# Reviews of Bosch "Axial Glide" sliding mitre saws?



## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Gentlemen,

Looks like my mitre saw is giving up the ghost - time for a new one.

These caught my eye:

http://www.boschtools.com/products/tools/pages/boschproductdetail.aspx?pid=gcm12sd

Checked one out in the store. Feels very nice. Very smooth and sturdy. I like the axial system - a pivot is almost always sturdier and more reliable than a slider.

But - what about in real life. Anyone using one and can give a report? I mean, do they track right?

And then there's the portable stand that comes with it. The one hting that looks questinable to me is the extendable roller arms. I expect that the arm being offset instead of under th centre of the roller, is going to produce an unstable support that's difficult to set to the correct height as it flexes. Yes? No?

Thanks.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

bob_cntrctr said:


> Gentlemen,
> 
> Looks like my mitre saw is giving up the ghost - time for a new one.
> 
> ...


Pro's 
It cuts straight
Good capacity
Good power
Looks cool

Cons
Heavy as ass
No soft start
No laser
Expensive


If your budget can get strectch to that saw it's a nice saw but it don't really do anything that any other quality 12" slider can do.


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

http://www.contractortalk.com/f40/gliding-miter-saw-out-85348/index11/#post1029399


I agree, no lasers and the soft start were a bit of a let down...

Recently I got a Makita LS1016, as it was easier to take from job to job, had a good nested crown capacity and is cheaper then the Bosch. I didn't want my Bosch getting beat on by fellow employees at my job (someone pretty much exploded the left fences and dust chute on me, however, they did replace it all)....so now it stays home...

ANYWAY, 
After weeks of using the Makita, I thought forsure the "harsh" start-up of the Bosch would show its face when I got around to using it again at home....Nope...I guess I just got used to it, no jerking of the carriage at start-up for me... so the no soft start was a let down, but I have overcome it with no regrets....now the lasers....I really want the dual lasers that are on the UK version.


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## Five Star (Jan 15, 2009)

Makita released the LS1216 which looks nice if you need the capacity , but the 10 pretty much has everything covered and at a little over 50lbs it's easy to move around ! 

Tbf how are you liking the Makita I know you were a little apprehensive at first , it's pretty smooth at start up , like a turbine lol


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

Five Star said:


> Makita released the LS1216 which looks nice if you need the capacity , but the 10 pretty much has everything covered and at a little over 50lbs it's easy to move around !
> 
> Tbf how are you liking the Makita I know you were a little apprehensive at first , it's pretty smooth at start up , like a turbine lol


The Makita is a very nice saw, I always thought it to be one, but I could never find one with out blade wobble. This third try at getting one, yeilded a good one. I like that I can cut big crown on it, which I do from time to time. I like the laser, the soft start is nice. The Scale is easy to read, the detents lock nice, the dust collection is decent with a vacuum.

Downsides? The fences are weak...you can tweak them out of plumb if you push on them... Its still not as smooth as my Axial Glide, but I knew that coming in and never expected it from it. The Dust collection is a bit better on my Axial glide.... There are no built in table extentions....sometimes when I am swinging the saw to the right I accidently turn the knob and it locks down on me mid swing.

Basically, the Makita is a GREAT saw for the price, the Axial Glide is nice for shop use, limited clearance spots, dust collection, bling factor, smoothness in gliding, deeper capacity over the full crosscut, not just chop cuts.


I have not tested the makita for deflection on long bevel cuts, which The Bosch as zero....hell, I never even put a square to the Makita, I unboxed it and used it. LOL. :thumbsup:

Oh, the makita fits in the back seat of my F250 extended cab nice...so its always riding in my truck with me...my bosch was a pain to put in the back of the cab.:laughing:


Basically...after using more and more different miter saws, I am coming to the firm conclusion that all major brand tools are so close to each other quality wise that it is WAY more about the guy using them, then the saw itself. This becomes very apparent when you company saw is a total POS, beat to hell saw that you have to use anway...so you learn ways to make a POS do nice work...hence a saw that is not a POS makes life easy.


