Review of Festool Carvex Pendulum Jigsaw (561351)

jonny round boy said:
I agree - pendulum action is designed to allow a blade to cut faster, and more agressively. Dean's statement that it would cause deflection sounds like a sound theory to me.

For curved work, I would always ensure that the pendulum action is turned off. That is my take on it, but if you're unsure then do some test cuts & see what difference it makes.

JRB
Click to expand...

Well i will test the theory  but I think in my opinion by having it forward at the bottom slightly wont cause it to go out much or if any. seen as it goes forward and back very quickly.    

I will try different materials with the CORDLESS CARVEX and different pendulum settings I will video it so you can all see. What the carvex can do.

My other 2 jigsaw  I never every change the pendulum setting I always have it on max for most aggressive cutting never have any problems and if I need a splinter free cut I normaly cut upside down or use a upside down blade.

Oh at least no one has tried to say I am wrong about the blade being to thin so I must be right with that then any way
 
Reporting back in to say that I STILL can't get the curve-making gadget to work [sad]. I've had a couple of goes, tried normal blades, tried a bit of pendulum action, etc. , but no go. It's a nice saw, and I've used it successfully for other things, but the thing for which I really wanted it, a large curve, doesn't work, which is a disappointment. The usual problem is starting off from the straight edge of the wood, that straight edge to make a tangent to the circle which I'm going to cut. The blade simply rubs along the side and bends, chopping up the splinter guard in the process. And then it decided to go in, further on up the wood and at a sharper angle than I wanted. And the metal of the guide ruler buckles.

Someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong, as I can't imagine Festool getting something THIS wrong.
 
hi teemacs.

how large is the circle you are trying to cut?
maybe the carvex jig is only good up to a certain size, then its back to the old fashioned timber rod method.

justin.
 
If I had my carvex then I would try it out my self but unfortunately UK has not got any Cordless Carvex jigsaw yet. Only the corded  and I ordered the Cordless like ages ago annoying because I have already paid for it in full and its been more than 3 weeks and festool are still not giving a date for when the cordless jigsaws will be coming in.

Soon as I have it ill see what the smallest curve it can do in different types of materials. BUT their must be some one here who has the carvex and will help you now? Cant believe no one has tested this yet. You started this topic ages ago. Thought you had sorted it by now.
 
Ive been looking at getting the cordless carvex now after having done quite a few built in cupboards this year. Setting up and extention all the time or having to lug the CT from room to room has just become a real pain in the butt to be honest. I also only noticed now that there is a blower on this thing as well!! Festool really have done a good job on upgrading from my old trion.
 
i was not aware of the blower function on the carvex.

can someone confirm this....

justin
 
justinmcf said:
hi teemacs.

how large is the circle you are trying to cut?
maybe the carvex jig is only good up to a certain size, then its back to the old fashioned timber rod method.

justin.
Click to expand...

Hello, Justin, I was trying 30cm (about one foot for non-metric folk). I personally suspect that, if it is desired that a straight edge is to go directly into a curve (i.e., the straight edge is tangent to the circle of which the curve is a part), it's going to be necessary to cut a pilot groove to start off the curve, so that the blade doesn't simply rub along the side and go nowhere. I shall experiment with that next time I try.
 
Nice review Hans, but I'd really suggest you make a separate thread of this instead of doing it as a mere post in an existing thread.
 
teemacs said:
Reporting back in to say that I STILL can't get the curve-making gadget to work [sad]. I've had a couple of goes, tried normal blades, tried a bit of pendulum action, etc. , but no go. It's a nice saw, and I've used it successfully for other things, but the thing for which I really wanted it, a large curve, doesn't work, which is a disappointment. The usual problem is starting off from the straight edge of the wood, that straight edge to make a tangent to the circle which I'm going to cut. The blade simply rubs along the side and bends, chopping up the splinter guard in the process. And then it decided to go in, further on up the wood and at a sharper angle than I wanted. And the metal of the guide ruler buckles.

Someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong, as I can't imagine Festool getting something THIS wrong.
Click to expand...

I got my Cordless Carvex finally yesterday after  ALONG WAIT from Festool!

