Kapex

[Prashun Patel]

Did anyone see that the Festool Kapex is gonna be available this summer? Just got my Mcfeely's catalog in the mail.

The 90%+ dust collection might justify the $1300 price tag.

If I ever get $10,000 to spend selfishly, I'm gonna shower myself in Dominos, Kapex's, Systainers, and Festool t-shirts.

[Chris Padilla]

You might need more than $10k for all that!! ;) haha

[Jim Becker]

Folks that have been using the Kapex have been very, very complimentary. Yes, very much a premium tool, but it apparently delivers, too. I would consider it if I can manage to wear out the CMS I own, but I don't use it enough for that... LOL

[Mike Goetzke]

Alright Jim - how much did you pay the model for the new avatar?

(actually looks really nice)


Mike

[Cary Swoveland]

I too welcome the new avatar, Jim. You post so often, the former photo, where you were askew, made me a little dizzy.

Cary

[mark page]

Whoa Jim,

Kinda caught me off guard with the new avatar. I know you have been doing a home/shop rehab lately, but if that's the new dress code for the shop......well, er, um, I probably wouldn't make it past the "doorman".:D:D:D:D
No just kidding, you look slicker than the cat's meow, complete with the cat that ate the canary grin!!!:D

[Joe Mioux]

Hey Jim, I thought you were alergic to ties? :rolleyes:;)

[Jim Becker]

Hey Jim, I thought you were alergic to ties?

I am very much "allergic" to ties, but Professor Dr. SWMBO occasionally has a "required" university fund raiser event...hence the Bond look...

But consider that if Bond was a woodworker, he'd probably have a special edition Kapex that does more than just slice and dice... :D

[Narayan Nayar]

After seeing and trying one last year in Germany, I've been on a waiting list for several months and just put down a deposit on a Kapex. I guess it'll be here in July.

And Jim, may I have a quiet table by the window? (Sorry, had to :))

[jason lambert]

I tried one down at Force Machinery in NJ a couple weeks ago, they had one there, needless to say I ordered one. It by far is the best miter saw I used. It just seems allot more accurate, I won't go into the details there are enough reviews. Dust collection is good for a miter saw but not 100% but compared to my dewalt which seems to catch about 60% of the dust 90% will be a big improvement.

And Jim that avitar is way to classy for around here!

[Brice Burrell]

I too had a chance to get my hands on the Kapex, in my case it was at Festool's training center in Vegas. I had a lot of questions for the Festool staff about the Kapex. The first question was about the dust collection, more specifically, how did they come to the 90% collection number. Three different materials were used, each was cut without the vac attached, the dust collected and weighed. Each was cut again with the vac and the dust from the vac bag was weighed and that's how they got he 90%. I'd say it does look to be less than 90%, say anywhere from 70-80%, hey, that's pretty good too. It depends on the type of material and cut being made as to how effective the collection is. When you take a close look at what the isn't being caught or sucked up by the Kapex's dust collection, its the coarse dust, not the fine airborne dust, that is left behind. Accuracy, well, I didn't get a chance to really put the Kapex through its paces but, what I did cut was very nice. The accuracy is equal to or better than my Makita 1214 that I hold in very high regard, that's all I have to say about that.

I do wish the Kapex would be shipped with the "fine" 80 tooth blade instead of the 60 tooth "universal". I was surprised at the quality of the cut with the universal blade, we cut 6/4 cherry, I'd describe the cut as "very good", not great. A little tear out in the back and barely noticeable saw marks in the cut. The quality of the cut would be good enough for 95% of the time (or more) if you had a backer to prevent the tear out. This is a premium saw, it should come with the blade that will produce premium quality cut.

One of the things that most impressed me was the bevel function, the ability to micro adjust the bevel is something no other miter saw has. For a trim carpenter like me that's going to make fine tuning a miter on tall baseboard much easier/faster. The smaller size/lighter weigh of the Kapex, well, its not a big deal to me, but for some guys, its a very big deal. Small shops and bad backs will welcome this feature for sure. I like that the Kapex is easy to carry because its light and well balanced, believe me carrying a large miter saw to the third floor of the client's home is not picnic.

I didn't even mention the lasers, crown stop and the great trenching feature. And Jason, I haven't seen all the reviews but for the most part, I haven't seen a really good, in depth review yet. If you have let me know where.

There is a Kapex in my future, in fact, one somewhere between Lebanon, IN and Pittsburgh, PA with my name on it right now. I'll be doing a review of the Kapex, should be ready to go in a few weeks, I'll post it a link here if anyone is interested.

[Matthew Voss]

"The smaller size/lighter weigh of the Kapex, well, its not a big deal to me, but for some guys, its a very big deal. Small shops and bad backs will welcome this feature for sure. I like that the Kapex is easy to carry because its light and well balanced, believe me carrying a large miter saw to the third floor of the client's home is not picnic."

I've heard this before and don't really understand - the Kapex is 21.5 kg (47 lbs). My Dewalt 706 is 44 lbs, Hitachi 10" slider is 43lbs, and the Makita 1013FL is 48.5 lbs.