Carvex pendulum fix

[southrider]

My "wandering blade" Carvex cuts better than any of the numerous Bosch saws I owned over the years (and light years better than Porter Cable, Makita, etc.).

I STILL hate it - because it only cuts that way if I spend WAY too much time fiddling with it before important cuts. Otherwise it either wanders all over the place or burns up the blades.

Been wanting a Mafell, but didn't want to give up the "soft start" or strobe light that the Carvex has, so I have been holding out for the "next gen" Mafell to tip me over the edge. The Mafell double thick blades are intriguing too.

Just got a lifetime supply of grub screws, and haven't taken the time to install and try yet - maybe THIS will be the difference maker.

Time will tell...............

Alex - not everyone on here is a foaming at the mouth fan-boy, and neither should you be. Most here are pretty honest and introspective. Just a thought.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=71478]FestitaMakool[/member] just to correct you - the Mafell takes standard Bosch-type bayonet blades and there's zero difference in cut quality or accuracy between any of them, irrespective of their thickness. I regularly use 6 or 7 different types ranging from the T101AO fine-cut, super-thin scrolling blade, all the way through to their 150mm/6" long beasts which allow me to make virtually flawless crosscuts in 5" thick stock for fancy gable posts, support corbels and similar. Most commonly used blade on laminate and similar delicate materials is the fine-toothed downcut which gives a finish approaching the quality of cuts made by a TS55. Just remember to turn the pendulum setting to zero. You can change from super-thin to super-thick blades in the blink of an eye with no adjustment or goofing around because the machine has no roller - just a supremely well-designed blade clamping mechanism. The engineering of that mechanism is literally the entire key to how good the machine is.

[member=42863]SouthRider[/member] A double-width Mafell Cunex W1 blade was originally supplied with the saw when I bought it a coupla years back, but I hated it. It's too savage for most everything I do, and even with the splinterguard in place, it still rips material to pieces. I imagine it would be fabulous in a carpentry/framing application where quality of finish is a secondary consideration, but it wasn't for me. I'm guessing that most other contributors to the forum would find the same, given the nature of what most guys on here seem to do.

 

[Lincoln]

[member=71478]FestitaMakool[/member] just to correct you - the Mafell takes standard Bosch-type bayonet blades and there's zero difference in cut quality or accuracy between any of them, irrespective of their thickness. I regularly use 6 or 7 different types ranging from the T101AO fine-cut, super-thin scrolling blade, all the way through to their 150mm/6" long beasts which allow me to make virtually flawless crosscuts in 5" thick stock for fancy gable posts, support corbels and similar. Most commonly used blade on laminate and similar delicate materials is the fine-toothed downcut which gives a finish approaching the quality of cuts made by a TS55. Just remember to turn the pendulum setting to zero. You can change from super-thin to super-thick blades in the blink of an eye with no adjustment or goofing around because the machine has no roller - just a supremely well-designed blade clamping mechanism. The engineering of that mechanism is literally the entire key to how good the machine is.

[member=42863]SouthRider[/member] A double-width Mafell Cunex W1 blade was originally supplied with the saw when I bought it a coupla years back, but I hated it. It's too savage for most everything I do, and even with the splinterguard in place, it still rips material to pieces. I imagine it would be fabulous in a carpentry/framing application where quality of finish is a secondary consideration, but it wasn't for me. I'm guessing that most other contributors to the forum would find the same, given the nature of what most guys on here seem to do.

[member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member] - I always thought the Cunex blade was designed for cutting small circles, with the pin you can fix to the saw base. I think they're 68mm diameter holes, for some sort of plastic 'cavity socket' that fits into the hole, that is used in German construction. Also for 68mm spotlights.
Page 5 of the brochure:https://www.mafell.de/fileadmin/use...oge/Saegen/p1cc/Broschuere_P1cc_EN_1019_s.pdf

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=69760]Lincoln[/member] you're maybe right. The only time I've ever used any of the supplied pins is the 8mm one which is housed in the flip-out base of the machine's parallel guide - I occasionally use it as a trammel for cutting circles. Regarding cutouts for downlighter spotlights, I also don't know about 68mm being a standardised size in Germany, but here in the UK, there are around 8 different diameters which vary by spotlight manufacturer, and also vary because of the various UK fire regulations (same deal as code in NA) relating to the proximity of combustible material (=insulation and wood) to a heat source (=the bulb if it's not LED). Over here, our electricians all carry a case of holesaws to suit all of the diameters. Each hole takes 10 seconds to drill through ceiling drywall. I can't ever imagine anyone taking the time and trouble to use a jigsaw for such a simple, quick job.

