That's the one I have. The detents for common angles are a little wide so make some test cuts to determine which side is more accurate, then push it against that side of the stop before locking. Overall I'm happy with it for framing. If I was doing more trim, I might feel differently. But it's no worse than any other sliding miter saw.