kapex july 1st

[Per Swenson]

            Nice to see Swenson, back in the house, makin some noise.
                                                                              Dan

Hi Dan!

And thanks.

Yeah  I'm baaaaack!

What better thread then this to make a appearance?

For awhile now the economy has rendered the luxury end of swenson& swenson

to the mundane. ( For those who don't know me. you can go here... www.swensonz.com )

I have been doing the kind of stuff ya don't write home home to Mom about,

much less the worlds premier tool forum.

Jeesh who wants to hear about Mills Pride assemble it your self cabinets?

Cause that's what's been selling.

Even the wealthy are taking a second look at the fuel gauge and thinking Ikea and Walmart.

Thankfully a 30 year reputation of doing nice work is economy proof.

Now back to the Kapex.

My Father, before retirement and getting sucked in to my

master plan was a well known commercial photographer.

He told me , " Son, a true photographer will take a better picture with a pin hole box,

then a jerk with a Hasselblad." Then all that drivel about light and composition.

That in essence is the truth with all tools.

Still, in the same analogous vein, you aren't about to race your Hyundai at Indy.

Per

 

[Eli]

Well said.

 

[Steveo48]

IKEA just opened a HUMONGUS store 5 miles south of me.  We'll see what that's all about.

Steve

 

[Per Swenson]

Steve,

Don't go!

Place makes me cringe.

I have nightmares about spending my dottage as

a greeter in a place like that.

'Nother anecdote.

One of our customers showed us a picture of a huge cedar pergola

on the back page of a Direct buy catalog.

Flippin thing was beautiful!

I kept my mouth shut and the price in my head, asked her to call

and ask them how much.

It looked better then this one....

[attachimg=#]

They told her 2400 dollars.  I messed my drawers.

I couldn't buy western red for that price.

In fairness I explained why she was better off at 2400

and now she loves me long time but I lost the job.

Per

 

[Dave Rudy]

Welcome back, Per!  Missed ya.

Dave

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Our wives (significant others - had to put in that political correctness!) would probably agree that someone needs to start "Festoolaholics 'Nonymus."  I am definitely among the afflicted.  My slippery slope started with an RO 125 and has since slipped to include 3 MFTs and 14 Systainers, and several items that don't fit in Systainers.  But I am blessed with a wife whose only chastisement is to remind me to use those tools!  If this remedial group is started soon enough, it may save me from buying a Kapex - I don't need one and get by with a 10" Hitachi CMS for the few cuts I need to do which I thereafter compound angle sand to exact fit when needed using my Shopsmith 12" disk sander.

Dave R.

 

[Dan Clermont]

Dave

The sign of a Festoolaholic would be too sell the Hitachi and the SHopsmith to buy the KAPEX  ;D

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

[Per Swenson]

Nah,

The sign of a Festaholic is to SAY you're gonna sell

your excess stuff...but never do.

You know in the meetings the word is a tool is a tool is a tool.

Per

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Dan,  Per has got (at least) me pegged!!  If I thought I had a lot of use for a CMS, though, the Kapex would be on my list primarily for its effective dust collection, light weight and ability to be placed nearer to a wall than the competitor's CMS.

Dave R.

 

[Bob Swenson]

Hi guys,

I can't wait for Per to buy one
Bob

 

[Steveo48]

You have to throw in the "membership" fee from direct buy too, pretty expensive.

 

[Madtown Rob]

You have to throw in the "membership" fee from direct buy too, pretty expensive.

I have heard anywhere from $5000 to $6500 plus the $400 every year after the third - OUCH!

 

[semenza]

Hi guys,

I can't wait for Per to buy one
Bob

Hi,

      Wow, another Swenson has started posting!  Perhaps you can each have a KAPEX.  BTW don't you just love those ETS150 sanders (avatar pic)?

Seth

 

[porkchop]

Isn't the kapex heavier than the dewalt cms?  I'm sure it is way better and has great dust collection but will the laser really survive jobsit use and transport? I love festools and have a solid collection but it seems that some of their other tools (jig and circ saws and guide, routers, planer, domino, sanders) really outshine the competition and this one doesn't seem as superior.

If it was 27 lbs or something it would be worth every penny. There is nothing about it that screams "buy me now" like the other tools.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Isn't the kapex heavier than the dewalt cms? 

Which DeWalt? DeWalt has quite a large number of mitre saws, to suit a wide range of tasks, whereas Festool only has one.

If it was 27 lbs or something it would be worth every penny.

