Just Installed Colliflower Cube

[darita]

As the title says I installed the Cube along with the ZCI and I like them both. Of course, the ZCI keeps the thin off cuts from falling into the cavern of no return but the Cube gets rid of those often seen feathers on the backside of cuts. Most importantly for me, the Cube allows me to cut small parts with proper backing and the off cuts don’t go flying to who knows where.
The Colliflower fence is very well made and fit everything perfectly. Just as with my stock fence, the left side ends up being not exactly coplanar with the right side, likely because of my own unequal forces applied to the saw handle depending on which hand I’m using, a reason I’m not a fan of this handle. That said, it was simple to get the fence sides aligned to give as perfect a 90* as my Woodpecker square could indicate. I also added some nonslip material to the fence, as with my stock fence. 
The Colliflower Cube is a well made addition to the Kapex and enhances its use as I had hoped.

 

[imdking]

Congratulations.
Give us some feedback after sometime and let us know how you like it after some extended usage.

I have the Betterley zero clearance insert. It is great.

 

[darita]

Congratulations.
Give us some feedback after sometime and let us know how you like it after some extended usage.

I have the Betterley zero clearance insert. It is great.

I just did a small box project and it all worked great. The ZCI did its job giving a clean cut and not allowing thin peices to fall in the slot. What I really like is the Cube setup. It keeps the feathers from forming on the back of the cut, it supports the workpiece right up to the blade and it keeps my small offcut parts from flying off the table.

 

[ChuckM]

How much does the cube affect the dust collection?

We all know the cube has a negative effect on the original dust collection setup (i.e. without the cube) as small as it may be because the rubber boot gets "deformed" in certain cuts (e.g. cutting thin pieces), but I'd be interested in the degree of negative effect.

 

[darita]

How much does the cube affect the dust collection?

We all know the cube has a negative effect on the original dust collection setup (i.e. without the cube) as small as it may be because the rubber boot gets "deformed" in certain cuts (e.g. cutting thin pieces), but I'd be interested in the degree of negative effect.

This cube is a lower design from the original, so with 90* cuts, dust collection seems to be improved. I rarely do bevel cuts, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for me.

 

[dlu]

One of the nice things about the Cube is that you can adjust the height of the insert to suit your needs.

I'm been experimenting with a CNC type brush dust shoe in place of the rubber boot. It seems to work better and has a much easier time with clearing high blocks.

 

[ChuckM]

snip.

I'm been experimenting with a CNC type brush dust shoe in place of the rubber boot. It seems to work better and has a much easier time with clearing high blocks.

Even a simple brush add-on helps (I use this version when making trench cuts):
[attachimg=1]

 

[darita]

One of the nice things about the Cube is that you can adjust the height of the insert to suit your needs.

I'm been experimenting with a CNC type brush dust shoe in place of the rubber boot. It seems to work better and has a much easier time with clearing high blocks.

How is the height of the cube adjusted?

 

[Coen]

You can replace the insert for a higher one.

But damn... the holder for that insert is 200 bucks :O?

 

[Mini Me]

You can replace the insert for a higher one.

But darn... the holder for that insert is 200 bucks :O?

It is going on to a Festool saw so it should be priced accordingly I guess. I will leave the room now. [big grin]

 

[darita]

You can replace the insert for a higher one.

But darn... the holder for that insert is 200 bucks :O?

I justify the price by knowing the machining that must have gone into the aluminum fence base. The fit on the part took precision machining, so they can’t be cheap to produce for a small shop. Were they purchasing the parts from China, that would be a different story.

 

[dlu]

One of the nice things about the Cube is that you can adjust the height of the insert to suit your needs.

I'm been experimenting with a CNC type brush dust shoe in place of the rubber boot. It seems to work better and has a much easier time with clearing high blocks.

How is the height of the cube adjusted?

By the height of the 4x4 that you use as the zero-clearance insert. You can cut it down so that it just clears the rubber boot, or use a taller one if you want better backup for your cut -- at the expense of having the boot hang up on the block (which, as I think about this, could probably be tapered on the back to make it less likely for the boot to hang up) or needing switch to a different method of directing the chips coming off of the blade.

 

[smorgasbord]

This is so weird. Due to shoulder surgery, I've been limited in what I can do in the shop, so I've mostly done shop improvement projects that don't involve lifting heavy pieces of wood. I recently completed a shop-made fence for my router table and today just put the finishing touches on my miter saw fence. I just happened to read this thread now, and was surprised to see my insert solution is pretty similar to the Cube, which I knew nothing about until a few minutes ago.

Here's my setup:
[attachimg=1]

Basically, what I decided to do is remove the stock fence on the left hand side and install a 52" Incra fence. For my Bosch glider, I had to machine a block of aluminum to be able to attach the fence using the back T-slot, which enables me to quickly move the fence out of the way should I do a bevel cut more than 30º or so.

What I like about the Incra fence is that 1mm racks into which the flip stop locks, so once adjusted I'm dead nuts on the millimeter for every cut, and it's repeatable. If I do need sub-mm accuracy, I can choose 1 mm further out and slide the rod in a quarter or half millimeter. The flip stop interlocks with the fence so it indexes mitered ends pretty well, too.

