The Quest Toward a Square Cut on a Kapex

[Brian Holcombe]

I bought this saw early 2017 assuming that some of nice German engineering would serve me well. After-all, on the whole I enjoy my Festools. I could square the saw, but I found it to come out alignment quickly. I decided to pursue some changes.

I had two goals, create zero clearance so that small objects do not turn into missiles and so that I can line my cuts up to a knife mark. The other goal is to cut square without regular readjustment.

When adding an auxiliary fence it's important to note that it can cause more issues than it cures. Cutting square starts with having a fence that is true, flat and both sides must match and be aligned to one another. I started with a set of aluminum plates, I drilled and tapped for bolts then shimmed the fence until they were in fact true and aligned.

Finally I could then square the saw up to the fence, however I've noticed that with this saw it does not remain square. Any heavy cuts usually throw it out of alignment and so after realigning this thing more times than I care to recall I finally decided to dig a little deeper.

The miter gauge is fixed in place by machine screws, I found that the machine screws capture only the sides of the slotted holes they fall into, and just barely do so at that. So easy solution was to just put washers under the machine screws and finally it seems to have worked. I had intended to purchase washer face screws, but Festool used 5.5mm screws, something I can't seem to source in the same variety as would be offered to more typical sizes.



I checked for squareness with a Matsui square, its precision beyond what is really needed for woodworking (according to some, not me). And at long last it reads square and remains that way.

[Nick Decker]

So, you're saying that squaring wasn't possible with the factory fence(s)?

[Brian Holcombe]

I could square it up but it would come out of adjustment quickly. The factory fence is pretty accurate as I found it, but I wanted to be able to square this to .001"~ and even the most minor detail can cause issues at that degree.

I am curing two problems in the above, the moving miter gauge (which causes out of square cuts) and wanting to make zero clearance. I cut a lot of small miters, and the off cut will take flight without a ZCI. Or as I had it previously with a ZCI on one side of the saw, which is much easier to line up but does not cure the flying small off cuts.

[John TenEyck]

One would expect better for double the price of most other saws.

John

[Brian Holcombe]

One would expect better for double the price of most other saws.

John

What really annoyed me was the bolt size, it's extremely difficult to find 5.5mm washer faced bolts. The bolt shoulder barely grabs the sides along the bolt hole and yet if you drill it out to cut threads for a large bolt then you need source a much larger bolt because of the way the tap sizes work out once you clear the current threads. Why they would not simply cut for a 6mm button head wide flange and have much more contact surface is beyond me.

I checked clearances, they have room for a larger bolt without interfering with any mechanisms.

[Martin Wasner]

I don't mean to be a on this, but it's an install saw. They aren't made for heavy cuts.

Yes, I know it's expensive compared to other similar saws, but it's about half the cost of a chop saw made to handle heavy work.

[Reinis Kanders]

At least it can be made square. I have Makita XSL06PT cordless miter saw and it has great features, but 90 degrees in sliding mode are very hard to achieve. I had to wrestle with the guide rails to adjust it to somewhat 90 across the whole sliding range. I am tempted to try Kapex, but seems that it has its own issues.

[Brian Holcombe]

I don't mean to be a on this, but it's an install saw. They aren't made for heavy cuts.

Yes, I know it's expensive compared to other similar saws, but it's about half the cost of a chop saw made to handle heavy work.

Doesnt offend me at all, and I agree but still I can’t help but want it to be accurate and stay that way.

[Phillip Mitchell]

It's not a good sign that a miter saw costing $1500 can't hold 90* consistently.

There are many reported motor failure issues with the Kapex as well (mostly from finish carpenters.) I hope yours fares better than some others I've heard about.

[John TenEyck]

Brian, could you install Helicoils so that you could use 6 mm (or other) bolts?

Is this saw for shop use only? If so, a RAS would offer everything you are after.

John

[Brian Holcombe]

John, I don’t do much field work but I’m not sure that I never will so I got this assuming I could straddle the line. I may attempt to get a sliding table saw down into that shop at some point.

I could definetly heli-coil, I just hate to do it. If the fence moves at all with this setup I will cut it and heli-coil.

[Brian Holcombe]

It's not a good sign that a miter saw costing $1500 can't hold 90* consistently.

There are many reported motor failure issues with the Kapex as well (mostly from finish carpenters.) I hope yours fares better than some others I've heard about.

Thank you, I wish it had a bit more power but I may experiment with other blades and see if it makes the chopping easier in hardwoods. I just take my time in heavier cuts and avoid bogging the saw which is hard on motors.

[Martin Wasner]

Have you looked for a used OMGA? They're pretty much indestructible. The first one I bought was 1ph and built in 1994 I think. For almost ten years it was my only cut off saw for face frame parts and door parts. It still cuts beautifully, though I'm pretty sure the bearings are starting to go. It's got the first hints of getting noisy.

[Brian Holcombe]

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.

[glenn bradley]

One would expect better for double the price of most other saws.

John

It may be German and green but it's still just a chop saw. Precision is not as much of a design factor as with some other things.