Kapex adjustment help

[bevans]

I have become pretty frustrated trying to adjust my saw and need some advice. Does anyone know where a current adjustment calculator can be found? Ricks electronic calculator with the online manual does not work for me using safari. Also, when I loosen the three screws on the miter gauge and tap the bar slightly I seem to go too far first one way then the other regardless of how slightly I tap. When I do the 4 cut calibration and measured the left and right sides with a caliper I see that I have tapped a little too much. There has to be a more efficient way to adjust than what I am doing. Anyone have good luck adjusting their saw and/or can help or perhaps point me to a link that can help?

Bruce

 

[peter halle]

You might want to try downloading the Supplemental manual and then opening it up not in Safari.  I suspect that the calculator will then work.

Merry Christmas!

Peter

 

[Corwin]

You might want to try downloading the Supplemental manual and then opening it up not in Safari.  I suspect that the calculator will then work.

Merry Christmas!

Peter

If not, simply google an online arcsine calculator. That's what I did, as I was having the same issue with the calculator in the Supplemental Manual.

 

[Ivan T]

Can not help you with the calculator, but I can say don't get carried away trying to reach a perfect Zero. I believe there is a figure listed that Festool says is their tolerance when adjusting the new saws.

 

[bevans]

Peter: I did download the PDF version of the manual and I can change the values but it does not calculate when I tap calc error. Maybe it a Mac thing. Is there another version besides the PDF?

Corwin: I looked at a couple arcsine calculators and I must admit that I feel kinda stupid as I do not know what I am supposed to do with entering the values.

Ivan: I am not trying to reach perfection, I am off by over a degree at 10 inches.

Am I missing an adjustment dial on the saw? It seems kinda arbitrary to tap a little to the right or a little to the left with no reference point. Just seems hit or miss and I am certainly doing a lot of missing.

 

[Tayler_mann]

I have become pretty frustrated trying to adjust my saw and need some advice. Does anyone know where a current adjustment calculator can be found? Ricks electronic calculator with the online manual does not work for me using safari. Also, when I loosen the three screws on the miter gauge and tap the bar slightly I seem to go too far first one way then the other regardless of how slightly I tap. When I do the 4 cut calibration and measured the left and right sides with a caliper I see that I have tapped a little too much. There has to be a more efficient way to adjust than what I am doing. Anyone have good luck adjusting their saw and/or can help or perhaps point me to a link that can help?

Bruce

What I did for my kapex took me minutes and got it 2nd try. First thing is make sure the lasers are dead on to where your blade cuts and perfectly square over a 6-8" cut. Than grab a board with a straight edge and take a square (must be accurate I used my woodpecker t square) and draw a line referencing the square from the straight edge. set the board on the fence of the kapex and line the lasers to your square pencil line. My saw is perfect after doing that wth no problems at all.

 

[nclemmons]

Try Adobe's PDF reader for Mac.  I don't think Preview or Safari do the auto recalc on a Mac.

 

[bevans]

Thanks for the assistance guys,much appreciated! Adobe reader allowed me to use the calculator and using the laser tip has gotten me much closer to a straight cut.

 

[bevans]

I have attempted many,many times to calibrate my saw and feel I have been successful to a point. I reached .004 at 90 degrees using the 4 cut method and Rick's calculator in the supplemental manual but when I swing the miter to 45 degrees I am off significantly and at a loss. How can I be dialed in fairly close to 90 and early so far off at 45? Anyone know of another adjustment I can make before I send it off to the service center?

 

[Doug S]

You can move the miter gauge ring in and out as well as side to side which alters the miter angle slightly. You will wish you never started messing with it but will get there eventually.

Doug

 

[bevans]

I did read about the ring adjustment on Gary Katz's site and discussion of miter saw adjustments and i am wary of going that route. What I don't get is that if you adjust the miter calibration at the 90 degree detent shouldn't the 45 detent also be dialed in correctly? Yea, I think I will just box it up and send it in and hope the trip back doesn't knock it out of whack again.

 

[Simon (UK)]

I have used Adobe Acrobat on an iPad to open the supplemental manual and the calculations work fine. Hope that helps.
Half an hour playing with the kapex adjustment, very gentle taps after loosening the gauge screws, saw a good improvement over factory setting. Not the ideal way to calibrate an instrument.
Simon.

 

[DB10]

I have attempted many,many times to calibrate my saw and feel I have been successful to a point. I reached .004 at 90 degrees using the 4 cut method and Rick's calculator in the supplemental manual but when I swing the miter to 45 degrees I am off significantly and at a loss. How can I be dialed in fairly close to 90 and early so far off at 45? Anyone know of another adjustment I can make before I send it off to the service center?

[member=8830]bevans[/member] I just looked at your mitre cut photo, are you shaw the wood isn't moving slightly while the cut is being made, the reason I ask is the cut line doesn't look like a clean line to me.
Now I don't know your method for cutting on the Kapex but my Kapex hasn't had much in the way of calibration, I just done the basic checks as stated in Rick's manual and checked the results, for me I'm happy with the end cut but I wouldn't be happy with the results if they were the same as in your photo.
I as a rule don't Use the Festool clamp for small mitres like in your photo, I prefer to use my left hand to hold down the timber, yeah I know it's not recommended but I like to feel what the timber is doing and have been doing it that way for 30 years.
What. Are your results like without using the clamps are they the same.
If it was me and my Kapex was cutting like that I would try and see if a local rep or someone from the store with Kapex experience would come out and check it over before sending it back.

Good luck.

 

[bevans]

The image is a little misleading as the boards are actually about 12-13 inches long. I use the clamp when I can and did this time as well as well as holding it with my left hand. I don't use the clamp on the right side because the the saw bumps into the top of the clamp when I slide it toward the fence and don't like to use the chop method. Perhaps moving the ring will adjust the 45. I don't think I can make it any worse.

 

[Tayler_mann]

First off be darn sure those two pieces are completely flat on your registered side. A saw is only as "square" cutting as the material is straight and flat. What you have there looks a lot like you brought the saw back up before it completely stopped. My mentor who has been using a miter saw since 1970's in a professional setting has always said if you want accuracy stop the blade first or very gently move the material away from the blade first. The second way may not be the best since that would require holding the cut by hand. even thought the saw cost you $1400 that doesn't mean that no technique is needed. Some of us who have used them for awhile forget that we to had issues at one time and it is all called ugh hem "user error."

My diagnosis is make 500 cuts or more with it with scrap before you take a chunk of gold to UPS and say it's precious please be careful. While this is being said doofus one is tossing your saw into the back of a truck from 7 ft away and as tweedle dee and dum are loading the plane they drop it in a puddle and huck it in the back of the airliner. I know there is insurance but just another headache to deal with.