Does the Carvex have too many shortcomings?

[Staniam]

Every time I use my Carvex, I marvel at the clean glue ready cuts I get.  Puts a smile on my face for sure.

Glue ready cuts, from a jigsaw - not sure I follow?

He means that when you make a cut with the Carvex the cut is ready to be glued that second. As in, with most tools out there, after you make a cut you need to sand or plane or whatever before the area is ready to be glued. Glue ready cut means all you need to do it cut and glue.

I love my Carvex. I started with the PS 420, swapped it for the PSC 420 EBQ then recently traded with someone on here for the PS 420 again. Both have provided incredible quality cuts and while I admit it took some getting used to, now that I'm almost a year into owning the tool, it's simply an awesome saw. I haven't even gotten into all the different bases, just the standard base, angled base and the guide rail base but it's really an incredibly versatile and powerful saw. Super easy to handle and again, produces "glue ready" cuts with each and every cut thus far.

Before I got the TS 55 REQ  for Christmas it was the saw I used for ALL my cutting. That includes all 2x and 4x material, metal, ply, MDF and live wood.

 

[Linbro]

Yeah, I know what a glue ready cut is - was more asking what sort of glue up would you be doing with jigsaw cut material?

 

[Grasshopper]

Cutting toe kicks out of plywood for a cabinet is one example.

unusual scribe cuts is another.

Yeah, I know what a glue ready cut is - was more asking what sort of glue up would you be doing with jigsaw cut material?

 

[MrToolJunkie]

I own 4 jigsaws - the Mafell, Carvex, Trion and Bosch JS572. They are all capable saws. I think that the Carvex has the best radius cutter out there and I actually think the bases are nice to match material. It cuts well and I like the lights. The Trion is smooth, cuts well and I have had no issues guiding the saw. It cuts perpendicular as does the Carvex. I like the Bosch, but it only works well with thicker blades like the ones Bosch sells ending in "DP" or the Carvex/Trion labeled blades. Anything else and I have experienced blade deflection. I can get it in thicker wood as well with the thicker blades. I relegate this saw to more construction duty tasks, cutting stone/tile and other rougher work. It does have plenty of power and a light. My favorite is the Mafell - this saw cuts perfectly smooth cuts that are just as good or better than a circular saw in thick 8/4 hardwood. Zero blade deflection with any blade I have used, plenty of power, really solid build, the tilting base is awesome and I can go on. The only drawback is no light and some might say the price, but to me it is worth every penny. If I could only have two it would be the Carvex and Mafell for sure. If only one, it would be the Mafell.

 

[JBird]

I relegate this saw to more construction duty tasks, cutting stone/tile and other rougher work.

Wow! Has never occurred to me that someone might be cutting stone/tile with a jigsaw. Which blades do you use for this purpose? Do you use water?

 

[fshanno]

Festool did something very right on the Carvex.  They made it extremely easy for third party developers to make auxiliary bases.  Collins already has a coping foot and check this out from Multiblades.

[attachimg=1]

Ever made a cut with your jigsaw where you only thing you touched on the saw was the trigger?  You can now.  You can make all sorts of bases.  They demonstrate how to make a very useful scribing base.

It would be easy for any tool mfg. to produce a conventional tilt base.  A locked in 45 base might be a handy item.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Great link to the Multiblades options. Just watched their videos. That is great that they have come up with a plate.

 

[Ollie]

I have watched the video reviews mentioned above. I think it is a little unfair as the problems are almost forced to occur ( testing to destruction I guess and also they do happen when touching the limits of what you would really use a jigsaw for. There is a longer video somewhere on youtube where they test loads of saws, its Dutch or German I think.

I do not own either the Festool or the maffell saws. I have a Makita which is quite old now but fully capable. I did however have a good test with the mafell  at a woodworking show and I was very impressed with it.
Its main advantage is its lack of a roller guide which is a major source of friction and thus heat, instead the blade is clamped in very tight and the pendulum motion is actually acting directly on the mechanism rather than further down on the blade.

It feels absolutely rock solid on thin or thick materials, can be used on guide rails and has a circle cutting attachment. Oh yeah and you can put the blade in backwards and it wont mangle anything (Trying to think of a need for this function).
It is the best jigsaw I have tried and I will buy one when funds allow.

On the negative side is only cost really, I think its a bit of a cheek to sell the tilt base separately when everyone will almost certainly need one.

Ollie

 

[hitandruntz]

I dont rely on my jigsaw as much as i used to. I use other toos in place of it. For example i have templates for the different  size outlets  that have center marks. I make 2 measurements (center plumb,center level)
match up the lines on the template and plunge away. For me its way quicker and less chance  of error and produces a extremely  clean cut. I used to cut it with the jigsaw. Also just about everything i install gets scribed and i used to jigsaw it, then belt sand or grind or power plane or hand plane to my line. Now in most cases i reach for the tracksaw and my bosch power planer to finish it off.
I have the carvex and all the attachments  plus the coping foot for it. And it travels with me to every job in case  i need to use it. I work around extremely  talented carpenters  and 9 times out of ten they will reach for what their comfortable with or used to using. Of the people that i personally  know with different festools that dont like certain  ones never used the tool enough to get comfortable  with it. For example, one of the most talented  carpenters i know bought the trion barrel grip and used it with the dust collection and splinter guard a couple of times and never reached for it again. He swears by his trusty bosch.cool enjoy it. Theres nothing wrong  with that. Theres a learning curve to the festool jigsaws especially  with dust collection and splinter guard. It tricky to manage the hose and hard to see exactly  where your blade is when your approaching  your stopping point. I get that cause i went through it too. With a little  bit of practice  and maybe coming here to ask for help you can figure it out. For  me personally  i dont blame the tool if its not working  out great at first. I launch an investigation  and try to figure  it out. Using the splinter guard allows me to use the most aggresive blades that cut really fast on expensive prefinished  material and have no tear out. To me thats really important and worth a few growing pains or the awkwardness  of a new tool.  I know not everyone  has my same needs and if you like a different  jigsaw your not wrong, thats what you like and im sure it works just fine.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

I relegate this saw to more construction duty tasks, cutting stone/tile and other rougher work.

Wow! Has never occurred to me that someone might be cutting stone/tile with a jigsaw. Which blades do you use for this purpose? Do you use water?

I use one of Bosch's blades for stone/tile - it is a diamond grit T130DG. Festool has a similar one R 54G. I have not used it, but I think it would work. Yes, cut slowly and spritz a little water right at the cut line. Here is a sample picture of what you can do - I cut all the curved pieces on this vanity using this technique.