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Post by focal designs on Dec 28, 2021 6:47:41 GMT -5
Hi all - thanks for all the great information and resources on the Erika. It's been very helpful at bringing me to the point of finally purchasing one. I have only had a couple evenings with the machine so far and have mixed feelings about it. I purchased the Erika 85ec with all accessories. I am based in the UK. I am very impressed with the motor and the sharpness/accuracy of cuts in it's base arrangement. When introducing the clunky aluminium accessories - it brings a few concerns into the equation. I originally struggled getting the slider, MFA and 1m extension to run level with surface - even with the adjustment bolts. The 2 allen key bolts holding the brackets against the body of the Erika is where I found more adjustment in the height. More than the adjustment bolts supplied. Speaking of the adjustment bolts. I was hand tightening one of the under side bolts and the aluminium it was attached to - snapped off. Image supplied below. This is very concerning! There is still a lot of wobble in the fence (in cross cut mode) after all adjustments and tightening are made. I have supplied a video showing this below also: The MFA being set to 90' is not running square with the blade. It needs to be set slightly off 90' I'm sure these are all little adjustments I will get used to along the way. I had just assumed all the praise I heard about this machine and it's £4k GBP price point. I would be blown away with the quality of everything coming out of the box. Sadly at this moment - it's quite the opposite. Fingers crossed, this is temporary. I am still laughing/crying at the fact that the rip fence (or lack of) is an attachment to the MFA and is also an optional accessory rather than an individual sturdy stock supplied item that locks in and stores to the side when not in use. Again - this may be something I'll get used to. Though it's now pushing me to spend a further £600 on an incra fence. Something I thought £4k should have covered. Last couple concerns I have are on the new blade guard and above table extraction. These are minor and something I can work with to improve. But I think you all know what I mean there. I have also had some chipping on the underside of cuts when ripping laminated birch ply. This is currently operating with the stock supplied blade - which I believe is the 48 tooth blade. I truly do hope that the 68 tooth blade will comfortably cut birch ply with laminate at any thickness with zero chipping. It's the main material I work with and absolutely need it to produce accurate sharp and clean cuts all day long. Please don't take this post as being nothing but complaints. It's not. These are genuine concerns off the back of a large investment in something I thought I'd be blown away with after reading everyone else's praise. I'm not sure what the purpose of this post really is - other than hopefully helping a potential buyer be a little more vigilant than I was and a little more realistic about what you are investing in. Also - this is a cry for help from any experienced Erika uses that can help pull me out of this rut and bitter taste I have from my experience with this machine so far. Honestly I expected a lot more from such an expensive machine from such an reputable company as Mafell. Here are some pictures and videos to help explain my early concerns. Attachments and insert photo were not working so I have included a link to the images below:  Images linked here! |
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Post by alvychippy on Dec 28, 2021 11:04:52 GMT -5
@focal designs not an answer, you are looking for, but I would recommend talking to retailer 1'st, 2'nd option to contact www.nmatools.co.uk/contact/ (ask for Simon), he's going to be able to advise you little better, than anyone on what's going on and how to rectify issues all failing speak to benchdogs.co.uk or Frank from FCtools.co.uk to get correct parts and/or aftermarket accessories. Blades?- suspicious as if something isn't wrong with set up (under'toe'ing or over'toe'ing or table off square, (sorry)) get yourself 250x2.8x30 Freud or Axcaliber or Stehle blade with more teeth if must, but I suspect you "are barking at a wrong tree" in that respect. Here's (American, but stay with him) video, that clarified and superseded my lifetime knowledge and experience about the blades I'm sure once your issues narrowed down a bit, more advise will follow from peeps with Erika85, (I'm not a user off) cheers! PS Image hosting IE postimages.org/ upload image, right click, open in new window i.postimg.cc/nrgPJ5WV/Image-2.jpg copy it and within MUF post- find an icon, click/paste/insert  |
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Post by aas on Dec 28, 2021 14:40:02 GMT -5
I think any tool has a learning curve, sometimes what we think are issues get ironed out with a bit of use, other times they are real issues.
I know on my Erika the front rail is slightly bowed in, so much so - that I couldn't get on with the Mafell rip fence - took me a long time realise it was a real issue and not just me!
The MFA has always been spot on though. The sliding fence rail took a little while to set up, but now it goes on and off without readjusting... if something has snapped you need to get your dealer to sort this out - I'm not getting your images and videos to show when I click on the link - but I would guess a manufacturing fault.
