Does anyone have any experience with the Avenger laser miter saw guide?
I have the Makita 10″ sliding dual compound miter saw. I was wondering if it would worth it to add the laser to it.
Does anyone have any experience with the Avenger laser miter saw guide?
I have the Makita 10″ sliding dual compound miter saw. I was wondering if it would worth it to add the laser to it.
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Replies
I have two miter saws, the Makita 1013 and the Dewalt 12". What helped both saws more than anything was the fence I built for both saws. It allows precise, repeatable cuts, and will handle up to 138" cuts either side of the blade. In my opinion, the laser things are just gadgets that are being marketed because they are the latest and greatest in technology. I'll take my fences and saw stands any day before I'd ever consider a laser beam.
Alan & Lynette Mikkelsen, Mountain View Farm, est. 1934, Gardens & Fine Woodworking, St. Ignatius, MT
Hi Alan,
Could you post some pics of your fence?
Dan
Sears has marketed a laser equipped miter saw for years and it has not exactly taken the world by storm - of course it may be other features of the saw than the laser. There are reviews of the Sears saw at epinions:
http://www.epinions.com/search/?submitted_form=searchbar&search_string=laser+saw&tax_name=&dyn_nav=0&dyn_nav_id=&search_vertical=all
A picture of that saw and stand would be nice, I kinda want to see the fence you made.
Doug
Did you read the one review on the Amazon link? It was not too favorable. He said that it is off by about 1/32 (which is pretty close), something I think I could eyeball to adjust for. I have the DW705 and I have no problem pulling the blade down to see where it will hit then pulling the trigger. It looks to me that it could tend to mess you up with which side was supposed to be the waste sometimes.
Durn newfangled stuff!
Bob
When I needed a new SCMS a few months ago I got the Hitachi 10"; for an extra $100 it came with a laser so I thought I'd give it a try, figuring it was just a gimmick. I was surprised to find how useful it is. Just makes everything easier. It's pretty accurate, probably within a 64th over 12", which is fine for a lot of stuff. Really I just use it to get close to my pencil line and then nip away until I split my line.
The best thing about the laser is for angle cuts. MUCH faster than any other methods to cut to an angle. I don't mean a 45 degree cut, but one of those weird angles you come across like 27.9 or something. Just draw the line on the board, line up the laser with the line, and cut. Worth the $100 the first week I had it, putting t+g board up in an old house with lots of odd angles.
That said, I don't know anything about the aftermarket lasers.
I have the 10" Hitachi slider with the laser as well. It's a nice saw and the laser is accurate and speeds up production. In addition, I think the laser is a useful safety feature -- because it lets you know if your fingers are in the cutline. An emergency room doctor told me that she sees lots of people who cut off their fingers with chop saws and SCMS... Ouch.
Billy
Mike,
Using the laser to quickly sight angles is what I was thinking it would be good for.
I have an older house and therefore there are no 90 degree angles. I recently had to cut one of those odd angles and it took a few cuts to get a cut that allow two pieces of trim to join together seamlessly. It drove me nuts! I just had the toughest time getting the saw perfectly aligned with the line I drew with my protracter and bevel square.
Having a laser would've made adjusting the miter angle a piece of cake. For most standard cuts, I don't need the laser. I can get perfect "split a hair" accuracy with the saw.
Thang
See the latest Woodworkers Journal (Vol. 28, No.3) for a review of Laser-Blazing chop saws. They pretty much panned the laser/washer replacement variety.