Mastercraft 10-in Sliding Mitre Saw with Laser
4.2
5
8
9
Great Value
Picked up this saw on sale and it's been awesome. Straight cuts, angles...you name it. I'm not a professional carpenter, but I know my way around a woodshop.
This saw is a great combination of value and quality.
May 21, 2013
Darn nice saw!
Darn nice saw! I've had the saw for about a year now and for the most part it's been excellent. The motor is considerably more powerful than my last mitre saw and I find that makes a huge difference.
As lots of other reviewers have noted, on several occasions when doing a straight 90* cut I have found that the bottom corner of the stock – that corner that would sit closest to the bottom of the fence – doesn’t get cut all the way through! I thought at first that I had accidentally locked the slide a little bit too far forward or something, but I have checked very carefully and found that the slide is set back as far as it could go; the blade was as close to the fence as it could get, yet it just wasn’t back far enough to get the last half a millimetre of that bottom corner! What’s confusing is that this doesn’t happen all the time.
Overall, this is a great saw that's very accurate and powerful.
May 5, 2013
CUTS TO THE CHASE
Whenever I make a purchase checking all products and reviews of all makes and models is a must. I am a diy who may have the saw sit a take up space for months without using it.I have had this product a year know and have used to build a fence and a coffee/end tables.When I puchased the saw I also bought the MC mitre stand.it make a excellent work station.Out of the box saw cut perfectly.I gauged all the mitre cuts and all were dead on.I found all the angle cuts easy with the handle right in front of you, The bevels also dead on and easy to set.The laser is a bit dull but also dead on.While building the fence the saw woked great,but accuracy is not an issue. The coffee tables it certainly is and they are perfect.My skill level is very low and with saw I was still able to make mitre cuts that stands to the critical eye, that of friends and family when its comes to furniture.The saw is an excellent value and easy to work with even if your not a master carpenter.Buy it on sale and enjoy.
December 23, 2012
am thoroughly disappointed
This saw i purchased to make nice square cuts for the projects i wiork on.As it turns out the fence is not 100% square so when you want to make an end cut if you press your work piece flush with the fence,the cut isn't true,and lord knows i can't find any adjustment for this problem.So if you are buying this unit make sure that your fence is true square.Not buying another one like this for sure.
December 17, 2012
Rates a 7 out of 10 (1 being a karate chop)
The Good:
* Most simply, this saw does what it is supposed to do: it cuts compound mitre cuts on a slide. This might be stating the obvious, but I remember it was a point of contention in a certain “borg” thread once, so I thought I’d mention it.
* It is light. Compared to other similar saws this one is pretty easy to lift and carry around. That’s good if you need portability.
* The laser is well placed and very useful. It is situated at the base of the arm, right beneath the blade. It’s a good stable location so that the laser doesn’t move around as you slide the cut. It’s fully adjustable so you can position it to the left, right or centre of the blade. It draws power from the saw, so you don’t have to use separate batteries like some other saws.
* The slide lock is a single easy-to-turn knob that is very accessible on the side of the slide. This is much preferable to the dewalt where the slide lock is a stubby little hard to reach and turn knob on the top-back of the slide.
* Blade changing is easy. Loosen one screw, slide the blade guard up, then use the wrench to loosen the arbour nut and off you go. All the hardware you need is stored on board in a nice rubber holder behind the fence.
* The depth-stop screw is also easy to set and engage.
* When everything is set properly, I found this saw to cut with a degree of accuracy beyond my ability to criticize. Maybe someone with some digital micro-callipers or something could find some discrepancy, but I couldn’t.
* It has a small footprint, especially when you turn the mitre to 45*, so it doesn’t take up much room on the shelf. Good if you have to store it or transport it.
* It’s a good looking saw! Compared to some of the odd shaped and coloured monstrosities out there, this one just looks sharp!
The Bad:
* The front of the guard has a bad habit of getting stuck on bigger stock. It really does need to have one of those roller-wheels on the front of it like the dewalt has. It has got stuck on me a few times and then I am in the awkward position of being in the middle of a cut but not being able to lower the saw anymore until I manually life the guard up a bit – but if one hand is holding the stock and the other holding the trigger, which hand do you use to move the guard? You are forced either to let go of the stock and fix the guard with that hand, or stop the cut, reposition, and then cut again. The first option is dangerous, but the second inevitably results in a misaligned bad cut!
* It only bevels one direction. This isn’t that uncommon nor insurmountable, but a double bevel would be really nice. I don’t know how much that would increase the cost, but this is the Maximum line after all – it’s supposed to be the top line, so save the cost-cutting-corner-cutting for the lesser lines, and let’s put a full double bevel in the maximum line. Further, the bevel lock is a giant star-shaped knob on the back. This is hard to reach around and grab, and time consuming to use. The push-button quick lock system the dewalt has is really worth emulating here.
