# 12-inch Ryobi mitre saw not cutting straight



## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello everybody,

I have a 12-inch Ryobi mitre saw and as the title says, it is not cutting straight, at all. On a 6 inch cut, it deviates about 1/8 of an inch. It is two years old and I've never replaced the blade it came with but I have cut a lot with it. Do you think the reason it is not cutting straight is because of the blade? I've tried adjusting it but really, I don't know what to adjust. I'm thinking its just the blade and in that case I plan on purchasing this:

http://www.amazon.com/Freud-D1244X-12-Inch-General-Purpose/dp/B00008WQ33

Please let me know what you think about my problem and the blade and if you have any solutions or experience on this type of problem I would really appreciate it if you could enlighten me. I've discovered that nothing quite frustrates me as much as not being able to cut a piece of wood straight!!


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

Yes, not being able to cut straight is very frustrating!

Just to clarify, this is a regular compound miter saw, not a sliding compound miter saw, correct?

My guess is that it is not the blade that is making it crooked, although purchasing a nice blade for the saw is a necessity.

When you make a cross-cut, is the cut itself straight but not square/perpendicular? Or does the cut start out perpendicular and then curve or angle out the 1/8 inch?

Can you feel any flex in the saw especially near the handle?


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

The actual cut is straight but not perpendicular. It is a regular compound miter saw. There is no flex or anything its just that when i cut something, it is not perpendicular. I really have no clue what is going on with it thats why I have convinced myself it's the blade but in the back of my mind i new it wasn't lol. Do you know of anything else it could be from?


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Have you checked the blade against the table for squareness using an engineers square or other quality square? Is there any side to side slop in the head / table as it goes through its cycle?

While the Ryobi miter saws aren't anywhere near the best, they are FAR from the worst (That list is a BIG one…).

One common problem with the Ryobi and B&D miter saws is that the labels that show where 0, 22.5, 45, and 90 degrees are frequently are slightly off, which if you trust them, WILL throw your cuts off. You are best off with a set of known good squares, and maybe some good engineers triangles of various angles to help your setup….


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Also, when I put the blade and motor all the way down in the closed position, and check the blade against the fence with a square, it says that it is square. When I actually cut though, it is not square at all.


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

When I have it set to zero, and i check it to see if the blade is square with the fence, it says that it is. However, when i cut any piece of wood, it clearly is far from square. I think the angles are still correct and something else is going on here. I've had it for two years and not a single problem but this happened all of the sudden.


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

I have a Ryobi 10" SCMS and the stops at 45, 90 etc are accurate, but when I tighten down the knob to secure the angle it shifts a little bit. It's a real pain to get it just right.


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Yeah I dont know what I'm going to do. I'll try and keep messing with it until hopefully i strike gold and it is miraculously fixed haha


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## jusfine (May 22, 2010)

Are you cutting very thick or heavy material?

The blade may drift a bit in that case.

I would take the blade off, clean it and the inside of the saw (compressed air), maybe something is trapped behind the blade that would only show up when it is rotating.


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks Randy. I think it might be the part that rotates when you push the saw down and pull it up. The blade is fine and the saw is clean so I think something needs to be calibrated or readjusted. I'm going to give it a try in a few minutes now and see what i can do.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Muhamad,
I'm not familiar with Ryobi saws, but basically all miter saws, like all table saws work pretty much the same.
Two things come to mind on your saw that I don't think have been mentioned above(unless I missed it)
As you mentioned, you checked the blade squareness to the fence…right? But do this: Lower the blade, lock the miter handle down. Set a square aganist the fence and next to the blade, not touching the teeth. The blade should contact the full length of the square. If it is NOT square, loosen the miter lock handle a half turn with the arm in the full lowered position. If possible, take the saw and turn it over on its side. You should see one or two miter arm bolts on the underside of the turntable. Loosen these bolts (bolt), and turn the saw back over in the sitting postion like to use it. Make sure the miter lock handle is loose, but do not release the index spring. Use the handle to turn the turn table and saw so the blade contacts the full length of the square. Turn the miter lock handle clockwise to lock the saw square with the fence. Turn the saw back over, and tighten the bolt (bolts) Re-check the blade squareness to the fence, and if need be, re-adjust it. Then you can adjust the indicator scale back to 0…...I hope this helps… I klnow it's a lot of imfo, but it just might work..I've adjusted mine like that and took care of the problem like you have…..Also check your pivot adjustment to pivot to compound cuts….Just make sure it is also set to 0..if not, loosen the nut, pivot to 0 and re-tighten the nut…...Just a couple of things to try…Nothing like something being out of square….I hate that…...I hope this might help…..


