We will all probably agree that there is nothing more annoying than starting something from the very beginning!
After deciding to become a real DIYer, I didn’t expect so many difficult decisions. I thought that it would be as simple as that… But, no! There is nothing easy in this job, but that’s why I am writing all this. To save you from all the problems I was faced with.
We all want to start with a universal tool, the one that can be used for everything. Well, there are no such tools; even though there are tools which can be used for many different applications, there are specialized tools which you need to buy as well.
The worst thing that happened to me was when I had to decide between sliding and non-sliding miter saw! Yeah, right? It was not an easy decision to make, but after so many nights without sleep, after days of searching, reading reviews, talking to people, testing, and buying and returning tools, I made my decision!
Now you have to make your decision, and I did my best to help you out!
You could be saying that it will be easy to choose one for you, but, you are wrong!
A wide variety of miter saws are available and among them, you will have to decide: sliding miter saw vs non-sliding miter saw.
Both types are efficient and will give you excellent results. Both types are angled and will do compound cuts. There are just a few differences that we will discuss here.
Let’s get to the point! Sliding miter saw is the one that allows you to move the blade forward and backwards. They are the perfect choice if your work requires cutting of the larger boards.
The blade on sliding miter saw can slide all the way out, it slides forward on the rails and it allows you to cut boards without having to take the board over or readjust the angle so this saw is going to give you the ability to cut a lot longer cuts.
Non-sliding saw is perfect for cutting 45-degree miters in molding or picture frames and it doesn’t have any sliding option.
Sliding miter saw is absolutely perfect for cutting wood, lumber and other thick materials, but for this type, you will need more space in your workshop, and you will probably have to fasten it down, while non-sliding are cutting fencing and other similar types of material will be your mobile miter saw.
Sliding miter saws are a heavier, more expensive but stronger tool.
Non-sliding is an unexpansive choice, it can cut the smaller size of boards, but it`s a lightweight, smaller size and it can be mobile.
The bottom line is: if you have that luxury and you will be doing a lot of woodwork, you should purchase both of them.
Our picks sliding vs non-sliding miter saw
Considering the fact that miter saw is one of those must-have wood cutting equipment that is always present in every woodworking workshop and considering the fact that till this point you probably have an answer to question sliding vs non-sliding miter saw, we will represent you our top choices for both types.
Just sit down, enjoy your coffee and make your choice.
Before you start, check out our Buyer’s Guide!
Best non-sliding miter saws:
If you decided that non-sliding miter saw is just the right for you, then we will advise you to consider buying one of the following:
DEWALT DW713 15 Amp 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw
This is single-bevel compound miter saw which provides quick, accurate cuts whether you’re cutting baseboards or crown molding. This type of saw will make your cuts easier and help you to complete your job.
Solid in movement and accurate in its angle cut it makes terrifically fast and smooth cuts.
Thanks to a powerful motor, this saw can do very demanding crosscutting and miter-cutting applications. It has an adjustable miter handle and convenient miter and bevel stops.
This model is featured with a durable carbide blade, a blade wrench, and a convenient dust bag.
This lightweight saw (35 pounds only)is featured with a built-in carry handle which will help you to move it around the job site easily.
It is not featured with a laser guide, but it is compatible with the DW7187 (sold separately) adjustable miter saw laser system to ensure the cutting path is clear to see.
Key features:
- It has 15-amp powerful motor with blade speed of 5,000 rpm
- It’s featured with miter detent plate with 11 positive stops that is adjustable and stainless-steel,
- It has positive bevel stops at 0° and 45°
- It has tall, sliding fence which is excellent for cutting crown and base moldings
- With this model you will get three-year limited warranty, one-year free service, and 90-day money-back guarantee
- With cam miter lock you can do quick and accurate miter table positioning;
It’s pretty compact and lightweight- High quality and durability
Type 2 is incompatible with laser- It doesn’t have electric brake
Makita LS1221 12-Inch Compound Miter Saw Kit
Makita LS 1221 is the best in class for different applications. With this model you will get large cutting capacity (3-7/8″ x 6″ at 90°) and 4-1/2″ tall pivoting fence for cutting up to 5-1/2″ crown molding.
