BOSCH GCM12SD 12 In. Dual-Bevel Glide Sliding Compound Miter Saw

We have had the saw for about three weeks. It arrived via delivery without any damage. Before purchasing this machine I researched Milwaukee, Hitachi, Freud, Dewalt, Makita, Festool & Jet saws. Here in Columbus we have a Woodwerks store that features Festool and I was given a hands on demonstration. At $1,400 it seems to be a great machine. But, the Bosch is also a great machine and the there is a substantial price difference. My Son and I have a cabinet shop and needed something to replace my 35+ year old Makita Model 2401 10" miter saw. For some time we have been cutting off hardwood boards that were beyond the ability of the small saw to accomplish safely. For over a year I was considering this machine. But at $750 I wanted to be sure it was durable, accurate with repeatability and user friendly. Two months ago Woodwerks raised the price to $799. I had decided that it would be a good idea to purchase it before the price went up again. Then I found Amazon had the saw for $599 including delivery. I have purchased several machines from them: 15" Jet Planer, 14" Jet Lathe, 18" Jet Bandsaw, Bosch Barrel jigsaw and others. All have arrived as promised without damage. So I have a high confidence factor with Amazon purchases. It was easy to spend this money on this saw. Others have criticized the weight, the noise, the inaccuracy, etc. I would like to comment on each of these points: WEIGHT: The Makita 2401 weighs in excess of 50#. It was one of the first Japanese Miterboxes to come to America. It has been virtually indestructable. The Bosch 12" Saw weighs less. But because it is larger, there is a physical handling aspect that you should respect if you move it from site to site. It is certainly not as light as my Son's DeWalt 12" box. Don't let negative reviews scare you. ACCURACY: I have never purchased any piece of equipment that didn't require final adjustments. The factory settings are usually quite good out of the box. However, if you have to turn out superior work, each tool will require setup. Taking the time to go through the process provides you with knowledge of how to make the adjustments. It also allows you to understand when something is not right. Plan on spending 2 hours to make the needed adjustments to: 1. the miter detent plate and 2. the vertical scale. The manual is well written and relatively easy to understand. I used a 4"x4" cherry piece to check/adjust the horizontal and vertical cuts. I found that by adjusting the vertical indicator arrow to the left side it is easier to achieve a more accurate and repeatable angle adjustment since the vertical angle is not detented. NOISE: The belt driven saws, like the Hitachi, are quieter since there is no gear clash. The Bosch is extremely quiet in comparison to the Makita 2401. I wear hearing protection when using machinery but this saw is much more ear-friendly than other saws I have used. CUTTING HEIGHT ON MOTOR SIDE: One review complained that the saw was limited to 4.5" in height on the motor side. Anyone who has ever used the old Rockwell Sawbuck will remember the 7.5" blade. Yet we were able to make wide cuts in trim materials simply by taking advantage of the long range of motion when the workpiece is laid horizontally on the cutting table. The purpose of any SCM saw is to allow these cuts to be made by taking the time to understand the way to set angles in the flat plane. Cheat sheets are available on the internet to show you how to utilize this powerful aspect of the tool. If you do not intend to use this function, then this saw is not for you and you would do well to buy a DeWalt 12" miter saw. KICK FROM NON-SOFT START MOTOR: try an older saw like the Makita. You will quickly understand that this is nit-picking in the extreme. SAFETY SWITCHES: The saw has two safety switches on the top of the handle. You can cut from either side and find a easily located safety switch for either hand. Like any tool, there is a learning period. I know a man with 2 and half fingers missing who decided to defeat the safety switch on his miterbox. Learn to use it. TABLE NOT FLAT: this table is flat. UNPUBLISHED MEASUREMENTS: I mounted this saw on the left side of my workbench. I had to wait until I had the saw in my shop to get the measurements needed to set the height to match the workbench. There is no way I would ever take a written measurement as something to set a critical height. From unpacking to setting the saw's mounting surface (bench) and setting the saw in place took less than an hour. The reviewer used this factor as a reason to "knock down" the rating. This is unreasonable and shows that the review is flawed and unreliable at best. DUST COLLECTION: There are few dust collection systems on any of the machines in my shop that would satisfy some of the ardent critics of this saw. Even the Festool at more than twice the price can't do that. LASER - DIM: If you are novice, then the laser is important to you. If you are a craftsman, you rely on your eyes. I have not found a laser that can be as sharp as my old eyes. Conclusion: this saw is the best of the type under $1,400. Woodwerks' repair department is full of DeWalt and Hitachi SCMs. The repair tech said that the Hitachi was the quietest and easiest to repair. The filled shelves speak volumes to me. Looking at the display models utilizing the two round tracks to support the sliding mechanism, I found side to side movement that was not present in the Bosch. I learned a lot about reading the various reviews, especially the writers who complained about things that are not really part of the machine. 90% favorable reviews to 10% disgruntled only proves you can't make everyone happy. If you need this type of machine, buy this one.

