Thanks for the warm welcome!
To answer a few questions:
I LOVE the systainers. I don't have a workshop of any kind, so 100% of my work is done on site. In fact, at the moment I'm living in a small 2 bed flat (apartment), and that cupboard is in my daughter's bedroom! The systainers, and particularly the roll boards, make getting everything I need for a particular job far easier.
The Kapex is quite heavy, but not too bad lifting it up there. Unfortunately, I built the cupboard after I ordered it, but before it arrived. Once it came & I lifted it up there, I discovered that the cupboard isn't *quite* deep enough, and the doors won't close properly whilst it's in there!!! It's now living on the floor until I get around to modifying the cup'd.
As for my views on the Kapex - it's without a doubt the best SCMS I've ever seen or used. It's really well thought out & designed, has a great capacity for it's size, and is a pleasure to use. I do have a couple of (very) slight criticisms though. Firstly, the dual lasers, whilst being a genious idea, aren't as well set up from the factory as they could be. I haven't bothered fiddling with them yet, but will do when I can get round to it. Secondly, the blade only just goes right into the corner where the bed meets the fence. This means that if you're not careful the saw doesn't always cut right through the stock, instead leaving a very small triangle of material which then needs to be cleaned off. I've found I can avoid this by conciously pushing the blade down at the end of the travel. I don't know if all the machines are like this, or wether it's just mine ??? (I've noticed that it gets slightly worse in this respect if dust is allowed to build up on the slider bars, so you need to keep them clean).
Lastly the dust extraction, whilst being far better than on any other rival machine, isn't perfect - but it's impossible to see how it could be made any better on a SCMS. The good news is that it seems to take away the smaller, lighter particles, with big heavy chips being left behind. This means you can use it in a confined space without clogging your lungs, even if you do still need to sweep up afterwards!!!
As for the expense - yes, it is expensive. But it's like women say about childbirth - it hurts like hell for a while, but the second you hold that beautiful baby in your arms, the pain is instantly forgotten!!! ;D ;D ;D