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 17, 2008)

too true about how guys complain that a saw is a pos when its beaten all to death. i noticed this just the other day...

one of our guys claims that he's the one who has to have the table saw and mitre saw all the time, yet hes the one who uses it the least.. hes the senior guy on the crew and has hte old company vehicle yet isnt foreman... anyhow we needed the dewalt table saw to rip some 3/4" plywood for tread stock on the new stairs... anyhow went to take the saw out and set it up... one wheel was missing off it. the chord is a mess among other things... and the chopsaw is missing the fence wings the guard is cracked.. 

and the guys wonder why my saws only come on site for trim stage.. im the only one running trim 99% of the time on our jobs if i do get help we sub out one trim guy to help

also... still drooling over the axial glide every time i see it at the store... though i look at the back braces also in the saftey section as an accessory ill need if i buy the saw


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## Five Star (Jan 15, 2009)

I haven't seen the Bosch saw yet so I really can't say much , it does look interesting and we can only wait and watch to see if that becomes the norm over the sliding compound !


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Five Star said:


> I haven't seen the Bosch saw yet so I really can't say much , it does look interesting and we can only wait and watch to see if that becomes the norm over the sliding compound !


The axial glide is a good system for sure but it has the negative of being awfully heavy. If they could get the weight down 50%-60% then the saw would be much more capable in a home remodel setting. The kapex is just so light with it's sliding rail and it's more accurate than the Bosch so it's a hard one to say if more saws will take this root. When rails are done well they do work very well as there's very minimal parts and weight. The axial glide saw could have been a very nice saw if it had just a few more features. A carbon axial arm would bring that weight down a lot on that Bosch saw.but we won't ever see that lol

I wish my friend still worked for the carbon fiber motor sports company as I would have shipped him the arms and got them made in carbon fiber. The english axial glide with carbon fiber axial arms would be bad ass :thumbup:


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## WarriorWithWood (Jun 30, 2007)

BCConstruction said:


> The english axial glide with carbon fiber axial arms would be bad ass :thumbup:


now if THAT was on the market I'd pay 1300 for it.:thumbsup:


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

BCConstruction said:


> The kapex is just so light with it's sliding rail and it's more accurate than the Bosch


I really, truly do no understand how you need anything more "accurate". The saw cuts dead square both on the miter and bevel, I can make a 14" long 45 degree bevel and its straight.... all the detents on my saw give me dead on 45 degree miters....a 45 degree miter is a 45 degree miter My table is dead flat, fences are dead square to the table and perfectly in plane with each other....

As are almost all the major brand saws out there that are properly looked after and not beat on by a crew of employees who don't give a rats #(&.

If you want to tell me all the little features the KAPEX has make it worth the extra money for you, that is great, and I am happy your happy with it....but telling me its more accurate is like saying you Nuclear Bomb can be guided with precision down to the inch, where I can only go down to a foot.....in the grand scale of things, that Nuke setting down on you or next to you doesn't mean much.


It is a heavy, but if you look at the saw itself, you will see that there is much more to the saw then just the axial glide hinges adding weight. The Base and fences are HUGE and well cast.


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

double


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

TBFGhost said:


> I really, truly do no understand how you need anything more "accurate". The saw cuts dead square both on the miter and bevel, I can make a 14" long 45 degree bevel and its straight.... all the detents on my saw give me dead on 45 degree miters....a 45 degree miter is a 45 degree miter My table is dead flat, fences are dead square to the table and perfectly in plane with each other....
> 
> As are almost all the major brand saws out there that are properly looked after and not beat on by a crew of employees who don't give a rats #(&.
> 
> ...


Kapex is _more_ accurate than 100%. because it is festool.

Someday you'll understand.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

Ours go to 11.:laughing:


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## Mike- (Aug 20, 2011)

Winchester said:


> Kapex is more accurate than 100%. because it is festool.
> 
> Someday you'll understand.


It better be for that coin.


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## Five Star (Jan 15, 2009)

I go for portability,I was a doubter of the kapex, ask Warner we use to battle it out, when I got my Makita he got his kapex , now that I got one it's really a different world of cutting , carrying,setting the bevels, everything is so easy it really is like butter!

