Harbor Freight 10" SCMS $84.99

[Mr__Bill]

A friend is lusting for a SCMS, I'm not sure what besides some laminate flooring she is going to use it for. I see that Harbor Freight has the 98199 on sale with coupon for $84.99. It's a good price but is it a good saw?

With a birthday coming up I thought it would be a good gift for her. Any thoughts or experience with the saw will be appreciated.

And on another note I can't find the HF list of good tools.....


Bill, on the left coast
the sad part is I have started to forget what I have forgotten.

[cabinetman]

A friend of mine bought one to install his own base moulding, and complained it was a POS. So, I loaned him my vintage Craftsman radial arm miter saw.

.

[mjernigan]

Harbor Freight Gems

Here you are:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=47637&highlight=harbor+freight+ge ms

Hope I've posted that correctly... I've no experience with the saw you mentioned, though. Lots o' luck.

Mike

[Mr__Bill]

Thanks for the link. I'll have to bookmark it as I'll never remember it to search for.

Here you are:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=47637&highlight=harbor+freight+ge ms

Hope I've posted that correctly... I've no experience with the saw you mentioned, though. Lots o' luck.

Mike

[NewDIYer]

10 inch CSMS

My first HF purchase was a 10 inch sliding compound miter saw. I have used it for trim on windows and some routine straight cuts. I have not had any issues thus far.

[dbhost]

I have the 12" model. I fitted it with a Diablo 12" 80T blade, added loctite to the fence bolts, squared it up etc... Last night I crosscut a panel 2" wider than the max crosscut, Made my first cut, flipped it, and finished the cut. It came out perfect...

Like most miter saws, some adjustment is neccesary out of the box to get the desired results... IF you want the settings to stay put, use some Loctite blue on the fence bolt threads or else it WILL loosen up enough to knock the fence out.

[hophop]

My experience with the 10-incher is that the blade guard assembly is not smooth. I have to use my right thumb to push it a little as my right hand pull down on the handle to make a cut. The level that releases the lock of the miter arm is also poorly designed. It got stuck too. Other than that, the cut is fine with a decent blade.

I would not buy it again.

[cabinetman]

It would be interesting to get a list of HF's tools and find out who makes them.

.

[dbhost]

Like I mentioned, by experience is with the 12" slider. The comment about the guard on the 10" is a common one. There are several clones of that saw on the market, one from GMC tools, one from Craftsman, and I think Kobalt even labels one... All of them get complaints about the guard. Not the same story on the 12... When I bought my 12", I had a coupon to get it for $119.00, and the coupons for the 10" had it for $89.00. I felt the 12" offered enough extra capacity, and a better reputation to make it worth the extra $$.

[Mr__Bill]

My experience with the 10-incher is that the blade guard assembly is not smooth. I have to use my right thumb to push it a little as my right hand pull down on the handle to make a cut. The level that releases the lock of the miter arm is also poorly designed. It got stuck too. Other than that, the cut is fine with a decent blade.

I would not buy it again.

Are you swinging the saw down and then pulling it out for the guard to stick? I understand that one should pull the saw out and then down, and cut pushing it back. -- and I'm not sure where I got that from either. I would seem that cutting that way the guard would not be catching. My saw is not a sliding model and I have no real experience with the slider.

Bill, on the left coast

[hophop]

Are you swinging the saw down and then pulling it out for the guard to stick? I understand that one should pull the saw out and then down, and cut pushing it back. -- and I'm not sure where I got that from either. I would seem that cutting that way the guard would not be catching. My saw is not a sliding model and I have no real experience with the slider.

Bill, on the left coast

The guard on my saw is stuck regardless of the procedure you describe. At any position on the slider, the guard must swing up to fully expose the blade as the user pushes down the handle.

[hophop]

delete duplicate post

[Mr__Bill]

The guard on my saw is stuck regardless of the procedure you describe. At any position on the slider, the guard must swing up to fully expose the blade as the user pushes down the handle.

Thanks for the reply. As she is a bit of a novice I may have to rethink my choice of saw.

Bill
when you think about it, nothing is easy