Firstly, I knew full well the involved risk of mail ordering an 89 lb. package with a precision machine inside. UPS and others push the limit requiring their drivers to lug this thing around. I decided to roll the dice anyway, and got snake eyes... at first. In the end it still cost me less than purchasing at a local distributor. The first saw arrived in two pieces, one large and one small. A three inch chunk that used to be the left/rear foot of the base was sliding around in the box. You know, the box with no Styrofoam in it, only cardboard uprights to ensure the saw lands on a fragile corner, and half an inch of rigid cardboard between $800/65 lbs. of miter saw and the concrete floor. The box did not appear unusually damaged (because it flexes so well), but the edges and corners were pretty beaten up. When I saw the damage, I felt like a nine year old who just dropped his ice cream cone. I picked my lower lip up off of the floor and I politely emailed Bosch about the substandard packaging. I'm sure they jumped right on the matter with lightning speed... Amazon was great and I had a replacement two days later. I was out at the UPS store paying $120 (Reimbursable through Amazon) to ship the broken saw back. Meanwhile, the UPS man was delivering the replacement saw to my home. The UPS man asked my wife, "Didn't I just deliver one of these?" My wife told him where I'd gone, and that the first saw had arrived in pieces. She told me the UPS man looked "sheepish" as he "gingerly" placed the new saw on the floor of my garage/shop. We had a chuckle over the phone at his expense and I hurried home to open the new saw. Setup: The second saw arrived undamaged, but the box looked like someone had lived in it for years. I mounted a Freud thin kerf blade and squared it up. Adjustments are easy. Even easier with a Wixey, or other magnetic digital angle gauge. The Bevel detent does not quite line up with the 33.9 degree mark, but the bevel scale is as accurate as the Wixey will measure (33.9/56.1 degrees). Everything lined up nice and square. The glide action is solid and smooth. Adjusting the tension of the glide action is easy with the supplied wrench. At full extension, there is very little side to side slop. You can force it to move side by side, but in use there is no hint of slop. While shopping for a new saw, I tried just about all of the sliders from the reputable brands (Except Festool, don't want one). The Bosch has the least slop out of all of them. The table: The miter table (the part that turns) is flat. The outer support tables are not. They angle downward at about 0.3 degrees. At least thats what the Wixey shows. A straight edge across the entire table reveals about 1/64th or so of a gap. The outer edges of the support tables are coplanar with the miter table, but the inner edges of the support tables are not. Even so, every single test cut I made was square and accurate with both long and short boards. The tiny variances on the table do not apparently effect the saw's accuracy. The miter table of my DeWalt 703 miter saw is positively convex, but it produces square and accurate cuts every time. I suspect that some folks complain about thousandths of a inch simply because they own the gadgets to measure that small (Dangit! Its three microns off! Burn it and get a better one!). No offense meant to anyone. I'm a woodworker not an eye surgeon. Forgive me if I'm out of line by .000000006 of an inch or so... give or take. Mounting: I removed the old DeWalt from my Lowe's clearance Bosch Gravity Rise Stand (gloating) and attached the mounting brackets to the Bosch. I found that when the saw is securely attached to the mounting brackets, the sliding material supports get jammed in the closed position. The mounting brackets flex under tension just enough to cause the supports to become stuck. I found that strategically placed shims (3/4" washers) between the base of the saw (near the material supports) and the mounting brackets allowed full use of the supports. Summary: I'm extremely pleased with this saw. It is solid if you don't throw it out of a truck, and it performs magnificently. I have a dozen or so Bosch tools and this one is by far my favorite (and the most expensive). If a lighter 10 inch version comes out, I will be very tempted to get one. My only caution to buyers is regarding the packaging. Understand the risk of mail ordering this saw. If you do not order from Amazon, only order from a company which has a return policy at least as good as Amazon. Be prepared to spend out of pocket in order to exchange a broken saw. The packaging for this saw is simply not designed to withstand anything more than sitting on a pallet... in zero gravity. FYI: The following parts do not fit on the GCM12SD Axial Glide Miter Saw: BOSCH MS1226 Vertical Quick Clamp for 4412 4410 5412L 4410L Miter Saws The new taller fence is too high. The quick clamp mechanism will not clear the top of the fence. BOSCH MS1228 Crown Molding Stop Supports Pair for 4412 4410 5412L 4410L Miter Saws The new design of the material support extensions do not allow mounting of this accessory. Bosch MS1223 Length Stop Kit for 4412, 5412L The mounting holes are closer together than the 4412/5412/5312 saws and do not allow mounting unless you drill a new hole in the accessory. I was disappointed when I tried all of these accessories, but hopefully Bosch will have new ones out soon.

