Mafell Erika 70 questions

[Naildrivingman]

I am interested in what anyone has to say about this saw.  I know nothing about it.  I am considering purchasing it. All comments and suggestions are welcomed.

 

[tjbnwi]

Send Tom Gensmer a PM, I believe he has one. He's in your area as well.

Tom

 

[Holmz]

Send Tom Gensmer a PM, I believe he has one. He's in your area as well.

Tom

[member=64733]Naildrivingman[/member]

The Mafell /Timberwolf is showing somewhere this month (I think perhaps in Chicago??).
You may want to ping Tom?

And a few people have imported them in to the US... (As I did for Au.)

 

[Naildrivingman]

Thanks.  I was introduced to this tool by Tom.  I have reached out to him to set up a hands on experience. Basically I'm wondering about others experiences as well. I can't bring myself to invest this kind of money without fully vetting the tool.  Mainly I'm curious about power and recommended accessories. I did speak to Timberwolf tools.  Unfortunately, they do not have sales reps outside of Chicago and Maine.

If this were a $1000 tool I would likely not be so concerned, but the package I had quoted will near or exceed $5k. Lots o' money for a portable saw. Also wondering if this machine is durable enough for repetitive field use. I have used the larger Bosch with gravity rise stand for about 10 years. I've beaten it up pretty well and it still runs true.

The main draw I see in the Erika is for bevel cuts.  I've never felt that any SCMS adequately cuts bevels. My Kapex is the best by far, but I still experience blade deflection.

 

[Frank-Jan]

I don't have a mafell erica (I have a cs70), but you should check out fogmember Wrightwoodwork 's youtube channel. He has several videos in which he uses the erica 70 ec and demonstrates a few accessories.

 

[rmwarren]

[member=20320]rizzoa13[/member] is your man.

He kindly dropped by to show me his 85 last year. It is still on my wish list to replace a DW 745. In my small shop the pull saw feature would get used a ton.

FWIW ToolNut can now order them.

RMW

 

[rizzoa13]

Sorry driving right now but what I can say is the saws worth tenfold what you pay for it.

If it cost $20 grand I'd still buy it.

 

[ScotF]

On my wish list too - I think that they are made extremely well and durable. Someone on the other forum has one that he bought in the 80's, I believe and it is still going strong. That is a testament to the quality. Expensive for sure and this is where you really have to question value for what you pay. For me I need more shop space and my big cabinet saw is taking up valuable real estate and I might need to part ways with it to free up the room. An Erika would be a worthy replacement in a much smaller package.

 

[Holmz]

Sorry driving right now but what I can say is the saws worth tenfold what you pay for it.

If it cost $20 grand I'd still buy it.

Maybe for you, where you need portability.
For $20k and iif one is in a shed/garage/shop then $20k gets one into a different league.
But on the hoof, or out a trailer doing on-site work, then a cast iron is a bit heavier than an Erika.

It is worth $5k, and the import changes and shipping were not fun.

 

[nickao]

Yeah like I would buy that for my shop over an industrial saw stop with all the toys.

For me in a shop I would get Panel Cart that handles 60" x120" sheet off the truck and then can flip them to horizontal(1100.00, only 275.00 for a rocker cheap for 4x8's), a full sized panel saw for 60" wide sheets,(2500.00 to 4000.00 depending on the toys) and an Industrial Saw Stop with all the toys(8000.00 to 8500.00). That leave near 6-9K for whatever.

So lets hope that 20K remark is a figure of speech meaning that he loves the saw, because dropping 20K on one tool is going to put you out of business unless you are in are in a niche where 95% of your work gets done on a little bench top saw. Even if the job type was zero shop think long and hard before buying a 4K saw to drag site to site. If you want it and like it, great, buy it. Just know it's  a luxury, not a necessity. Guys with what some would call crap tools have been in business doing quality work for 50 years, for me the important thing is quality work that keeps the clients calling.

Think about it, if you had 100K and wanted to start a business,what would you do? Even the tools I suggest may be too expensive to start a business. Might be smarter to get that Craftsman 1 3/4hp hybrid with 52" fence for 1000.00, a 500.00 panel saw and no cart at all. And for a bench top table saw, even 1000.00 is a huge expenditure.

I am making a big move next year and I can't make mistakes like buying 20,000.00 bench top table saws(even 4000.00 ones). That's a year of one of my 6 kids college tuition! This isn't a game, 20K on a saw is a serious thing, as is 4K.

Money goes out easy, it is much harder to get it coming back in.

 

[peter halle]

I think that the Erika is a wonderful saw and that they make quality products.  But whereas there seems to be a simultaneous discussion over on the Mafell User Forum  about this perhaps it would be better to discuss this over there.

If you want the URL use google.  Links can't be posted here.

Peter

 

[nickao]

Agreed. Maybe some day we will have a Festool table saw in the US, I hope it's closer to 2000-2500.00 though.

Never been to Mafell forum so I am not sure what they talk about over there.

