Cutting Aluminum on my Kapex

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

I needed to cut a bunch of 1/8" thick aluminum angle and was looking for a way to make some clean cuts. In the past I used my bandsaw and a bimetal blade but I dont like changing the blade on this beast.

While I was at Woodcraft I saw that they had an Aluminum cutting blade for the Kapex sliding miter saw. I decided to give it a try.

Well it took about 10minutes to change the blade. Not bad for my first time with this tool.

The first cut was a little scary. Lots of little metal flakes and the final piece I cut-off went flying across the shop.

I removed my zero-clearence table on the saw and this solved most of the aluminum dust problems. I also used a piece of MDF strip as a sacrificial support for the aluminum stock.

Well I have to say. The edges look polished. The stock was a little warm at speed 6 so I dropped it down to 4 and it cut like butter and did not even get warm.

I cut my 20 pieces of stock and 5 minutes later I had my stock blade reinstalled.

[Jacob Mac]

Nice. If I ever won the lottery, the Kapex would be high on my list of tools to get. Is the blade changing difficult on the Kapex?

[Rick Christopherson]

Well it took about 10minutes to change the blade. Not bad for my first time with this tool.

I know that most people don't read manuals, and ironically that includes me, but you do owe it to yourself to read the supplemental manual for Kapex. It is not your typical manual and goes way beyond just changing the blade. It even includes the instructions and dimensions for making your own zero clearance insert. It will show you things about your Kapex that you won't get from the manual that came in the box. It is a Festool publication, but because it didn't go through the UL listing process, it can't be shipped in the box. You can download it from the Festool USA website or get all of the supplemental manuals here:
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

ITs pretty easy once you have done it a couple of times. I have it down to about 60seconds.

Thanks for the PDF file. It does have a lot more information than the original manual.

FYI I get better results (less burr) when I do a simple plunge cut instead of the slideing miter cut.