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks Rick and shopguryl. Here's what I've done so far. I took the motor completely off of the base by removing the pin. I then cleaned the entire saw thoroughly and then greased up everything and put it back together. I then some cedar wood (I love the smell!) and now it is cutting straighter but not exactly straight. It's about 1/2 of a degree off and that may not sound like much but on a 6 inch cut, thats almost a 1/16th of an inch. The weird thing is that when i do check for squareness between the fence and blade, my square says that it is square. Maybe my square is lying to me. Also, Bevel cuts are even more off (i don't know if that means anything in particular). I'm gonna try doing what Rick has suggested and hopefully that can get it straight. I'm so close but not quite there. I bought some new hand tools today to ease my frustration lol! Also, Happy Eid to everyone. If you don't know, it's a Muslim holiday after we have fasted for one month so I hope everyone has a wonderful day!


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Now I've gotten it to only be off by .071 degrees. I don't know if i should tolerate this lol!


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## mrg (Mar 10, 2010)

Are you checking both sides of the fence? If one side is out it will get worse the longer the cut. Have you measured from both sides of the blade.in other words cut six inches from left and six inches from right.this will tell you which fence is off.

Happy ramadan, hope I spelled that correctly.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

are you checking blade-fence squareness and lumber cut squareness with the same square? both with the same square sides? it is possible your square is out of square?


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## Bose0225 (Sep 6, 2010)

Yes you spelled it correctly and thanks. The fence is one solid machined piece but yes i have cut it from both sides and measured both sides. It is possible that my square is off so i measured every cut I've made so far with a ruler that has 1/64ths and so far so good. I just hope it lasts and maybe it's time for a new square.


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

Do us a favor and change the blade. If that doesn't solve the problem then come back.


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## CptWingnut (Feb 3, 2011)

Well A little late to the game here folks but just to add in my day late and a dollar sense advice, I have the same saw with the same problem, I took the entire thing apart cleaned it and what not, while doing this I found that my the one piece solid machined fence was bent. The face of the fence on the right side was actually a bent back at the top, only very slightly and hardly noticeable, but it played in the longer cuts big time… now to find a replacement fence!


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## MitchH (Oct 6, 2009)

I just bought one of these used. Try anchoring one side of the fence down with the adjustment screws and bending the misaligned side back into line with a prybar, or just pull it back by hand. Saw a guy do this on a Bosch 12" saw video. Or, replace the fence entirely with a wood one…zero clearance that way as well.


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## LouisD (Jan 7, 2014)

A friend of mine had a one piece miter saw fence that got bent. He attached a 3/4" sacrificial fence but made sure he had plenty of room so that the screw heads, or ends (depends on how you attach it to your fence) were not close to the inside face of the fence. He then took the fence off and ran it over his jointer, face down, till it was dead flat and reattached. Just make sure the screws are far enough away from the inside fence face that you don't run them over the jointer blades! The only problem is you lose that much rip capacity, however thick the sacrificial fence ends up being. I have a Dewalt with the same problem. I'm think of taking the fence off and hacking it in half, so that way each half can be aligned independently. I might have to widen holes and such but will keep you posted. Not too worried if I junk it, didn't pay much for it and it would be a good excuse to finally buy a sliding miter saw!


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## DukeManrod (Jun 5, 2019)

I just got rid of my Ryobi 12 inch sliding compound miter saw. I couldn't find a way to adjust it that it would make an accurate cut. Especially when you slide it all the way out, the blade would come down in different spots, if you did multiple passes on a thick board there would be ridges left. I just said to hell with it and got a new Bosch. Cuts square accurate right out the box. IMHO ryobi is great for starting out on a budget, bc you can afford many different tools to get things done, and that's exactly what I did starting out woodworking, and start out with cheap tools is beneficial in a lot of ways, you learn to fix things bc they break and wear out, save money, amongst other things. You definitely get what you pay for. And its not all bad, but when it comes to precision, spend the extra money and buy quality.


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## SSotolongo (Mar 25, 2019)

> I have a Ryobi 10" SCMS and the stops at 45, 90 etc are accurate, but when I tighten down the knob to secure the angle it shifts a little bit. It s a real pain to get it just right.
> 
> - Brandon


Download the manual. On many miter saws the miter scale is also adjustable. Your table saw should have a knob or screw that you turn to get the blade true and you should be able to also adjust the miter scale too.


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