EasyCoper from Rockler

[ssmith1627]

Anyone tried using this jig ?

http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?pa...4&cookietest=1

Would love to hear a review of it. If it truly is a help, I'd be willing to spend the money on it !

Thanks,
Steve

[jhart]

Haven't used it. Have seen pictures of it and it looks real neat and easy to use. If you've done coping on Crown molding, you know what a pain in the A** it is. If you buy it, please do a review.

[greencat]

Wow - that does look easy but $35 for 2 pieces of plastic seems steep. I wonder how difficult it would be to make this out of wood?

[jbalders]

Mfg's site: http://www.easycoper.com/

I saw it in action at the woodworking show a couple of years ago. It looked real easy in the demo, then again, all of the demos are designed to make the products look super easy to use. I was also taken aback by the price given what you're actually buying -- it seems like $19.95 would be a better pricepoint to me. Then again, if it saved you hours of hand coping, it might be worth it.

At the time, I didn't have any crown moulding to do, so I didn't take advantage of the show special price.

Jeff

[Thom2]

I bought a set, they're laying in the shop at the moment along with the 120' of 4 3/4" crown moulding that's supposed to get put up.

If my wife had her way, I'd be able to write a review tomorrow night, but she's getting used to not getting her way

If I get to it before anybody else does, I'll write a review.

Wow - that does look easy but $35 for 2 pieces of plastic seems steep. I wonder how difficult it would be to make this out of wood?

yeah .... I thought the same thing at first .... except that you almost need to have a 'real set' to get the angles from to make templates .... so I just coughed up the cash (I'm "froogle" but I did it anyway) and bought a set.

[rickd]

hi,

i've never installed crown moulding but it is on loml's priority list, so i'd best find out how to do it. in addition to the 'easy coper'($35), rockler also sells a 'crown moulding compound miter jig' for $20.99 that they say allows for the cutting and installation of crown moulding without coping.

so, dumb question time: "if both jigs work as specified, is there any reason why i would want to use the 'easy coper' instead of the 'crown moulding compound miter jig" which looks simpler to use?

in looking at the two jigs, apart from the price, the main difference i see is the 'crown moulding compound miter jig' only handles stock up to 4 1/2" wide while the 'easy coper' can cut up to 5 1/2" moulding.

[Hoover]

I am going to play devil's advocate here. How many corners are really at 90 degrees? I have too many corners that were anything but 90 degrees, and I wound up coping them anyways!!! Sorry to burst any bubbles here, but you really need to measure your angle first before hoping that it is 90 degrees.

[Bruce Cohen]

When I was working in the Millwork Dept of Home Depot and people would ask about diy Crown Molding and think that all they would have cut is 45 deg angles, I would tell them that "The only 90 deg angles in their home were mistakes", they usually then responded, "do you know anyone who installs crown".

Bruce

I wouldn't install the stuff on a dare.

[lkazista]

I bought a set at one of the woodworking shows last year. I have only played with it a little bit using some left over crown. I have an entire house to get to. I have only done 2 bedrooms so far, and that was before the easycoper. $35 is steep, but if it can save me from ruining even one cut on a big board, it will have paid for itself.

The only goofy thing that I found with it was that I needed to buy 'longer' jigsaw blades than what I stock in the shop. Bosch makes some long ones. Overall the jig works well. Coping real wood crown is not very hard to do by hand, but it takes time, and this jig certain speeds things up.

Lee

[brecklundin]

just thought I would resurrect this thread in case any of the suspects might have had time to use the EasyCoper?

I have a bunch of crown to install this winter...saving the inside pro-jects for then...and happened across this nifty looking gadget...but, it's not cheap if it doesn't really work....the video sure makes it look simple but didn't show anything but the coping part of the deal. They didn't show just how well the pieces match up after the fact.

[reddog552]

Spring ?

I was looking at the coper instruction sheet they say its made for coping crown with a spring of 52/38.Ive hand coped a bunch,but I have no idea what spring is anybody know inlighten Me THANKS

[gsmittle]

I was looking at the coper instruction sheet they say its made for coping crown with a spring of 52/38.Ive hand coped a bunch,but I have no idea what spring is anybody know inlighten Me THANKS

IIRC, spring is the distance the crown is from the actual corner. The long side of the triangle, in other words. Looks like the 52/38 might be in mm.

OTOH (using all sorts of acronyms this morning ) the only crown molding I've ever done is on theatrical scenery, and that's a whole different mode of construction, so I might be way off base here....

g.

[Thom2]

I was looking at the coper instruction sheet they say its made for coping crown with a spring of 52/38.Ive hand coped a bunch,but I have no idea what spring is anybody know inlighten Me THANKS

The spring angle is the angle where the crown meets the wall and ceiling. Crown never sits @ 45 degrees on the wall (that'd be too easy). I think the first number (52) is the angle against the ceiling, and the second number (38) is the angle against the wall (IIRC, if not somebody will straighten me out).

BTW: don't bring this up with my wife ... but my crown moulding is still stacked in the shop

[LCHIEN]

Mfg's site: http://www.easycoper.com/

... I was also taken aback by the price given what you're actually buying -- it seems like $19.95 would be a better pricepoint to me. Then again, if it saved you hours of hand coping, it might be worth it.

At the time, I didn't have any crown moulding to do, so I didn't take advantage of the show special price.

Jeff

In the absence of competition, pricing is determined by what it costs to make and what it's worth to the customer. If it saves the customer 100's of dollars in labor and materials and it only costs $10 to mold from plastic but the molds cost $10,000 or more to make you have a complex equation based on how many you expect to sell at what prices (demand curves) and also a reasonable rate of return on investment (have to amortize the cost of the mold over the units sold) as well as 15% of your cash tied up plus expenses, etc. Not to mention receiving compensation for your unique idea.

For a device with no competition (limited market, early advantage, or patent protection) then the spread may be very large between what its worth to the customers and what it costs to make and market it. If there is competition, then you may be squeezed very tightly and have to watch your costs carefully or bet on selling lots of them, to make money.

BTW, this looks like something pretty easy to make yourself.

[ragswl4]

I have not used (nor do I have) the Coper from Rockler but I do have the Crown Molding Jig. I used it to install molding on a run of kitchen cabinets. It worked perfectly where the inside and outside corners were exactly 90 degrees. I had 5 corners and 1 of 5 was actually 90, the others were 1-1.5 degrees less and took some fiddling with the miter saw angle to get it right.

At every corner I made test cuts and test cuts and test cuts until I had the angle right, then cut the real molding. Somewhat slow and tedious, but the corners were all perfect. It was my first time doing crown molding so I have happy with the results.

As a previous post indicated, the spring angle for the Coper is 52/38. The jig I used is for 45/45 spring angle.