Kapex 'Depth of Cut' Adjustment

Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
3,227
As the Kapex will (hopefully!) be in the US shortly, and for the benefit of existing users, I thought I'd post this in the reference section.

I, and a number of other Kapex buyers have had a slight issue with the depth of cut on the saw, which means that the blade does not cut cleanly through the back rear corner of the stock. This (at least on my machine) was not really evident on square cuts, but was more obvious on mitred cuts. I went back to my dealer with it. The Festool rep placed a call to the technical dept. and found the solution within a few minutes. Anyway, I digress...

This is how the blade looks with regard to the fence when the depth is wrongly set (with the head plunged right down:
[attachthumb=1]

Note the triangular gap where the blade doesn't quite meet the corner of the table/fence angle.

The depth that the head of the saw plunges to is determined by a machine screw located to the back of the top edge of the machine, here:
[attachthumb=2]

Winding the screw out by 1/2 to 1 turn allows the head to go lower into the table, as shown below:
[attachthumb=3]

Be careful not to wind the screw out too far, otherwise it may (possibly) cause the blade to foul on some part of the table, though I haven't checked to see if that's possible, for obvious reasons! The screw appears to be self-locking, so I don't think there's much chance of it working loose, but once set you could quite safely locktite it, as it shouldn't need altering again.

Hopefully there aren't too many that leave the factory like this, but it's a really simple fix.

HTH,

JRB
 
JRB,

Thanks for the insight and helpful Kapex photos.  Explicit, concise and easy to understand.  I would welcome more of the same whenever you have time.  Thanks again and back to THE CORNER.
 
Great information!!
Not only does this correct the back corner of the material not being completely cut, it also greatly reduces the chances of the blade lifting the material and kicking out the small off cuts like bullets.

Again like the OP stated, make SURE you don't lower the blade too much and risk cutting into the Kapex base itself.
 
I know this was posted years ago, but this is exactly the same issue I have, so when I get home, I'll see if I can give it a tweak. This will be the third minor fault in the two weeks I've had my Kapex.
thanks for the great pics and explanation. Much appreciated.
Still unsure on how to fix the Kapex's bed - left side is not flush, seems low by about 0.75mm. Unsure on how this can be fixed?

Uncle festool
 
Hello all
When i click on the pics they don't enlarge just goes to a broken image icon.
Happens quite a lot on older posts on the forum.
Does anyone have the full sized images or do i have a forum setting wrong?
Thanks
 
Those images have disappeared from the forum.

Here is an image of the screw (with the adjusting wrench inserted):

[attachimg=1]

Peter
 

Attachments

  • kapex screw.jpg
    kapex screw.jpg
    453.6 KB · Views: 3,878
Wow thank you guys and for the update picture Peter. I was afraid to ask! Thought I was doing something wrong. I'm goin down to take car of business right now!
 
Back
Top