The W1 double blade is tapered and multipurpose - so it's two blades thick at the front, then tapers in a V-shape to almost nothing at the back. It's designed that way so it can cut super-tight curves - but as I said in my previous post, it's way too rough a cut for the work I do. I'm guessing that over here, 99% of W1's will be used for cutting wood, but our German friends may do things differently.

Just as an aside - I bought my P1CC at a tool show, after watching the rep cut a perfect circle with perfect 90-degree sides around a UK £2 coin (1" diameter - about the size of a quarter-dollar) through 40mm/1-1/2" thick oak. He used the W1 for that demo. But as referenced above - all the blades I buy are made by Bosch. The quality's great, the range is huge, and they're half the price of OEM Mafell blades = which are probably made by Bosch anyway.

 

[FestitaMakool]

Thanks [member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member]
Always appreciated with real world experiences.
I really wouldn’t have thought that the P1CC would perform the same with thin(ner) blades.
As my experience with thinner, may well be cheap (Piranha) blades of all sorts including down cut blades, progressive and so forth - these have been terrible at cutting 90° - often not even close..[scared]

 

[Roachmill]

AFAIK, only the W1 is unique to Mafell and the rest are just rebadged Bosch e.g. the W2 = t144dp, W3 = t344d  and W6 = t101br. That's at least according to my notes which, I think, came from a Mafell Owners Group thread.

 

[Ebuwan]

I spent a bit of time this morning making test cuts in scrap wood. As I mentioned before, my experience with jigsaws doesn't run very deep so take this with a grain of salt, but the Carvex seems to have a more stable feel to it. I backed the screw out to mimic the OEM pin location and it felt like there was a bit more vibration. The cut quality was more or less the same as was the maneuverability cutting curves.

Maybe a placebo effect? I don't really know. If you're a heavy jigsaw user, you'll probably notice the difference much more than I did.

However, the thing that really made a difference in the cut quality was also installing a splinterguard. I believe that's the key to getting really clean cuts with the Carvex and I'll have to spend more time using the Carvex now that I know what it's capable of.

If the choice is to either spend ten bucks or pout, I guess I'm spending ten bucks.

My thoughts, too. I don't feel like I've done any harm to the tool. I have the ability to snug up the column or go back to the looser, OEM setting, with a couple turns of the hex key.

I have 6 5 3 2 stamps left so if anyone wants a screw, PM your address and I'll drop it in the mail.
[cool]

I'm same boat as [member=75283]4nthony[/member], I rarely find a need to do something fine enough were i even noticed this problem. Watching the Sedge Festool Live on the Carvex I found made me hate it WAY less, and the splinter guard made a world of difference of course too.

So that being said, i just ordered the screws and will be ripping it apart since the my eye balls can't unsee that video, i will be bothered about it now, haha. 

 

[Ebuwan]

So, I own a Trion and I like it...I own a Carvex and I hate it...I also own a P1 cc and I love it. For those who've done this modification, what are the advantages? What does this modification provide that a standard Carvex doesn't? What exactly is the itch that this modification scratches?

Don’t expect an answer to your question [member=44099]Cheese[/member] - just as I never expected a response to mine.  It’s been my overwhelming experience on here that anything direct, anti-grey-and-green, real-world or logical will be ignored by the hobby-shop faithful who don’t have client projects to bring in on time and on budget, but who do have time to dismantle and modify tools which don’t do what they’re supposed to. I also have a P1CC which I use to earn a living, and it’s blade doesn’t wander, it cuts at 90 degrees to the surface all of the time, and it doesn’t need stamps or Chinese Amazon grubscrews so the owners can get it to work properly.

Interestingly enough - my P1CC actually broke down recently. It was eventually repaired FOC out of warranty by the UK importer, but before they played ball, I posted on here seeking advice on possibly replacing it with a Carvex. The answer from the sadly restricted number of unblinkered contributors on here was an almost unanimous ‘don’t’.

I’d rather have a mind opened by wonder, than closed by faith. If you dare to challenge the order, you’re labelled as a ‘pouter’.

The mod takes as much time as it took to write all your posts about it. Doing the mod on mine today.

 

[peter halle]

Stop the BS and attacks everyone.

Peter Halle - Moderator

 

[tsmi243]

[popcorn]

 

[Ebuwan]

Did the mod, definitely less wiggly and controlled.