* On several occasions when doing a straight 90* cut I have found that the bottom corner of the stock – that corner that would sit closest to the bottom of the fence – doesn’t get cut all the way through! I thought at first that I had accidentally locked the slide a little bit too far forward or something, but I have checked very carefully and found that the slide is set back as far as it could go; the blade was as close to the fence as it could get, yet it just wasn’t back far enough to get the last half a millimetre of that bottom corner! What’s confusing is that this doesn’t happen all the time. I wondered if it was something I was doing wrong, but when I lent the saw to my father he experienced the same problem a few times, so if it was user error then it was obviously an error that was far too easy for the user to commit, which I think then becomes a design flaw.
* like most saws, the dust collection doesn't work very well, and the mounting bracket will snap off like a twig if you look at it the wrong way. I snapped off the first one while carrying the saw and it brushed against my leg!
*The worst problem by far is something I’ve come to call “table-creep.” I’ve found that when you set the mitre to anything but 0* when you perform multiple cuts in a row the mitre can actually slip out a degree or two. In other words, if you set it to 45*, by your third cut it has slipped to 47*! This is because the mitre lock simply does not lock the table enough.
* It comes with a clamp and two side extensions with built in rollers. The extensions look cool, but since I have the saw mounted on a table with it’s own bigger extensions, I took these off long ago and never used them. The clamp I have also never used. I wish the clamp would attach behind the table – out of my way – and reach over the fence and press down on the stock from above. Then I would use it. Right now that clamp just sits on the shelf.
The Bottom Line:
I’m only an occasional user, and not as serious as many workers here. I’m truly a mid-level user. I don’t need to blow $800 on the dewalt scms. I was hoping this Mastercraft Maximum scms would fill my needs and last me right till retirement, at which time I could buy a fancy new “retirement saw.” This saw has a lot of good things going for it, and, notwithstanding the problems I listed, on 9 out of 10 cuts I do it performs exactly as I would like, fulfilling my needs perfectly. Overall, however, the problems I’ve encountered are cumulatively just too annoying to think that I could put up with this saw till retirement. I will definitely have to upgrade before then. However, this saw has come close enough to meeting the mark that when it comes time to upgrade I will certainly consider the next model of this saw, and if the next model addresses all or even most of the problems I describe, I am pretty sure that I will buy it. If another mid-level woodworker asked me if they should buy this saw, I would first ask “is it on sale?” and then ask “does the sale price pretty much max your budget?” If the answer to both of those was “yes,” then I would tell them to go ahead and buy and be confident that they will be getting a great deal for their money. At this time, however, I do not think it is worth the full list price, and if they could afford the next saw up the line, I would probably recommend that.
Rating it on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the dewalt, 1 being a good karate chop to the wood) I would grade this saw a 7.
June 5, 2012
Not Bad...
Purchased this saw, along with the two level mitre saw stand, on the final day of them being on sale.
First of all, never assume that the factory is going to correctly set up/calibrate a tool before shipping and in this case it was true.
The 90 degree mitre was bang on, but for the bevels, they were off. Using a geometry set (the school type) and a adjustable protractor, I was able to set the angles on to find that the bevel angle indicator is not accurate. After adjusting for 0 degrees and adjusting the pointer, the 30 and 45 degree stops were adjusted and found that 30 reads 31 and 45 reads 47. Might be able to live with that, not sure tho....
The lock nut for for the 0 degree bevel is somewhat difficult to access with a regular wrench (10mm), an off set wrench is better.
I do like the metal indent for the mitre stops and that the table itself doesn't travel when tightening.
The dual laser beams are a nice touch
Dust pick...much to be desired.
It is noisy, a coarse sound compared to my table and circular saw, one would think the motor is on its last legs.
If locking the slider to use as a straight mitre saw, one has to slide the saw out about 1 inch before locking in order to cut a 90 mitre on a 2x6.
Over all for $250 for both saw and stand before taxes not a bad value and along with the Tri-function stand which was purchased before on sale, a good addition to one's shop.
May 15, 2012
Great Saw for DIY
I used this saw during major renovations and it didn't let me down. I paired it with a Mastercraft stand (with arms and 2 wheels) for less than $250 for the pair when both were on sale. It made it through 2'x4's, roof rafters, strapping, hardwood flooring, jambs, trim, and the only adjusting I needed to do was to replace the blade. Very nice, accurate saw.
April 5, 2012
Great Value
Encouraged a friend to buy this saw for me to use in doing finish work in her house. Right out of the box this saw performed well. I was impressed with the laser's accuracy! There was no need to mark the cut lines on the wood. I simply measured the length required, then slid the board (with the measuring tape hooked to the end of board) across the laser cut line until it lined up at the determined measurement.
I used it to cut 1x6 spruce boards to create baseboards. The sliding feature allows you to cut wider stock.
One note about the laser: It is necessary to wipe the dust off the lens frequently. If you don't, the laser line becomes less defined. This however is a very minor inconvenience. Compound angles are easy and accurate!
I would assume that this saw is not durable enough for all-day professional use, but you get what you pay for.
All round a great value for the hobby woodworker!
March 23, 2012
