Kapex blade guard "sticking" UPDATE: Out of warranty repair by Festool no cost!

morts10n

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Joined
Nov 10, 2007
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I've had my Kapex since its intro and recently started experiencing a problem with the arm controlling the blade guard ( center of picture) sticking on its bearing. Lubing it helped but didn't correct the problem. I have to manually move the steel arm to the left to get it to track properly on the bearing, as it wants to slide off to the right and jam. Any suggestions?
 
Mastercabman-  You sayin' I have a screw loose?      Actually, nothing seems loose, the arm just doesn't track properly on its bearing guide. Not sure what it needs
 
morts10n said:
Mastercabman-  You sayin' I have a screw loose?      Actually, nothing seems loose, the arm just doesn't track properly on its bearing guide. Not sure what it needs
I'm not saying that you do,but you could.I checked my Kapex and that arm is pretty tight(sideway)so maybe you could try to see if something is loose inside where the arm is connected? Or something broke?
 
We experienced the same problem.  [sad]

Once Matthew finishes some trim work this week, he is sending it back for a warranty repair. Unless Festool is driving from Indiana and wants to take it back with them...  [poke]

He spoke with Festool repair and they walked him through a few local fixes but none of them worked.  So, back it's going.

Oh, be careful if you continue to use the saw while in that condition.  Matthew allowed the back of one hand to cross in front of the blade before it came to a complete stop.   [eek]

The injury was not much more than drawing a little blood; which may have been a good thing to drive home working safe(r).  [dead horse]
 
Original poster here.

I sent the Kapex in its original box back to Indiana as per the Festool techs' recommendation. He said that this has been happening to some of them and they have developed a fix kit for it that probably can't be installed by end users.
 
Rec'd my Kapex two days ago, and opened it up yesterday to check it out.  They replaced about seven misc. parts and it's working fine. They also cleaned, lubed, and recalibrated everything. I checked the squareness with a machinists square- dead on, and better than before I sent it to them. They also adjusted the lasers which were previously out a bit. The table inserts were both replaced though not in real bad shape, and they put a new dust shroud on the saw ( the old one is sitting on the shop saw station)  Good job techs!!!
 
Wow, that's service!  Glad to hear they took care of it for you.  One of these days I'll pony up for a Kapex.
 
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