Kit includes the carbide-tipped blade, socket wrench, two extension wings, and a dust bag. Well, we can say that you practically have everything that you need for a miter saw in this kit.
This saw’s design will meet your expectations, since it combines the performance, power, along with the ease of use for making simple but accurate miter cuts.
It will be an easy task to do many applications such as framing, woodworking, deck building, and cabinetry.
This is a very powerful saw which will give you nice and smooth cuts, it has easy to change the blade and easy to handle knobs.
Thanks to it`s 9 positive stops, you will receive accuracy. It also has easy-to-read miter gauge and what is really great benefit this model comes with a good-quality starting blade.
Key features:
- Large cutting capacity
- 4-1/2″ tall pivoting fence for cutting up to 5-1/2″ crown molding
- Powerful 15 AMP direct drive motor which delivers 4,000 RPM
- Positive miter stops at 9 settings
- Horizontal D-handle design for easy and comfortable operation
- Carbide tipped blade for precision cutting
- Electric brake for maximum productivity
- Pivoting fence for supporting larger material
- Powerful motor
- Inexpensive
- Suitable for cutting several materials
- The miter gage is easy to read
- The bevel gage does not give enough contrast
Hitachi C10FCH2 15-Amp 10-inch Single Bevel Compound Miter Saw with Laser Marker
This model of compound miter saw offers the ultimate in form and function.
We can tell for sure that this model is designed for professionals.
It provides smooth, accurate miters and crosscuts for different types of workpieces, including wood, plywood, panels, soft fiberboard, hardboard, and aluminum.
What will give you versatility on the job is flexible miter angles and compound cutting capability.
This model is ideal for trim carpenters, framers, and woodworkers who demand precision and reliability.
Positive miter stops allow simple miter adjustments between 0°and 52°. You can easily change the angle of the cutting blade for creating miters.
This model is the lightest tool in its class. (only 26.5 pounds).
With the saw, you will get extended fence, dust bag, vise assembly, box wrench, and hex bar wrench.
Key features:
- Large table for material stability
- Thumb actuated positive stops, 0, 15, 22.5, 31.6, 45 right and left, for quick and easy miter adjustments
- Adjustable pivot fence for supporting large stock
- Dust guide to prevent chips from scattering
- Soft and vibration-reducing grip
- Spindle lock for easy blade replacement
- Laser guide system for easier alignment with the ink line
- One Year Warranty
- Weight
- Laser
- Clamps – Thanks to the clamps your hands aren’t anywhere near the actual cutting
- It`s not an easy task to change the blade
Homecraft H26-260L 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw by Delta Power Tools
The HomeCraft brand is known for affordability and reliability and it is perfect for the DIY all kinds of home projects.
The saw is very powerful, easily cuts through heavy stock without any strain. It`s featured with a powerful 14 Amp motor that easily cuts through wood and spins the blade at 5500 rpm.
It comes with24-tooth blade. This blade is not so good for finish work, but it’ll get you started. Maybe it will be good to purchase 40 or even 80- tooth blade.
What is good about this saw is that it is easy to use it and very safe to operate.
The battery-powered laser ensures an accurate cut every time. It is UL listed.
The saw can make left bevel cuts from 0 to 47 degrees.
This model includes a dust collection bag and a work clamp. Cord and switches are positive and well made.
Key features:
- Lightweight
- Spindle lockwhich holds the blade in place during changes
- Bevels left from 0 Degrees
- Laser battery operated with on/off switch
- Electric brake stops the blade within seconds of releasing switch
- Price
- Laser
- Weight
- It comes with 24-tooth blade which is not so perfect for finish work
Ryobi ZRTS1345L 10 in. Compound Miter Saw with Laser Line (Certified Refurbished)
Even refurbished, still a perfect saw! This saw has the best price! They are great because they can do miter, bevel and of course cross cuts.
