New mitre saw experiences

Woodworking
1

It’s time to replace my 25 year old sliding mitre saw. I have been looking at the Bosch axial glide and the Makita LS… the one with the slides stationary so the saw can be set up against a wall. I would appreciate any views from anyone who has used either of these saws and your honest opinion.

Thanks,

Fletch

2

Hi. I can’t offer any help on the Bosch Axel Glide as I only have the Bosch sliding mitre but what I can say is that having owned both Bosch and Makita I find Bosch much better quality and nicer tools than Makita. Nothing wrong with Makita of course, they are very rugged, hard wearing and good for the site but Bosch for me just have that extra refinement and accuracy and over the years I have replaced all my power tools with Bosch. Hope this helps, cheers.

3

Thanks Woody. I have both brands of various tools and there is not much between them.

4

I can’t offer comment about these two saws as I have used neither of them.

I had an Axminster mitre saw which did me well for over a dozen years. For the price it was fine but there were two gripes: the first was that it needed a lot of space behind it as the slides were not stationery. This is made even worse by the fact that, to do shallower cuts than 90 degrees, it also needs a semi circular area right around the back - and that takes up even more work space.
The second gripe was the dust collection. It really wasn’t great. Few of them are to be honest. Mitre saws kick up a lot of dust and chips. I built a semi circular cabinet around the back with a dust extractor port toward the back. It was decent enough but needed even more rear space!

I researched long and hard about what to do and, as always, the better solutions cost more. I’m lucky in that it doesn’t have to be used on site, but I went for the Kapex. Yes, Festool, yes expensive, but it addresses the sliding rails issue and pretty well all of the dust extraction problems with aplomb.

I must stress that I don’t have a workshop full of Festool stuff. I rate the Kapex because it does most things so well.

5

Thank Ian. My main requirements are “up to the wall”, dust extraction and accuracy. I have looked at the Festool (on paper) but I can’t justify the cost as it is upwards of twice the cost of the Makita and Bosch.

Thanks for your comments.

Fletch

6

Hi Fletch

I had the second Axial Bosch delivered in the UK. Sold it last year. Very clever bit of kit and rock solid. A real pain to clean. Huge capacity. Crude motor with brushes and belt drive and no soft start. Seriously heavy and not exactly portable. You still have to leave some space to the rear to allow for mitre cutting. The two guide lasers are not very good and a frustration trying to adjust. You can only really use right handed which is slightly limiting. I liked it a lot and at times very much didn’t. Dust control is very poor. No experience of the Makita.

I bought a Festool replacement which is very good but I question myself whether the extra cost was a good idea.