Miter saw also known as ‘mitre’ in British English is a saw used in workplaces for making fine and accurate crosscuts and miters by pulling a large backsaw or a circular saw blade which is mounted, on a board in a quick motion. Commonly, the term used for a miter saw is drop saw, and for an abrasive cut, a chop saw is used.
Power Miter Saw
Also known as drop saw it is a tool, a powerful one, to make accurate and quick crosscuts with precision in a work placement at a specific selected angle. Its common use involves molding, cutting, and trimming. Most of the miter saws are smaller in size so that they are easy to carry and move, they’re portable. Their size ranges from eight to twelve inches of their blade.
The miter saw was an invention of Ed Niehaus in 1964. He was a tool designer for Rockwell. Several innovations in the miter saw can still be seen today, like, blade braking, radial arc spring action, and dust collection. The design was not patented by Rockwell leading to numerous innovations by a large number of manufacturers, bringing improvement in its design and efficiency and precision in the work it performs.
The miter saw cuts the workpiece by pulling the spinning circular blade onto the workpiece in a controlled, quick and short motion. The workpiece is held tightly with a fence, providing a precise cutting angle between the two planes: the plane of the blade and the plane of the longest workpiece edge. Setting the angle at 90 degrees is a standard position.
12-inch Miter Saw Pros
Strength
- Its heavy weight makes it strong.
- Harder metals can be cut down easily with a 12-inch miter saw.
Motor Power
- It comes with a powerful 15-ampere motor which provides it with more strength, makes it easy to cut hard materials, and provides an additional lower.
- A 10-inch blade can be used in place of the 12-inch, which means the blades will spin faster, provided with the more powerful 12-inch motor, thus it’ll have more power. Faster spinning of blade ensures finer and neat cutting of the material.
Cutting-Capacity
- It’s capable of cutting a 4 by 6 lumber in a single pass.
- A 12-inch wide hard plywood can be cut easily with a high-quality 12-inch miter saw in just 2 passes allowing you to finish the work in less time.
Durability
Its durability remains for a longer period. It’s not a difficult task for a 12-inch miter saw to cut a wood piece due to its high amperage. The powerful motor ensures no strain on blades, keeping the blades sharper for a longer time.
Buying a 12-inch Miter Saw
- It’s best suited for professionals who have massive projects at hand or have large amounts of work to do, such as cutting very long lumbers every week or every day. This saw is perfect as this makes things easier and saves you a lot of time.
- If there’s no budget problem, the 12-inch miter saw is a must-have for your workplace with all the benefits and ease it offers to workers.
- If you do not have a 12-inch miter saw and do not have its use in your daily work routine, and suddenly the need arises—you have a specific task in which there’s a need of a 12-inch miter saw for a few days, about 4-6 days—then don’t go on buying a new one, but rent the saw for a few days, to get a feel for what a 12-inch miter saw will be like after a few days.
- If a 12-inch saw is needed in the workplace for approximately 4 to 8 months, then buy a used 12-inch miter saw rather than the newer one. You can also buy the repaired versions of it.
10-inch Miter Saw Cons
Cutting-Capacity
- It cannot cut more than 6-inches of cutting material.
- It has a limited capacity limited only to lumbar. It cannot cut any bigger than the regular 2 by 6.
- This makes it unsuitable for deck builders and no massive cutting tasks can be taken from it.
Other Types of Miter Saws
- Original Miter Box and Saw- Consists of a plastic or wooden three-sided box with 45-degree and 90-degree slit which allows a hand or backsaw to make miter cuts in the workpiece. It’s the first of the miter saws.
- Power/Standard Miter Saw- A powerful version of miter saw, able to cut through a wide range of angles. It makes straight crosscuts and most commonly used to make straight cuts at 45-degree angles for framing.
- Compound Miter Saw- Its blade is rotatory, providing an additional benefit of cutting through a wide range of angles other than 90 degrees. It’s common for trim work at home.
- Dual Compound Miter Saw– Its main use is in decorative items. It gives the head a luxury to rotate when angled at both the right and the left-hand sides.
- Sliding Compound Miter Saw- It’s similar to the radial arm saw and can move the head of the saw back and forth on a sliding rail increasing the size capacity of the board to be cut.
- Laser/LED Miter Saws– Offers more precise cutting through its laser guide. The laser consists of a disc-shaped washer attached to the saw blade and illuminates a light at the spot where the blade is going to cut.