Any way I have tried doing Circles in MDF with Pendulum and without and it makes no difference. Brand new Festool Blades which are included. The blade comes out of the 3 way supports as your going round the circle. The first Quater is Fine then you can start to see it going off underneath and it slowly coming away from the 3way support.  My first Circle I did was fine but now I cant do any with out it being out so much it actually bends the blades.  I have bent two blades now brand new.  Im doing circles about 3 inch radius. I did one large one and it still does the same its like the jig saw isnt at the correct angle or something!!!  So you are RIGHT!!!!!!!!
 
Sorry!!!

I went back to the first blade I used and it cuts the circles fine with no problem at all.  

I have uploaded some pictures showing the difference between the blades  which makes a MASSIVE difference in cutting circles well one of the blade its impossible to cuts circles regardless of the size really even big ones it couldnt do well.  It bends so much the blade is actually bent it burns and it creates OVALs not circles!

BY THE WAY BOTH BLADES WHERE BRAND NEW!  YOU CAN SEE ONE IS ALREADY BURNT!

You can see in this pictures the two blades I have placed the blades which go with the cut outs made by them blades.
[attachimg=#1]

Here you can see the difference between the two. The Silver blade cuts at an angle as it went round it kept on bending no mater how slow I went.
[attachimg=#7]

This picture just show the cut out
[attachimg=#2]

You can see the Silver one being slightly wider  which must make it more difficult to bend round but its only every so slightly but its made a big difference. As you all can see
[attachimg=#3]

You can see the Black blade is thicker it looks thicker in real life! This slight thickness helps keep the blade straight but once again its only little thicker but it makes a massive difference in the cutting out of a circle.
[attachimg=#4]

you can see the teeth are different but the black one has small and large teeth I think that maybe allows for less material to be removed at at once so maybe keeping it straight?!?!? Because the large teeth catch the material first so their is less contact at one time.
[attachimg=#5]

Just shows you the blade codes so you can research the bladed your self plus you dont need to ask me what type of bladed they are!!!
[attachimg=#6]

 
Good post I would not have believed the difference between the cuts had I not seen it. good work.

JMB is it the top blade in your last picture that gave you good cut?
 
Festoolfootstool said:
Good post I would not have believed the difference between the cuts had I not seen it. good work.

JMB is it the top blade in your last picture that gave you good cut?
Click to expand...

I agree, very good info here, thanks for posting.
 
Festoolfootstool said:
Good post I would not have believed the difference between the cuts had I not seen it. good work.

JMB is it the top blade in your last picture that gave you good cut?
Click to expand...

Yeah the top one!

My local festool Dealer called me up this morning because he has read this topic and looked at the blade types.  

He told me the (top one) or the black one the one which did the better cut which comes with the carvex is designed for cutting out circles he told me

the other one which cant cut circles (bottom one) silver which also comes with the carvex  he said that's really designed for cutting plastic and copper pipes soft metals.

To me that doesn't look like a metal cutting blade. BiMetal blade

Thank you for the compliments people!
 
The HS 75/3 bi is primarily a plastics blade. The Festool jigsaw blade documentation says it'll cut cement board, iron, and steel also but it isn't the blade I'd use for that.

Tom
 
Hi All,

since i'm not sure, if the Carvex  problem with the circle cutting Jig is transparent to everybody, i've added a video explanation to my short Carvex review and also added a link to the HowTo Section of the forum.
You will notice after watching the video, that you now have the opportunity to cut perfect straight lines with the guide rail and cut perfect Arc's or Circle with the circel cutting jig. This is something, where you would have had to use a plunge router before.

Additionally here is good news from festool:
Festool confirmed the problem with the base as known and is solved by reworking of the base, i will get a modified base in 2-3 weeks and post the results then. Users already having baught the Carvex Set will get replacement for the Adapter base for the guiderail/Circle cutting Jig.

kind regards, Mike
 
Hi,

A couple of weeks ago my dealer demonstrated the Carvex to me and I had a little go myself in cutting out some circles. The results were amazing. A radius of less than an inch as no problem in the inch and a half material and the cut was dead straight.

The dealer showed me the blade and told me this particular blade is thicker on the cutting edge than on the 'tail' edge. This allows it to move more easily in curves. Looking at the dutch festool site, I find that the S blades have this shape. All the other blades seem to have a straight blade.

This might explain the issue with cutting curves. It is probably not so much the thickness of the blade as it is the shape of the blade.

Mattijs
 
Mattijs

That is really interesting about the shape of the blade.  Makes you wonder why Festool don't make it more obvious in there literature etc

Woodguy.
 
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