Ahh… The Bosch GCM12SD, what can I complain about? I’ve been in the construction industry for 26 years. I’ve used almost every tool brand out there. I’ve used almost every size, shape, color, and flavor of miter saws. After starting my own business, I needed a miter saw. But, which one? I knew I liked Bosch tools from experience. I also knew my budget didn’t allow me to start with something like DeWalt and work my way up to Bosch. I took a one-time chance with this saw and I haven’t quit… Neither has this saw. After years of chopping up everything I can throw at it, it hasn’t missed a beat. From fragile solid maple inlays to railroad ties, this beast knows no limits. 60-degree angles on 4x6 posts for a landscaping triangle would make most miter saws throw in the towel. Not this one. It made those cuts like butter. I’m tired of inaccurate ratings and reviews. “my item didn’t arrive on time, 1 star”, “the carrier appears to have dropped my item off of a 48 story building into a pool of lava and now it doesn’t work, 1 star”… You know what I mean? Let me make this as helpful as possible. Anyone who has used a sliding compound miter saw knows that the dust it produces causes the slide mechanics to gum up, restrict movement, and inevitably cut fingers off. Bosch takes care of this problem with their axial-glide system. Mine is still as smooth as the day I got it. No longer do you need a foot and a half behind the saw for the slide mechanism to work. The glide just kind of folds and unfolds. I’m still impressed with the way this system works. No, this saw doesn’t come with a laser, crown stops or someone to lug it around for you. If you need these items, you’re in the wrong business and don’t need this saw. Although mine was made in Malaysia, I’m sure it’s now made in China. What isn’t? That doesn’t mean it’s some cheaply made pile of junk knockoff. The saw does come with a blade. Unfortunately, the blade is only good for throwing at trees. (WARNING! Don’t do that). Do yourself a favor and invest in a few Freud Industrial blades. My favorites are the 60T for the “not-so-delicates”, and the 72T for detailed work. If you plan on using this saw to move from jobsite to jobsite, you’re going to need a stand with wheels. Although you can fold these stands up for storage, it’s almost a two-man job to do so. I never fold mine. This saw is heavy and awkward. There’s really not much else to say about this work of art. It does what it’s supposed to do without question. If it fits your budget, buy it. If you make poor choices or your favorite color is yellow, you know where to go. In closing, the only complaint I can think of is that it doesn’t bring me a beer at the end of a job well done.

A great miter saw and I'm glad I got in on the final sales of this generation of it. The next gen did add a shadow line but shadow line mods exist for this saw and the more important change that I didn't want the new generation where they've moved the bevel controls to rear like most miter saws on the market. I'm a big fan of front loaded bevel control like this saw has. I've used it a good bit so far and it's by far the smoothest miter saw I've ever user and comes with a half decent stock blade although for fine woodworking it would be worthwhile to upgrade as any miter saw on the market. As a lefty woodworker one of the best things by far is the left-hand trigger support.

This is the top of the line best axial compound miter saw you’ll ever need. The only saw you’ll ever buy. Zero lateral movement when fully extended....,that’s the most important feature of any tool. It’s solid, and accurate, at a good price. The price has come down since i bought mine, but i’d buy another one at any price because i love this saw. In my opinion, the 12” is the way to go but i’m sure the 10” will do. The 22” just give you maximum capacity so you can cut boards standing up or large bulky stock without having to finish the job with another saw or having to flip it over. If your cutting long boards, you don’t want to be flipping them around especially if you are cutting many pieces. If you are looking to buy a full featured miter saw, you’ve found it. You’ll want to put it in bed with you. You’ll dream about it, and wake up smiling. The axial glide system is so solid and accurate, and glides so smoothly that Bosch has to incorporate a tension screw because it needed to be slowed down. How great is that. The axial system are two hinges mounted opposing each other at 90 degrees that makes this saw what it is, and it can be placed against a wall to save bench and shop space, then pulls out to a cut massive board widths. Easy blade change as well. It can’t be beat. This saw is top shelf !!!

