I am using my 10 yr. old Delta 8″ compound miter saw for the first time in four years. I wanted to cut a 45 degree bevel at the end of a 4″ wide piece of wood. The edge after cutting was at 90 degrees to the longitudinal edge of the stock, but the edge where the bevel began from the flat part of the slab was not perpendicular to the long edge. What could be wrong with the saw?
Rick White: It seems to me, if I’m reading this right, that the piece of wood being cut must be either cupped or twisted and that’s giving you the uneven cut. The easiest way to check is to try the same cut with some plywood. Then you can determine whether you’ve got saw problems or wood problems.
Ian Kirby: Offhand, three questions occur to me.
– Was the wood distorted?
– Was it hand held or clamped as it was cut?
– Does the saw perform other cuts accurately?
– Answer those questions and you’ll be closer to a solution.
Rob Johnstone: It is very difficult for me to say, not actually using the saw. I will guess (and that is all I’m doing), that your saw blade is not sharp or that the type of saw blade you are using is not the best for this application. If your saw is dull, chances are that it is cutting better on one side of the saw blade. Following the path of least resistance, the saw will cut fastest and best to the sharp side. This side is the one oriented away from the bevel. Try a new or freshly sharpened blade and let us know what the results are.
Ellis Walentine: It’s a little tough to tell from your description, but it sounds like a dull blade and/or slop in the chop mechanism to me. I can’t recall the particular model you mentioned, but I remember having a similar problem with a Delta compound miter saw once. I finally figured out that the round pivoting table wasn’t machined right, and it was slightly slanted relative to the rest of the saw. This caused me no end of head-scratching and fiddling, and I finally gave up on it. At some point, if a new blade doesn’t fix it, you might want to think about getting a new saw.
