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Cost me $600 in wasted trim before I figured out my miter saw was lying to me
Last month I was wrapping up a built-in shelving job in a house over in Boise and kept getting gaps at my mitered corners, no matter how careful I was. I tried everything, recutting pieces, clamping harder, buying a new $80 blade, and I still had 1/16 gaps showing up. I burned through about $600 in poplar trim before it hit me to actually check the saw itself. Turns out my miter detent plate was off by almost a degree, so every 45 I cut was really coming out at 44. I fixed it by cutting a test piece, checking it against a known square, and tapping the detent plate back into true, then locking it down with the set screw I'd never touched. What got me is that the saw looked fine and the gauge pointed right at 45, so I trusted it for months. Now I run a scrap piece through and dry fit every time before touching the good stock. Anyone else get burned by a tool that looked dialed in but was quietly off, and how do you check yours?
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victor_adams28d ago
A miter saw that reads 45 but cuts 44 will eat your lunch every single day of the week. Tools lie more than people do and they never feel bad about it. First thing I do with any new saw is cut four pieces and make a box out of them, if the corners don't close up tight the gauge is lying and the gauge always lies. Cheaper than learning the lesson on poplar.
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