REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

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RFGuy
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REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by RFGuy »

I have seen this posted on a couple of different YouTube channels recently. It looks like a useful way to measure stock when cutting on a miter saw. Maybe more interesting for contractors doing framing where speed is of utmost importance. Just curious if anyone else finds this interesting and would consider one for their miter saw. It is a Kickstarter campaign and is expected to ship around Dec. 2020. Supposed to be made in USA and is going for $99 during Kickstarter campaign.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/re ... escription

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QThU-dEYL4U[/youtube]
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📶RF Guy

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jsburger
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by jsburger »

It is very interesting. I think it would be most useful for framing type of work. I don't own a miter saw and have no desire to buy one. If I had one I can only see me using it to cross cut rough stock to approximate length for further milling. I just use my cross cut sleds to cut stock down to rough lengths. No need for precision.

If the job requires fairly precision cuts all day every day (framing) on fairly short pieces I think it would be a great asset. Also, if you need to cut a bunch of long stock down by 3 or 4 inches I don't see how that would work. Say you have to cut a bunch of 10' 2X4's to 9'10" for what ever reason. How would you do that with that item unless you can attach it very close to the blade? A stop block on a long fence seems to me to be a better option.

Again it is an interesting concept and will work great for some situations. I think repetitive situations is key.
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by sehast »

Pretty cool. Right now I am using an Incra fence on my miter saw with a their patented saw tooth stop that gets me to within 1/32" and dead on repeatability for up to 48" cuts. I use my miter saw for final length cuts and a lot more. I couldn't find a repeatability spec on this but that would be only thing holding me back on one. I guess you could use it to set a hard stop if you wanted. Really easy and flexible.
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BuckeyeDennis
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by BuckeyeDennis »

Interesting — basically a little “5th wheel” for your miter-saw fence. Virtually identical technology dates back at least 40 years that I know of, for automotive performance testing and such. But lot of folks apparently believe it will be useful on their miter saws. The KickStarter campaign already has $223K in pledges (i.e. pre-sales).

I agree completely with John’s evaluation. In the videos, the tracking wheel appears to be mounted perhaps 6” from the saw blade — implying that the last 6” of stock length is unusable with this system. Which may or may not be a problem, depending on the application. Automatic bar feeders for CNC lathes have basically the same issue, but the labor cost savings frequently outweigh the increase in material scrap costs.

The company chose tape measures as their accuracy comparison. Which isn’t a terribly high hurdle, but is probably appropriate for their target applications. But again I agree with John — I don’t think the system would compare favorably with a simple stop block for either accuracy or repeatability

So the sweet spot for the system would seem to be medium-precision cuts, made in large quantities, but with a rapidly-changing mix of lengths. Which doesn’t definitely doesn’t describe my personal woodworking.
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by sehast »

The more I think about it as long as its accuracy is 1/32" or better just using it to set hard stops on the fence on the opposite side of the blade would be very useful. Right now I use the teeth on the Incra fence for that but I think this would be easier and faster. I would set the blade thickness to zero and reference off the zero clearance insert on my Kapex miter saw. Using a permanent stop setting board longer than any anticipated cut would eliminate any lost material on your cut stock. For quick rough cuts just use it by itself as advertised. I don't think it is compelling enough for me to change from my current setup but if I had it to do over again I might very well go with it.
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Ed in Tampa
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by Ed in Tampa »

I do not see finish carpenters using it for molding. Most molding comes in 20 ft lengths. Can you image shoving 16ft 3 inches through the thing to get a board that long. No thanks carpenters will drop a tape measure on the wood and make the cut.

Also think of space you would need 20+ ft on the left side and at least that much room on the right. Try doing that in a house with about three trades working at the same time.

No this was invented for the DIY who likes to play around with new gadgets in their work shop. Sort of like the fishing lures that are designed to catch the fisherman rather than the fish.
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by bainin »

There are a ton of new technologies that could be coupled to woodworking , specifically small volume shops which would take a lot of the guesswork out.

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RFGuy
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by RFGuy »

Thanks for the feedback so far...some very good points have been brought up. Maybe it is even less practical than I thought. I just thought it looked neat so I was curious what others thought of it. I wasn't planning on purchasing it myself. Yeah, now that I think about it more, this must be geared more towards the DIY person at home (rather than for contractors) because it is a Kickstarter campaign. How many contractors have time to browse Kickstarter? If they get selling this on the shelf at Home Despot, then maybe an adventurous framing contractor might pick it up. It would have to be pretty compelling though to justify $99 for it versus a $10 tape measure for a contractor.

To John's point on cutting a few inches off of a long board. I wonder if you couldn't just set it up for subtraction measurement? I mean in the video, they show mounting it 6" or more from the blade, but they zero out this so that the measurement is taken from the sawblade itself so that is your reference plane. If you are cutting all 10' 2x4's and say you want to take a few inches off of each, you could probably program it with a 10' reference adjustment so that the reference plane is at the other end of the 2x4. Not saying this wouldn't be tedious compared to a tape measure and pencil, but they probably have some way to accommodate that I would think.
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Mark V 520 (Bought New '98) | 4" jointer | 6" beltsander | 12" planer | bandsaw | router table | speed reducer | univ. tool rest
Porter Cable 12" Compound Miter Saw | Rikon 8" Low Speed Bench Grinder w/CBN wheels | Jessem Clear-Cut TS™ Stock Guides
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JPG
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by JPG »

So ya gonna ASSUME that all '10' ft structural lumber is actually 10 ft?

Bad reference IMO.
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RFGuy
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Re: REEKON Tools M1 Caliber

Post by RFGuy »

JPG wrote:So ya gonna ASSUME that all '10' ft structural lumber is actually 10 ft?

Bad reference IMO.
Agree, but the conversation was around whether framers might find this product useful or not. You either have to feed the stock under this gadget for the full length of the measurement, or find some alternative method when you just want to cut a short section off of a long board. If 1/32" tolerance isn't needed, this was just one way I could think of for the product to work. Say you have a 10' 2x4 and want to cut 3" off of the end, who wants to push a 2x4 a length of 9' 9" through this thing just to make a cut? My suggestion was that perhaps you can measure less of the board and somehow reference the far end of the board to enable a faster cut of this type. I don't even know if this method would work with this tool. While it looks like a "cool" tool, it doesn't seem like it would be very practical in actual use. I like the idea of this type of measurement device, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to solve any problems... :(
📶RF Guy

Mark V 520 (Bought New '98) | 4" jointer | 6" beltsander | 12" planer | bandsaw | router table | speed reducer | univ. tool rest
Porter Cable 12" Compound Miter Saw | Rikon 8" Low Speed Bench Grinder w/CBN wheels | Jessem Clear-Cut TS™ Stock Guides
Festool (Emerald): DF 500 Q | RO 150 FEQ | OF 1400 EQ | TS 55 REQ | CT 26 E
DC3300 | Shopvac w/ClearVue CV06 Mini Cyclone | JDS AirTech 2000 | Sundstrom PAPR | Dylos DC1100 Pro particulate monitor
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