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In the past, I’ve posted blog entries and video on new products that are about to hit the stores. More than once, I’ve had to answer email about why those products are not yet out even though it’s way past the reported release date. This time, although I did write about the Bosch miter saw while attending an event held at Bosch’s US company headquarters outside Chicago (click here to read that entry), I held off on the video until we had the saw in house.
It’s here and we thought you should get a close look at what I consider to be the most innovative woodworking product enhancement to come down the pike in a long time. Bosch’s GCM12SD is a 12″ miter saw that uses an axial-glide system instead of tubes or rails as found on other miter saws. The operation of the articulated arms is smooth and tight and that system allows the saw to sit closer to your shop wall than any other miter saw out there (just more than 13″ from the wall to the fence).
This is a 12″ miter saw and there is a small amount of deflection when the blade is fully extended, but I think it’s less than most other 12″ dual-bevel sliding compound miter saws. The upfront controls make this saw very user-friendly, but there are a couple small things that bother me. I’ll mention those in a full review in our April 2011 Tool Test column. Until then, here’s the video.
In the December 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine we review other 12″ sliders. (Get a copy here)
Go here to purchase & download the article and plan to build a mobile shop stand for your miter saw.
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Dave – Bosch makes a compatible Gravity-rise Wheeled Miter Saw Stand for the GCM12SD. It’s the T4B and it’s priced around $300.
It’s too bad Bosch didn’t put a laser on this one. Still, I’m really tempted to replace my current miter saw. I thought I’d ask, is there a cart that works well with this miter? I’d like to be able to take it to job sites, but the weight of it has me worried.
Olly – the saw sits very close to the wall, but it is still about 12" from the fence to the wall. We evaluated a group of 12" miter saws in the December 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Included in that group was the Hitachi C12LSH saw on which the head slides on the bars as well as the bars sliding in the base. That saw sets about 18" from the wall to the fence.
Great to finally see this saw in action, thanks for sharing the video with us.
Something you said confused me a little bit… Unless I’m mistaken, I think you said that this saw would still need to sit 12in away from the wall. Yet, I’d have thought the opposite would be true and that you could almost literally butt it up to the wall…?
Of course, the problem with most sliding mitre saws is that the rails stick out a good 12in.
Have you come across a similar space-saving saw from Hitachi? That’s also a twelve-incher but it has a slide mechanism more akin to the Festool Kapex. It’s been around for a couple of years or so, now.
Olly.
Thanks, Glen. I’ve been interested in seeing more about this saw since I read your first article on it. Looking forward to your review in April.