Since I acquired a battery operated Carvex last month and today my CMS-PS module arrived I thought I'd take it for a little test drive.
I must say up front that I was not very impressed to say the least [sad]
First of all the Carvex attaches to the CMS-module with the guiderail base which is plastic and if you tighten the CMS-module holder you will press the centre of the plastic base (zero insert part) above the aluminum table level. This is correctable by backing off a bit on the base holder screws tightness, but a bit 'low quality' from the otherwise solid aluminium CMS-system.
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On a positive note the Carvex detachable base system make the swapping of the tool in and out of the CMS-module a breeze and I can see where JMB is coming from with his repeated requests for a similar attachment for the OF2200 router to the CMS-OF module since it has similarly quick swappable face plates. The attachment of the ADT-PS-400 adapter to the CMS-PS module is the simplest of all CMS-attachments I've seen just one screw and that's it.
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Once I got the connector plate aligned with the CMS-modules surface I tried it without dust extraction. This proved to be disastrous with dust flying all over the place. Then I attempted to attach the CT to the Carvex dust port to find out that you cannot twist the 27mm AS hose enough when attached to the dust port of the Carvex to lower the CMS-PS module into the base comfortably. Maybe a 90-deg hose connector would make it possible to attach the hose above table, but I don't have one to try.
After wiggling the hose into place under the table and giving it another try of sawing it did markedly better in getting rid of the under table dust and to a lesser extent diminish the amount of dust flying at my face above the work piece. You still have to puff and pant to see your cut line since there is no above table suction or blower and since the stroboscopic light is on the underside of the work piece you have to try to find the blades location from the side since its invisible from the front like any jigsaw would be.
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When the battery is in place you can barely fit the hose in between the table and the battery and you have to insert it under the table once the module is locked in place. Another annoyance is that since this is a battery model you cannot use the mains on-off button on the CMS-GE to operate the jigsaw but you have to dip your hand under the table to use the switches on the body of the tool.
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Therefore my first observation is that the battery operated Carvexes are not a good fit for the CMS-PS attachment. This is precisely the reason why I added a mains to Festool battery connector to the wish list and now I would also add to my original wish that the adapter should be made thinner than a regular 15V battery to make more space for the DC hose under here. I'm writing this first part of the review while waiting for the battery to recharge - I got about 15min worth of sawing out of the first run. For the record the battery was not full to start with so we'll see about the runtime after a full recharge.
Another annoyance I found while trying to saw a trivet out of semi-hard wood with a swirl pattern to it was the automatic speed sensing of the Carvex. For some reason you get maximum cutting speed only in automatic mode which takes a bit to react to material contact and resistance and then it kicks the saw to full tilt. This resulted in many ruined round edges on my first practice piece when the sudden speed change sucked the blade an unintended 1-2mm in the wrong direction. Unfortunately the saw doesn't cut very effectively in the next fastest non-variable speed mode (5) unless you add some swing action to it. The wavy line below is the result of the saw not deciding will it stay in full speed mode or not and 'pumping' between speeds at random while I tried to make a circle.
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Also the blade support of the Carvex seems to let the blade twist a bit when trying to cut tight round corners in table mode as can be seen in the rather mangled zero clearance insert that was pristine before I started and now has a large hole around the blade where it has turned when turning the work piece.
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This happened when the blade decided to get caught in the cut and threw the whole piece up and did a bit of a rattle dance on the bottom of it:
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Now that I have a full battery I got to observe another issue with the hose + battery space - you can't insert the battery back in with the hose attached:
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As you can see the end result of this trial was not anything like the one I did free hand with my old Makita for Christmas [sad]
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Then I tested another great idea of mine to use it as a bandsaw replacement with the angle guide fence from my CMS-TS module. This turned out to be a disaster too since the blade just began bending out from the fence and cut at an angle outwards. No good. Also the blade will bend outwards from the fence since it has nothing to support it from above to stay square.
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Other observations include:
- Blade change requires the release of the saw from the module which in practice means that you need to flip the module around to access the quick release latch of the saw. Can't be done conveniently from above. (when zero insert is used)
- The Carvex blade column does not stop at the top position of it's travel at power off always which means that to release the blade you need to push manually the blade up for the release latch to get contact with the blade column's release notch
- While in the CMS module the jigsaw cannot be tilted since the guiderail base does not have any moving parts
So to sum up my first impressions:
As far as I can tell this can be used only for cutting free hand along a of reasonably straight line and not much else. As you saw above resawing wood with it is futile since the blade doesn't have support from its tip to stay square against the pressure of a fence nor can it be used in a good way to do tight curves either. So far this seems my worst Festool purchase up to date. [doh]
I can see the mains version of a Carvex working in this CMS attachment better since it lacks the bulk of a battery, can be patched thru the CMS-GE's power switch and doesn't run out of juice every half-hour. Probably even better idea would be to just get the package PS300 with the module and keep it permanently attached to it and use your Carvex for free-hand/guide rail work only. Or to be honest probably the best idea is to get a proper bandsaw and scroll saw and forget about this module.
Any ideas on what this setup would shine at are welcome.
