Here at Willow Carpentry, my bailiwick is built-ins, custom cabinets, and custom storage solutions for my customers. If you said “precision” is on our mind when it comes to our miters, you’d be right. Miters need to close up and cuts in hardwood need to be clean. We also build our fair share of decks and while decks are a different creature, we still depend on our miter saws for clean, accurate cuts day in and day out.
And now all that can, ideally, be improved by the new corded/cordless platforms hitting the market like the Metabo HPT C3610DRAQ4M 36-volt 10-inch slider we put through its paces.
Box Opening
What comes in the box with the 10-inch Metabo 36-volt MultiVolt miter saw?
You get the miter saw, of course, with a 40-tooth thin kerf blade. It also comes with a dust bag, a hold down clamp (see below) and a 13mm box wrench to swap out the blade. It currently is sold with the AC adapter plug-in (battery sold separate; Metabo shipped us batteries for the review), so, essentially you’re buying a corded saw with cordless capacity should you decide to go that route.
Got Power?
Yup. Plenty of it—both plugged in and battery-powered.
This saw you can operate on one Metabo HPT 36-volt battery or the Multi Volt AC adapter you plug into an outlet. On either platform you’ll get a comparable power delivery of a 120-volt 15amp corded power tool.
Don’t believe me? On a single charge the battery lasted 2 days of cutting 2-by pressure treated lumber all day while framing and trimming out a deck that included a privacy fence. It was a beast and still wanted to keep going. In the shop, we cross cut hardwood, as well. In all cases, plenty of punch.
After we gave it a quick tune-up, the adjustable laser guide worked really well. We loosened the set screws and readjusted. (Note: We re-adjust these all the time; common for any saw that sees field use).
It also has a work light, which is a nice addition to the laser for low light or flat light situations where the cut line is hard to see. Nice.
We squared the saw up and all those adjustments were easy to make. While we do this to every saw we buy, the Metabo was 2-3 degrees out of square on the miter out of the box. The bevel was dead square.
While checking and adjusting for square, we noticed there was play in the saw head. We had to be very careful to not put too much pressure here to get clean cuts.
Next, we noticed the detents. They didn’t hold as fast as other saws we have. I flipped the saw over and took a peek and my sense is the parts for the detents are plastic-y and undersized. The saw didn’t lock into angles securely enough for my purposes. Other tools’ positive detent stops are much more robust and lock the angle. The Metabo leaves a trim carpenter or woodworker with a sub par cut in my opinion. Framing and rough carpentry is OK, but for what we do…
Next, the rails. The slide action wasn’t as smooth as my other saws and I could feel it in both directions—push and pull. What’s good about the rails is that they’re compact and don’t travel too far past the saw, so if you’re setting up in a small shop or hallway, you can get closer to the wall.
The saw came with a Metabo HPT’s 40 tooth thin kerf 10-inch blade—that is way better than the average Joe blades that typically ship with miter saws. We also used a 24-tooth Daiblo made for framing and fast cuts and finally we tested out an Amana 80-tooth full kerf finishing blade.
To really run the saw hard, we made long cross cuts at 45-degrees on 1-by and 2 -by maple. The saw motored through the material without a fight. It was here we noticed that the play in the head showed up again because it left a wavy cut.
The dust collection was decent, we still had 20-30% of dust from the cut left over. Hooked up to a shop vacuum with a universal attachment and it worked just as well or better than other saws we use. Good dust bag. Nice enough.
It has a great hold down clamp with a rubber foot so you don’t mar your material and can be used on either side of the saw.
By the way—don’t throw your hold down clamp away. I love these things. They’re great for securing floppy composite decking or molding square to the fence/table. They’re great for long pieces. Short pieces. Wide pieces you really need to get flat to the table. It’s safer than hand-mashing the piece to the table. It helps make cleaner cuts. And it saves time.
One other feature we liked a lot was the compact slide. The rail design enables the head to slide in a smaller footprint, which is great if you’re set up in a hallway or small shop.
There are some good features on this saw, but for the finish carpentry and millwork we do, this saw is not for us. For framing, flooring, or maybe punch out where the mobility of having no cord matters, you could maybe make a case.
