My Carvex 420 is now worse than ever

[Kev]

I tested my carvex out when I bought it, tried mitered cuts, did not work well, other things did not pan out like I thought they would, just assumed it was adjustment or blade or something, well when I tried a guided cut on a job, and sparks were coming off the blade, I sent it  in for repairs, but did not make any difference. I did not see all these negative reviews before I bought it, I thought I looked at reviews, anyway this tool does not meet up to festool quality.

I hope I don't have trouble with my Kapex motor,I did not see those reviews either.

Sparks would tell me you probably still have a blade guide adjustment issue.

Yes - there certainly a cross section of dissatisfied CARVEX owners and it's therefore easy to give up on the tool and assume it's a lemon. The thing is, there's a number of us that have nothing but happy experiences with the CARVEX.

I'm not saying you're problems are not real, just work with it until you eliminate all possible user related issues before you dump it.

On the KAPEX, who knows what the stats are, but there's a really good chance that the US issues only relates to a very small percentage of units. On a popular forum such as the FOG (where Festool are extremely open to criticism and do zero to suppress it) bad news gets a lot of attention.

 

[Gjarman12]

I enjoy my carvex, although it isn't perfect. I just used it to cut through some bowling floor (3" hard maple) and the cuts were GREAT. When the blade stopped making progress, I assumed I hit a nail, switch the blade, cut through the nail, then switched back to the wood blade.

 

[Staniam]

[/quote]

Yes - there certainly a cross section of dissatisfied CARVEX owners and it's therefore easy to give up on the tool and assume it's a lemon. The thing is, there's a number of us that have nothing but happy experiences with the CARVEX.

I'm not saying you're problems are not real, just work with it until you eliminate all possible user related issues before you dump it.

On the KAPEX, who knows what the stats are, but there's a really good chance that the US issues only relates to a very small percentage of units. On a popular forum such as the FOG (where Festool are extremely open to criticism and do zero to suppress it) bad news gets a lot of attention.
[/quote]

The only problem I've had with the Carvex is the first time I tried it with the guide rail adapter and guide rail. I posted some pictures here on the FOG and asked for help. Turned out the problem was me and since then I haven't had any issues with it.

I'm not saying you're the problem at all, believe me. I'm just saying that I belong to the percentage that loves the Carvex. Its done everything I've asked of it and its done those things with ease and efficiency. I've cut 4x4 material with ease as well. To me, its an incredible machine.

 

[Holmz]

if we assume the that causal mechanism for cutting issues is in adjusting the guides, then the mitigation is either better training, easier to adjust the guide better, or removing the blade guides altogether.

There are not many saws that can run with no guides

 

[GhostFist]

If I'm not mistaken they carvex 400 didn't have any guides.

 

[peter halle]

The 400 had an upper triangular guide that was non adjustable.

Peter

 

[GhostFist]

Thanks for the correction. I knew there was something different regarding guides on the 400

 

[Tflapointe]

The problem with my Carvex is the same.  The blade doesn't sit parallel to the housing.  It's a problem with the blade holder.  I've sent mine two times to get it fixed and they keep sending it back wrong.  Our service repair office here in Ontario is really sad. They will make any excuse to not fix it.  Here is some good advice. Forget about Festool.  It's all hype.  And this is from someone who used to be a very very very big fan.

My confidence for Festool has hit rock bottom. 

It's not even a difficult problem to understand.  If the blade doesn't sit parallel to the guide or strait edge.  The only end result imaginable is some kind of deflection.  You don't even have to be smarter then a two by four to understand that.

If you take a square and it touches the back of the blade on one side, and the front of the blade on the other side,  it's a fairly easy problem to grasp.  Yet my service department can't figure it out.

And here is some advice for Festool.  Hire service people with more then two brain cell's still firing Between their two ears.

 

[Holmz]

The blade should pendulum back and forth so from the side it may not be straight.
Or
Are you saying that it is leaning left or right when looking down along the direction that it is traveling?

Not every tool works for everyone.
One reason I got one without guides is that there is less to understand and be good at.
Perhaps it is best to sell your Carvex and try something else?

 

[Tflapointe]

The blade should pendulum back and forth so from the side it may not be straight.
Or
Are you saying that it is leaning left or right when looking down along the direction that it is traveling?

Not every tool works for everyone.
One reason I got one without guides is that there is less to understand and be good at.
Perhaps it is best to sell your Carvex and try something else?

Yes,  Not everyone wants to hold their jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.  Actually I don't know anyone stupid enough who would want to hold a jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.

 

[Holmz]

The blade should pendulum back and forth so from the side it may not be straight.
Or
Are you saying that it is leaning left or right when looking down along the direction that it is traveling?

Not every tool works for everyone.
One reason I got one without guides is that there is less to understand and be good at.
Perhaps it is best to sell your Carvex and try something else?

Yes,  Not everyone wants to hold their jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.  Actually I don't know anyone stupid enough who would want to hold a jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.

I also do not believe that I am stupid enough to want that either...  [embarassed]

It looks like I got 2 rotations addressed out of a possible 3...
So I think what you are saying is that the blade is twisted related to the base (viewing it from the top down), so that it skews off at an angle??

 

[Tflapointe]

The blade should pendulum back and forth so from the side it may not be straight.
Or
Are you saying that it is leaning left or right when looking down along the direction that it is traveling?

Not every tool works for everyone.
One reason I got one without guides is that there is less to understand and be good at.
Perhaps it is best to sell your Carvex and try something else?

Yes,  Not everyone wants to hold their jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.  Actually I don't know anyone stupid enough who would want to hold a jig saw slightly sideways to cut straight.

