Anyone have any opinions on this mitersaw measuring aid? REEKON M1

[tim walker]

Saw this on Kickstarter. Just wanting any opinions or if perhaps someone on here was in the original trials of the tool. It looks great and is at a decent price point. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...448937657.4qqe

[Roger Feeley]

My daughter gave me a kickstarter item for Christmas 2018. I still don't have it. We keep getting these updates and apparently it's been quite a ride for them. At one point their office burned down with all the items they had to send out. The latest estimate would be sometime this fall for delivery.

I think my point is that Kickstarter can be amateur hour. You might get the item and you might not. If it fails, you might get support and you might not.

But to your question: it looks like kind of a clever device. I can see it being pretty handy for framers.

[tim walker]

Yeah this says delivery Dec 2020. But you are correct about deliveries. Promises made on good manufacturiing times and CV has definitely delayed this.

[Bert McMahan]

As a comment on the Kickstarter itself:

0% chance I'd back a Kickstarter for something like this. If it makes it through the KS, you can order one online. Yes they say you'll save $50... but what if it sucks? What if they can't get it to work right? Kickstarter corporate does NOT do anything if a project starts then takes your money and runs. They do not claim to do this and people are surprised when scams come along.

The goal of this product was $10k. That is absolutely peanuts compared to what they'd need to get this mass manufactured (at least $1 million). Doing something like this with 3D printed parts and hand assembly isn't too hard, as rotary encoders and Arduinos are quite easy to use, but getting them to the point they can sell them and make a profit? That's hard work.

The fact that they only asked for $10k means they don't actually NEED the Kickstarter to launch this; they're basically using the platform for advertising. If it's legit and actually works, they will already have the design locked down and are in final talks with mass manufacturing, and it'll be available on Amazon for $150, and you can return it if it breaks, and see unbiased reviews to see if it's as good as they say.

If they're NOT at this point yet, they don't know what they're doing, and you're likely to be out $100. I have backed several hardware Kickstarters over the years and will never back one for something like this. The only ones I'll back are people with realistic goals and budgets for the money (for example, guy making small widgets and needs to buy a laser cutter and a paint booth to get going). Larger ones like this are about 95% likely to deliver months to years late based on my experience. I've been a Kickstarter user and have backed a dozen or so products, and will not back hardware Kickstarters like this.

Regarding the device itself: It looks pretty neat, but I would only see it being really useful if you're doing lots of small cuts. If you need to cut 2 feet off a 2x4, you have to load the whole board up under the little wheel and drive it 2 feet while holding it perfectly up against the fence. You also have to calibrate each single board, as the wheel rolls a bit unpredictably at the corner, so the first cut is likely to be a little off.

If you need to make, say, 10 cuts per board, you can zero off the first cut and use this for the rest. That would be way quicker than removing and marking the board.

Basically I don't see it taking the place of a tape measure entirely, just making repetitive tasks much simpler. I'd definitely consider one of these... after they're actually for sale.

[Frank Pratt]

A measuring tape adhered to an extension fence would be about 10X faster to use, accurate, much more robust & never need batteries. On first look it seems like a clever thing, but the more I think about it, the dumber it seems.

[Randy Heinemann]

This project may or may not get off the ground. I've generally waited till the product actually is being produced because it will be months and possibly even years before this product is available for shipping, thus tying up whatever money you spent on something that isn't available until way into the future. Even then, these projects are usually under the gun to get something out and, at some point, must ship the initial product with flaws; to be upgraded and made better over time. So, you may get the product first but it will likely not be the best version of it.

In this case, it appears that, unless you are in a production environment, there would be no need for something that does what this does. It seems like it's made for high volume production.

[Jim Becker]

Kickstarter and similar have their places because it's extremely difficult for small inventors, etc., to get "traditional" funding for development. A lot of them are pretty good ideas and like anything, there are going to be duds, too. There's risk involved with participation for sure. But there can also be reward from getting something new and creative that otherwise may not have made it to market.

[Mike Kreinhop]

I'll pass, but they must be doing something right to convince investors. They received over $400K in pledges on their $10K budget.

[ChrisA Edwards]

For the actual product, for in shop use, I don't see it being very useful.

I think where this may hit a home run is in hardwood flooring, where you have flat consistent material, but require lots of cuts, on end pieces, that don't require exact accuracy.

But if I was in that business, I'd probably wait for the commercial product.

[Bert McMahan]

I'll pass, but they must be doing something right to convince investors. They received over $400K in pledges on their $10K budget.

It's dangerous to think of Kickstarter as "investing"- you're not buying a stake in the company, just the potential to get a widget later. Not even a guarantee

Regarding their budget, as someone involved in bringing products to market, $10k is absolutely meaningless to a project like this one. Seriously, this involves multiple injection molds, custom circuitboards, programming, distribution to resellers, etc. I could spend $1 million on this no sweat. The fact that their Kickstarter goal was $10k means they put it at some incredibly low number to make it look like a roaring success and get a massive "% funded" sticker they could put on the campaign.

In other words, their success does NOT depend on whether or not their Kickstarter goes through. They had already spent a ton of money to get where they are. If their KS failed, they'd still have produced it. This is just a cheap way to gauge initial interest and get some advertising.

I'm not saying this is nefarious in any way, just that this is VERY different from "one-man small shop trying to get off the ground". Another example is Full Spectrum Laser doing a Kickstarter for their 5th generation laser... after they had started shipping them

[johnny means]

The only situations where I think that might be helpful is on construction jobs where one guy is running the miter saw and six other guys are giving him callouts. For furniture and cabinet making the actual measuring is just not that big a part of the job. I spend several minutes trying to pick exactly what portion of the boards are going to become my legs or whatever. What's the five seconds it takes to measure each one out?

[Frank Pratt]

I can see that the majority of sales will happen because it is a clever concept. Fast forward to a couple of months after being bought, most of those will be sitting on the shelf collecting dust.