 

[Holmz]

I think that the Erika is a wonderful saw and that they make quality products.  But whereas there seems to be a simultaneous discussion over on the Mafell User Forum  about this perhaps it would be better to discuss this over there.

If you want the URL use google.  Links can't be posted here.

Peter

While I agree 100% conceptually... It is a fact that I learned about Lamello, Mirka and Mafell on FOG.
The demographic of their user base is probably similar for North America.

There is also no dishonour in mixing it up. I rather like the MFT. It may not ideal in a shop, but pretty handy to drag it to-n-fro for portable work... and running a Bosch rail and MT55 on it seems to work. (As does the CT26, which works on the Lamello Zeta and Cantex just hunky-dory.  Basically (IMO) this "SYSTEM stuff" is mostly 'marketing crap' whether it is Mirka's System or Festool's)

Also IMO, it is a general disservice to the FOG users to have censoring - but this is also while I agree that the other site is more appropriate.

The good news is that it runs both ways, and I seem to recall hearing about the BS105 on FOG.
... Which I now need to find some belts for  [cool]

 

[Naildrivingman]

I have posted on the Mafell site as well.  I am somewhat confused as to why we can't have a discussion about other tools in the other tools thread category on the FOG.  If I have violated terms of the FOG (or pushed the limit) then I will refrain from posting Mafell questions here. The FOG is a valuable resource to me and I don't want to compromise that.

 

[rizzoa13]

Well it's not a figure of speech Dovetail but to each their own. I don't work out if a shop but I need to produce shop quality cuts in the field, in some pretty expensive places for some pretty demanding customers. Like I said I could justify paying many times what the Erika costs because of how much time it saves me, and time is big money to me.

That's all I'll say here, if you want to discuss it more I'm answering drivingnailman's questions over on the mafell forum.

 

[Cheese]

But whereas there seems to be a simultaneous discussion over on the Mafell User Forum  about this perhaps it would be better to discuss this over there.

If you want the URL use google.  Links can't be posted here.

Peter

Hey [member=1674]Peter Halle[/member] , just curious why a link to the Mafell group can't be posted here? Is that a Festool rule or is it just typical among all user forums...a sort of reciprocity agreement/protocol?

 

[escan]

Always tough, not being able to give the more unknown and expensive tools a test run. As for questions, the MUF group have a few members who have the saw and share their insights, both negative and positive.  I think that group is represented here as well but obviously you'll get better traction over there. 

 

[McNally Family]

Always tough, not being able to give the more unknown and expensive tools a test run. As for questions, the MUF group have a few members who have the saw and share their insights, both negative and positive.  I think that group is represented here as well but obviously you'll get better traction over there.

Whatever you do, don't do a google search for MUF group.  Stick with "Mafell users group" for your search criteria.

 

[peter halle]

But whereas there seems to be a simultaneous discussion over on the Mafell User Forum  about this perhaps it would be better to discuss this over there.

If you want the URL use google.  Links can't be posted here.

Peter

Hey [member=1674]Peter Halle[/member] , just curious why a link to the Mafell group can't be posted here? Is that a Festool rule or is it just typical among all user forums...a sort of reciprocity agreement/protocol?

Cheese, I have to answer your question in two parts: 

First, Festool - the owner of the forum - made the decision back in 2013 to block the url due to circumstances on the forum at that time.  I would suggest that most companies that manufacture and sell tools really wouldn't prefer to have their own site be used or potentially used as an avenue to directly take users or customers to a competitor's platform.  Especially if their site is highly visible on the internet.  That is totally my opinion based on what I would consider to be common sense.

Secondly, are there any agreements or protocols?  I can only rely on my observations over the years here and my interest on what happens behind the scenes tempered by the fact that I am not employed in the tool manufacturing business nor privy to any marketing strategies.  People will buy tools based on what they want, they can afford, and what they want to achieve.  I believe that more so on the other side of the pond tool manufacturers are "friendly" competitors.  They co-exist knowing that they will each have their following.  That being said, they are still in the business to sell their own tools. So, when it comes down to the internet and forums and providing links to a competitors site I would offer that the practice would all so easily be seen as potentially spamming by most and those posts would be removed. How it is tolerated industry wide would vary but as a general rule it is at least considered distasteful.  Again, my opinion based on observations.

Thank you for asking.

______________

In regards to other comments in the thread, for the record, I didn't censor - I merely observed that the same people were in a simultaneous discussion by the time I saw it and pointed out that their platform might have been the best place to continue it.  I also pointed out how to get there whereas the thread wouldn't allow the URL.  Call me crazy, but by example, if I wanted to learn about Festools this site might be more helpful than a similar site specializing in DeWalts.

My guess is that Mafell gets plenty of exposure on the internet based on discussions here influenced by the page counts driven by participation versus other forums. 

Peter

 

[Cheese]

Thanks Peter, also curious if the 2013 ruling had something to do with a goofy Carvex vs P1 cc video that was making the rounds?