Just got the saw and setup today. It is very accurate out of the box and feels solid. Replacing an old 12” Ridgid which is a good saw but is 15+ years old now. Anyway, everything was great on the saw with one exception, I could not unlock the tilt bevel. The red handle would not come up. I finally was able to force it up with so much force I was afraid of breaking the handle. It was adjusted too tight. Once I backed off the lock nut at the back it was fine. Just expect more out of Bosch. Other than that, all the features and specs at this price point is fantastic. Very smooth operation and accuracy is fantastic.

I have been wanting this model ever since it was introduced and after owning it for a few weeks now, I am not disappointed. The saw came well packaged and it was easy to assemble the few parts. The sliding and cutting motion is silky smooth - too smooth in fact. I used the motion control on the pivot arm to increase resistance a little and it feels more natural with the added resistance. The miter and bevel controls are by far the best of the 4 miter saws I have owned or any miter saw I have ever used for that matter. Setup is easy and intuitive with the up front controls. The sliding fences and extension supports are also very well designed. I wasn't overly fond of the hold down clamp but it does the job. I am very picky about the accuracy of my woodworking equipment and have precision tools to measure and maintain it. I found the squareness of the blade to the fence to be of off initially by about 0.025" over 10 inches. For most work this might be close enough. It took a couple of tries but I got it cutting as square as I am able to measure. Also, after making the adjustment, 45 degree angles are as accurate as I can measure. I haven't detected any changes in accuracy since initial adjustment. Power and cutting speed are as good as you are going to get with any saw that operates on 120V @ 15A. If I have to complain about anything, it would have to be the 60 tooth original equipment carbide blade. It cuts very fast but the cut quality is not adequate for fine trim, cabinet or furniture work. I would only use it for framing and deck building. In fairness to Bosch, I have owned saws from Delta, Hitachi and Rdigid and their included blades were also unsuitable for precision work. Dust collection on this saw as it comes from the factory is almost a joke but that is true of every miter saw I have ever used. There is one more issue that I don't consider a defect but potential buyers should be aware of. This saw is big, fairly heavy and doesn't have good provisions for carrying it from job site to job site. For my purposes, the size and weight are an advantage. I kept my Hitachi 10 inch slider for job site work. I am leaving the Bosch permanently in the shop.

I splurged on this because I was tired of my old crappy one. Paired with the folding workbench and it is awesome. Great adjustments, smooth action, nice cuts, it's made my projects so much easier.

I purchased this miter saw because my old one never seemed to work correctly. I have a Bosch dishwasher and love the quality and build of the dishwasher. I decided to purchase the Bosch miter saw. It was perfectly calibrated out of the box. I made several test cuts before using it on my expensive composite decking material. It makes the job so easy. Changing the blade was also very straightforward and the blade cover can be risen out of the way by using the screwdriver tool that comes with the machine. One thing I appreciate is the see-through Blade guard. My old miter saw had a black blade guard that you could not see through making it more difficult to see what was going on. I also love the way that the compound miter saw extends. It doesn’t use rails like most compound miter saws. It’s very smooth and sturdy. I’m so happy I purchased this machine. I’m able to get my cuts done quickly and accurately. The only downside is the weight. I’m at a senior age and I find it very difficult to lift. If it was 1 pound heavier, I don’t believe I’d be able to lift it. I usually spend 10 minutes warming up before lifting the saw. I also have a dolly that I use to move it around inside my house. Please be careful of your back when lifting this saw. Other than that it does an amazing job and it should last a very long time.

Hasta ahora es una sierra que hay rendido el precio que costó es potente lo único que le cambiado es el disco ya que el original es muy ruidoso compré un disco diablo en conjunto la máquina y el disco hacen el balance perfecto para un mejor trabajo mejores cortes sin ruido y no hacen astillas son más limpios parece que son cortes que se hacen con una lijadora de los finos que quedan recomiendo ampliamente esta máquina

Magnífico producto, Bosch siempre es garantía, muy buen equipo y la relación costo-beneficio creo que es insuperable, el envío fue muy rápido y seguro, no tengo ninguna queja estoy muy satisfecho con este equipo, este equipo es por mucho mejor que la mayoría sobretodo por el mecanismo de movimiento que ahorra mucho espacio, sobre todo por que mi taller es muy pequeño, muy recomendable.

La meilleur outil que je possède précise et coulisse en douceur.

Todavía no la uso. La probé en vacío y funciona excelente. Una excelente adquisición para facilitar mi afición por la carpintería