Had to just back the screw off a little; it had to be as far out as the plastic mold would allow, or I couldn't lock blades into it.

 

[Cut Nail]

I am very satisfied with the fix, I am now able to use the Collins Tool Company Coping Foot on my Carvex. Prior to the fix I preferred to use a coping foot my Bosch to do any coping on crown or base.

 

[Coen]

I bought the Carvex, over the Trion, simply because of weight. Have you ever held the two side-by-side? The difference is incredible.

Yes and then I bought the Trion. Overhead use has been very rare for me anyway and in normal use the weight is a bonus to me.

But it was either PS300 or PS400 at much higher price while I already owned the guide rail adapter for the PS 300.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I did this to mine today during my lunch break. It is truly an easy mod. [member=75283]4nthony[/member] sent me one of his extras (thanks again) and it arrived late last week.
I watched the Bradshaw Joinery video again before doing it and I will have to say that mine wasn't as loose and wiggly as the one he showed in the first place. It is tighter, but not a significantly different as his was. I haven't really tested it, other than by hand a little, but it seems good.

 

[tomk]

This is a really interesting mod. What I couldn't gather from the video is how the original pin is supposed to be held into place... is it just a press fit? Does the new ball pin just create its own threads in the plastic housing?

I had been thinking about picking up a carvex someday to replace my old corded ryobi that I love to hate....

 

[Hawkeye0001]

This is a really interesting mod. What I couldn't gather from the video is how the original pin is supposed to be held into place... is it just a press fit? Does the new ball pin just create its own threads in the plastic housing?

Yes and yes. It sat quite tight inside the housing and plyers were needed to get it out, but with very little force required. If you shove it back into position a little forward-pressure against the sawblade was enough to move it out again. Wonder it Loctite would've done the job.

 

[rubber_ducky]

I have a recent model. It has hardly seen any use because the first task I tried to use it for was too deconstruct a dresser carcass with mitered corners. The carcass was made from 18mm BB ply.

It seemed to me that this is the perfect (only) job for the funky 45* base of  the carvex. Somehow though, the blade wandered In a BIG way. I put it back in the case and only used it to rough cut a couple of circles since. Not paying much attention to how much the blade wandered as it didn’t matter much

Anthony was kind enough to share a grub screw with me. I took the unit apart, and the OE pin didn’t have the space in front of it that you see in the repair video. The pin butted but against the case of the saw with no place to go. There was some wiggle in the blade but nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps I should’ve checked prior to attempting the fix.

Mine is an EBQ. A previous poster mentioned a marked difference in his EB vs his EBQ s it relates to the wandering blade. My observation of the inside of the saw supports this.

All of this is good news save for the poor performance of that 45* shoe. Still not sure what happened there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Econoline]

Waaaay back in 2017 I was in search of a new jigsaw for a log home renovation. I had been using a Bosch jig for many years, it finally gave up during the log kitchen scribe-a-thon. I had an acquaintance that was pedaling Festool at the time, and he hosted a Tupperware (Festool) party in my driveway. Long story short, I ended up with a D handled Carvex 420 for the rest of the log home renovation. I had become accustom to using a modified Collins coping foot on the Bosch. If you've ever finished out a log home, you know the value of a good coping foot. I remember being psyched that Collins made a coping foot designed specifically for the Carvex, and Festool made numerous gizmos for the Carvex that seemingly had jigsaw users in mind, how could things possibly get any better. I tried absolutely every foot, every cutting guide insert, every blade width adjustment to no avail. Every ninety degree cut was eighty degrees, every forty five degree cut was sixty. It was absolutely infuriating, but it had a powerful vacuum attached, and I could actually see what I was cutting without hyper-ventilating, and the strobe light is brilliant. I put the Carvex away in the shed thinking I'd send it back to Festool because something had to be wrong with the saw. Honestly, I had forgotten about the saw until a buddy forwarded this link. When you order the grub screws, order both 10mm and 12mm, one of the two will work, no matter the vintage of the saw. I have experimented with all the various attachments, and now it's the saw I had hoped it was.

 

[Cheese]

Waaaay back in 2017 I was in search of a new jigsaw for a log home renovation. I had been using a Bosch jig for many years, it finally gave up during the log kitchen scribe-a-thon.

Nice job on the scribing & coping.  [smile]

 

[woodbutcherbower]

What Cheese said. Super scribing job  [smile]