For the past three weekends, I’ve been cutting down some melamine sheets to use for cabinet cases. I happened to notice that my June 20% HF coupon was about to expire and I’ve had my eye on the 10” sliding miter saw for a few months. I already own the 10” miter saw (it was a gift from my in-laws – cool, huh?) and I’m very happy with the performance of that tool when used with a Freud cross-cut blade and a zero clearance plate. I was able to convince the wife that since I already had a Freud 10” melamine blade, this would be the perfect tool for the job of cutting the shelves and sides down to final size. It proved to be just that.
This saw has a 15amp motor that sliced through everything that I threw at it with no issues. The action of the slide and is very smooth. Though I used it only for 90 degree cuts, the table movement and compound movement were very smooth and didn’t move at all when set and tightened. Right out of the box, the saw was close to perfect, though drenched in assembly oil. Once I got it cleaned up, I tweaked the fence and the depth stop screw a little. For the life of me though, I could not break that arbor nut free. I used the supplied wrench and an impact gun and nothing. After about 45 mintes of messing with it, I decided it was getting too hot and late in the day so I was going to give the stock blade a go – it’s a 60 tooth carbide tipped and branded Chicago Electric (the saw’s MFG), so I have no idea who made it. I was pretty surprised that there was no chip out what so ever. First thing I did after setting up the saw was to build some 3’ extension wings on both sides out of 3/4” pine with 1/4 hard board across for my zero clearance backing.
After the sale price and my 20% off coupon, I paid $90 for the saw. I couldn’t be happier. I was able to do the final trim on about 60 shelves and sides (3 cuts per board.) in maybe 2 hours. Everything came out great, true and square – no issues. My only complaint about the saw is the dust collection port. It’s useless when hooked up to my shop vac. I’ve never used a high end saw, but I imagine it’s the same. Without a hood, there’s dust on EVERYTHING.
Unrelated to the tool – here’s a piece of advice. When milling melamine, do it outside in the open air if you can and wear a mask. That stuff is nasty!
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