Kapex laser alignment

sariq14

Member
Joined
May 27, 2014
Messages
13
One of the lasers on my new Kapex is slightly off the cut line.  Has anyone on here ever adjusted this?  Apparently it can be done. 
Thanks.
 
The supplemental manual describes the adjustment procedure. My lasers were off the cut line when I fired it up. The adjustment process worked.
 
Yes, very easy. Tiny Allen wrench was in the packaging with the saw.
You do need to punch through the decal for adjustment the first time.
Luckily I didn't have any skew or angle adjustments to make - just a slight side to side offset. I like the edge of the laser line to just touch the outside of the kerf on each side.

Steve
 
I don't know how you guys use the laser. Adjusted or not, the line itself is bigger than my own tolerance. I just lower the blade to the pencil line to check for alignment.
 
Question - is the Kapex laser intended to only provide correct alignment at the full-up blade position? I've noticed as I bring the blade down, the laser wanders off the cut line.

I've poked holes in the label and attempted to fine tune it, but probably just made things worse. I tried to follow the steps in the Supplemental Manual but that didn't really work for me.
 
I went through the alignments in the Supplemental Manual on my 12 years old Kapex last year.  The five cut squaring was so close to perfect I didn't do any tweaking.  I did go through the laser alignment and was able to get the cut lines to align very well...the width of the laser lines does limit absolute accuracy here.  I haven't seen any shifting on my saw between the full up position where I typically register the cut line and the down sawing position.  For very critical cuts I will align a tooth with the cut line.
 
I aligned my lasers after receiving my Kapex 5 or 6 months ago (snagged one of the new saws with upgraded insides from Hartville for a grand or there abouts) and have no issues with laser line moving.

Jack
 
I had the same issue when I tried to adjust mine. I just kept tweeting it until it worked correctly.
 
fp1337 said:
I don't know how you guys use the laser. Adjusted or not, the line itself is bigger than my own tolerance. I just lower the blade to the pencil line to check for alignment.

As a late reply (as I found this while searching for something else):  Set the lasers so the lines are directly beside the kerf, without shining into it. Then the blade will cut everything between the laser lines, without cutting into the areas illuminated by the laser.

Then the cut will be exactly where you want it to be.
 
The laser lines are as good as my eyes, and that means in my shop they're great for rough cuts, initial cuts (such as trimming the ends of a rough stock or squaring an end, starting the dado cuts, etc.) and may be one-time precision cuts. For repetitive, precision cuts, the laser lines are not sharp/reliable enough no matter how they are set or fine-tuned, so I use a stop block(s). 
 
Gregor said:
fp1337 said:
I don't know how you guys use the laser. Adjusted or not, the line itself is bigger than my own tolerance. I just lower the blade to the pencil line to check for alignment.

As a late reply (as I found this while searching for something else):  Set the lasers so the lines are directly beside the kerf, without shining into it. Then the blade will cut everything between the laser lines, without cutting into the areas illuminated by the laser.

Then the cut will be exactly where you want it to be.

    Exactly this ^^^ .  I too, set mine so the blade / kerf is exactly between and touching (just touching) the inside edge of the laser lines. Very precise and functional this way.

Seth
 
ChuckS said:
For repetitive, precision cuts, the laser lines are not sharp/reliable enough no matter how they are set or fine-tuned, so I use a stop block(s).

+1  Besides, the Kapex can use 2 hold downs at the same time so using a hard stop becomes super easy.  [cool]
 
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