Miter saw tearout

[LCHIEN]

I've been noticing on my mitersaw that I have been getting tearout on the backside of the cut. I don't recall this being a problem in the past, but maybe I've changed blades as I used to use a CMT 96T before I wrecked it and then for a while a DeWalt 100T blade.
I have a 12" 80T negative hook angle Avanti Pro blade on my miter saw, the cuts are clean and smooth but the backside seems to have a fair amount of tearout.
Varying the speed of the cutting stroke doesn't seem to help any.

2x2 cut shown


I'd like to reduce or eliminate this. Some articles on the internet suggest I need a zero clearance backing on the fence and on the bottom.

Is the blade need sharpening? Or a better blade? Or is the zero clearance backing the real solution (Don't like it because I frequently make angles cuts and the backing has to be removed and won't help those cuts).

Any advice?

[leehljp]

Zero clearance, plus I think it is a characteristic of that wood you are using. I think a hardwood grain would not splinter as much, if at all.

[LCHIEN]

Internet suggestion


from https://www.woodsmith.com/article/so...iter-saw-cuts/

[dbhost]

Interesting. I have, no clue what the tooth count is, but a Diablo 12" cross cutting blade in my HF slider, no tearout, however I tend to make my cuts with slow / steady pressure, not just ramming through it...

[capncarl]

Zero clearance bottom and back are just dandy on a Sliding miter saw until you change the angle or bevel, then your zero clearance isn’t any more. Dry pine chips out like that. It a bother to do but if you mark the edges of your cut with a sharp blade a lot of the rear out goes away. It’s probably easier than replacing your back and bottom plate after each angle cut. For wood that I don’t want tear out I tape a thin piece of sacrificial wood to the tear out sides.

[LCHIEN]

I think Maybe even a piece of painters tape may resolve the tearout... I think that's something I need to try.

[LCHIEN]

Some more experimenting this morning:


My $100 100T Dewalt blade does the same thing as the $15 80T Avanti Pro after swapping blades. However the more expensive, higher tooth count blade does have a noticeably smoother cut.

interestingly, both sides of the cut have different amounts of tear out. I wonder why that is?:



In the picture the side that is up was to the rear of the cut, i.e. the exit side.

Maybe its really a function of the wood, as Hank says.

[leehljp]

I am curious about something - do you use stabilizers? Not sure if it can be done on miter saws, but it dawned on me that wobble could cause more tear out on one side than the other.

That photo also hints that the short piece has the most tear out; could it be that the hold down was on the longer size, not allowing for vibration, while the short side, while not being held down was free to vibrate and tear out because it was NOT held down?

[LCHIEN]

No stabilizers. See the next post. This guy had unequal tear out, too. I wondered about the clamped piece and free piece. In my picture I was holding the left side piece firmly, the right side piece with the more tear out was free to move. That brings up the question would a larger more massive piece or even a clamped piece have less tear out?

[LCHIEN]

This Amazon review of Diablo 100T shows a big improvement changing blades... 2x2 again
Like me, he had unequal tearout, too.

I'm looking for that right hand cut.




Hmmm. Home Depot has that Diablo blade D12100X for $75. Amazon for $48. Very tempting...

[capncarl]

I am right handed, operate the saw with my right hand and clamp on the left side of the blade, and have noticed less tearout when clamped on the right side of the blade? Makes no sense but I still clamp on the left. Unless the work piece is less than 3 ft long it always get clamped

[LCHIEN]

I presume you are talking about Miter saw,

[capncarl]

Yes, Hitachi 10” cms, nicknamed the sawdust spreader. I wish I could get my lawn fertilizer spreader to sling fertilizer as consistent as this machine does.

[LCHIEN]

Good news. I did get the Freud Diablo D12100X blade. And it works great. Meaning the blade is the solution.

Here are some cuts. The wood has been rotated 90 degrees to you so that the rear tearout in the miter saw is now on the top for easy viewing.
The first picture shows the Avanti 12" 80T blade tearout on the right (really bad). And the Dewalt 12" 100T on the left, or at least half of it. I took this the other night.



Here are two cuts I made tonight below. Different piece of wood, so I repeated the DeWalt cut. First I made the right cut with the DeWalt 12" 100T and there is tearout similar to the tearout the night before,
The cut on the left is the new blade, the Freud Diablo D12100X with 12" 100T and a 7 degree hook angle. As you can see there is virtually no tearout.
I jumped on it partly because Amazon had it for $48 and Home Depot and just about everywhere else had it for $70 to $75.
So I am very happy. (but $50 poorer.)



So basically I was able to duplicate the results of the Amazon user review and get tearout free cuts in pine with the Diablo D12100X

[LCHIEN]

Dang, just looked. they dropped the price of the blade more than $4, now $45.72
And the 80T version is $48.

[leehljp]

That is good to know Loring. Thanks for bringing this up.

[dbhost]

This Amazon review of Diablo 100T shows a big improvement changing blades... 2x2 again
Like me, he had unequal tearout, too.

I'm looking for that right hand cut.




Hmmm. Home Depot has that Diablo blade D12100X for $75. Amazon for $48. Very tempting...

That right cut is what I get on my Central Machinery 12" SCMS with the Diablo blade. Seriously consider going with one of them, you won't regret it.

[LCHIEN]

100 tooth version? I think they sell 60,80, 90, too.

[dbhost]

LCHIEN I got the 80T. FWIW, I have suffered very little tearout with any of my DIablo blades. Good price, great blades...