With powerful 14 amp motor, this model is capable of delivering up to 5,000 rpm blade speeds for the fast and accurate cutting action. It is easy and simple to change blade with the single wrench blade changing system for added convenience.
It has an electric brake which stops the blade in seconds. This Certified Refurbished product is tested and certified by Ryobi to look and work like new. The product includes all original accessories and has 1 Year warranty.
Key features:
- It has heavy-duty 14-amp motor which will handle the tough jobs easily
- Electric brake stops the blade in seconds
- Spindle lock and single wrench blade changing system make blade swaps safe and easy
- bevel scale is dual view and is easily visible from both sides of saw for accurate cutting action
- Integrated laser provides enhanced cutting accuracy
Price
- Laser is not so accurate
Our choice for the best sliding miter saw:
Hitachi C12RSH2 15-Amp 12-Inch
This is dual-bevel sliding compound miter saw, and it comes with the laser marker.
Comparing with some other models with laser guides on this machine laser is simply perfect.
Compound cuts are accurate. The motor has plenty of power for the cutting. Setting the angle cuts is fast. This saw has a small footprint, ability to crosscut large pieces and large support for crown molding.
What you will get with this machine are impressive cuts! The miter stops are easy to find and dead-on. Saw glides easily on rails. The saw blades coming from Hitachi are high quality too.
Key features:
- Compact slide system allows the saw head to slide along fixed rails, for zero clearance
- Powerful motor (15 Amp) will do tough cutting jobs with ease
- It has large sliding fence which raises fence height to 5-1/8 inches and gives ability to cut up to 7-1/2-inch crown molding vertically
- 0-57°miter angle to the right and 0-45° to the left for flexibility
- It has degree bevel angle range (0-45°) to the right and left allowing users to quickly and easily flip the saw blade and leave the material in place
- for easy to read measurements and quick settings there are positive stops and indications on the miter and bevel scale
- Quite
- Powerful
- Small footprint
- Dust collector port does not fit standard hoses
DEWALT DWS779 12″ Sliding Compound Miter Saw
This saw would be the best choice to do cabinet, flooring or molding for your home.
This is an older-style model, still marketed. It does not have a laser, but you can be sure that you will get a tool made of excellent material and quality. Really smooth action on all the working parts. The included all-purpose blade even makes nice cuts on molding, but if you cut slowly.
This saw, for the money, is highly recommended for your workshop. It’s not very noisy, but it is a little bit heavier.
With DeWalt, you will definitely receive quality so no worries about the quality of your cuts. This saw gives accurate and smooth cuts. The blade cuts wood like butter.
Just one note: The description says that this saw will cut 2X16 horizontals at 90 degrees and it won’t. It is the standard saw that will only cut a 12″ wide board at 90 degrees.
Key features:
- With dual horizontal steel rails and innovative clamping mechanism with linear ball bearings you will get an accurate, durable and compact saw
- Tall sliding fences for easily sliding out excellent for bevel cuts
- 10 positive stops improve productivity and ensure cutting accuracy,
- Adjustable stainless-steel miter detent plate
- Miters 60 degrees to the right and 50 degrees to the left for providing increased capacity
- It has a precise miter system and machined base fence support will optimize durability and cutting accuracy
- With the cam-lock miter handle you can do quick and accurate miter angles
- Great dust collecting system
- Great price
- No laser
Doitpower 12-Inch Dual-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw
This can be the best choice for professional works. It has laser cutline guides to make your work accurately and smoothly and LED light which casts a laser-like shadow on the work surface to improve your work efficiency.
The cutting depth that you can choose meets most of the common wood specifications.
