Woodworking show today

[William OConnell]

I went to the Long Island woodworkers show today and really enjoyed seeing all the member exhibits. {I'm a member of this club} The hard wood and exotic wood vendors brought spectacular samples for sale and display. I picked up a piece of Birds eye maple for $100 that was loaded with eyes.
I bought a nice set of chisels, tons of sandpaper from various vendors, and probably my favorite grab of the day was a Smart Guide System from Eureka zone. It basically is a straight line guide system very much like festools for mounting ANY circular saw and ANY router.
I haven't seen any reviews or much talk of this product on any of the forums I visit which strikes me as odd since its such a nice product. They {1 guy} had the booth right next to Festool and frankly stole some of there thunder in the guide system department. The reason I bought it was it allowed for the use of my existing circular saw{ I have 6} and one of my existing routers{ I have 7}. It has an integral edge guide system for the router and operates on both an X and a Y axis which I'm sure I'll use for dadoes in cabinet carcasses. I think I'll be using it alot to do flutes in pilasters also. The guide is interchangeable with the router and the saw which is nice for storage reasons.
The guide{I bought the complete kit with 2 50" pieces} solidly and truly clamp together. It uses a neoprene? strip much like festools that you cut through on first use then prevents tearout and chipping for all the rest of the cuts. It definitely is going to be a time saver for cutting up sheet goods and a welcome addition to the the shop that is long overdue. I can put this one on my recommend list { unlike my profile sander which I find useless except for the profiles}

It was a great show and I had a great time I recommend woodworking shows to anyone as I think we can always learn something no matter how far down the tracks we are.

[Lincoln Myers]

Thanks for the post! I saw your picture and thought 'hey that looks like Willie O. then I took another look at your name and it seems to fit.

I 'know' you from seeing your posts on other forums, BP or WoodCentral?? etc. Your posts are usually interesting and very informative.

Good to see you at The Creek.

--Linc

[John Miliunas]

William, as many others can attest to, I'm a very avid and loyal Festool owner. At this point, it's not an absolute for me to have a guide system, but sure would save a lot of time, though i still have ways around it. Like yourself, I have several circular saws already, so another one for the sake of the "system" may not be prudent. At the same time, I'm not entirely sold on the "other" system, either. If you could keep us posted on actual care, use and feeding of the guide system you purchased, it may help in the decision-making process, once I have enough $$ to pull the trigger on it. Thanks! :cool:

[eric hann]

There is another thread out here on Eurekazone EZGuide. Search on EZGuide.

Most of the praises for the system came from me. I use a Dewalt on the system. I also own the router piece and the EurekaZone cutting table.

Very cool stuff.

I got my EZGuide last November at TheWoodWorking Show in Denver. To make a long story short (you can read the other thread for details), I am absolutely in love with the system. A perfect compliment to my Kreg pocket whole system. I bought their entire line as well.

I paid for a table saw class at the woodworking show so I got free tickets for Fri, Sat, Sun at the show. Seeing "kickback" at the table saw class caused me to be open to thinking about a guide system. Then I met "Dino the carpenter", hammered him with questions for three days and then walked away with the EZGuide. Now I'm wondering how I lived without it.

IMPORTANT TIP: WalMart sells a Flambeau Gun case (molded plastic) for under $20.00. THe two guide pieces, clamps and antichip inserts fit perfectly inside the case. Almost like it was made for it.

ANOTHER NOTE: Use double stick tape on the guide base and your saw until you find the saw you want to mount the base to. Having so many to choose from, you want to make sure you use the one you are most comfortable with because you will be using the EZGuide a lot.

I have more details on the other EZGuide thread but you'll learn all you need to know when you start to play.
Just for kicks, I temporarily put a 18 tooth framing blade on to see if the anti-chips would work as well as they do with a 40 tooth blade.
Not a very "smart" thing to do but my curiosity got the best of me. I ripped through a length of 3/4 inch plywood.
The anti-chip insert worked.
Once the test was over, the 18 tooth blade came off and the 40 went back on. I'm curious, not crazy :-)

Next recent test, I plunge cut in three areas along my board and then came back through and ripped the cut. Normally, on a table saw you would see a little scarring where the plunge was slightly off from the rip. Because the EZGuide rides solidly along the rail and the guide is clamped in place, the rip went exactly where the plunge went.

I know they are pretty limited tests and I'm certainly not a professional tester. However, I can attest to the fact that my newest shelving/bookcases have not seen a table saw and the joints are perfect.

Enjoy!

Eric

[Joseph N. Myers]

Bill,

Glad to here that you like the Guide System. I'm had mine for close to 6 months now and love it, especially for ripping plywood, plunge cuts and for putting edges on rough lunber (much better than using my joiner).

The company name is Eurekazone, Inc, their web address is "eurekazone.org" and their owner/inventor is Dino (Makropoulos). He invented the system after some 25 years of cabinet making and trying to come up with something better to replace all the tools required for making cabinet, especially during the installation phase.

Their web site has lots of information along with a "feedback" section with some interesting comments. Check this site and search for Festool and look for message on "Guide Rails - Festool vs the EZ Smart Guide" --- 965 Views, 31 Replies.

One thing I would highly recommend is the Smart Table. What it does is the raise the wood 3-4'' off the table allowing you to cut anywhere on the table as the clamps will fit above the table but beneath the wood. Another great thing about this is that you don't have to grap the piece of wood that you cut off (as the table supports it).

And according to the web site, there a more products coming out in the near future. And information on how to design you own Smart Guide System giving you different price options.

Best Regards, Joe

[eric hann]

Hey Joe,
Putting edges on rough lumber. I haven't tried that one yet. I agree about the EZGuide table. Not having to beg my wife to catch a cutoff has been a true blessing :-)

Regards,
Eric

[Joseph N. Myers]

Bob,

Really love the EZ Smart Table.

I have mine set up as per the instructions except that I screwed in the end one (the V's) instead of using the nuts/bolts as they got in the way if I put it on a table. I also put a 6" base piece at both ends between the V's; this way I can extent the length of the table to 6' (plus the 1' overhang at each end allowing me to handle lumber 8' plus with no problem).

I glued up a bunch of cedar blanks this weekend and used the EZ Smart Guide to join the edges and of course, used the table to do the cutting. The blanks were between 4 and 5 feet. The 4' guide was too small, the 8' guide was too long (well, you know what I mean). So happens, I have a 2' section which I attached to the 4' giving be the 6' I needed.

(Note: for those that are not familar with the Smart Table, check out www.eurekazone.org (http://www.eurekazone.org)).

Regards, Joe