I have a Kobalt 10” Sliding Compound Miter Saw that I’d like to mount on a pre-existing work table. On the one hand, the table seems too small, but on the other hand, miter saw standsthat I see don’t seem to offer a lot surface-wise.
I don’t have much experience with the tool just yet (just setting up the shop), so though I know better than to set it up in a corner I don’t have the experience to know what will bother me or situations I’ll want to avoid down the line.
The saw’s mounting bolts form a 12” x 20” rectangle. The depth of the saw is 36”; it’s horizontal extension/support wings bring its width to 41”.
The table is 20” x 42”. It’s large enough to mount the saw, but I’ll need to mount the saw closer to the front to avoid hitting the wall (I can secure the table to the wall for stability). Given that the saw’s support arms are the same length as the table, I will have no additional support to the sides.
So as long as it’s stable and I have plenty of open space on both sides, am I good to go? Or will I want a larger support surface underneath?
This is probably not what you want to read, but I have a Craftsman sliding miter saw, and it is mounted on this Porter Cable miter saw stand, which I really like. When not in use, it stands up on the wheels and takes up little floor space, and when I use it I can take it outside on the driveway, to another site, or just set it up in my garage/workshop. The stand has extension arms on it that support long work pieces. When I first got the saw, I used to set it on a piece of plywood on saw horses or on my work bench. This stand is a vast improvement.
Yes, mitre saws are essentially work-site tools. They are a lot handier if they are kept portable. You also (probably) use them for cutting wide lengths, so unless there’s a lot of clearance around your worktable, putting the saw on a fixed surface may not be a great idea.
On the other hand, you may have bought the saw specifically for cutting small items to length for a hobby, in which case a small permanent table will be fine. So it depends on how you’re going to use it. Just ask yourself – if I’m cutting a 12’ long 2x6, will I be able to maneuver it to the saw and make the cut?
Generally speaking as long as you’ve got plenty of space on each side and the sliding mechanism has room to operate you should be fine. Assuming you’re going to hook it up to your shopvac (miter saws are notorious for being hard to do good dust collection on but every little bit helps), check and be sure that your dust hose isn’t going to snag on anything. If you are doing this you may need to ensure sufficient room for the vac to sit underneath your cutting table (otherwise you get the hose falling on one side or the other of the saw, it gets in the way of your stock, etc).
I don’t have a slider but I do have a nice 10" compound miter saw. I was thinking of getting one of the folding stands, something like this:
I simply don’t have any more room in the garage for dedicated tables and my experience has been that any horizontal surface gets used as temporary storage space (that is, people pile crap all over it) so the next time I went to use my saw I’d have to spend 15 minutes clearing things off (and I’d just toss them onto the next available surface like my router table).
I really like the idea of a dedicated stand, but an extra $200 (or even $100 for a less expensive stand) would go towards higher shop priorities (e.g. small frivolous things like piping for the dust collector).
Right now it’s bolted to a cut-down sheet of plywood clamped to a pair of sawhorses. I’ll save the plywood in case I want to unbolt it and move it up to the bedroom, but for the most part I can’t see lugging this thing up out of the basement. Right not, it’s got plenty of room to the left and right (it runs parallel to the stairs, so has their entire length, plus there is room at the landing and the other side). Plus, it’s back is to the main shop area, so it’s little crowded there.
My thought for putting it there was that the feed was to the left and right and other items won’t quite fit (e.g. it wouldn’t make good spot for the table or bandsaw).
Come to think of it, I can put the table on castors in case I want to easily move it around.
Heh, either of those stands cost significantly more than my saw! I keep mine on a WorkMate bench that I have had forever. I use outfeed rollers on either end as needed to support long stock. Cheap and as mobile as I need, anyway.
Mine lives on a stand similar to the ones noted at the beginning of this thread. The adjustable / extendible supports are critically important when cutting anything longer than a couple of feet. Otherwise you will need to build or buy a separate stand or stands to hold up the floppy end or ends when cutting long stock. The saw’s own base just isn’t big enough to properly support 8 foot dimensional lumber, even if the saw has clamps and such. With the stand, I can cut up to about 12 foot material (unless I’m just trimming right at one end) – in other words, I can cut a couple of feet from one end of 12 foot stock without additional support.
Of course, when we are cutting 30 foot aluminum extrusions, we use a couple of additional supports to hold up the far ends.