This compact machine will give you straight, miter, bevel, and compound cuts. A spacious table provides stable and sturdy support.
It is also featured with stainless steel detent plate which ensures the durability of the job site. The dust collection bag is included and will give you freedom while working.
Key features:
- 15-amp motor will give you power of up to 3800rmp
- 0-45-degree blade tilting range for both L/R sides provides compound high-capacity cutting flexibility
- The dual bevel system has high-visibility scale and is easy to make angle adjustment
- With comfortable vibration-reducing handle you will have keep the saw in control,
- 1pc working clamp, 2pcs extension bars are included to ease your cutting work
- It is easy to assemble it
- Easy to replace the blade
- The light laser is very accurate
- None
Festool 561287 Kapex KS 120
For this extremely high price, you will definitely get the best saw ever! One of the lightest sliding miter saw. (only 47 pounds).
It comes with a high-quality 60-tooth carbide blade that can be used when cutting woods or soft plastics. It is featured with an angle transfer device, a hold-down clamp for securing material, and a wrench for unit adjustments.
This machine is very compact. It has an option to use the fine adjustment knob to control bevel angles in fractions of a degree.
The featured bevel knob gives you a three settings option: positive detents at 0 and -45 degrees, free movement between -45 and +45 degrees, and free movement up to +/- 47 degrees.
Bevels can be made to the left or right. It also has and the bevel gauge which appears on both sides of the saw.
Blade makes a thin kerf. This reduces the load on the motor and improves the cut quality. The blades are designed in that way to reduce noise levels and dampen vibration.
As we said: Simple perfect!
Key features:
- It has rail forward design for precision and they create a compact footprint while preventing head play for accurate cuts
- It has the dual laser for easy cuts from the left or right side,
- Lasers clearly define the material to be cut,
- It has micro-adjustable bevel angle with an up-front rotary knob, large bevel scale and fine pointers for easily set of precise angles,
- It is featured with dust extraction with a behind-the-cut dust hood and pivoting hose (36 mm).
- Includes angle transfer device which automatically bisects transferred angles to the saw and aligns
- Lightweight and reasonable small
- It has excellent bevel system
- Includes high quality blade
- Very high price
- It`s not an easy task to adjust laser
Milwaukee 6955-20 12-Inch Sliding Dual Bevel Miter Saw
This saw is the masterpiece of a saw.
Cuts smooth, runs quiet, and rolls with ease!
What we found as a great addition is the digital miter gauge. It has headlights on it to keep your work illuminated. The motor is super quiet. It is very easy to read positive miter stops.
This machine has a motor with constant power technology and it provides constant speed under load. The 3.250rpm of the blade is the same at both no-load and during loaded cutting. This ensures a quick, clean cut even in hardwood materials.
The blade takes less than two seconds to get up to full speed.
It is a big, but a very accurate machine. Excellent choice either you are a professional or DIY guy.
Key features:
- It`s featured with dual horizontal steel rails with three large linear bearings that deliver smooth sliding action
- It has soft start that helps decrease the head movement on startup,
- Integral dust channel that captures up to 75% of the dust
- Powerful 15 amp and direct drive motor (3.3 max HP) provides increased power for high performance cutting in hard lumber
- It has 9 positive bevel stops which allow the saw to bevel easily left and right and which provides fast and accurate adjustments
- Extremely powerful
- Stunning dust collection system
- Carrying handles very well engineered
- The best cutting height clearance in the market
- Bevel control is not very accessible
- Bevel doesn’t have a detent mark for vertical 0 degrees
Sliding vs non-sliding, no matter what you choose you have already made good choice by choosing the miter saw. Enjoy your shopping and working with this tool.
Buyer’s Guide
Anatomy of a Sliding Compound Miter Saw
Blade
What you will need for your cutting work is a blade, of course. The size of the material that you will be able to cut depends on the size of the blade, the blade is representing the cutting capacity.
