Carvex circle cutter problems

[David Wadstrup]

I just bought myself the new Carvex and the circle cutter accessory, but can't for the life of me cut a circle with it. I was trying to cut a 16" ring in 3/4" birch ply. I tried two different blades. Neither worked. I went very slowly. I had the plunge set to 1. Speed set to A. I'd get about 1-2" into the arc and everything would jam up. The blade was bending and binding. What am I doing wrong?

[Glenn Ancona]

David - I picked up the Carvtex as well but without the circle cutter - its saweet!! The attachment was described to me as having a clockwise and counter clockwise slot or pin setting to interface with the saw- Sounds like you just have it reversed ? Several on line videos and / or there is always festool help line in the am - let me know how you make out as that attachment was on my list as well

glenn

[John Schweikert]

I have the Carvex and accessory kit. I haven't tried the circle cutter yet. I'll test it out tomorrow and let you know.

[Alan Lightstone]

Have you tried posting the question on FOG? Pretty solid collection of Festool Owners / Experts on there. They've been helpful with esoteric questions for me in the past.

[John Schweikert]

David,

Not sure what you are referring to when you say the "plunge set to 1". Maybe you mean the pendulum setting. Are you trying to plunge down to start the cut while connected to the circle cutter or edge start?

I setup on some scrap OSB, attached the circle cutter to the correct Carvex base, hammered the pin to hold the circle cutter using the hole on the same side as the Carvex (the pin is exactly in the same setback distance as the jigsaw blade), started the blade at the very edge of the board and in a counterclockwise direction, cut an arc with no issues, almost no effort needed other than light pressure forward on the Carvex. No pendulum setting, speed set to A.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/web-photos/IMG_8818.jpg

[Rick Christopherson]

Can you try doing two different things, but not at the same time and report back what your results are?

The first one is to loosen the accessory base (slightly open the clamping lever) and check it for skew with respect to the blade/body of saw. It can't move very much, but you can get about 1 degree of movement. My thinking is that if the base was installed with a skew, it will cause the blade to want to wander. This could easily happen depending on how you were holding the base as you closed the clamping lever.

The second one is to switch over to an FSG blade. This is the coarse blade with wide sideset teeth. The larger sideset will permit the blade to run skew without a problem.

Festool recommends the FSG blade (or a narrow scroll blade) when this happens. But personally, my thinking is that the base got installed with a slight skew. That's why I am curious to see what happens for you.

By the way, if you haven't already downloaded it, the Supplemental Owner's Manual (http://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/Carvex_PS420.pdf)is released for the Carvex.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

My guess is you are using the wrong axis point in the circle cutting jig. Use the hole on the same side as the jigsaw. I have had no issues cutting circles so far.

[David Wadstrup]

Thanks to everyone for the help. You were all right -- I was using the wrong axis point. Using the correct one made cutting circles simple, clean, and very easy to do. Rick, thanks for the supplemental owner's manual. It is so much more complete than what came with the saw.

I do have one question, still. Have any of you noticed poor dust extraction with the base required to use the circle cutter? It seemed like my CT26 was only catching, maybe, 60% of the dust. Although, come to think of it, I haven't even really used the saw for non circle cuts yet. Maybe this is just a fact of like with jigsaw dust extraction?

Thanks again.

[Rick Christopherson]

Rick, thanks for the supplemental owner's manual. It is so much more complete than what came with the saw.
I do mention in the manual which trammel point to use. I hope I made it clear enough, though.

Paul-Marcel St-Onge was having a similar problem on a guide rail. That's why I had guessed about the skewed base in your case. But when you said it was drifting so quickly, I should have spotted that sooner.

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