I'd love it if my Erika cut laminated board without chipping - there is a reason panel saws exist with the tiny backwards running blade doing a score cut - the Erika has a big blade cutting down with no support underneath, it's going to chip. You can lower the blade and do a 2mm cut then raise up to cut the material, but this will get tiring very fast. Maybe trying a negative rake blade will help...
I added the Incra rip fence, would recommend it. There is a post on here somewhere showing how I did it. Still so easy to use, accurate and repeatable - in fact so good, I'm trying to find a sensible way to add an Incra to my Festool CS50.
Let us know if you have any questions.
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Post by focal designs on Dec 29, 2021 13:11:54 GMT -5
Thank you both for your input. Much appreciated. I had some more time with Erika last night and was starting to get a little more comfortable. Though still have quite a bendy crosscut fence that is still out of square. The MFA seems to be 100% true. My suspicions would be in the sliding table being out of line with the main body & blade. Other than altering the MFA (because that would throw it out with the rest of the machine) - what parallel or square adjustments does the sliding table have? None that I can see and none I see in the manual. This seems terribly odd. A crosscut fence that bends and cuts out of square. I do not believe this is the default for this machine. Has anyone experienced similar? Regarding that fragile rip fence.. I am convinced that I will replace this with the Incra fence - no doubt. Just finding thats a hard pill to swallow right now after making this investment. aas - are you the one that trimmed the Incra down a little to not be so large? Also, I have seen an image with the Incra using the Erika support rails (which I would prefer) and one image of the Erika having the Incra rails installed. Do you know much about the difference in the two arrangements? You are correct about the nature of the blades cutting down on the laminate. Especially that panel saws do have this score function built in. I do understand this. I had just heard others suggest that the Erika with the right blade can produce just a good of a cut. I assume the higher quality of blade - the better the result. Is there a good thread on here referring blade choices? Also - looking into extending the crosscut fence with something more sturdy and introducing a sacrificial timber front. Basically rendering half the expensive accessories I just purchased redundant !!!! When crosscutting - to rely on the dimensions tape on the fence itself. It is set up to line up with the edge of the 0 point of blade clearance. When doing this, the blade needs to be so high up for the fence to clear the guard. Is this a feature or a bug?? I'm finding a lot of strange characteristics in this machine that I'm sure will prove themselves to be features .. patience required. Thanks again and I look forward to more input! |
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Post by focal designs on Dec 29, 2021 13:54:31 GMT -5
I like the look of what has been done here - with the Incra.  |
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Post by aas on Dec 29, 2021 17:19:53 GMT -5
There are a few quirks with the saw, like you mentioned, saw blade has to be high to clear the extension fence on the MFA, you'll get used to the quirks and find work arounds - I guess it's the same with any tool. What cross cut fence is 'bendy'? There is some toe-in to the blade, if I remember correctly you should be putting the rip fence to the right of the blade, this will give you better results, i.e. cleaner and more accurate cuts. With the sliding carriage to the left, the pull handle slightly off centre to the right, cross cutting is best done to the left of the blade - then you can use your right hand to pull the saw forward. If using the MFA, it is best set to the right of the blade so it can be swung from rip to cross cut mode without too much moving, but then you'll be getting your arms crossed up trying to hold the wood in place and pull the saw for a cross cut. It's these little annoyances that led me to getting the Mafell rip fence (now discontinued - there is a post of mine somewhere on here about this waste of money).. and subsequently the Incra LS... the post that covers roughly my install is here : mafell-users-forum.freeforums.net/post/22580/threadI opted for the route pretty much as in the photo above for several reasons - I had the Mafell extension dovetails and router plate, also I find the full on Incra set up cumbersome, takes up a lot of space, and pretty expensive. For blades, I have most of the Mafell range, also a very good negative rake CMT blade for solid suface; plus I recently picked up a CMT rip blade as I have some old wood to size up - pretty sure I'll find a nail somewhere, and I really don't want to mess up the Mafell blade! Mafell do a blade for laminate. Depending on the size of panels you need to rip, you could always make a cross cut sled with zero clearance to the sliding table - you can adjust the squareness relative to the blade using the back fence of the sled - this is something I have been meaning to do for a long while. |
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Post by lincoln on Dec 29, 2021 20:25:56 GMT -5
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Post by focal designs on Dec 30, 2021 2:43:09 GMT -5
Thank you - yeah I've seen a few posts/blogs on the Incra set up. I was wondering if the positioner alone with any fence is the way forward. Open to suggestions. Very interested in CMT blades. Again I think there could be a dedicated thread on blades for the Erika!  90% of the work running through my Erika will be 15mm, 18mm & 24mm Birch Plywood with either a formica type laminate or real wood veneer on the ply. So I will need the best available solution regarding blade and cutting cleanness. Be really interested to see peoples upgrades/mods to a crosscutting on the Erika. Thanks again all for your input. |
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Post by MrToolJunkie on Dec 31, 2021 1:27:13 GMT -5
The MFA should be accurate out of the box. You can use an extension to make the fence longer and to lock it down. I actually have two of the little locking clamps and use one on each end of the longer extension as my rip fence. It is a little fiddly to get adjusted, but it is really solid and accurate and much cheaper/less space than the Incra. For me it was the best solution so something else to consider as a short-term option. I have been using Tenryu blades and Mafell blades and they are all really good. I have the sliding table, but honestly do not use it - I find the cross-cut capacity with the pull function to be adequate for my needs. I use a track saw for breaking down sheet material and laminates.