Anyway, for the insert I took advantage of the Incra profile:
[attachimg=2]

To create a protrusion on the insert that fits into the bottom rectangle. I drilled and tapped for a screw from the back to lock the insert in place. Originally, I cut the block with a rectangular protrusion, and then thought it would be easier to attach a rectangular protrusion to the block with a small domino, and then realized that a 14mm domino was good enough fit given the rear tightening screw:

[attachimg=3]

Then I slide the stock right hand fence up against the block, and it's quite solid:

[attachimg=4]

The use of the domino was a real breakthrough for this design, as I could adjust the DF700 fence and tape a gauge block to the side against which the DF700’s flip stop registers to precisely place the domino so that the front edge of the insert block aligns even with the Incra fence.

I'm now thinking of adding another 36" or so of Incra fence so that I can cut longer stock with the Incra index accuracy.

 

[squall_line]

That use of the Domino is quite brilliant!

 

[ChuckM]

This is so weird. Due to shoulder surgery, I've been limited in what I can do in the shop, so I've mostly done shop improvement projects that don't involve lifting heavy pieces of wood. I recently completed a shop-made fence for my router table and today just put the finishing touches on my miter saw fence. I just happened to read this thread now, and was surprised to see my insert solution is pretty similar to the Cube, which I knew nothing about until a few minutes ago.

Not passing judgment of any kind. When did you have your set-up, and did you ever share it anywhere on social media, and if so, roughly when?

It is not unusual that sometimes different people can come up with similar clever ideas or tricks without each other having seen the other one's work.

 

[smorgasbord]

Not passing judgment of any kind. When did you have your set-up, and did you ever share it anywhere on social media,and if so, rough when?

It is not unusual that sometimes different people can come up with similar clever ideas or tricks without each other having seen the other's work.

I first built the inserts a couple days ago. Not shared anywhere until I posted here. I'm certainly NOT saying Colliflower took my ideas at all - far from it. I was inspired by this 4 year old video:=shared&t=63

Which also has a deep insert, but it uses vertical sliding dovetails to fit an MDF insert into shop-made MDF faces attached to the stock fences.

I really wanted to keep my Incra fence that I've had for a few years, although previously I had it start after and inline with the stock metal fence, with a long MDF face running across both fences. The idea was that the MDF was sacrificial and I could simply slide it left and right, but since it was continuous and long, there were a lot of t-bolts/nuts to undo and redo and any bevel was a royal pain in that I basically had to take the whole fence system apart in order to slide the stock metal fence out of the way. I haven't done more than a few bevels in recent years, probably because I'd prefer to do them on my tablesaw sled if the piece wasn't more than about 4' long.

So, yeah, I'm not saying I wasn't inspired by others - I certainly was, but the Colliflower with its replacing of stock metal fence with another metal fence that holds an insert is similar to what I did, and just reading this thread literally the evening after completing my project was surprising to me. Sorry for any confusion or implication otherwise.

And the domino protrusion trick worked out really well for me, as I could use gage blocks to micro-adjust the fence (Needed a centerline distance of about 12.5mm) to set the proper height as well as a 1.9mm block blue taped (adding a bit) to the side of the stock against which the first Domino flip-stop registers to set the distance of the front face from the front face of the Incra fence. The picture with a used insert is actually using the old attached protrusion mechanism, which isn't as exact, and if you look closely the insert is slightly raised at the left, whereas the newer domino protrusion insert is dead flat on the bed.

And obviously, I'll have to live with this for a while before knowing for sure that's it's a good solution that holds up over time.

 

[Cheese]

FWIW...I've had the Colliflower ZCI on my Kapex for the last 4 years, I like it a lot. The only issue is to remember to change the white PVC insert when you perform a bevel cut.  [tongue]

On the original ZCI the aluminum surround needed to be removed to change the pvc insert, on the latest version (2-3 years) the insert can be replaced without disassembling anything.  [smile]

[attachimg=1]

 

[ChuckM]

Not passing judgment of any kind. When did you have your set-up, and did you ever share it anywhere on social media,and if so, rough when?

It is not unusual that sometimes different people can come up with similar clever ideas or tricks without each other having seen the other's work.

I first built the inserts a couple days ago. Not shared anywhere until I posted here. I'm certainly NOT saying Colliflower took my ideas at all - far from it. I was inspired by this 4 year old video:=shared&t=63

Which also has a deep insert, but it uses vertical sliding dovetails to fit an MDF insert into shop-made MDF faces attached to the stock fences.

I faintly recall seeing this video, and it, being 4 years old on YouTube, seems to predate any other similar videos on social media.

I haven't had any experience with a zero clearance block/insert, but I use an auxiliary fence to make ZC cuts. Are there any advantages of the block (other than not reducing the cutting capacity) over the aux. fence approach? It seems to me that the aux. fence doesn't negate dust collection as much, which is an important factor to me if I'm making a lot of ZC cuts.

[attachimg=1]

 

[ChuckM]

Snip.on the latest version (2-3 years) the insert can be replaced without disassembling anything.  [smile]

[attachimg=1]

That certainly is an improvement.

 

[Cheese]

I haven't had any experience with a zero clearance block/insert, but I use an auxiliary fence to make ZC cuts. Are there any advantages of the block (other than not reducing the cutting capacity) over the aux. fence approach? It seems to me that the aux. fence doesn't negate dust collection as much, which is an important factor to me if I'm making a lot of ZC cuts.

I do the same thing Chuck, that's the reason I never really considered installing the Cube.

[attachimg=1]