How to Adjust Miter Saw Efficiently

Table of Contents

How to Adjust Miter Saw – Steps To Follow
Final Verdict

Do you know how to adjust the miter saw efficiently? If you’re a DIY building junkie, a miter saw is an important piece of equipment that you shouldn’t miss in your workshop. This is a versatile tool that you can use to cut different materials. There are different miter saws on the market and they all come with unique features.

For the best performance and accurate results, you need to adjust a miter saw a few times to make it more efficient. I’m going to provide you with some instructions on how to adjust your miter saw.

How to Adjust Miter Saw – Steps To Follow

Do Some Cleaning

Every time you cut wood, there will be wood chips and sawdust. When the sawdust gathers at the bevel of the miter saw, adjusting without cleaning will prove impossible.

To clean your miter saw, you can use an air compressor. The best air compressors come with an air nozzle to help blow away the accumulated sawdust. When you’re done, use a clean cotton piece of cloth to wipe down the miter saw and your working bench. This ensures that the sawdust that may have settled on the saw is completely taken care of.

You can also check the saw for build-up and rust. To take care of this, you’ll need specialized solutions meant for handling this type of problem. You can do your research and find the best one closer to you and more efficient.

Appropriateness of the Blade

This may seem like an insignificant step in adjusting your miter saw. But when you adjust your miter saw, you’re preparing it for a task almost immediately after.

The type and size of miter saw speak a lot in regards to the type of cutting you’ll be doing. Ensure you know the combination of your blade before you start adjusting. Different combinations of blades perform at different speeds, are more or less effective on the material being cut, and are safe.

So, if you want to perform a more or less treacherous cutting, look for a versatile combination. This will, of course, perform many tasks very effectively.

Ensure the Blade And Fence Are Aligned

The correct alignment of the blade and fence is a must. But first things first, you have to disconnect your saw from your power source. This is because you’ll need to hold the guard that protects the blade.

After that, ensure that the blade is 90-degrees to the table. The blade is correctly adjusted when the square is in contact with the blade. If there’s a gap, you definitely need to adjust it.

To adjust the blade:

First, loosen the bevel handle and adjust it until the blade makes complete contact with the square.
When there’s contact, tighten the handle
The bolt you used to loosen the bevel had to be re-adjusted until it comes to a stop
Always make sure when you adjust the bevel it’s always at 0-degrees

Also, check if the fence is 90-degrees to the blade by putting the square against the fence. You can then bring the saw down and move the square against the blade. An adjusted miter saw should have the blade of the saw and the edge of the square in contact. If there’s a gap you need to adjust.

To adjust the fence:

There are two bolts on the left that hold the fence. Find them and loosen them
Keep adjusting the fence until it comes into contact with the blade
Re-tighten the bolts
Find the bolts on the right
Use a level to find the right alignment of the fence
Keep adjusting until the right side of the fence and the left side is aligned
Re-tighten the bolts.

Set the Angle of the Miter

The next step after the fence and the saw blade are aligned is to set the miter angle. This is because there will be an even and straight point to re-adjust the miter angle.

After setting the bevel angle to 0-degrees, adjust the miter angle to 0-degrees as well. It ensures that the miter saw will be accurate before you begin your next project.

Check for Inaccuracies

After making all of the necessary adjustments to your miter saw, it’s time to check if it cuts accurately or not.

The first thing to do is plugging in your miter into your power source. Once it’s up and running, put a flat board on the table against the fence. Proceed to perform a crosscut at 0-degrees miter and 0-degrees bevel angle.

After making the crosscut, check if it’s accurate using your square. If you notice any inaccuracies, you need to go back to re-adjusting again. Do this until you get satisfactory results.

There could be other issues that affect the accuracy of your results. So if you’ve adjusted over and over again and there are no accurate results, look for other factors that may be causing the problem. A few are the sharpness of your saw blade. The blade could be bent, damaged or loose.

To solve this problem, you can sharpen your blade. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to replace the blade with a new one.

YouTube Video Credit John Heisz

Final Verdict

After reading the whole article I suppose now you know it very well how to adjust the miter saw efficiently. Miter saws are designed to make accurate bevel and miter cuts. If you use your miter saw almost daily, you need to adjust it. I mean consider the brutality it goes through. You bump on it, bang it, or overuse it.

You should note that if your miter saw isn’t adjusted, it won’t necessarily be unsafe. It will only produce inaccurate results which can be inconvenient. You need to be careful with your miter saw. If you use it frequently, take precautions so that it doesn’t get damaged or worse hurt you or those around you. That being said, keep in mind the correct maintenance and storage of your miter saw.

How to Adjust Miter Saw Efficiently – Step By Step Guide