Kapex slowed to a crawl

[ear3]

In the middle of doing some cuts, my Kapex suddenly slowed down to about half speed.  Subsequent pulls of the trigger made it run even slower, to the point where now it runs at maybe 1/10th of normal speed (though continuously).  Took off the cover, removed and reset the brushes -- from the looks of them they still have life, as you can see from attached pic, but resetting them did not produce any change.

Saw is from 2015, and no previous motor issues.

Any idea what the problem might be, and whether I'm on the hook for a new saw?

 

[guybo]

Hi, sometimes the spring to the brush get damaged, with still lots of wear left.one of the signs of brush failure is lack of performance,i.e. loss of speed.springs function as a lead or electrical connection,it is worth the replacement cost to try.

 

[rvieceli]

Edward I don’t have a real answer but have you checked the electrical supply in your shop?

Maybe taken it in and tried an outlet in the house?

Ron

 

[Cheese]

Edward, I'd also start with taking a reading of the voltage at the Kapex outlet with a DMM. ConEd has been known to have voltage drops from time to time.  [smile]

 

[tjbnwi]

Armature. Festool parts can verify this is the one you need. This one comes with the lower bearing and support. Replace the brushes at the same time. Takes about 50 minutes to change it.

I keep a spare armature on the shelf incase another one goes out.

[attachimg=1]

Tom

 

[ear3]

Thanks [member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] . I seem to remember a number of armature replcement guides posted on here, so I guess I will go for it myself.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] and [member=3192]rvieceli[/member] Right -- I should have mentioned that that was the first thing I checked through connecting it to another circuit, but with no change, which is what prompted the escalating series of troubleshooting.

Armature. Festool parts can verify this is the one you need. This one comes with the lower bearing and support. Replace the brushes at the same time. Takes about 50 minutes to change it.

I keep a spare armature on the shelf incase another one goes out.

[attachimg=1]

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

[member=37411]ear3[/member]

If you need a PDF of the repair let me know.

Tom

 

[ear3]

[member=58842]guybo[/member] Thanks -- I though that might be the case as well, though springs appeared to be just fine and still springy when depressed.

Hi, sometimes the spring to the brush get damaged, with still lots of wear left.one of the signs of brush failure is lack of performance,i.e. loss of speed.springs function as a lead or electrical connection,it is worth the replacement cost to try.

 

[Peter Kelly]

Armature. Festool parts can verify this is the one you need. This one comes with the lower bearing and support. Replace the brushes at the same time. Takes about 50 minutes to change it.

I keep a spare armature on the shelf incase another one goes out.

How often do these fail? I’ve certainly had mine since 2015, used it pretty frequently, kept it plugged into the CT 26 and never had any issues. Should I expect to replace the armature in the not distant future?

 

[tjbnwi]

Armature. Festool parts can verify this is the one you need. This one comes with the lower bearing and support. Replace the brushes at the same time. Takes about 50 minutes to change it.

I keep a spare armature on the shelf incase another one goes out.

How often do these fail? I’ve certainly had mine since 2015, used it pretty frequently, kept it plugged into the CT 26 and never had any issues. Should I expect to replace the armature in the not distant future?

Seems to be a crap shoot. I own 4 Kapex's have had one armature failure. For awhile on this forum there were posts about failures weekly, what percentage it was across total number of Kapex's I don't have a clue.

Tom

 

[Cheese]

Edward, here's the earlier thread. Scroll down to Reply 72 for the install instructions and click on Kapex Armature.pdf
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...another-dead-kapex-55656/msg543728/#msg543728

How often do these fail? I’ve certainly had mine since 2015, used it pretty frequently, kept it plugged into the CT 26 and never had any issues. Should I expect to replace the armature in the not distant future?

I'm with Tom, it is a total crap shoot. I've also owned mine since 2015 and everything is fine. It was around late 2020 (November/December) or early 2021 (January/February) that Festool finally came up with a fix so anything prior to that could at some point, contract Kapex Cancer.  [scared]

 

[ear3]

Awesome, thx [member=44099]Cheese[/member]

I was lucky with the timing at least -- I had just finished up a whole series of oversized art frames, which involved a bunch of precise mitre cuts of thin material not duplicable by any other tool, and was cutting down the cleats to length when the failure occurred.  So I was able to grab the HKC and finish those off and pack everything up for delivery.  24 hours earlier and I would have been screwed.
 

Edward, here's the earlier thread. Scroll down to Reply 72 for the install instructions and click on Kapex Armature.pdf
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...another-dead-kapex-55656/msg543728/#msg543728

 

[tjbnwi]

[member=37411]ear3[/member],

Make sure you have a T25 bit/driver at least 6” long, 8” works better if you can find one.

Tom

 

[Packard]

There seems to be endless discussions about the Kapex motor issues online.

I doubt it makes anyone feel better, but you are not alone. Due to the amount of complaints on this matter, it would appear that Festool has made the management decision to deny that there is any problem.

Like the actuarial decisions at life insurance companies, Festool has looked at the cost to correct the problem and has decided it is less expensive to ignore the problem than it is to fix it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=festool kapex motor problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m

 

[squall_line]

There seems to be endless discussions about the Kapex motor issues online.

I doubt it makes anyone feel better, but you are not alone. Due to the amount of complaints on this matter, it would appear that Festool has made the management decision to deny that there is any problem.

Like the actuarial decisions at life insurance companies, Festool has looked at the cost to correct the problem and has decided it is less expensive to ignore the problem than it is to fix it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=festool kapex motor problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m

This has been hashed out ad nauseum on this very forum.  To wit, Cheese linked earlier to the thread where it was hashed out.