Feather fre cuts on mitre saw

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The Wizard

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Would someone mind advising me how to get feather free cuts with my dewalt 712 mitre saw? I was under the impression that the blade supplied is pretty good after reading reviews but I don't seem to be able to cross cut anything without tear out. Is a new blade on the cards or have I got the speed settings all wrong? Incidentally, what is the rule of thumb for speed settings on mitre saws or isn't there one?

Cheers in advance

Wiz
 
Hi Wiz,
A trick I often use is to scribe the line quite deeply with a knife - especially the fence-side edge. If it's critical, I chisel the line on the back edge fairly deeply. Cut to the line and because the fibres are already severed, you get a lot less tearout. Sometimes even a perfect cut!
Also - take things slowly so that the blade is cutting rather than tearing.
Hope that helps
Steve
 
Can't help with speed settings - the mitre saws I've owned never had any. :?
As for tearout - some is inevitable on the underside and the fence side edge of the board because of the direction on blade travel.
I think I'm right in thinking the 712 is a slide saw, in which case you can eliminate tearout on the underside by drawing the blade lightly over the top edge to score it, then plunge down in front of the timber, then push through to complete the cut.
Although it works - I don't recommend scoring your cuts with a knife or chisel. You'll forever be scoring wood on most projects! and if you miss the score line by even a little, you may get tearout. Also, your score line may not be perfectly straight and square leaving you with a messy cut in a different way.
To eliminate tearout on the fence side edge, you will need to make an auxillary fence in MDF or similar, and attach it to the metal fence. This will "back up" your work at 90º and also give you a kerf for exactly where the blade will cut, which is useful for alignment. You may also be able to get 45º cuts out of this asa well, but if you use other angles much, best to remove the aux fence or you risk widening the 90º kerf and so introducing more tearout.
Steve said to take things slowly - I don't exactly disagree, but the right speed is fairly quick and going too slow introduces new problems. Experiment with different speeds to get a feel for what's right.
Make sure you use a good sharp blade with around 60 teeth for cross cutting smaller stock. Around 40 teeth for larger stock.

A
 
Wizard, I too have the DeWalt 712, the blade that comes with it is pretty mediocre and just for rough work. If you get the Freud fine finish blade with 64 teeth £37 from Rutlands you will see a vast improvement.
 
Another vote for a Freud crosscutting blade. I have one for my mitre saw and every cut is silky smooth :)
 
if you want feather free cuts, just back up your section of timber being cut with thin pieces of timber on the sides where the tear out occurs!! i.e: the fnece to timber side and base if the mitre saw has a wide "blade chaneel"
simple !!!
regards matt :lol:
 
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