Cool Tool? "The Coper" for cutting baseboards

Stumbled across this on the web. I have no affiliation, it just looks like a cool tool if you've got a lot a baseboard to install. OTOH, it could be a piece of junk.

In brief, you make a mold of your baseboard's profile and use it as a template to guide a router.

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's videos available at the site.

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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Thank you sir, for the heads up.

This fits into the category of the head slap followed by the exclamation, "Why didn't I think of that".

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Seems like a LOT of trouble to go through. It would seem that if you spent the same time it took to make just one pattern practicing, you could master the skill. Coping gets easier and easier each time you do it.

Interesting, though!

Reply to
B A R R Y

I also noticed it won't cope crown, quarter round, shoe, base, or most anything that's not baseboard or certain chair rails, so you'll still need coping skill...

Reply to
B A R R Y

Might be useful if you only have a couple profiles. For a pro who's doing a bunch, you'll run out of the plaster.

Another option for coping is the Collins coping foot for a jigsaw.

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Reply to
Chris Friesen

on 9/5/2007 3:35 PM DerbyDad03 said the following:

By the time I set up all that stuff, I'll have cut 3 or 3 moldings with a coping saw.

Reply to
willshak

And it's limited to 1/4" internal radius. Won't work with my baseboards.

Reply to
DJ Delorie

- By the time I set up all that stuff, I'll have cut 3 or 3 moldings with

- a coping saw.

- Bill

Yeah but...

What if you were the trim guy for a builder who used a specific baseboard 95% of the time? Assuming the template could handle the wear and tear of hundreds of router passes, wouldn't it save time in the long run to spend 20 minutes up front making the template? (I'm not defending it...just asking!)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Video says "... but we recommend that you leave the template overnight so that it cures completely."

Just how long do they think it takes to cut a coped joint by hand, anyway? I can cut and fit an awful lot of coped joints in the time it takes that sucker to cure overnight...

Reply to
Doug Miller

Oh, absolutely.

The video addresses survivability during repeated use, too: they suggest making the first cut from the molded piece in plexiglass, then using *that* as the template for subsequent cuts in wood.

Looks like their market is high-volume professional trim carpenters, and DIYers who lack either the dexterity or the confidence to make coped cuts.

I'm not going to be buying one. But it's a clever idea, and I wish I'd thought of it.

Reply to
Doug Miller

I can cut a piece of baseboard, or a piece of plain crown molding in less than a minute, using a miter saw (powered or hand sawn) in less than a minute. Intricate crown molding is best beveled cut. I did work for a GC installing base molding throughout the house. Only one end of a base molding needs coping.

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Reply to
willshak

You'd still have to mount the piece in the jig, pick up the router, route the 'cope', and touch up the finished product (1/4" radius will not make a tight fit on most baseboards). For $122, I'd say it's hardly worth the trouble.

Reply to
Dan Reisig

Yep. Just doesn't take all that long to do, and the skill isn't all *that* hard to learn.

Reply to
Doug Miller

on 9/5/2007 4:45 PM Doug Miller said the following:

Nope. The guy that taught me ran a piece of molding through the miter saw, and then with the edge of a carpenters pencil, marked the edge of the miter for better visibility, and use the coping saw angled a little back to saw the molding, so only the face made contact with the other molding's face. Piece of cake!

Reply to
willshak

on 9/5/2007 4:41 PM Dan Reisig said the following:

Back in the day when I worked for a GC, $120 was more than a day's pay.

Reply to
willshak

OK, how long do *you* think it takes to cut a coped joint by hand? I'd rather hand-cut them and get on with the job.

Reply to
Doug Miller

So Doug, every time you glue someth "Allow the template to harden and cure completely. This time will vary depending on room temperature, but it usually between 10 and 15 minutes. Removing the baseboard before it has hardened may cause the mold to shrink. (Once you pour the template you can simply leave it overnight in the tray.)"

I'll assume you aren't making that up, I haven't got time to download a 150 mb file to check.

If something like this were to be popular then you could see profiles for standard mouldings that you could buy. The moulding manufacturers could even provide a template along with the stock and you'd be good to go without any screwing around making molds.

-Leuf

Reply to
Leuf

I've used "The Coper" since it was first available and I would not want to be without it. For me it has paid for itself several times over in time saving. Additionally, in my case the eyesight is failing a bit so I'm a bit fuzzy close up and this device makes up for my lack of absolute vision. I'm a regular renovation contractor and do not get involved with top end homes, use only paint grade mouldings. I'm sold. Jesse

Reply to
Jesse

Well let's see. To cope you've got to cut a 45 on the board then make your hand cut. If the baseboard is tall then you may not be able to cut it standing up, you'd have to lay it flat and bevel the blade. Then the cut at the other end is back at 90. Maybe you plan ahead and rough cut everything first then bevel them all at once. I would imagine you'd do the same thing with the coper. But it would seem to me by the time you'd have the miter cut you could have the stock clamped up in the jig and the router in your hand. By the time you picked up the coping saw the router would be done. Are you going to save "hours"? Well I would doubt that if you've got pretty straightforward rooms with 4 corners.

There's also the fatigue factor of doing all the cuts. The first one or two might be a little rough while you shake off the rust, then you'd probably have a real good run for a while. Then if you're perhaps less concerned about the quality of your work than you should be you might start saying "good enough" a bit more than you ought to and "a little more chaulk on that one" a few times. The router doesn't get tired or bored. So for a general contractor, I can see the appeal of no matter who is doing the work it's going to be consistent quality. I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there for which this thing isn't going to improve their work or allow them to get it done a whole lot faster, but I'm also sure there's plenty of guys out there for which it would.

-Leuf

Reply to
Leuf

By the time the plaster dries, I will have the house done. Plus, how do you deal with corners where the piece being coped to is not plumb? It is a good idea and probably has some uses, but it will never take off in the real world. Takes way too long to set up, and coping is not hard at all. Plus it will only work in ideal conditions (i.e; no out of plumb situations, corners square, etc.). The way that I do baseboard would require two molds, one for each end, because I do different configurations differently. I also cannot see how it would be easy to measure to the point you are coping, so you would have to cope, then measure, then cut the other end (at least it seems that way).

Reply to
Robert Allison

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