Kapex life span

mwahaha said:
Kev said:
mwahaha said:
I wonder how much it would cost for an engineer to put another (bullet proof) motor in. Probably wouldn't look as pretty as a stock one though, and it would never ever be able to be sent to festool for anything ever again.
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More than a broken one is worth if you want it to be decent job!! Plus you could never sell a FrankenKapex, but even a broken Kapex has value to someone comfortable with buying it with a view to repair.

I'm saying this in the most positive way ... it's a shame other things don't go wrong with the Kapex - then you'd be able to make a good one out of two with different failures!!
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Well yes, but I was looking more at the long term value if someone really really wanted a Kapex and nothing else would do.

A Kapex is currently $2300 NZD. If they only last 4 years then that would be $6900 in 12 years at todays pricing. I bet it would cost less than $4600 to have an engineer fit a new motor that would last more than 12 years.
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I think 4 years is at best for proffesionals. I think mine has averaged 3 and a half.
A company not the far from me bought 4 kapex's. They all failed 6 to 12months..
The company got rid of all kapex's and bougbt a couple of bosch sliders and they have been going for 2 years now i believe.

To be fair the company does alot of repetative cutting wet cedar all day long.  The kinda work they do sounds like chopsaws might not be the correct tools for the job really?? I dont know i dont work there.

 
To be fair the company does alot of repetative cutting wet cedar all day long.  The kinda work they do sounds like chopsaws might not be the correct tools for the job really?? I dont know i dont work there.
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I agree, that type of repetitive cutting is not what a chopsaw is for, they need a stationary with induction motors that'll handle the job without incessant trigger pulling.... like a radial arm saw, sliding table saw and the like.
 
TomE said:
I agree, that type of repetitive cutting is not what a chopsaw is for, they need a stationary with induction motors that'll handle the job without incessant trigger pulling.... like a radial arm saw, sliding table saw and the like.
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Aye, a Bosch one [wink]
 
I have a Makita 12" chopsaw that I have a velcro strap to keep the trigger pulled that runs for hours at a time cutting aluminum extrusions for storefront fabrication.  Any tool wears more by repeatedly turning on and off.  I've hung drywall with the trigger locked on till lunch and then again until quitting time...glad I'm not doing that line of work anymore!
 
rst said:
I have a Makita 12" chopsaw that I have a velcro strap to keep the trigger pulled that runs for hours at a time cutting aluminum extrusions for storefront fabrication.  Any tool wears more by repeatedly turning on and off.  I've hung drywall with the trigger locked on till lunch and then again until quitting time...glad I'm not doing that line of work anymore!
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[member=25351]rst[/member]

This isn't a slight on your ability to work safely .. It's very dangerous to suggest things like a velcro strap on the trigger of an SCMS on a forum where people may simply adopt it to prolong the life of their tool and not recognise the seriously increased operational hazard of the spinning blade.

 
[member=13058]Kev[/member] but it mitigates carpal tunnel to the wrist ;)
 
Cheese said:
Holmz said:
[member=13058]Kev[/member] but it mitigates carpal tunnel to the wrist ;)
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You certainly get my vote for doctor of the day. [big grin]
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Thanks [member=44099]Cheese[/member]
I am still looking for someone to play nurse, but I am 'old school' on the gender.  [tongue]
(And wanting to avoid the carpel tunnel)
 
So I spoke to an engineer I know about this, and he said that if you could find a motor with the same rating or less (wouldn't want less) that was similar in size and shape, it would be relatively straightforward to put a different motor into Kapex. Or you could put in a motor with the same rating and different shape, you would just need to come up with a way of mounting it.
 
Holmz said:
[member=13058]Kev[/member] but it mitigates carpal tunnel to the wrist ;)
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[member=40772]Holmz[/member] in fact it could mitigate the wrist completely !! [blink]
 
Hello Update!

Just got of the phone from my dealer,

The cost is more of an estimate  because it didnt help with me having disassembled the kapex. I had planned on doing it my self but after speaking the the dealer to order some parts he advised me to send it in festool..  I asked if I had to put it all together or not but was told it didnt really mater so save wasting my time I left it in bits.

Festool said they normally test it all before so they can asses everything because mine was in bits this wasnt possible.  The estimated cost for the repair is £400-500.....

I decided not to take the repair route and bought another kapex.  Then im going to look at either the bosch glide or radial arm for workshop but this wont be for few months or so. .
  This would hopefully give the kapex a slightly longer life span having it for site use only.

Lets see if I have to reopen this topic in about 3-4years.....
 
I've been in industrial/commercial construction/fabrication since 1971.  As a seasoned professional, I was not advocating that casual users do something inherently dangerous, I was commenting on wear to motorized tool.  Starting and stopping any motorized tool wears it harder that continuous running.  I just replaced an 6'0" automatic sliding door that had 2.4 million cycles...there is a reason they cost $12,000.
 
Tinker said:
...
It's getting so 10 minutes is a long period when bending over with wrenches and screw drivers.  I don't enjoy that...
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Freudian...
Back to the Kapex-life.
 
So we have a new measure .. KAPEX years. Are they shorter than dog years? Based on recent you'd go with 1 KAPEX year equals 3 dog years and 1 dog year equals 7 human years.
 
I wish (for my sake) that this thread could have just died out and run its lifespan. Alas my 3 year 8 month old kapex just gave up the ghost this weekend. Same symptoms and a hell of a smell to it. So kind of it to wait until it's out of warranty to do this.

Im pretty aggravated at this point and feel kind of helpless as a consumer. It seems a large amount of these saws have this much life expectancy and it's s little disheartening. Maybe this particular tool should come with a longer warranty for it's ticket price? Maybe the manufacturer should take the time to find the issue and fix it. Not feeling like a loyal customer at this point and quickly loosing my trust in the company. That has nothing to do with customer service or how my situation gets handled but everything tk do with the fact that there hasn't been any changes to this saw to prevent premature motor failure.

An industry leading warranty is great but there are other manufactured who's saws don't break. I just wish they were as good as the kapex when it does work.
 
Crap saw,and festool don't give a stuff. or they would repair at cost, all this  crap ends up in landfill

And instead of having stupid £5000 giveaways why not repair a few hundred kapex
 
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