Has anyone tried the machine that cuts copes on moldings similar to that of a key cutting machine. You have to manually cut the first piece but then you can have an apprentice carpenter cut copes on each end of a pile of moldings with the tool. Seems too good to be true. It’s an expensive machine but we cut a lot of big crown molding and most of the labor is spent coping the joints.
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I assume you mean the Copemaster. Wish I had one myself. The reviews are generally quite favorable. You do have to make a template for each cope, and apparently it is a bit time consuming to change back and forth from one to another, but from what I have read you plan ahead and make all the LH ends, then all the RH ends, etc. I've read a couple of people say they make their cutlist from the plans, cut to rough length in the shop, pre-cope everything, and then take the trim package to the job for final cut and install.
they have a video of the macine in action ,very impressive. If i did that much moulding , it would be a must have for sure!
i went to a demo day at tools-plus in Waterbury, CT last week and talked at length with the inventor and owner of the copemaster. he was a very friendly down to earth kind of guy. i watched him make a perfect cope in less than 30 seconds. the machine is made at his business in Ridgefield, CT. it's a first class piece of machinery, unfortunately i don't do enough crown to plunk down $2400. could have bought it that day for $2085 but still too much for me.it wasn't hard to change from left hand to right at least for him.
i use a cordless jigsaw w. a curve cutting blade... works great.
what brand and model blade do you use?
I take a pencil and outline what needs to be cut.Here are the blades (Lowe's carries them. HD should also).http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-3-Inch-20-Tooth-Blades-5-Pack/dp/B0000223G1I use the Dewalt 18v jigsaw. Makita's 18v lxt has 2 leds... might be a nicer jigsaw.
Seems odd that you couldn't just have the machine follow the profile of a sample workpiece to make the template.
I saw it in action this past year or maybe the year before at JLC Live in RI.
Awesome machine, looks well built and the guys seemed real straight.
Seems it would pay for itself in a couple or few jobs if you do alot of crown.
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That's weird. Just yesterday I was thinking about this subject and, having never heard that such a machine existed, was starting to think about how to invent such a machine.
I used one last spring on a job with 10 to 12 carpenters installing varios crown moldings,base boaed and other misc moldings. It could not be set up for repeat mode. It was just as fast to break out the jig saw and grinder than waiting in line.
Sounds like lack of planning. Someone should have made a cutlist for the whole house and then started making coped pieces for each molding that could be trimmed to exact length at the butt end. It would be extremely efficient that way.
Bob
here is a message from DougU that I thought was interesting he copes with a grinder he attached 2 video clips showing how he does it the message # is 75981.51 you can access it from the advanced search or try this link
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=75981.51
Zeeya