I also do not believe that I am stupid enough to want that either...  [embarassed]

It looks like I got 2 rotations addressed out of a possible 3...
So I think what you are saying is that the blade is twisted related to the base (viewing it from the top down), so that it skews off at an angle??

Sounds like you are starting to understand what I'm saying. 

The machine body/foot is not in parallel line with the jig saw blade.  The blade cuts slightly twisted left. 

Resulting in me cutting slightly left if I hold the jig saw body straight.

Now imagine if I slap the jig saw to a track.  It's no wonder these jig saws can't cut straight. 

 

[Tflapointe]

Imagine a gun barrel that's not lined up with the sight.  That's my Festool Carvex.  And I'm about to send it in for a 3rd time.  I keep explaining to them the problem, and they keep thinking the blade is not parpendicular 90 degree to the bottom of the foot.  It's like dealing with dumb and dumber. I think I'll draw up the problem for him.  Words are to difficult for them to understand.

 

[Laminator]

My Trion and my Carvex suffer from this out of parallel  condition.  I tolerate it because its not off far enough to cause problems with what I need a jig saw for, which is cutting out for sinks in countertops.  Neither of my saws will work with the guide rail and the carvex circle jig is completely hopeless.  Thankfully I never need to use them.

 

[Tflapointe]

My Trion and my Carvex suffer from this out of parallel  condition.  I tolerate it because its not off far enough to cause problems with what I need a jig saw for, which is cutting out for sinks in countertops.  Neither of my saws will work with the guide rail and the carvex circle jig is completely hopeless.  Thankfully I never need to use them.

Then why spend 400+ dollar on a jig saw?  Buy yourself a Black & Decker. 

 

[Holmz]

My Trion and my Carvex suffer from this out of parallel  condition.  I tolerate it because its not off far enough to cause problems with what I need a jig saw for, which is cutting out for sinks in countertops.  Neither of my saws will work with the guide rail and the carvex circle jig is completely hopeless.  Thankfully I never need to use them.

Then why spend 400+ dollar on a jig saw?  Buy yourself a Black & Decker.

I have an old black-n-decker and a p1cc.
The p1cc is not 20x better than the Black-n-Decker, but it is a bit better.

It is much better in terms of being able to be used on a rail, and it can cut massively thick pieces.
It has a dust collection, but that is not super effective.
There are no guides, so it is impossible to not set them correctly, and therefore it takes no ninja skill to use it.
The double thick blades are very stiff to resist blade deflection, so they are better.

However if one never needs to cut thick pieces and never needs to use a rail, and has no use for the double thick stiff Mafell blades, then a black-n-decker makes a lot more financial sense, (and a Bosch seems good too).
Unless you take advantage of the the capability it is not an extra capability.

I still use the B&D for cutting sprinkler pipes in a dirt hole, and I always use the p1cc on wood and metal, even when the B&D would do fine. If the p1cc cut an an angle I would be pretty disappointed.

 

[Tflapointe]

My Trion and my Carvex suffer from this out of parallel  condition.  I tolerate it because its not off far enough to cause problems with what I need a jig saw for, which is cutting out for sinks in countertops.  Neither of my saws will work with the guide rail and the carvex circle jig is completely hopeless.  Thankfully I never need to use them.

Then why spend 400+ dollar on a jig saw?  Buy yourself a Black & Decker.

I have an old black-n-decker and a p1cc.
The p1cc is not 20x better than the Black-n-Decker, but it is a bit better.

It is much better in terms of being able to be used on a rail, and it can cut massively thick pieces.
It has a dust collection, but that is not super effective.
There are no guides, so it is impossible to not set them correctly, and therefore it takes no ninja skill to use it.
The double thick blades are very stiff to resist blade deflection, so they are better.

However if one never needs to cut thick pieces and never needs to use a rail, and has no use for the double thick stiff Mafell blades, then a black-n-decker makes a lot more financial sense, (and a Bosch seems good too).
Unless you take advantage of the the capability it is not an extra capability.

I still use the B&D for cutting sprinkler pipes in a dirt hole, and I always use the p1cc on wood and metal, even when the B&D would do fine. If the p1cc cut an an angle I would be pretty disappointed.

i don't Need Festool to fix it,  I'll fix it myself. 

But I'm definitely won't be buying much of anything from them going forward. 

 

[bkharman]

 
i don't Need Festool to fix it,  I'll fix it myself. 

But I'm definitely won't be buying much of anything from them going forward.

Alright. We get it. You are no longer a Festool fan. Move along then.

I personally have had no issues with my 420. I don't earn a living from it but I have cut through thin and thick (4x6 PT for a playground) and it has been great. All square cuts.

If you want to drop coin on another jigsaw then do it and report back later. If you want to move on then best of luck to you mate in all you do.

Good day sir.

Bryan.

 

[jacko9]

I find it interesting that the original poster had two posts on June 10th and one more the following day -now after 8 months this thread still lives and we still haven't heard from the OP on what he decided to do?

 

[Holmz]

 
i don't Need Festool to fix it,  I'll fix it myself. 

But I'm definitely won't be buying much of anything from them going forward.

Alright. We get it. You are no longer a Festool fan. Move along then.

...

It does not need to be black-n-white, and there is a happy medium somewhere...

Just because the tool is green does not make it good. But the marketing is that it is all good. They make some good stuff and some stuff that is not so good. On average Festool is a safe bet, and it is easiest to just get a Festool.

The other approach is to evaluated each tool on its own merit, if one chooses to spend time figuring that out. It depends how much one's time is worth to figure that out.

So one can, in theory, own Festools and NOT be a festool man or woman. Or they can be a dyed in the wool Festool man/woman and still own an occasional Bosch tool.

Whether that can happen in practice is more to do with psychology.