There are different blade sizes, approximately the size is 5-7 inches. For larger projects, you have large blades, around 12 inches in diameter.
Fence
The fence is a part where you can put your workpiece up against to keep it stable and do the level cut. It is the flat, sturdy surface and it is mounted directly on the table.
Some models have the fence which allows you to move them to different positions to provide quick workpiece measurements as well.
You would need a tall and sliding fence because they can give you stability and flexibility.
ON/OFF Trigger and Handle
The handle contains the on/off trigger to activate the saw and allows you to pull the blade down into your material. You will find on marker saws for right or left-handed, but mostly for right-handed handle. Usually handle will be placed in the middle, allowing equal flexibility for both, left and right-handed.
Handle gives you total control over the blade.
Safety clamp
Safety clamps are a very important safety feature. They help you to secure the wood while cutting. If the wood slips during a cut, it can cause injury. Safety clamps exist to prevent those injuries.
With safety claps, the material is in one fixed location which allows you to make your miter cuts without worrying about the wood flying out from the saw. It will also ensure that each of your cuts is precise and smooth.
Miter Adjustment
With this adjustment, you will be able to turn the motor and blade to different angles, up to 60° in either direction. It has multiple positive stops, which will save your time while working. This adjustment is the reason why we call saw with this adjustment the miter saw.
Bevel Adjustment
The bevel adjustment is what makes a compound miter saw. The bevel adjustment allows you to cut on an adjustable bevel angle. This is used generally when two pieces of wood are to be joined together. The bevel adjustment can be between 0° and 45°.
You can find a single bevel miter saw and dual bevel. With single bevel saw you can tilt the blade only left or right, while with dual-compound saw you can tilt the blade on left and right.
Sliding Rails
Sliding rails exist only on sliding miter saw. These rails allow you to slide your saw back and forward as you cut. The max-width of the material that can be cut depends on the length of the rails.
Storage Space and Portability
Sliding miter saws are quite bigger and heavier than non-sliding saws. You will have to think twice before trying to move it around. If you’ve got enough space and you are planning to keep the saw set up in a permanent location, then you are fine with this type.
However, if you’re having problems with space and have to move out for every project, you may want to seriously consider choosing a non-sliding saw.
Cutting Length
Miter saws are available in different sizes.
A saw with a 10˝ blade makes right-angle cuts across a board 5 1/2 inches wide, sufficient for 2×6 lumber. When we compare it with the same 10˝saws will cut a 2×4 at a 45°-degree angle.
Manufacturers also make 12˝versions, which have a maximum cut of about 7 1/2 inches, wide enough for 2×8. This larger saw can cut a maximum thickness of 3 1/2 inches, enough to cut through 4×4.
Non-sliding miter saws are great for smaller projects and projects that require long materials.
Sliding compound miter saws are better for larger projects with wider materials. Sliding compound miter saws allow you a greater cutting capacity.
Cutting Arc
One of the biggest advantages that we find with using non-sliding miter saw is that you usually have a greater cutting arc than you do with a sliding saw. Reason for this is because with a non-sliding miter saw you are not limited by any sliding rails.
You should consider this as an important factor if you are going to cut things like corner joint moldings.
Materials
Now, a miter saw will be used for cuts and with appropriate blades you can cut different materials.
Miter saw is the tool you would like to have because it perfectly cuts wood, plywood, decorative panels, soft fiberboard, hardboard, and aluminum sashes.
Let’s discuss the different materials that you can cut comparing sliding vs non-sliding miter saw:
You can mostly cut all types of materials with both types. The only difference is that sliding miter saws can cut larger boards and thicker materials, while non-sliding is better for thinner materials.
Safety
Now, this is very important! Watch the video below to learn more about the best ways to use your miter saw safely.
We hope you enjoyed our new-and-improved guide. What did you think of it?
Or maybe you have a question.
Either way, let us know by leaving a quick comment below right now.
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