Kreg Crown-Pro

[Birdhunter]

I'm building a mantle for a friend. It involved some crown molding. After experimenting with the Kapex, I decided a jig would help and ordered a Kreg Crown-Pro.

Anyone used one of there jigs? Any tips?

 

[peter halle]

I haven't used one of their jigs but I just went and watched their videos.  With the workpiece so elevated off of the miter saw table it will be etremely important to make sure that you have outfeed and indeed support.  A long piece of crown has a lot of leverage.

I will be interested to hear how it works.  The specs call out that for a 10 inch saw the max is 3 1/2 crown.  Usually I see crown that is 3 5/8".  You might need to use the Kapex special cutting position lock.

Peter

 

[ear3]

Just curious why you went for the Kreg jig as opposed to Festool's crown stop accessory?  I don't have a Kapex, but when I was faced with a similar choice I went with the equivalent stops on my Bosch CM12 over the Kreg jig, and they work well.

I'm building a mantle for a friend. It involved some crown molding. After experimenting with the Kapex, I decided a jig would help and ordered a Kreg Crown-Pro.

Anyone used one of there jigs? Any tips?

 

[Sparktrician]

The Cut-N-Crown is another good jig for this. 

 

[Theshipstore]

Willy  Do you use that crown jig and are you happy with it. I do like the idea of not moving the saw around

 

[Wooden Skye]

I bought the crown pro jig and it works fine.  For first timers I think it is a good jig.  The problem I ran into was the funky wall angles which got me not as tight joints as I would like.

 

[Birdhunter]

Before I bought the Kreg jig, I tried several cutting methods including the Festool stops. I found that getting a perfect miter requires setting the molding at exactly the correct spring angle on the miter saw fence and bed. I wasn't too successful at this. I could get a good miter, but not good enough.

The Kreg jig makes it easy to dial in the correct spring angle and hold the molding in place during the cut. It's not a perfect solution, but the first outside miter I cut was near perfect.

 

[hitandruntz]

If you measure the crown  and establish  the distance from ceiling to bottom of crown and clamp a board to your kapex that should be sufficient  to get an accurate  corner. If the tops open push both pieces up if the bottoms open push both pieces down to work close them up. Have really small shims ready to work both pieces at once.

It may not be the way your pieces were cut. Honestly  if you were off by an eight setting up your crown block you can still close up that miter nicey nice with some  well placed elbow grease. Good luck.

 

[Sparktrician]

Willy  Do you use that crown jig and are you happy with it. I do like the idea of not moving the saw around

I do have it and use it from time to time, Sal.  It's especially helpful when a room is out of square.  I like that it has jigs for 38°, 45° and 52° spring angles.  Crown isn't something I'm called on to do often, so any help I can find to get it right is useful.  One of these days I'll spring for a Kapex, but it isn't in the budget right now. 

 

[ear3]

Got it.

Before I bought the Kreg jig, I tried several cutting methods including the Festool stops. I found that getting a perfect miter requires setting the molding at exactly the correct spring angle on the miter saw fence and bed. I wasn't too successful at this. I could get a good miter, but not good enough.

The Kreg jig makes it easy to dial in the correct spring angle and hold the molding in place during the cut. It's not a perfect solution, but the first outside miter I cut was near perfect.

 

[Birdhunter]

You do have to change the miter angle either right 45 or left 45, but the bevel angle stays at 90 for all cuts.

My only issue with the Crown-Pro is that it relies on a bunch of rubber feet to keep it in the right position on the Kapex bed.

If I did a lot of crown molding, I'd find a way to better fixture the jig so I don't have to hold it in position with my hands.

 

[hitandruntz]

If you have the kapex  and a scrap of wood you have a way  better jig than that kreg will ever be. Please Dont take this as rude cause im not trying to be. Ive run miles of crown mostly laying it down coumpound cut style which i always thought was superior to standing it up. You can have absolutely  perfect cuts and have your corners not work at all. Theres actually degrees that you can be off and still achieve a perfect corner. Do it how ever you believe is best, but the cut is a small portion of achieving a perfect miter. Inside and outside drywall corners are rarely  45° and 9 times out  of you cut it at at 45's. When you put up your first piece dont nail within 4 feet of the corners and nail sparingly basically  just enough that it doesnt fall off the wall. Then start working the next piece and nail it the same way staying away from the corner.now start working the miter you may have to use shims to get it perfect. Have a block of wood and a hammer to knock the crown up or down to close the gaps and shims help there to.some times you have to knock the crown up or down where your nail is 4 feet away to help your miter. Dips in the walls and ceilings will change the where the miter sits perfectly. So if you measure  and snap a chalk line for a reference  of where your bottom edge should be and your an 1/8 above your  line or your just covering  the line , dont worry its just a reference to keep you honest. If your gonna invest in something to help with crown  i would suggest some fast cap third hands . They can be really helpfulful to persuade the miter into submission. In my experience  from what you said its not your miters. Ive done a lot of experiments  with this. I have the bosch angle finder and i would check every corner and the miter and bevel  cuts would be the same from 87.5° to 92.5° that to me is a huge difference  and tells a story in itself. Oh and if you want to experiment    dont glue it and give it a dry run and work those miters and make sure it works. Good luck.  Btw i have the kapex now and stand the crown up. I dont use the fessy crown stops or the multi blades adapter, just a strip of plywood for me. Ive got my outfeeds for the ug cart calibrated. The stops and tape measure  is one of the best features  of this saw. It works for square cuts, short points, long points of miters and bevels. Check it out. Very accurate  and fast.

 

[Birdhunter]

Thanks to all and, especially, Hauswerks, for the great info.

 

[Grasshopper]

Here is what I did with my recent crown job.  It was very helpful:

I'm building a mantle for a friend. It involved some crown molding. After experimenting with the Kapex, I decided a jig would help and ordered a Kreg Crown-Pro.

Anyone used one of there jigs? Any tips?

 

[hitandruntz]

No problem.good luck!