Cordless Miter Saw buying Guide
Cordless Miter Saw and Buying Guide
A cordless miter saw is a great tool capable of performing miter cuts, bevel cuts, compound cuts, and crosscuts. Before buying a cordless miter saw, figure out the types and sizes of materials you will be cutting. Also determine what type of cutting you will be performing, bevel or compound cutting; and how long will you have to use your cordless miter saw.
There are many kinds of cordless miter saws classified according to their capacities and capabilities. Cordless miter saws have various circular blades; each one handles various tasks, thus providing versatility. A cordless miter saw for basic cutting and a sliding compound miter saw for advanced tasks. Just be careful in choosing the right tool for the task and it will prove to be an efficient tool for you. The sliding feature and the bevel capability are the two factors that determine what type of cordless miter saw is. There are basically three types: basic miter saw having no bevel and no slide; compound miter saw with single or dual bevel, and the sliding compound miter saw with single & dual bevel as well as a plus slider.
These saws come with blades of various diameters. The ones having blades with larger diameters usually are heavy and costly and vice versa. Cutting capacity is another factor you need to consider before purchasing a cordless miter saw. This capacity depends upon the diameter of the blade and the sliding ability. Standard diameters are 10 inches and 12 inches. A 12 inches diameter blade possesses a greater capacity than the 10 inches diameter blade. A 10 inches diameter blade is used for cutting base molding, making picture frames and cutting materials in sizes 4″ x 4″ and 2″ x 6″; whereas a 12 inches diameter blade is used for large crown molding and hip rafters.
The sliding ability helps in moving the blade forward through the wider materials. There are cordless miter saws having blades of 7 inches in diameter. They provide more control and allow precision cuts on smaller workpieces. The capability of the saw also depends upon its bevel capability. In a compound saw, you can tilt the blade to the side and make bevel and compound cuts. A cordless saw with a single bevel will tilt to one side only and a saw having a dual bevel will tilt both in the left and right directions; thus allowing bevel cutting in any direction and thus eliminating the need for flipping of larger stock. A dual bevel cordless miter saw is used efficiently for cutting larger materials.
A saw with a single bevel is usually light-weight and less expensive as compared to a saw with a dual bevel. These saws are available in +50 inches bevel for single bevel and -50 inches to +50 inches bevel for dual bevel saws. Out of the many cordless miter saws available, we will describe a couple of them here:
A type of cordless miter saw is the cordless compound miter saw. An example of it is the Bosch 18v Cordless 10″ Compound Miter Saw Kit with Bluecore. This saw runs on a motor of 18 V. It works very fast with a speed of about 3600 rpm. Another example is the Ryobi cordless miter saw – the 10 inches Compound Miter Saw. It runs on a 14 amp motor and is highly suitable for heavy-duty tasks. This saw makes bevels cuts in large sheets and boards. You can easily cut a 90° bevel in sheets of 4 x 4 or 2 x 6 with this saw.
