HK/HKC 55 in Lieu of Kapex?

[onocoffee]

Interested to hear your thoughts on this.

I've got an old 10" Ryobi miter saw that I've had for well over 20 years. Used it for the random pine 2x4 work that the occasional homeowner rough carpentry might do. In modern times, I have it set up but almost never use it - not necessarily because I don't trust it, but more because I rarely have a need to use it. Meaning that replacing it with a Kapex is way down on the list of priorities.

A woodworking friend and I were talking today about the HK 55. He's got one that he's used for various projects and was telling me how it works with the FSK track - and it made me wonder: just how suitable would the HK/HKC 55 with FSK rail be for miter cuts instead of a Kapex. I could put together a kit for considerably less than the Kapex 60.

Thanks!

 

[luvmytoolz]

Granted I use a HK85 with the FSK rail so it's a much more cumbersome beast than the 55, but the nature of using the FSK track to me means that I may not got perfectly repeatable results every time, or even just perfect results anytime really.

With the Kapex I can set a stop and just chop away knowing every single cut will be perfect and identical. With the FSK I need to really focus on keeping the rail aligned and pushed right up to help reduce or stop any adverse movement.

For "z" frames for gates or more agricultural projects I'd be happy to use the FSK, for skirts, archs, picture frames, squaring chopping boards, etc, etc, I wouldn't use anything but the Kapex.

I do keep a couple older saws specifically for cutting pine and OB framing, etc, where dead accuracy is far less important, and the HK85/FSK get most use docking beams, treads, etc.