Attention: Festool Kapex owners in Australia, please

[The Beryl Bloke]

Greetings,

I'm looking to buy a Kapex EB 120 and noticed the complaints about the saw failing in service, just wondering if there's been any number of Australian failures of the saw?

I'm looking to use it in a workshop only, it won't be used as a jobsite saw.

Cheers,
Brian

 

[aloysius]

If you're after a workshop saw, then maybe a Kapex isn't really all that suitable.  One of the main advantages of the kapex is it's compact dimensions & light weight:  it's eminently portable.

There's a huge range of bigger, more powerful, more capacious & more reliable workshop saws available.  A pro-grade Radial Arm saw will give you the accuracy, capacity & versatility that would be the envy of many SCMS owners.  The really good, big ones will cost you about Au $500 on the second hand market.  Eminently rebuildable, they basically don't wear out.  Whilst I fully admit there's safety issues arising from the mode of operation of Radial Arm Saws (they're banned in many commercial workshops these days) they are as naught in comparison to the personal safety issues that I've encountered with my own Kapex.

As far as SCMS are concerned, there's superb, large capacity examples from Bosch, DeWalt, Makita Hitachi etc. that will be bigger, more powerful & much more capacious than a Kapex.  The primary advantages of the Kapex over the rest is in the aforementioned compact dimensions, dust extraction & (to a lesser extent these days) accuracy.  Good quality professional grade SCMS will cost in the vicinity of about $1K - $1.2K.  It really isn't necessary to pay more, unless you have an unusual need or agenda. 

My own Kapex cost me about $1.5K new, which I personally felt was around about twice its intrinsic worth.  It was eventually stolen, and replaced nearly a decade ago with a Bosch Glide Saw.  This has excellent capacities, is ideal in fixed installations, and in workshop settings can be mounted (as may a Kapex) against a wall.  Most of my cutting these days, however, is done on my DeWalt Radial Arm (slower, but more accurate & versatile) & a tiny $270 Metabo cordless SCMS, the most compact, lightest & portable SCMS I've yet to encounter.

If you're really determined to blow your load over a Kapex, then perhaps you should wait some, as I suspect there's a replacement in the pipeline; hopefully addressing at least some of the myriad complaints encountered by users over the past 15 years or so.

 

[Midnight Man]

Greetings,

I'm looking to buy a Kapex EB 120 and noticed the complaints about the saw failing in service, just wondering if there's been any number of Australian failures of the saw?

I'm looking to use it in a workshop only, it won't be used as a jobsite saw.

Cheers,
Brian

From the reading I've been doing around the traps, the failures you read about here appear to be for the 110V North American version of the Kapex.

I don't recall reading of anyone reporting a failure in the 240V (AU/EU/GB) version of the saw, though I'm sure there have been some.

IMHO you can happily avoid this as a factor in your decision making process, and yes, I am based in Australia, and yes, I own a Kapex 120.

To follow up comments from aloysius above, the "new" Kapex 120 has already been released, and to my knowledge contains *no* changes to motor or electronics, there are some (IMHO) minor design changes around the base, which, whilst handy, don't make me disappointed as na "old" Kapex owner (in that I'm missing out on some whiz-bang thing).

In fact, if you can find an "old" version Kapex around the traps, it might be going quite cheap.  Don't ask me how I know that >.>

 

[The Beryl Bloke]

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

In regards to my needs...

A few years back I spent an afternoon sanding a Red Bean slab in the back yard. Didn't have any sort of dust extraction. I stopped after a few hours when the dust started to give me a nose bleed. My plan is for my trusty CT33 on the saw with a dust hood over the whole saw and a connection to the extraction system. Thus dust extraction is fairly critical as I still have a stash of Red Bean and other only slightly more pleasant to work timbers. I'm thinking the radial arm saws fail here?

If I go to a more powerful saw I'll have to check what the CT33 auto control is rated for the more powerful motor.

The Kapex's lack of protruding rear rails is attractive as I want to keep as much productive space as I can.

Accuracy is a requirement.

The Bosch 12 inch glide looks interesting. I've read a few reviews, a few complaints about accuracy and dust collection give me reason to pause. It's greater depth of cut also attracts. I guess this would be my second choice.

While battery tools have improved a lot over the years, I'm still dubious about them in a workshop setting. Mostly as you need a certian weight of tool to do the job, in motor , gearbox & housing, to which you have to add a battery pack increasing the weight still further. I also play with Blue Gum and Morton Bay Ash both hard, dense timbers possibly not good candidates for battery saws.

I have seen one comment on a 240V Kapex motor failure.

Cheers

Brian

 

[Lincoln]

I had one for a couple of years, with no motor problems - but, it did leak oil from the motor housing.

 

[aloysius]

I had one for a couple of years, with no motor problems - but, it did leak oil from the motor housing.

I taught (1 day/week) & TA'd briefly at a TAFE college about a decade or so ago that had SEVEN! of their Kapexes do just that also.  It was a fairly easy if not inexpensive fix, as I recall.

 

[peter halle]

Greetings,

I'm looking to buy a Kapex EB 120 and noticed the complaints about the saw failing in service, just wondering if there's been any number of Australian failures of the saw?

I'm looking to use it in a workshop only, it won't be used as a jobsite saw.

Cheers,
Brian

From the reading I've been doing around the traps, the failures you read about here appear to be for the 110V North American version of the Kapex.

I don't recall reading of anyone reporting a failure in the 240V (AU/EU/GB) version of the saw, though I'm sure there have been some.

IMHO you can happily avoid this as a factor in your decision making process, and yes, I am based in Australia, and yes, I own a Kapex 120.

To follow up comments from aloysius above, the "new" Kapex 120 has already been released, and to my knowledge contains *no* changes to motor or electronics, there are some (IMHO) minor design changes around the base, which, whilst handy, don't make me disappointed as na "old" Kapex owner (in that I'm missing out on some whiz-bang thing).

In fact, if you can find an "old" version Kapex around the traps, it might be going quite cheap.  Don't ask me how I know that >.>

I just want to point out that although the outsides of the Kapex in many ways look identical to the old with some modifications, nobody at this point knows if the internals are different other than Festool. 

Peter