Professional construction workers and DIY-ers can both benefit from the mighty power of miter saws. In fact, for any craftsmen out there, the miter saw is an essential part of their workshop. They’re not only easy to use, but they’re also time savers when it comes to chopping pieces of wood. They make quick work out of crosscutting boards, crown molding cuts, and making decorative trims. Hands down, they’re some of the best tools for each of these jobs.
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Bosch is one of the world’s best power tool manufacturers, and they’ve been doing it for more than a century. Although they specialize in making some high-quality handheld power tools, their line of miter saws isn’t one to pass over. The Bosch GCM12SD Miter Saw has collected an overwhelmingly large number of positive reviews from customers, and it’s not difficult to see why. Let’s take a look at what this miter saw has to offer.
Space-Efficient Axial-Glide System
Most miter saws utilize rods for articulating cuts. These rods tend to protrude several inches behind the back-end of the saw so you need to keep the tool away from walls when operating. This Bosch-made miter saw uses a different approach by getting rid of the standard rod mechanism and instead, replacing it with a Bosch-exclusive Axial-Glide system which uses hinged arms and bearings which let the saw glide in and out.
One extremely nitpicky downside of the Axial-Glide system is that some customers find that it glides much too smoothly. This is an understandable problem since it can be quite difficult to set up the right cutting specs if the thing glides past your desired measurement. Luckily, users can use an onboard wrench to play around with the glide tension to control movement.
15 Amp Motor and 12-Inch Blade
The powerful 15.0 amp motor is surprisingly smooth. Using the stock 12-inch blade that comes with the kit, the 2.7-horsepower motor spins the blade at up to 3,800 RPM for clean, efficient cuts. When you need to cut thick pieces of material down to size, a weak 8- or 10-inch blade has nowhere near enough cutting-depth to get the job done. This foot-long blade lets you chop up lumber for framing with ease.
Bevel and Miter
The blade on this miter saw can bevel up to 48° in both directions. Operators can make use of the preconfigured 0°, 33.9°, and 45° bevel stops – some of the most common beveled angles when chopping wood. As for the miter capacity, you can swing the saw to the left up to 52° and to the right up to 60°. There are also miter stops which help workers with making precision cuts (15°, 22.5°, 31.6° to the left, and an additional 60° to the right). The tool can crosscut pieces of up to 4 x 14-feet wide, and vertical depths reach up to 6 ½ inches.
Another great thing about the design of the GCM12SD is that the miter and bevel locks are located on the front of the unit. Miter locks have been in the front forever, but it’s a relatively new innovation to place the bevel lock there as well. Gone are the days of reaching your arms toward the end of the unit to determine the bevel angle. Instead, control over angling the blade is placed at the front for extra convenience.
Extendable Supports
Not every person needs to cut 10- or 12-inch long stocks on a miter saw. Luckily, Bosch had this figured out and included extended stock supports on the base of the miter saw. The supports keep long pieces of wood from tipping over when chopping with the saw, but really long pieces of wood will need external supports to help bear the weight and length.
Bosch GCM12SD: Bottom Line
Bosch’s GCM12SD is a revolutionary miter saw that solves the problem of needing considerable space behind the saw to make room for the rails. Instead, this model features two hinged arms which don’t stick out behind the saw. In addition, it comes with a ton of useful features that make operating the saw much easier to do, it cuts with complete accuracy, and it’s a relatively inexpensive power tool considering the power it packs.
Even the weight of the miter saw is extremely light (only 65 pounds), so if you’re looking for a portable miter saw to take from job site to job site, this miter saw is definitely worth considering. In general, you can’t go wrong with Bosch, and as for this miter saw, there’s no reason to doubt Bosch’s expertise at making world-class power tools.
- AXIAL GLIDE SYSTEM: patented glide system allows wider cross cuts and better alignment while also being...
- CAPACITY: expanded cutting capacity, 14 inch horizontal capacity nominal 6 1/2 inch vertical capacity against...
- ADJUSTABLE: provides easy adjustments with a large, easy-to-read uniform bevel and stainless steel miter...
Last update on 2023-05-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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