PCM 8 S

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The Bosch PCM 8 S Review

We couldn’t ignore the Bosch PCM 8 S in our top ten mitre saw reviews. It’s great value for money from Bosch, competing with many of the budget sliding models but offers the quality and accuracy we have all come to associate with Bosch power tools.

It’s often hard to justify a big spend on a saw that may only get used every couple of months, which puts some of the higher mid range models out of reach. The PCM 8S plugs this gap in the market perfectly offering all you need and more for home and light trade use. Click the blue button and get the perfect finish to your carpentry work.

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Main Features

Let’s start by looking at the features of the Bosch PCM 8 S mitre saw. There are quite a few to go through and well worth learning about.

The Cut

We’ll begin with the size of material these saws can handle. This is no doubt that one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing mitre saws. The cutting depth is 7cm and has a cutting width of 28.2cm. This can handle cutting some pretty big lengths of wood including 4 by 2 inch timbers for structural work. The sliding action allows the saw’s blade to easily slice through wide planks of timber. It has a good range of mitre settings allowing the blade to cut to 47 degrees on the left and 53 degrees on the right which gives the user the ability to cut some tight and accurate joins. The settings lock into place easily with a quick action locking device to stop any potential movement in the material for absolute accuracy. Laser beam technology is used to assist in lining up the cuts, reducing the margin for error. There is also an integrated work light to assist in using the saw in bad light. Often work spaces such as building sites are not the best lit places, so these little touches really help when it comes to making the perfect cut.

Safety

The safety of the user with power tools is paramount and these mitre saws have plenty of safety features to keep you and spinning blades apart. It should be said that it’s always a good idea to start by reading the manual provided by Bosch in the box – you can then look for additional online documentation on the Bosch website if you need it. When getting started, be sure to have some lengths of wood available to do your first few test cuts before you let the saw blades loose on real projects.

The blade is covered by a comprehensive cover to keep your body protected from the spinning saw blade at all times. The handle and settings are situated in easy to access positions away from the blade to keep you in a sensible position while you are working. These saws create a lot of dust, so the Bosch PCM 8 S comes with a dust extraction port and a dust bag to keep the work place clean and healthy as you work. A nice feature on this mitre saw is the integrated work light that allows you to easily see what you are doing if the natural daylight is not so good. Bending down to try and get a view of the cutting angle is not great practice, so this light is a real benefit to the user.

The Rest

The saw comes with two large sturdy extension supports to help manage long pieces of timber or other materials. Often with the sliding mitre saws you may work with wider planks which need to be kept very still and supported whilst being cut. These supports ensure that the material will not move at all which adds even more accuracy to the cut.

A handy setting on this saw is the depth stop which allows you to limit the depth of the cut to make slots rather than cutting straight through the material. Very handy for handy for all sorts of joints and finishes.

The body of the Bosch PCM 8 S sliding mitre saw is made of high quality aluminium, minimising the amount of flex in the body when the saws are being used. Any flex at all will give a slight alteration to the angle of the cut so the build quality of the body of the saw is one of the most important factors in any saw’s quality.

A powerful 1200 watt motor is installed into the unit to give it plenty of power when tackling the toughest of cuts. This will give your power tool a long life and will give enough power to give a nice clean cut. One thing that you will notice as you go up the price range of mitre saws is that the motors will get more and more powerful. If you are looking for saws that are going to be working hard all day every day, it may well be worth looking for one with a more powerful motor.

Weighing in at around 18kg, this is not the lightest mitre saw but it certainly isn’t the heaviest either. For most users it is light enough to carry around and is not too bulky. There are lighter alternatives on the market, but unless you are carrying it around to different jobs a lot of the time I wouldn’t worry about this too much.

What Job Is It Best For?

This is the perfect saw for the DIY enthusiast. It will cut through skirting boards and other pieces of timber with absolute accuracy, giving you a great finish around the home. Power mitre saws in general allow you to work at speed as well as with consistent accuracy which is a real advantage. If you are working on light structural jobs, the Bosch PCM 8 S will manage those 4 by 2 inch timbers without a problem and will even take on some slightly bigger ones too. One real advantage to the sliding mitre saws is the width is the cut, the 28.2cm cut width will allow for some pretty serious planks to be cut to precision measurements.

These saws are fantastic for high volume jobs. If you need to make a lot of cuts then this is the choice for you. They speed up the cutting process many times over hand saws and give you a more accurate finish!

The Bosch PCM 8 S In Action!

Okay, so you now know a lot about the saw and the specification, but what jobs should you consider using it for?

Let’s say you are decorating your house and you want a really nice finish. The plastering is looking good and now it time to fit the woodwork around the doors and skirting boards. The power mitre saw will allow you to cut a lot of pieces of wood quickly to very precise angles to give you the finish you are looking for without employing a professional carpenter.

For use in the garden, these saws will make your life easy if you are laying decking or building a shed. Once you have measured the angles and got all of your timbers ready you can cut through them at speed making the construction process super fast.

For most of us that attempt wood work and DIY, it’s a one off job. It can get tricky to master a job using hand tools and often the job will take a long time. Not with the PCM 8 S, it takes on the difficult work for you.

What Extras Does It Come With?

Often what we see in product pictures and what arrives in the box are two quite different things. As you’ll see if you click to Amazon below, there are a lot of extras in the photos. Here is what you should expect in the box when you open it. A hex key and cross head screwdriver for adjusting the saw and setting it up. The saw includes one blade that should last a good while before you need a replacement. It comes with a Tungsten carbide saw blade ‘Optiline Wood’ (2 608 640 430) allowing you to get started straight away. For ease of use, the saw comes with a number of clamping facilities, it has a table extension with two extension brackets and a quick action clamp. There is a mounting set extension bracket also included making this a really easy tool to use and set. Finally you’ll find the all important dust bag to keep the workspace clean. All in all, this is a pretty comprehensive package that will get you up and running quickly.

Round Up

To summarise, this is a truly versatile saw with a lot of fantastic reviews from previous customers, even from those used to compound varieties. The saw can work in the home for the amateur or take on some serious professional jobs. Handy on smaller pieces of wood and also on the larger planks and construction timbers, the Bosch PCM 8 S can tackle a lot. We would only recommend spending more if you are a trade user that needs saws to work all day long. This saw comes highly recommended.

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