Now that I’ve got a good blade for my 12″ DeWalt miter saw, I’ve discovered that the right-side back-stop and the left-side back-stop (cast as one continuous piece) aren’t in the same plane.
If I adjust the saw so that pieces registered on the left side are cut off dead square, then the pieces registered on the right side will not be. And vice versa.
And, if I register the piece against both backstops in order to cut a long piece, then the angle is somewhere in the middle – and not square to either side. In this case, the piece is actually held slightly off contact with the left side back-stop, just next to the blade. Make the cut and the left hand piece moves slightly back against it’s backstop. Darn!
Is this kind of normal? As in “yeah, yeah, they all do that”? If so, how does one “tune” the darn thing so’s it’s accurate from either side?
If not, it think it’s return time.
Mike D
Replies
No, that doesn't sound right. If you're going to have any discrepancy at all from perfect alignment, it needs to be in the other direction, for safety reasons.
-Steve
Don't worry about it if it is small...My makita 10" has a similar fence and it's out of plane enough for 1x8 to show a 1/128" gap, but it's close enough for most of the stuff i bring it. If i want it dead nuts on, i bring it to the crosscut sled. I suppose you could lapp it on a tool surface or granite countetop or something...
Mike,
Probably some will say that what you are experiencing is normal. They obviously have accepted that their tool is a piece of junk and are willing to live with such shortcomings. I say that it is time to return your tool as defective and get one that is accurate. The issues that you describe will only make your work that much more frustrating. I own 2 Dewalt miter saws and both are dead-on accurate after you replace the cheap blades. After all, isn't that what waurantees are for?
Don't know how old yopur saw is but... they had a bad casting and were replacing the fence for free. Check w/ DW to see if yours is applicable. Got mine last Dec. and they replaced it with no problems. Mine was the upper left fence was skewed.
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