I must say up front that I was not very impressed to say the least [sad]
First of all the Carvex attaches to the CMS-module with the guiderail base which is plastic and if you tighten the CMS-module holder you will press the centre of the plastic base (zero insert part) above the aluminum table level. This is correctable by backing off a bit on the base holder screws tightness, but a bit 'low quality' from the otherwise solid aluminium CMS-system.
[attachthumb=#]
On a positive note the Carvex detachable base system make the swapping of the tool in and out of the CMS-module a breeze and I can see where JMB is coming from with his repeated requests for a similar attachment for the OF2200 router to the CMS-OF module since it has similarly quick swappable face plates. The attachment of the ADT-PS-400 adapter to the CMS-PS module is the simplest of all CMS-attachments I've seen just one screw and that's it.
[attachthumb=#]
Once I got the connector plate aligned with the CMS-modules surface I tried it without dust extraction. This proved to be disastrous with dust flying all over the place. Then I attempted to attach the CT to the Carvex dust port to find out that you cannot twist the 27mm AS hose enough when attached to the dust port of the Carvex to lower the CMS-PS module into the base comfortably. Maybe a 90-deg hose connector would make it possible to attach the hose above table, but I don't have one to try.
After wiggling the hose into place under the table and giving it another try of sawing it did markedly better in getting rid of the under table dust and to a lesser extent diminish the amount of dust flying at my face above the work piece. You still have to puff and pant to see your cut line since there is no above table suction or blower and since the stroboscopic light is on the underside of the work piece you have to try to find the blades location from the side since its invisible from the front like any jigsaw would be.
[attachthumb=#]
When the battery is in place you can barely fit the hose in between the table and the battery and you have to insert it under the table once the module is locked in place. Another annoyance is that since this is a battery model you cannot use the mains on-off button on the CMS-GE to operate the jigsaw but you have to dip your hand under the table to use the switches on the body of the tool.
[attachthumb=#]
Therefore my first observation is that the battery operated Carvexes are not a good fit for the CMS-PS attachment. This is precisely the reason why I added a mains to Festool battery connector to the wish list and now I would also add to my original wish that the adapter should be made thinner than a regular 15V battery to make more space for the DC hose under here. I'm writing this first part of the review while waiting for the battery to recharge - I got about 15min worth of sawing out of the first run. For the record the battery was not full to start with so we'll see about the runtime after a full recharge.
Another annoyance I found while trying to saw a trivet out of semi-hard wood with a swirl pattern to it was the automatic speed sensing of the Carvex. For some reason you get maximum cutting speed only in automatic mode which takes a bit to react to material contact and resistance and then it kicks the saw to full tilt. This resulted in many ruined round edges on my first practice piece when the sudden speed change sucked the blade an unintended 1-2mm in the wrong direction. Unfortunately the saw doesn't cut very effectively in the next fastest non-variable speed mode (5) unless you add some swing action to it. The wavy line below is the result of the saw not deciding will it stay in full speed mode or not and 'pumping' between speeds at random while I tried to make a circle.
[attachthumb=#]
Also the blade support of the Carvex seems to let the blade twist a bit when trying to cut tight round corners in table mode as can be seen in the rather mangled zero clearance insert that was pristine before I started and now has a large hole around the blade where it has turned when turning the work piece.
[attachthumb=#]
This happened when the blade decided to get caught in the cut and threw the whole piece up and did a bit of a rattle dance on the bottom of it:
[attachthumb=#]
Now that I have a full battery I got to observe another issue with the hose + battery space - you can't insert the battery back in with the hose attached:
[attachthumb=#]
As you can see the end result of this trial was not anything like the one I did free hand with my old Makita for Christmas [sad]
[attachthumb=#]
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Then I tested another great idea of mine to use it as a bandsaw replacement with the angle guide fence from my CMS-TS module. This turned out to be a disaster too since the blade just began bending out from the fence and cut at an angle outwards. No good. Also the blade will bend outwards from the fence since it has nothing to support it from above to stay square.
[attachthumb=#]
[attachthumb=#]
Other observations include:
- Blade change requires the release of the saw from the module which in practice means that you need to flip the module around to access the quick release latch of the saw. Can't be done conveniently from above. (when zero insert is used)
- The Carvex blade column does not stop at the top position of it's travel at power off always which means that to release the blade you need to push manually the blade up for the release latch to get contact with the blade column's release notch
- While in the CMS module the jigsaw cannot be tilted since the guiderail base does not have any moving parts
So to sum up my first impressions:
As far as I can tell this can be used only for cutting free hand along a of reasonably straight line and not much else. As you saw above resawing wood with it is futile since the blade doesn't have support from its tip to stay square against the pressure of a fence nor can it be used in a good way to do tight curves either. So far this seems my worst Festool purchase up to date. [doh]
I can see the mains version of a Carvex working in this CMS attachment better since it lacks the bulk of a battery, can be patched thru the CMS-GE's power switch and doesn't run out of juice every half-hour. Probably even better idea would be to just get the package PS300 with the module and keep it permanently attached to it and use your Carvex for free-hand/guide rail work only. Or to be honest probably the best idea is to get a proper bandsaw and scroll saw and forget about this module.
Any ideas on what this setup would shine at are welcome.
