Most Common Types of Miter Saw and its Uses

Miter saw, also known as ‘chop saw,’ is an essential device for woodworkers or craftsmen. The basic operation of this machine is pretty simple- cutting wood or other materials into two halves. In case any of your furniture making DIY task, trust me, a miter saw is a tool you’ll need the most. You can handle this machine efficiently if only you can know the details of it like its variety of types, their different mechanisms, and obviously, their handful uses. The machine isn’t a tricky one; all you need is a proper guideline. Here it is! 

Types

According to TehnoGuru, Miter Saw comes with three different types, and their services also vary due to their unusual design, structure, and ability to cut at varied angles. 

1. Standard Miter Saw

The simplest and most basic form of miter saw is the standard miter saw. In this device, there’s a base table with a miter index on it. On top of the table, there’s a spring-loaded handle along with a rotating circular blade being attached to it. 

The angle setting mechanism in this machine is quite easy. You can do that by using the miter index markings and then lock the base table in the same angled position. This feature will reduce the risk of any unexpected moving of the table, and focus the machine more into the cutting. 

Standard miter saws are capable of crosscutting at any desired angle, usually ranging from -45 degrees to +45 degrees. Here, the negative aspect refers to the saw’s cutting ability to the opposite side. This miter saw is capable of cutting at angles to a single side of the blade. In case you need a different cutting, you’ll need to flip the piece over. 

Some standard miter saws can drive the blades with a greater variety of angles. They can even set cutting angles up to 60° or sometimes even more significant. The blades size of the standard miter saw varies from 8” to 12”. These blades are super reliable, ensure fast and accurate cutting of your desired material. They are also the most affordable ones among all these three saws.

1. Compound Miter Saw

A compound miter saw can feature both an angled crosscutting, better known as a miter cut, and a sloped cut, commonly known as bevel cutting. If you manually had to precisely cut with a compound angle, how complicated it would be! Kudos to this Compound Miter Saw. 

The operating mechanism of compound miter saw is very much likely to the earlier mentioned standard saw. It has the same miter angle selection option along with a similar angle mechanism of the angle of the blades setting or adjustment.  

But unlike the standard one, while using compound saw, you can easily make bevel cuts. There’s a beveled index, just like the miter index. The blades of single compound saw are usually capable of tilting at a single side only. But in case of a dual compound miter saw, you can tilt the blades of this saw at both sides from 0° to 45°. This fantastic feature allows the user to do absolutely everything with this saw-crosscutting, bevel cuts, miter cuts, compound cuts (involving both miter and bevel), anyone! 

Due to all of these exclusive features, the price of a compound miter saw is higher than any standard saw. But your money is worth taking this shot as this miter saw will add more versatility in your cutting operations and all. 

1. Sliding Miter Saw

In the case of both standard and compound miter saws, you will see their blades as being attached to their arms, again their arms being attached to the base table of the saws. Due to these limitations, their blade can only move vertically up and down, providing such poor cutting operation width.

In the case of sliding miter saw, you’ll overcome such shortcomings. Unlike the earlier saws, in case of siding saw, their arms are no longer fixed at a specific place. Instead, they offer the siding mechanism of both their arms and blades, which enables the blade moving at all positions- in or out, up or down, everywhere!

Your sliding miter saw must have a reliable and quality rail. It would help if you slid the saw blade along this rail to cut through wood or metal materials. Any movement might hamper to have precise and accurate cutting. 

Sliding miter saw makes sure the greater depth of cut than the other two saws. So, it’s no wonder why this miter saw is more expensive than the two.

Uses

No matter which type of miter saw you use, they have single basic operation-making an angled crosscutting of your desired material. Thus, you can make a flush join at a certain angle. You can make the simplest crosscuts on either 45° or 90° angle to boards using standard power miter saw. These types of cuts will perfectly fit for operations like trimming out a window or a door in your house or making any cute picture frame to decorate your room. In the case of compound miter saw, you have the advantages of having compound cuts just in a single pass. This feature is helpful in projects like crown moldings, picture framing, or any project work that might require two angled planes. Siding miter saw presents the coolest and the most comfortable features of everything- crosscuts, miters, bevels, compound cuts, everything within your hand. 

That’s all about miter saw, folks. As you’ve already seen, the applications of all miter saws are pretty much similar. If you’ve enough budgets, then Sliding miter saw will surely be the best for your project. For any small home task, 8-inches to 10-inches are the perfect go-to-size options for you. Grab one, and have the best DIY time!