Rockler Speed-Cope Crown Molding Jig - Requires Power Jig Saw for Use

I am a do it yourselfer and I found this tool to be worth it's weight. The assembly instructions aren't the best however, if you're used to assembling IKEA furniture, you shouldn't have any issues with assembling this product. Took me about 10 mins to assemble and 10 mins to compare to the picture on the box. The instructional video was great however, most people don't have DVD players anymore so, it would be good to just have a quick link online. Once you have the jig set up, it really makes things a breeze especially with wide angles. This jig made all the difference and gave me a clean cut every time. Excellent product!

Assembly of this unit is a bit challenging, but assuming you are a handy carpenter to begin with you'll figure it out. Some better instructions would probably be helpful. One of the challenges of this unit, is getting your molding clamped in the unit. Typically crown molding can be 10ft plus in length. You need a large worktable, and peace of plywood to screw the jig down to use it effectively, along with some additional wood spacers to hold the tail end of your molding at the correct height (long pieces). The cuts are very good, but it does take a little bit of practice to get your cuts just right. Also, I personally found that jig saw blade was in an fairly exposed position while using the jig, forcing me to be very careful when cutting the cope. Biggest challenge for me was tweaking my cope based on corners that are not perfect 90 degrees. With some practice, I figured how to make a slight adjustment in my miter saw cut 45 degrees +/-1 degree, transfer to coping jig, and cut for a nice fit. Any skilled carpenter has been through this 1000s of times, but weekend warrior carpenter, you still need to measure, cut, check. In my case, I always left my butt end 1/8" to 1/4" long, and worked the cope in cleanly while bending the crown. Once the cope was good, I cut away excess from the butt end.

If you look at my picture I've had those for almost 18 years. Obviously they're at the point where I was thinking of replacing them with another set. And then once I googled or searched everywhere, I realize they were no longer available and realized what Rockler now provided was this monstrosity. Seeing all the knobs and whatnot is not going to make this thing worth $200. I paid just over $50 for my set and they lasted me this long, why did they have to go down this rabbit trail and create something like Daniel Hill basically said is a waste of time. I haven't even purchased it yet only because I see what Daniel sees. A headache. Why couldn't they just keep things simple. But no, they needed to add bells and whistles to justify the $200 price tag. Frankly I'm going to make my own out of mahogany since I have the templates now. Thanks for nothing Rockler. I gave you three stars only because I can't say I like the item cuz I don't have it, but also I can't say I hate it because I haven't used it. But I will say I am disappointed. Nevertheless what I have now has been invaluable since I purchased it.

*UPDATE: This product makes coping so effortless that it's worth at least 5 stars even if initial assembly is difficult. I just installed an entire house of baseboard and had never used coped joints before. After 1-2 cuts you'll have the hang of it. I use the cordless dewalt router model DCS334B and the scroll blade from bosch T101AO. I was worried whether my heavy cordless would work for this and if you are wondering the same thing, yes it should work great. With this jig and the scrolling blade it's like performing surgery on the trim.*This is not a huge tool, but it is complex. Guess what? They make you assemble it as a thank you gift for purchasing their product. It is far from simple to put together. Once you complete that task you can try to watch the instructional DVD but if your computer is like mine, it won't play the videos dated 2004, huh? They must have made a million of these way back when and just send them out exactly as they were packaged back in the day. Come on guys.

The Rocker speed cope is an excellent tool the only thing I found a problem with was the poor instructions for assembly. Once the unit is together it worked fantastic coping oak crown molding. I completed 27 copes in under 4 hours. The copes were very accurate. I did not have to do and filing, grinding, or further back cutting to make the the fitment better. The joints were perfect

For me it works best with a lefthand cope on crown molding as the table does not have to extend out as far. But it works well for both right and lefthand cuts. A time saver. Base board is fast and easy because of the square to the face cut. It would have been great deal for 50 or 75 bucks less.

Very easy to use. Just finished a two story home that had large crown on every room. This made copeing a breeze. The only dislike is it only convient for left hand copes. It gets in the way of itself on right hand copes. Caught on to that early on and adjusted. Huge time saver. Thank you. I was skeptical about its quality for being used in a commercial application, It's built very well.

After seeing the rather misleading advertisement about this product I decided to purchase it thinking it could possibly be worth the asking price. I assumed that over time would it pay for itself in the mount of labor saved. Not even close. I am a trim carpenter by trade and as with any skill trade "time is money." This product would be complicated and time consuming for even an expert trim master, let alone a do it your self weekend homeowner. For the time and effort to set this thing up you could cope by hand much faster and have a much cleaner finished product. Not recommended for anyone.