For me if the kapex handle was horizontal and I could thumb the guard , it would be the only saw I owned and I would buy 2 so I wouldn't need to switch blades, even if they were $1500 each , 

Let's face it who really pays for our green addictions ?


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## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

The Festoool Kapex sounds and looks like a really nice saw. But at $1,330 to $1,800, it's out of my budget. For me, the Bosch is already splurging.

As for accuracy - certainly none of these saws is 100% perfeectly accurate. Such a thing doesn't exist if you want to descened into teeny tiny tolerances. Bearings have microscopic play. Slider rails have flex. I recall a project from back in my engineering days - designing a machine that needed a mechanism mounted on sliding rails. The mechanism had to align to another part to within +/- 10-mil with the rails extended about a foot. By the time slop and flex were accounted for, the sliders would have had to be these monstrous things with 2-inch diameter rails and massive bearings that were completely out of proportion to the rest of the unit.....so we switched designs. I look at some of these sliding mitre saws. some have the sliders so far back, and the saw perched so high up, and so much weight hung on the end of these long moment arms...I can just imagine the whole thing flexing under load. On the other hand - most work doesn't care about a 20-mil or 1/4-degree variance and at that point we're just being silly.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

TBFGhost said:


> I really, truly do no understand how you need anything more "accurate". The saw cuts dead square both on the miter and bevel, I can make a 14" long 45 degree bevel and its straight.... all the detents on my saw give me dead on 45 degree miters....a 45 degree miter is a 45 degree miter My table is dead flat, fences are dead square to the table and perfectly in plane with each other....
> 
> As are almost all the major brand saws out there that are properly looked after and not beat on by a crew of employees who don't give a rats #(&.
> 
> ...



I mean accuracy as in setting miters and bevels. Its the combination of the lasers and the bevel control knob that makes dialing in the correct angles so much easier and more accurate. It's very rare I have to cut material twice. The Bosch I'm always back on it taking a couple of hairs of the material. 

I'm def gonna weight both saws one day as it pretty crazy how much lighter the kapex feels. I really to hate moving the Bosch.


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

bob_cntrctr said:


> The Festoool Kapex sounds and looks like a really nice saw. But at $1,330 to $1,800, it's out of my budget. For me, the Bosch is already splurging.
> 
> As for accuracy - certainly none of these saws is 100% perfeectly accurate. Such a thing doesn't exist if you want to descened into teeny tiny tolerances. Bearings have microscopic play. Slider rails have flex. I recall a project from back in my engineering days - designing a machine that needed a mechanism mounted on sliding rails. The mechanism had to align to another part to within +/- 10-mil with the rails extended about a foot. By the time slop and flex were accounted for, the sliders would have had to be these monstrous things with 2-inch diameter rails and massive bearings that were completely out of proportion to the rest of the unit.....so we switched designs. I look at some of these sliding mitre saws. some have the sliders so far back, and the saw perched so high up, and so much weight hung on the end of these long moment arms...I can just imagine the whole thing flexing under load. On the other hand - most work doesn't care about a 20-mil or 1/4-degree variance and at that point we're just being silly.


:thumbsup:



BCConstruction said:


> I mean accuracy as in setting miters and bevels. Its the combination of the lasers and the bevel control knob that makes dialing in the correct angles so much easier and more accurate. It's very rare I have to cut material twice. The Bosch I'm always back on it taking a couple of hairs of the material.
> I'm def gonna weight both saws one day as it pretty crazy how much lighter the kapex feels. I really to hate moving the Bosch.


 
Ok, I will give you that. Dialing in the bevels to such a super fine setting is nice...granted I never have had a problem, but I see the perk. The lasers are nice, creeping up on the cut is slower then just going for it and it does weight a crap load. I think we are talking something like 46 pounds vs 76 pounds.


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## PrestigeR&D (Jan 6, 2010)

There was this lengthy review.......


http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2011/01/07/the-new-bosch-axial-glide-miter-saw/






B,


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