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Post by focal designs on Jan 3, 2022 3:40:05 GMT -5
Hi - thanks for chiming in. Yeah - I'm sold on the Incra positioner with a fence I'll make up myself. I will also be breaking down larger 8x4 panels before bringing them to the Erika but I do need quite a decent crosscut action. Again, even the 1 meter extension is not cutting it for me. Looking at making my own. I'm tempted to make up a kind of sled to use on the sliding table that will also give me zero clearance cutting when using laminates. Has anyone ever tried introducing a sacrificial top to the erika - fixed in position. Plunge cutting a zero clearance blade path and using this as your new top surface. Potentially introducing some T-Track etc.. for clamping work pieces. This would mean loosing access to the dovetail profile surrounding the table - but I will be using Incra fence and sliding crosscut. I'm tempted to explore this. All in the name of achieving zero break out when cutting formica laminated birch ply. I noticed that CMT have a blade specific to laminate cutting and plywood crosscutting - www.machinery4wood.co.uk/CMT-Fine-cut-off-circular-saw-blade-for-two-sided-melamine-250X32X30-Z80-40HiATB/P35663Anyone had any experience in using these types of specialised blades - or is it all a bit of a wank? |
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Post by aas on Jan 3, 2022 5:57:18 GMT -5
or is it all a bit of a wank? Not sure what you mean by this, some of us on here are not perfect in English...
I have a couple of CMT blades for the Erika; also for the MT55, and a lot of CMT router cutters; they make very good quality products, it will be a good blade.
A long time ago I had an Elu site saw with 305mm ripping blade and not many teeth, when I had to do some fine finish on melamine board, I clamped a melamine board on to the table, started the saw and wound the blade up - perfect zero clearance and very good cut quality. I had to screw a piece of wood on to the top to make a fence... luckily it was all the same size board.
This would work pretty well on the Erika with the Incra, the Incra base would just have to be mounted on the same thickness board to lift up to the same level, you could even do this with some slot in zero clearance inserts... you would of course lose the functionality of the dovetail around the saw.
A sled on the sliding table would be my preferred option as it would easily lift off.
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Post by focal designs on Jan 20, 2022 8:20:19 GMT -5
Sorry - the idea that it might be a bit of an unrealistic claim that it will cut two sided laminate/melamine board better than a standard blade.
I purchased one anyway. It has a 3.2mm kerf rather than 2.8mm but seems to work ok. My riving knife was a little out of line from stock anyway, so this helps bypass that issue. Unfortunately the only version of this blade I could purchase was an 80 tooth blade. The sales rep guaranteed this would be fine but I think it is too fine a tooth blade to be ripping and crosscutting Birch Plywood all day - everyday. For me it is not a smooth cutting experience but so far it has not left any breakout on either side of the board - so far!
I am still having problems with the out of squareness while crosscutting with the sliding table and supplied MFA/1m fence setup. The sliding table is in fact 1mm out of parallel with the blade. The 1m fence is around 1mm out of square with main Erica body. This results in Crosscuts of 300mm being out by just over 1mm. Occasionally 2mm. To me - this is not good enough from the stock UP SELLED extras of this PRICY machine. The 1m extension fence is also slightly bowed out of box.
I also have to use a 1.5mm shimmy (washer) to keep the fence up on one side and clamped so the wobble is eliminated.
I will attach some photos to illustrate what I am talking about below:
Thanks
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Post by focal designs on Jan 20, 2022 8:25:21 GMT -5
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Post by focal designs on Jan 20, 2022 8:28:32 GMT -5
This site is still not allowing me to upload images or attachments straight to the forum .. so I can only provide the link above:
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Post by alvychippy on Jan 20, 2022 11:13:19 GMT -5
This site is still not allowing me to upload images or attachments straight to the forum .. so I can only provide the link above: Not meant to, hence images need be uploaded to third part server ("hosting") site |
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