# What am I doing wrong?



## KMX (Jan 2, 2016)

Hello all,

I am trying to make perfect straight crosscuts for a face frame using a Dewalt DW713 10" miter saw with a 80T blade. However, this keep happening…




























The images show a finished 1×2 just cut and then placed back side by side. The gap is the exact path the blade has traveled.

What am I doing wrong?

Tried:

Using a different power outlet.
Different "brand new" blade.
Loosening/tightening the blade bolt.
Using a sacrificial zero clearance fence.

Many thanks!


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Your miter guide is not exactly perpendicular to the blade. It also looks like the stock is slipping as you cut, perhaps a strip of sand paper on the face of the miter fence will help. A ZCI may also help the edge shredding. Saw slower.

When all else fails hit it with a hammer!

M


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

What mark sad or you blade is bent or your bearings are bad in the chop saw, turn it on and see if you blade wobbles from side to side a little when looking straight at the edge of the blade. If so you need a new blade or a saw shop might be able to straighten it.


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## Holbs (Nov 4, 2012)

have you fine tuned your saw? My Bosch miter saw was not perfectly aligned out of the box. I had to spend 2-3 hours with a square to make fence, blade, compound angles, etc exact.

See if this helps at all:


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

Adjust your saw according to the manual. It has the procedure for squaring the blade to the table and the fence to the blade - starting on page 6.

Cheers,
Brad


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## KMX (Jan 2, 2016)

Thank you very much for the replies.

Recalibrating the saw unfortunately did not yield any positive results, nor did clamping the stock to be cut in place. I eventually opted for a new lower tooth blade and that seems to have done the trick. How my original blade became warped I am no sure, but I'm guessing I over tightened the blade bolt a couple times.

Thank you for the input.


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## Shadowrider (Feb 2, 2015)

If you are using a thin kerf blade (common on mitre saws and blades sold for them) it may be flexing. A stiffener might help.


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## TTF (Sep 13, 2009)

I think something is loose and you're getting side-to-side drift.


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## KMX (Jan 2, 2016)

I did forget to mention that the uneven crosscutting was an issue on my old Hitachi miter saw, hence I am suspecting the blade as the culprit since the same problem is happening on the brand new Dewalt DW713.

@Shadowrider
The idea of a stiffer blade is very intriguing. I am indeed using a thin kerf blade (very common). Do you have any recommendations for a thicker blade?

Many thanks.


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

I'd say just don't tighten it with the hand of God and you should be fine. Stiffeners could limit depth of cut.


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## EEngineer (Jul 4, 2008)

I saw similar things when I tuned up my HF 12" slider. I spent a long time "tuning", got everything aligned perfectly BUT I still saw crap like you show in your pictures.

Eventually I scrapped the blade that came with the saw and put on a Diablo 80 tooth blade. Cleared that right up! Interestingly enough, the original blade was full kerf and the new Diablo was thin kerf - no stiffener. I can't recommend the Diablo series of blades enough. They have migrated to all my circular tools in the shop - table saw, circular saw and miter saw.

I think the cheaper blades actually flex during the cut. If I look closely at your first picture, it seems like it isn't a straight cut - the cut looks bowed in the center. That's what I experienced on my saw. I am beginning to believe that the blade makes a huge difference!


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## kaerlighedsbamsen (Sep 16, 2013)

One last question that has not been asked: Were the cuts shown done using the "sliding" function on the saw? 
I have found that even on brand new saws they can have quite a slack and is, in that case, best used ony for rougher cuts. Lock the saw and use only plunge cuts for critical stuff.

Hope this help!


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

> One last question that has not been asked: Were the cuts shown done using the "sliding" function on the saw?
> I have found that even on brand new saws they can have quite a slack and is, in that case, best used ony for rougher cuts. Lock the saw and use only plunge cuts for critical stuff.
> 
> Hope this help!
> ...


It is a compound miter saw, but I don't believe it is a slider.


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## KMX (Jan 2, 2016)

The DW713 is indeed a non-sliding miter saw.

I will try a thicker blade and see if that makes an improvement.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

That happened to me so I used a magnetic angle cube and found out

I had a bent blade. Oops.

Put on new blade and the cube read zero in different locations.

Good luck now


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