Festool Kapex Dust Collection

[Rob Sack]

I recently purchased a Festool Kapex to replace my old Delta 12" chop saw that finally gave out. I am currently using a shop vac with a short 1 1/4 hose for dust collection which worked very well with the Delta saw but not with the Kapex. The folks at Festool at AWF are claiming that the only way to achieve the 93% advertised dust collection is to use their "dust extractors" with their 36 mm hose. With the exception of their top model, which I believe is the CT48, their other vacs only come with a 27 mm hose, which means while the top three or four models range from 130-133 cfm, unless you buy the CT 48 at around $900.00 plus tax, you will have to buy the 36 mm hose separately at $175.00 plus tax. By the way, both hoses come only in 11 foot lengths.

I have checked Fein dust extractors and they are claiming 150+cfm, a three year warranty like the Festool, and the ability to have the vac come on automatically with the saw. And yet the Fein units are considerably less expensive. I also checked my local big box, and they have a Craftsman 20 gal shop vac claiming "up to 185 cfm", (I'm sure the actually performance is less).

I can't justify spending upwards of a $1,000.00 just to get my Kapex to collect dust as well as my old Delta. Any suggestions?

[Alan Lightstone]

I tried the 27 mm hose when I first got the Kapex, then switched it out for a 36mm hose. Much improved dust collection, but like all SCMS, dust collection is marginal. Expect cleanup.

Mine is through a small Festool mini vac. I never saw the need to use a bigger vac with it.

My $0.02

[Jacob Mac]

I use a Bosch hose with a fein. It is perfectly acceptable

[William Chain]

I'm running a 5 gallon shopvac ($39 on amazon prime day) together with an iVac switch knockoff ($20?), and a Rockler flexiport kit (regularly goes on sale, got it for less than $40). The vac claims a 175cfm max, but its the smallest shopvac you can get, I doubt its that much flow, but it pulls pretty good. All in, $100 total on these bits maybe? I pick up just about everything with this setup. No need to get fancy. It only suffers when the shopvac bag gets toward its capacity. Can't argue with the performance at this price.

[Bobby Robbinett]

The Fein likely has the same or better CFM and you can always add an 1.5” hose to get the same real world performance as the Festool. The only reason that I like the Festool CT series vacs are because of the boom arm and a few other accessories which can all easily be DIY’ed. I prefer the CT36 with boom arm, 36mm hose and Dust Deputy for a dedicated sanding setup.

[Greg Quenneville]

There are a lot of options for you…any reasonable vaccum with good CFM, quiet, with an automatic tool power outlet will do the same job cheaper. I have had my CT22 Festool vac for about 18 years now, and its been through the ringer…so much so that its mostly fibreglass repair now internally. Its a champ, but I have the reusable bag which I empty every few days*. You need the big hose, and a clean-up of the missed dust daily. I really like my Kapex and my vacuum, but I wish there was something better.

*so, being a cheapskate, I used to empty my standard Festool paper bags by sucking them empty with my shop dust extractor. Took about 2 minutes,saved $15. That’s an hourly rate of $450. I could do that all day.

[Jim Becker]

You don't have to use a Festool branded hose for this application...the connection to the CT is "standard" and you can readily adapt a larger hose from another source to the Kapex, with or without a Festool or other adapter. The larger hose really does make a difference for this kind of tool, but as has been mentioned, miter saws and similar are very difficult to collect from due to their nature. There's a lot of "splash" that doesn't get to the blade guard to even be considered for going up that hose.

[Dave Sabo]

I can't justify spending upwards of a $1,000.00 just to get my Kapex to collect dust as well as my old Delta. Any suggestions?

yep, return the kapex under the 30 day NQA program and buy this:

https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/LS1019L

-or this -

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...r-Saws/6955-20

use whatever vacuum you like.

They are quality, capable saws and both have very good dust collection. Not quite kapex level but close. You can also buy 2-3 of them and don’t have to worry about where to get blades for them.

Another avenue is to get any mitersaw you want and build a custom shroud/box to hook up to your large shop dust collector with a 4” (pair) or 6” pipe. This will be even cleaner than a kapex.

FWIW all the festool vacs have pretty much the same vac specs across the lineup. Moving up the price range really only buys you waste capacity - not vacuum/airflow. . Fein vacs are nice/good ,but are consistently behind Festool’s in ratIngs. I’ve not been a fan since they moved production out of Germany.

[Mike Henderson]

I have a Festool Kapex and dust collection is marginal. Better than my previous miter saw but still not great.

Mike

[Bernie Kopfer]

If the OP obtained better sawdust collection with his delta I am amazed. But that was his experience, and cannot be argued with. I have a Kapex hooked to a dedicated Fein II and most sawdust goes up the chute. I said most and I do believe it gets the small stuff. I notice the stuff that avoids the suction is usually not dustlike. I love my Kapex and enjoy its ability to do what it is supposed to do. Cut wood! And it supports my ego.

[Mark Carlson]

My kapex is hooked to a CT22 festool vac with the 36mm hose. The dust collection is about 80-85%. Probably the best out there but not perfect. I certainly know when I forget to turn on the vac. Love the kapex and the CT22. You dont need a festool vac though. Any vac that will support a larger hose with static water pressure around 95 will work fine. Note: all the festool vacs are around 130 cfm and 95 inches of water pressure, even my old CT22. The main difference is capacity and other bells and whistles like blue tooth, etc.

[Keegan Shields]

Rob, here is the solution I have used for both my Bosch Glide and now Festool Kapex. Not sure if its an option for you.

With the dust collector on I can see the dust spray out, swirl, and get sucked into the dust hood. Very near 100% capture. For miter cuts I can remove the left or right side cover as needed.

I did have to remove the rubber dust funnel as the vacuum hookup was outside of the shroud on sliding cuts.

If you have to use a vacuum, here is the Bosch hose that others have mentioned. I also own it and it works with all my Festool units. Much better price than the Festool version.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-16-4-Fo...8689951&sr=8-2

kapex dust shroud.jpg

[Rob Sack]

Rob, here is the solution I have used for both my Bosch Glide and now Festool Kapex. Not sure if its an option for you.

With the dust collector on I can see the dust spray out, swirl, and get sucked into the dust hood. Very near 100% capture. For miter cuts I can remove the left or right side cover as needed.

I did have to remove the rubber dust funnel as the vacuum hookup was outside of the shroud on sliding cuts.

If you have to use a vacuum, here is the Bosch hose that others have mentioned. I also own it and it works with all my Festool units. Much better price than the Festool version.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-16-4-Fo...8689951&sr=8-2

kapex dust shroud.jpg

Thanks for the suggestion, but it won't work where the saw is located. I did find a Rigid shop vacuum with a rated 203 cfm. I did observe the Kapex hooked up to a Festool "dust extractor" being virtually dust free when cutting from front to back at a very slow rate. Festool units range from 130 - 133 cfm. I am hoping the Rigid with a 1 1/2 in. hose will also work.

[Keegan Shields]

No worries. A dust shroud is the most effective but obviously doesn’t work for everyone’s application or space.

The difference between a shop vac and a dust extractors seems to be the amount of “suck”. The higher pressure differential helps capture the high velocity dust off the saw blade and larger chips. Also the auto on feature and blue tooth switch are really useful. I purchased the Bosch vac which worked great until I found a deal on a CT-26.