Portable table saw or miter saw?

[sorue]

Which one would you choose if you have very limited space and live in an apartment? I really want a miter saw for bevel/miters as i want to get into more polygonal cabinets and sloped baffles. Right now i have a circular saw and router.

Also, I'm on a budget and would like to keep the purchase to < USD400 if it's possible. I understand that limits my available choices. One question about miter saws: i need a sliding compound miter saw to cut wider widths, right? I imagine it'll be a problem doing bevels on 13" wide baffles with a smaller CMS? Is it realistic to flip the piece over to finish the cut if i get a smaller CMS like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-C10FCE2-10-Inch-Compound-Miter/dp/B000V5Z6RG/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1350113281&sr=1-1&keywords=hitachi+compound+miter+saw

One more thing, i don't need to rip down large sheets. I can get the timber store to rip the pieces down to the sizes i want (not super accurate but i can live with that..). :T Guess that's why i don't really need a table saw?

[Hdale85]

I don't think a miter saw would be very useful in speaker building, you can do everything you mention with a table saw and beveled edge cuts.

Most wood stores will rip wood down for you at least the big box ones will as long as they have a panel saw.

[JonMarsh]

It quite depends on the size of cabinets you plan to attempt, and how you will "re-rip" at home after the timber store does the rough rip.

Keep in mind there's a lot of difference between a miter cut off saw, a sliding miter saw, and a dual bevel compound sliding miter saw, as regards the types of cuts each will do! I have an Hitachi C10FSH, which is a rather different critter from the one you linked to, as it will do bevels in both directions, and has a larger cross cut capacity and some other refinements. Bevels in either direction are important, IMO- sometimes for various reasons flipping over the piece doesn't really cut it. Literally. :W


Hitachi C10FSH




However, in general it hasn't quite been up to some of the jobs I need, particularly with regards to cross cut capacity and vertical capacity, so this last week I bought a DeWalt DWS780 after looking at a LOT of the dual bevel sliding miter compound saws on the market, including the top Hitach 12" models (generally, I like Hitachi tools and find them to be very well made and reliable- love my Hitachi M12V routers).




This saw seems to be a gem; ask me more after this weekend, when I'll really be putting it through the paces. Exceptional cross cut capacity, precision adjustments to fine tune the main stops, a very clever sighting guide with dual LED lamps casting the blade shadow that seems more accurate and useful with complex wood pieces than the laser sight Hitachi uses. I have a number of specific requirements when I went looking last weekend and doing research online, and haven't been disappointed since unboxing and setting it up and doing some test cuts.


I'm limited on space, too, and what I'd recommend combining with this someday is a DeWalt DW745;



I love mine, and it's super accurate and easy to setup with it's rack and pinion geared fence, but it's not designed for large pieces; will rip up to 16" wide, but you need to think about what kind of bench to set it up on and what kind of outfeed table to use. Also, due to the small table size (portable job site saw, remember) it doesn't handle large pieces well for cross cut, particularly if you want to use the miter guide. My Craftsman is better for that, and what I get out for those kinds of jobs. OTOH, I think the DWS780 will mostly eliminate that need.


I have a portable adjustable roller table which works well with either the DeWalt or my Craftsman 10" table saw. From Woodcraft.



Makes handling large pieces MUCH easier! especially by yourself- I don't have a shop helper! ;W