The Quest Toward a Square Cut on a Kapex

[Martin Wasner]

I have, but unfortunately they do not have the depth capacity I want crosscutting, I work with wide material very regularly and so the saw would see very little use at 6" capacity.

That would be a problem.

[John Sincerbeaux]

Make those cuts on a German Slider and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

[Brian Holcombe]

Make those cuts on a German Slider and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

I wouldn’t be disappointed by a Patek Philippe Grand Complications either. 😁

[John Sincerbeaux]

You have fine taste😀

[Brian Holcombe]

Haha, indeed. However, the budget has some serious catching up to do. 😩

[Sam Beagle]

I’ve found my Kapex to be dead on. And I carry mine around in my van a lot. Very costly. But I’m always confident with every cut I make using it

[Robert LaPlaca]

I have a Kapex, one thing for sure one couldn’t fine a better small piece rocket launcher, I mean jeez sometimes the thing scares the crap out of me. I had a old DeWalt compound miter saw that maybe launched a dozen small offcuts in 15 years, this thing had that beat in the first week of use. Going to have to try the subfence trick to see if it cures the beast..

[Patrick Walsh]

Holly smokes Brian I had to google Patek Phillipe Grand. Normally I also am in the know with regard to such extravagance. This one thought I missed the bus....

I couldn’t help but think “really” why would anyone spend so much on a watch. Then I heard the voices of my shop mates handing out to me for my most recent aqusition of a Martin t-20 shaper. Their perspective is “the boss barely has 20k into his whole shop separate from a brand new SCMI widebelt sander” they think I’m nuts.

I have to remind them each to his own and most of us spend on something. Some it’s cars, other clothes, vacations eating out. Others choose to raise a family “a costly affair” but that is also a choice..

I have a love hate with my kapex. I shared pictures of our chop saw station at work. That thing is well words I can’t use on a public forum. I also would like to go Omga fir face frame and small material then slider for larger stock.

At work I have for the most part resorted to using the slider for all cross cutting when I need square repeatable pieces. I do get shot from my shop mates as the wood burns and dulls the blade on the saw. Can’t make everyone happy is what I say...

[Brian Holcombe]

Congrats on the T-20! Exactly, we’re all basically choosing which extravagance we prefer. At least these can earn a return for us.

It would be fantastic to have room for multiple options. As much as I complain about the Kapex I think it’s a great tool, but just likely a bit under-kill for my want.

Whenever you’vr Worked with serious tools it truly ruins you for even good lightweight tools. For instance the machine shop I worked at had a huge polish made lathe, this thing was sturdy beyond sturdy and beautifully made. Every lathe I’ve seen after that, including the one I just bought, has been like a kid’s toy by comparison.

[Bill Adamsen]

Following with interest. I am still using a Hitachi 8" slide I purchased new some 25+ years ago. It is a good enough tool though it has lousy DC and I'd love an upgrade. For that reason I have considered the Festool. But the Hitachi is much like driving a car with 300k+ miles ... it has become so idiosyncratic that while I am the only one that can "drive it" I drive it reasonable well. My sense is that you have solved the problem and that is the goal for which I typically shoot. One thing I keep watching is the "quiver" of Festool saws available overseas but not in the US. I'm assuming there are other quality cutoff tools of this ilk simply not available in the US. Are we missing an obvious solution?

[Dave Sabo]

I may be alone and incorrect in this , but , is there a woodworking miter saw accurate to one one thousandth of an inch ?

Consistently ?

And , are you sure that the wood you cut isn't going to move naturally by .001" after you cut in but before you glue it up ?

Really ?


And wait til that saw's motor burns up, then you're really going to be smitten with it. Or find out your blade sharpener can't deal with the variable spaced teeth. After they've ruined your blade.

[Brian Holcombe]

I may be alone and incorrect in this , but , is there a woodworking miter saw accurate to one one thousandth of an inch ?

Consistently ?

And , are you sure that the wood you cut isn't going to move naturally by .001" after you cut in but before you glue it up ?

Really ?


And wait til that saw's motor burns up, then you're really going to be smitten with it. Or find out your blade sharpener can't deal with the variable spaced teeth. After they've ruined your blade.

I can't imagine that many chop saws are that accurate, their is a reasonable tolerance for how well something *should* be assembled from a factory. However, it's pretty easy to square something to less than .001" if you have an accurate square and a slight amount of patience. I use a matsui square and square the blade until I can see no light pass between it and the squares edge. After I do that, it's the job of the saw to retain the position of the blade.

With one machine you're no longer dealing with tolerance, you're dealing with error. Minimizing error to a very small degree is possible and hardly more difficult to leaving it less accurate as long as your checking tools are accurate.

Finally, I cut wood and checked the cut for squareness.

Do you not setup your tools after you receive them?

WRT your second comment. I see this comment very regularly made as an excuse to ignore the accuracy of your setup. Wood moves, yes, what does that have to do with how square you'd like to cut something? Wood doesn't move along it's length to any significance, so unless it swells or shrinks in a bell shape then the cut will remain square. Further, most often we're squaring something because we'd like two edges parallel to one another in order to reference additional work or for accurate assembly.

Not sure what to do with the last bit of your post, it seems very flippant.

[Brian Holcombe]

Following with interest. I am still using a Hitachi 8" slide I purchased new some 25+ years ago. It is a good enough tool though it has lousy DC and I'd love an upgrade. For that reason I have considered the Festool. But the Hitachi is much like driving a car with 300k+ miles ... it has become so idiosyncratic that while I am the only one that can "drive it" I drive it reasonable well. My sense is that you have solved the problem and that is the goal for which I typically shoot. One thing I keep watching is the "quiver" of Festool saws available overseas but not in the US. I'm assuming there are other quality cutoff tools of this ilk simply not available in the US. Are we missing an obvious solution?

I think they have a lot of stuff available in Europe that is more directly competitive with timber framing type tools.

[Patrick Walsh]

Brian you said flippant lol...

Oh boy there’s my meat head former sight carpenter slipping out again...

[John Petsche]

Great tip using washers, thanks!