5-cut Calibration Method

[gkaiseril]

See  The Five Sided Cut Method.

The first cut is to establish as straight as possible edge, eliminate the manufacturers edge. And rotate the square workpiece 4 more time so the last cut is performed on the established straight edge of the first cut. Then measure the the thickness of the cut off piece and the difference between the fore and aft ends of the cutoff is distance of the error. Because there are 4 cuts to make the square divide the difference by 4.

Remember the fist cut was to establish the saws straight edge.

You might want to check that and the other cuts with a straight edge to make sure you are getting straight cuts.

As to the calculation in the Kapex manual, make sure one is using Acrobat or Adobe Reader with JavaScript enabled on a full computer not a mobile device.

Many mobile devices' apps that can read a PDF cannot process a PDF form and even less can handle JavaScript within the form. Adobe Mobile PDF Reader and q PDF notes  work fine.

 

[BCConstruction]

Thanks guys.

 

[WoodTender]

Festool's Kapex manual isn't clear on how to factor the length of the offcut when manually performing the mathematical equation. It just says to enter the length in the embedded pdf calculator, which doesn't work on my end.

Can anyone explain how to math works, when factoring the length into the equation?

My measurements:

Left - .374"
Right - .360"
Length - 11"

My math w/out length factored shows a .0035 error. I arrived at this by (.374 - .360 ÷ 4)

Thanks,
Joshua

 

[Rick Christopherson]

The equation is written right above the calculator. You tried to solve it using some other calculation.

 

[Stone Message]

I would doubt that anyone would be left wondering what the 5 (sometimes called 4) cut test is about after reading Rick's excellent work in the Kapex US Supplemental Manual.

For those who prefer a demo here is one I did not long ago:


I just end up with the ratio rather than the angle error.

Peter

 

[WoodTender]

Thanks to Rick and Peter!

Peter, your video helped to clarify what I believed to be the correct method.

In looking at my original math above, it appears that my Kapex's error is .0853

This is below the factory calibration threshold of .16, correct?

 

[Stone Message]

Thanks to Rick and Peter!

Peter, your video helped to clarify what I believed to be the correct method.

In looking at my original math above, it appears that my Kapex's error is .0853

This is below the factory calibration threshold of .16, correct?

Yes, the smaller the figure the better. I do not believe that the factory calibration is very demanding and most users should be able to set theirs up a little better - it may take a few practice goes. Just follow Rick's excellent instructions.

By the way - before I made my first Festool purchase (Kapex and CTL26 from Axminster) I did loads of research and one of the huge plus factors for the Kapex and several other Festool tools that I have purchased were Rick's supplemental manuals which included so many super tips.

Peter