You are obviously wanting a lightweight saw, but if Festool made it any lighter than its 21.5kg, then the people who want a nice heavy solid saw, and who say "If it was 50 lbs or something meaty like that, then it would be worth every penny", would get even more annoyed than they are at the moment!   :

For instance, back in December, one FOG member said:

That's where my frustration with this thing comes in. I want that Kapex on steroids NOW. If you could take the best features from existing miter saws and combine them with some of the cool features of the Kapex, you'd have the best saw ever made, bar none. It just looks like they tried too hard to make it small. Its an American thing, I know, but smaller is not always better.

Basically, with just one saw in their line-up, it is impossible for Festool to satisfy everyone. If I was one of the designers of the Kapex, and had spent many many months designing it, then I would be getting a bit dispirited after seeing some of the comments it has been getting - before it's even been released in the USA! Talk about not being able to please all the people all the time...

Forrest

 

[ccmviking]

Can't we all just buy one just to say that we have one?  I thought that bragging rights would be enough, now you want it to be perfect and fit every condition you could come across?  hmm...  I'm beginning to want one just to use for certain finish stuff and then for Large Base, etc. I can just keep my other CMS for that.  It would probably please me more if it had a 12" blade and 6.5" depth of cut at the back of the blade, but it doesn't and probably never will.

Chris...

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

The nice thing about the Kapex's ability to accurately bevel past 45 degrees is probably going to be its biggest selling point, at least for myself. I install a lot of really huge base (think 7" tall and greater), and the only way to cut it is flat. Right now I'm getting by with my 12" Makita SCMS, beveling all the way to 45 degrees, and then shimming underneath the material to get those extra degrees. I am aware that the DeWalt and Bosch will both bevel to around 47 degrees, but their bevel scales are so tiny you can really only reliably get to within a degree or so. When I had the opportunity to play with the Kapex I felt like I was able to adjust the bevel to within around a quarter of a degree. Plus the Dust collection would be GREAT, though if the Kapex didn't exist I would get that Chop Shop dust collection shroud/hood, it's supposed to work quite well!

 

[Eli]

It's big enough to not be light, but ergonomic enough to carry easily. It certainly isn't "a lot smaller" than other saws. It's a bit lighter.

You guys who are trying to publicly talk yourselves out of buying it are totally transparent. You're going to get one as long as your wife doesn't cut up the credit card and fit you for cement overshoes. You aren't fooling anyone.  ;D ;D ;D

And as far as I'm concerned, buying it so you can say you have one is a totally legal move.

 

[Warrior]

The nice thing about the Kapex's ability to accurately bevel past 45 degrees is probably going to be its biggest selling point, at least for myself. I install a lot of really huge base (think 7" tall and greater), and the only way to cut it is flat. Right now I'm getting by with my 12" Makita SCMS, beveling all the way to 45 degrees, and then shimming underneath the material to get those extra degrees. I am aware that the DeWalt and Bosch will both bevel to around 47 degrees, but their bevel scales are so tiny you can really only reliably get to within a degree or so. When I had the opportunity to play with the Kapex I felt like I was able to adjust the bevel to within around a quarter of a degree. Plus the Dust collection would be GREAT, though if the Kapex didn't exist I would get that Chop Shop dust collection shroud/hood, it's supposed to work quite well!

Tom,

you can set your saw to cut past 45 deg by adjusting the bevel stop.

Eiji

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Hi Eiji! I've pondered adjusting my bevel stops, but then I sacrifice the positive stop at 45. Even then, the bevel scale on the 1214 is really tiny, and I sometimes have a difficult time dialing in my cuts, at least it's not as quick and easy as it could be.....

Nickao, I haven't personally used the Kapex to cut wood yet, when I got a chance to play around with it I was told that Festool would have my host's tail if it was used for anything other than the reason it was loaned (TOP SECRET!  8)), but from what I've heard it catches roughly 90% (?) of airborne dust. I'm suer between a CT22, D36 hose, AND the Chop Shop hood, you'd probably be cleaning the ambient air every time you make a cut  Seriously though, I do wonder what I would do for dust collection. One option would be to have my Kapex and an MFT work station back to back, with my CT22 in between, with a Y connection leading to a D27 hose going to the work station and a D36 hose leading to the Kapex. Another option would be to keep my CT22 mobile and have a regular shop vacuum hooked up to the Kapex with a little automatic-switching outlet on the vac for dust collection. Or I could use the Chop Shop hood, either alone or in conjunction with one of the vacuum options.... By the way, this setup would be in an "installer" profile, so I'd be setting up and taking down the work and cut station at least weekly, if not daily, depending on the job.

I don't know, what do you fellows thing?