Kapex 120 motor burning up

W

Weiche

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
7
On my second kapex both have burned up motors . Any suggestions? Gotta be something I'm doing wrong. I am using the festool vac with saw , vac is plugged into wall and saw into vac. Not like I'm running it on a 100 ft cord. Suggestions?
 
Sorry to hear about your Kapex(s).  My suggestion would be to call Festool Service at 800-554-8741 at your earliest convenience.

Peter
 
Well, calling the guys at Festool service is the first step in getting your problems resolved.  

A couple of question for the sake of conversation.  Were both saws plugged into the same outlet when the motors burned up?  Are your blades kept clean and sharp?
 
Yes the blades are changed and cleaned regularly.The saw is always used with the festool vac, so yes it was plugged into the same outlet. I was upset when the first saw stopped working and swore I would not buy a nother one, I went and bought. Bosch,makita and a dewalt and none of them even come close to the kapex. So I bought another one and it did the same thing as the first one... Frustrating but at least it's under warranty this time.
 
Weiche said:
Yes the blades are changed and cleaned regularly.The saw is always used with the festool vac, so yes it was plugged into the same outlet. I was upset when the first saw stopped working and swore I would not buy a nother one, I went and bought. Bosch,makita and a dewalt and none of them even come close to the kapex. So I bought another one and it did the same thing as the first one... Frustrating but at least it's under warranty this time.
Click to expand...

I think it would have been a lot cheaper to have it repaired.
 
anybody know how much motor field and armature are? with the regulars bosch, makits, hitachi, dewalt etc...  motor parts cost as much as the machine.
 
From the Festool USA website (ekat section):

[attachimg=#]

Peter
 
I didn't go out and buy each of those saws, I had them before I bought the kapex. I called festool about repairing my first saw they told me it would be around $900.00 not worth fixing to me. Put $400.00 with it and have a new saw with warranty.
 
wow $900 is a lot, i hear you. i guess a lot more than the field and armature need replacing, plus shipping, labor etc...
 
Sounds like alot to me, last month i brought my 5 yo kapex in for a checkup, had some engine overheat problems and dust hood broken.
They put in a new engine, all new bearings, dust hood (wich also requires to replace the left half of the black casing around the blade)
Cost me something around €300 and i have pretty much a brand new one again. I thought the price was reasonable and i was expecting to cough up double that.
 
Is still under warranty?
I recently bought a Kapex and after week of continuous use it started sparking and smoking.
  I called the hot line and asked for a real time solution, because can not be inconvenienced via shipping. I asked Lester (Rep) to find me local so I can walk in and swap out. About 1/2 hr later he called me back located another Kapex about 25min away from me and swapped it out. No Huss no Fuss. I have it posted on contractortalk.com under:  So Whats The Verdict? Kapex Or Makita????
I understand tools break but the reputation, quality, and price it is unacceptable for a burn out to happened and not be replaced. I have had Hitachi’s, Dewalts, Makita’s and beat the living hell out them worked in rain, ice cold conditions, cut everything that should not have been cut and never had a burnout. I mean whaling on the saw hard totally abused by crews.
Your either your having an electrical surge of some type or the saw is defective. I didn’t think I have even heard of a motor burning out. or Calibration and accuracy is a whole another topic.

Good luck!
Yannis N. Tsakiris
www.citydecksinc.com
www.citypropertiesinc.net
 
Because this has happened twice, I'd be suspicious of the house wiring. There are two common problems that immediately come to mind. The first one is that the circuit can't handle the load and you are getting an under-voltage condition. The second is that you could have a floating neutral, especially if this is a multi-wire branch circuit. This can result in either an under or over voltage condition.

Have you ever noticed the sound pitch of the saw to be higher or lower than you expect? If you have a voltmeter, you could put it on the circuit and see how the voltage changes as the saw is loaded. One of the symptoms of a floating neutral is that when a heavy load is turned on, some loads (especially noticeable with lights) get bright while others get dim.
 
My thoughts exactly. The only tool I am having a problem with is the kapex. For an update I sent my saw in for service and heard back from festool repair yesterday,the saw is fixed and it was the armature.
 
had a similar issue called and spoke to david he sent both parts it takes about an hour to replace them that was 7 months ago oh it was one of the first kapexs out. so know that there are bad armitures out there these tools are quite simple to work on [wink]
 
2nd Kapex in 30days. I had one replaced 2-weeks ago and it this one was bogging down, major loss in power to the point it shut it's self off. Called cs and they said bring to Woodcraft for a swap of there demo and until mine comes back.
I was cutting a lot pt for blocking and angled cut.  I am wondering if the blade dulled down and the 60t is too many teeth for cross cutting. Maybe 40t from another brand because Festool blades has 60t or higher. 
I usually use it with the ct if not theres no point in having this saw. Im rarely more then 15ft from outlet and if I am I use 10/3 cord. I only want to use 1/saw for all of my needs which are demanding but there is no reason for these mechanical failures. This saw can be that fussy with power supply. We should be able to plug in and work anywhere just like a Makita or a Dewalt.
Maybe Festool needs to put a bigger breaker in the ct's

Yannis N. Tsakiris
www.citypropertiesinc.net
www.citydecksinc.com
 
JCPL in USA told me they had a 8% or 10% under/over allowance and they would be within their delivered voltage. So if it was 10%, 108 volts to 132 volts was acceptable. I was told over will run cooler ??? Under would run hotter. ( Have a qualified electrician ) take a meter and check voltage coming from wall outlet. Next check the vac .  If all is well start a forum question on 2012 Kapex burning up.  YES/N0
 
As I posted in another thread,same issue with my saw and its at Festool now.Twice in 4 months,saw purchased March or Feb 2012
 
I use the Kapex strictly for Trim.  My old beaters are all I would ever use for PT or any other crap.  Would you use a Corvette as a derby Car?  The Kapex is a precision instrument in my opinion and I cant imagine cutting deck posts with it.....
 
I use the Kapex to cut everything.  It is a saw and it's job is to turn a blade at an angle that I choose.  Two years running no issues.

I fully understand and respect those who only use it for detail stuff.  I just choose to have one miter saw.

Peter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Kapex 120 brush replace Repair
Replies
10
Views
1K
ChuckM
C
R
Replacing broken "Dust Extraction Attachment" on Kapex 120
Replies
2
Views
204
RonMiller
R
T
Kapex 120 vs 60
Replies
8
Views
1K
BWSD
B
B
Kapex 120 losing power
Replies
7
Views
754
Packard
P
B
Kapex 120 EB Smoked, Slowed, Started Backup and Died
2
Replies
24
Views
2K
Cheese
Cheese
Back
Top