Miter saw having a workpiece adjusting mechanism

A manually operated miter saw comprising:

• a horizontally disposed table for supporting a workpiece;
• a vertically disposed fence located adjacent to the table and defining a fence plane;
• a motorized saw blade mounted on a movable support having a handle for manually moving the saw blade into engagement with a workpiece to perform a cutting operation on the workpiece, the saw blade defining a cutting plane;
• and
• a workpiece adjusting mechanism for adjusting the position of a workpiece manually placed on the table relative to said cutting plane, said workpiece adjusting mechanism comprising:
• an engager for engaging the workpiece, the engager configured to selectively move the workpiece with respect to the table in either a first direction or a second opposite direction that is generally transverse to said cutting plane and parallel to said fence plane;
• and
• an actuator configured to control the engager to selectively control both the amount and direction of movement of the workpiece by the engager, to thereby adjust the position of the workpiece with respect to the cutting plane of said saw blade.