Welcome to FOG!

Glad to meet another Irish man on here as well!

Have a read of this. It should help you out http://www.festoolusa.com/media/pdf/kapex-ks120-supplemental-manual.pdf

No offense but I wouldn't consider piercing the sticker over the laser adjustments as "messing up" a saw. It's a tool -

Having said that, your other problem sounds very unusual. I bought my Kapex a couple of months ago but in all my research I did not find that problem - I would definitely return it for service or exchange - that's a serious issue

I haven’t had problems with Kapex accuracy and am a picky hobbyist woodworker.  Since I am not a contractor, the Kapex sits bolted to a cabinet and stays there.

Then again, my Kapex might have had a rough trip getting here.  It was manufactured in April 2007 and originally bought in New York.  I bought it years ago, second hand from the son of the original owner for less than half price on eBay, no less, and it was then wrapped in bubble wrap, tossed in an oversize carton and shipped across the country to me.  The angle settings were and still are dead-on accurate.  I read about a lot of problems with some of the early Kapex units, but I didn’t experience any of them.

Shortly after getting the saw, I punched holes in the plastic label to adjust the lasers to my liking.  They haven’t drifted in the last three or four years.  I wish Festool had left holes there to adjust the lasers but really haven’t thought about the plastic covering in years.  It is a great saw.

My only complaint was the quality of the bottom of the cut, so I made and installed a zero-clearance insert in the rotating table and made zero-clearance wings for the backing plates.  That helped a lot, as we should expect it to.

Gary

HI Seth
I'll take a photo tomorrow but after measuring it with the 'User Manual' method it out by .2mm
Not a lot, but enough to create a space on the inside of a frame
eoin

hi there. welcome to ye both.
what are ye from

I have had this problem when I first purchased my Kapex.  I used scrap pieces of MDF to check the accuracy of the saw with the progressive cut method mentioned in the manual.  These measures ended up dead accurate.  However, when I made real miter cuts with real wood (Hard Maple) the results were unsatisfactory.  My problem ended up being user error.  With hard wood, I noticed that holding the wood down by hand was not sufficient to stop the piece from drifting while making the cut.  Drifting also occurs from a dull blade or the use of the wrong blade for the application.  Try using the hold-down clamp to totally immobilize the your work piece.

If you don't believe that a work piece can drift during a cut, try a small amount of cellophane tape attached to the wood piece and the saw base.  If it wrinkles or tears, your wood piece is drifting.  You can also try making the same miter cuts as your final project using MDF and see if you still have gaps.  MDF is so soft it does not tend to drift.

I am not a professional, I build furniture as a hobby.  I have a friend that just recently purchased a Kapex to replace an old DeWalt.  He had the same problem and asked me to help him check his Kapex before returning it as defective.  His problem was drifting as well.  This may sound stupid at first, but check it out!  Good luck.

Ray

Hi lads,

thanks for all your input,
I actually have been clamping the wood when mitering so it seems that the saw is just 'off'.
I'll have to send it back.
For anyone reading these forum posts, the most helpful advice has been in the new manuals as they new stuff in them(tips and hints re zero tolerance guides and zero clearance fence) which are really helpful for accuracy.
Thanks again for your help
keep ye posted re result after returning it to the UK