bought my Kapex! lets start off positive today!

[honeydoman]

Well lets start off positive this july 5 I boought my kapex on thursday evening.  I am going to enjoy this.  all the things said helped me make my decision especially all the videos from GaryKatz  and threads from here.

I do not know how many have been sold but I bet it is over 10,000.

have a great day

 

[dsweetser]

Bob got mine here Wednesday. Only one day shipping. Had it set up that evening. Everything was spot on. Can't wait to use it on the job with a ct.

 

[mantonuc]

Hey Guys,

  I got mine on Wednesday but we had a bunch of company show up for a long weekend.  It is killing me not to play with it more...  I did check the Lasers and they were dead on - fantastic!  The very first thing I did was swap out the blade for the Aluminum cutting blade and started cutting some 2"x2"x1/8" angled Aluminum stock.  I am making spacers for a deck project I am doing using synthetic deck...  This saw cut through them like a hot-knife-through-soft-butter...  I then swapped blades back and cut through several pieces of the synthetic decking material and the cut felt as if it were sanded...  Again - very good...

  I have yet to cut any crown molding but was wondering about that operation.  I currently have the saw-helper fence system connected to my old dewalt SCMS...  I understand that saw-helper is coming out with new mounting brackets the will allow that fence system to connect the the Kapex.  My question is if I have the crown stop extension wings on both sides of the Kapex (which will always be the case), will the new brackets still allow for connection to the end of the kapex?

Matt

 

[honeydoman]

sawhelper has the brackets that attach to the v groove on the side and the brackets will be ready for shipment early next week 10th -12th of july.  you do not and cannot use both the crown stops attach to the same place. what I do is run a 1x5 across the saw about 30" long and clamp it to the sawhelper wings that way the crown is supported all the way across and works much better than the crown stops.  or you can build a extenison piece that the sawhelper attaches to instead of the saw and attach that way.

gary katz has taught me this method of the board and it works better.

did i explain it correctly?

 

[mantonuc]

Thanks for the response...  I have several instructional videos that I purchased from Gary Cats and they were very instrumental in helping with teaching me how to do crown molding...  I have done a lot of my basement crown using his techniques and it worked nicely...  But I really like the handy nature of the crown stop system.  They are very easy to put on and take off...  It is a shame they did not come up with a mounting system that supports them...

Matt

 

[Brice Burrell]

Matt, the end of the crown stops when the Sawhelper brackets would attach is too thin, so there isn't enough material for mounting. In my work the Sawhelper with its continuous extension wings and flip stop is a must have tool. So while I like the Festool crown stops they won't be seeing much use. There are other after market stand/extension wings that will work with the Kapex crown stops just fine. Plus Festool intends to make their wings available at some point.

 

[wnagle]

I think Saw helper has their own crown stops as an accsesory...

 

[Brice Burrell]

I think Saw helper has their own crown stops as an accsesory...

They do, bottom of the page, crown molding accessory.

 

[honeydoman]

yes sawhelper has there own crown stops.  you can drill a hole in the sides of them to attach a board to for a continous stop.  I used to do that.  it is much easier to take 2 irwin clamps and a 1x6 about 30" long clamp to wings just like gary does in his video and it works best.  because you need the saw line are to also have stop for small pieces, returns and cutting the ends of 16' to help support at the center point, where the cut is.

it just makes it a hek of alot easier, and really you save 160 bucks.

the festool crown stops will work, but this is just better.

 

[festooluser]

I ended up going to my local distributer here in Toronto On July 4th.  They were out of stock.  After seeing and using their demo model, i placed an order for 2.  On for my home shop use and one for my manufacturing plant.  I fell in love with the festool line up that i ended up buying the entire festool system from their jig saws to routers to the sanders and accessories.  Best 5k I have spent on tools.  I quickly found out that i did not buy power tools, I invested and acquired solutions  and systems that work. after setting up the new toys on Saturday i already began working on some projects I could never get to because it was too complex for my home shop. The Domino system speaks for its self...IT DOMINATES!  I can now build what my heart desires in my garage. I own a cabinet door company that produces over 1200 custom cabinet doors with several CNC routers, shapers, tenoners & 6 head moulders. It is a great feeling when you can step back from all of that technology and appreciate the basics.  Festool has an excellent job at creating systems that work for the hobbyest, serious woodworker and professional woodworker.

I plan on upgrading all of my applied moulding miter saws to the Kapex after what I experienced.  I will post pics of my current setup and the new KAPEX work cells once they are installed in our facility 

 

[Steveo48]

.....all the things said helped me make my decision......

I know P. T Barnham would have something to say about this. 

Steve

 

[Les]

festooluser,

Welcome to FOG. Looking forward to your pics and posts.

 

[festooluser]

Stevo 48 & Members,

P. T Barnham may have said "a sucker is born every minute" however i say a Kapex is born once in a lifetime!

I got my Kapex's today and they were perfectly set up out of the box.  I am retrofitting a 6 ft tigerstop on my production Kapex and an accurate proscale for my home shop kapex system.  I apologize in advance it i am drifting off course with my set up and application however I bought the Kapax system to use in a production environment.  The use of a kapex with a tigerstop my not be the typical setup most members will have however I want to be able to help members  that  want to hotrod their Kapax for production use.
As of this afternoon the tiger stop is hooked up and let me tell you the system is humming.  You might be wondering why do you need the lasers if you are using an automated push stop system?  I'll tell you why.  The lasers  are critical for final trimming on miters when applying inset mouldings or applied moulding on cabinet doors. It does not matter how accurate you are with your stiles and rails when making cabinet doors there will always be some inconsistancy (tolerances) from wood movement or shrinkage.  The repeatability of the stop and the fact that you can go from 13 3/16 to 48 1/32 in less than 2 seconds and be dead on is phenominal. Getting that final shave cut on the last miter using the laser is a dream come true.  Perhaps what amazed me the most is how clean the cuts were.  Not a splinter.  I cut Wenge, Zebrawood, Macassar Ebony, Maple, Oak and Walnut. I will be cutting some white oak tomorrow.  I will let you guys know how the blade ware and tear goes as I put the system through rigorous tests.
From what i can see, what use to be a bottle neck for us will become a seamless flow in the days to come.  If all goes well I will be ordering another 4 kapex systems come the end of the month to replace my old systems.  I will try to post some pics in the days to come.  Right now I am having a love affair with my net festool's.

I would like to thank all of the members in the festool owners group for sharing their knowledge and knowhow. I hope I can contribute to this group from a production point of view.

Cheers!