Whether you’ve bought a new miter saw or using an old one, when the blade doesn’t cut the material all the way through, it puts a strain on your creativity. This article is specifically for people who are asking, why is my miter saw not cutting all the way through?
Two primary reasons that cause this particular issue are sawdust and depth settings. If it’s a new miter saw, you need to figure out how you can adjust the depth. If it’s an old one, check if there’s sawdust hindering the procedure.
For more details about what causes this issue and how you can fix it, make sure that you go through the entire article.
Why Is My Miter Saw Not Cutting All The Way Through?
Exploring the reason will allow you to get closer to the solution. Take a look below to get an idea about what might be causing your miter saw not to cut all the way through.
Sawdust Accumulation
After working with your miter saw for quite some time, dust can gather inside the saw near the blade. This is one of the significant reasons that stop a miter saw from cutting all the way through.
Identifying whether this is the issue with your miter saw will require you to open the saw. As all miter saws are different, how to open the unit will vary depending on the model you have.
Depth Setting
Another reason why your miter saw may not be cutting all the way through the material is the depth setting. On every miter saw, you can adjust how deep the cut will be. This feature allows the machine to be diverse.
You can customize your cut according to your necessity. However, if you don’t understand how you can adjust this setting, it can prove to be an inconvenience.
Blunt Blade
Sometimes when the blade is too blunt, it may not get all the way through the material. The miter saw blade is supposed to smoothly cut the material without too much pressure put by the user. Moreover, too much pressure can bend the blade out of shape, permanently damaging it.
How To Fix Miter Saw Not Cutting All The Way Through?
Now that I’ve explained the probable causes of this issue, it’s time to get to the solutions. After identifying the reason, you have to approach the solution accordingly. Let’s go through each solution in detail.
Clean The Miter Saw
The first and most common reason causing this issue is sawdust. Even when you have an excellent dust collection system for your miter saw, dust can gather inside the miter saw, causing problems.
So, it’s important that you regularly clean the miter saw from the inside out. Now, this is where it gets tricky. Because no two miter saws are alike, opening them won’t be identical to one another.
So, the best solution here is to go through your user manual. The user manual of your miter saw is a guideline on how to tweak the settings and how you can remove different parts. For this particular issue, you only need to expose the head so that you can clean the area around the blade.
There’s a very high possibility that you will see a collection of dust inside the miter saw. Remove the dust and then put your miter saw back together. While you are at it, clean the blade with a cleaner too. Now, check if the issue still exists.
Adjust The Depth Setting
As I have mentioned, you can adjust how deep the cut will be. If you have just bought the miter saw and the material isn’t cutting all the way through, the reason might be this particular feature.While this is an excellent feature to get creative, it can put a strain if you don’t know how to adjust it.
Most of the time, there will be a screw on the miter saw head that adjusts how deep the cut will be. However, it can vary depending on the model you are using. So, it’s important that you check the user manual to see where the depth button is. If you want a visual tutorial for adjusting the depth of a miter saw, you can check this video.
Once you go through the way of making it work, this inconvenience will turn into something that you will be using very frequently.
Get A Sharp Blade
Whether the blade is the issue or not can be identified very easily. Replace the blade with another one and see if the issue still exists. You can also sharpen your existing miter saw blade to see if this does the trick.
Other Reasons And Fixes
Apart from the issues I’ve already explained, there can be other issues. Even though they’re not very common reasons, you should explore them in case you’ve exhausted all the common reasons that cause the issue.
- A dirty blade can hinder the smooth cutting process. So, make sure to clean the blade when you are getting rid of the dust.
- If the blade isn’t spinning fast enough, it may not get all the way through. You can try a new blade to see if this issue still exists.
- There might not be anything wrong with your miter saw at all. The material you’re cutting may contain difficult particles inside that are preventing the blade from going through. So, make sure to try other materials before fixing your miter saw.
- Internal components of the miter saw might be damaged. Take your miter saw to a garage to get it checked by a mechanic.
Some Tips To Remember
- Cleanliness can make your miter saw more efficient. Frequently clean your miter saw, as well as your workshop.
- Have an efficient dust collection system. You can check my article on the best miter saw dust collection hood if you are interested.
- Regardless of what problem you are facing with your miter saw, try to use the user manual as a primary solution.
- Not all miter saw functions the same way. So, avoid fixing your miter saw by taking guidelines from another model.
- Never compromise your safety when using a power tool like the miter saw.
- Take your time to get comfortable with your miter saw. Even if you have used a miter saw before, using a new model can feel unusual.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it worth it to sharpen the miter saw blade?
Whether you should sharpen your miter saw blade or not depends entirely on how much you’ve spent on the blade. Affordable blades are not meant to be sharpened once they’ve become blunt.
On the contrary, expensive carbide blades are certainly worth sharpening. They’re usually high-quality blades and are not meant to be used only once until they become blunt.
How to clean a miter saw blade?
To clean a miter saw blade, you have to remove it and soak it in a liquid blade cleaner. After allowing the blade to soak for about ten to twenty minutes, you need to use a brush to clean the debris stuck on the blade. After thoroughly cleaning the blade, allow it to dry before installing it back in place.
Final Touch
There can be several answers to your question of why is my miter saw not cutting all the way through. It’s essential that you find out what’s causing this problem before approaching any DIY fixes. If you are not certain how to proceed, you could end up damaging vital components of your miter saw.
You can always take your miter saw to someone else to troubleshoot it. A mechanic will be able to identify the issue and solve it more efficiently. Nonetheless, you do need to spend some bucks if you want the problem to be fixed by a professional.
