Kpex, this knob is for what?

tim cf

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Mar 24, 2008
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Got my Kpex and it went right to work. Only thing that stumps me is, what is the round green
twisting knob for. it's located right behind the handle. Has a fast slow marking.
 
A dial with numbers? if so that is the speed control. the Kpx is variable speed.

BTW all the knobs and green thingies are described in the manual.

I think you found the fastfix switch for blade changing. Let us know if you have any more discoveries. ;D
 
Ok, scoured the owners manual, it's a blade lock.
Seems like a couple of weeks before I figure out all the bells and whistles...
 
what Eiji said, it's called the Fastfix. Remember the blade screw is opposite what you think to tighten or loosen.
 
Blade lock makes changing the blade a breeze.  I haven't checked as I always unplug, but does it cut the power?
 
It doesn't  cut the power, but it does lock the trigger. (You can only squeeze it to the first position, where it unlocks the guard)
 
BTW a Forrest 10 inch chopmaster 80 tooth blade WILL work in the Kapex.  I had one bored with a 30 mm hole, tho I see no need for a Forrest blade since Festool has an 80 tooth blade which is slightly cheaper than the Forrest.  I got the Forrest before I knew that Festool would supply an 80 tooth blade.  The Forrest and Festool blades cut the same width Kerf - 2.75mm  as measured by my dial calipers.

The chopmaster did a better job at smooth cut and fewer splinters when plunging through plywood than the standard Kapex blade.  If not working with fine finish and tolerance the standard blade is only a small amount different than the 80 tooth Forrest blade.

The laser was a little off when I got my Kapex.  The yaw and lateral adjustments were a little off.  Soooo, I got out the trusty Bard Parker #11 blade and cut holes in the decal so I could make some adjustments.  After about 20 minutes I could consistently split a pencil mark on both sides of the blade.  I like that the laser lines are "thin" and precise.  The laser line on my Bosch SCMS was fatter, was only on the left side of the blade, was not adjustable, and the saw cut about 1/32" from the laser.  The Kapex can be precisely dialed in.

Now to the "dialing in".

The supplied festool manual says to use a 2.5mm hex wrench.  That probably would have been great except I don't have one.  The unreleased unofficial manual (thank you a whole lot! and I mean that sincerely) says use a #10 Torx bit.  That works too -- except it won't reach into the holes that are under the template on the left side of the saw (even when the holes are nicely exposed by the above mentioned Bard Parker device [read Exacto Knife with #11 blade]).

So what to do, what to do?  As luck would have it, my Radio Shack fancy screw driver set had a #10 Torx bit with narrow shoulders and all was solved.  I would have loved Festool had they supplied a 2.5mm hex wrench,  altho I must admit it may be hiding in some crevice of the Kapex that I have not explored.  K-Y Jelly please!

Please enlighten me if I have missed some things here.

I examined the sawdust extracted from the Kapex by the 36mm hose. (A lot more fun than looking for ova and parasites in feces.)  The dust was mostly quite fine, the kind that I would have inhaled.  Good job there.  The dust that escaped seemed be noticeably chunkier. Not real scientific but a definite plus.  Again, not scientific, but I think the vacuum got about 90% of the dust, as advertised.

I used a Wixey digital angle gauge to check bevel angles.  The saw was right on and consistent after I adjusted the little green arrow thingies, and very easy to return to 90 degrees.  The bevel adjustment is waaay too easy.

I used a little Elmers Slide All dry lube to lube the fence but it was pretty smooth any way.

The crown molding wings went on easily and were aligned perfectly flat with the base of the saw.

PDG (Pretty Darned Good)  What else can I say.

Best to everyone, from Las Cruces, NM

Joe

The width of the cut in my boards was 12 1/8" with the Kapex 260mm blade and slightly less with the 254mm Forrest Chopmaster.

 
Joe, the lasers do adjust with a 2.5 mm hex/allen, one should have come with the saw, it's in the Styrofoam (see attached pic). 
 
Rick Christopherson said:
Brice, since your saw is almost 2 years newer than mine, would you mind popping the side panel off and confirming that these are hex drive versus Torx drive? The two types are semi-interchangeable and a Torx head can be driven by a hex driver, so the only way to know for certain is to pop the cover (which I did several months ago). My saw uses Torx screws.

Rick, I just removed the panel, they are hex/allen screws. The date on the carriage/motor of my Kapex is 4/08.
 
Dankeshoen, Brice.  I found the 2.5m allen wrench in the styrofoam, just like your picture.  My adjusting screws are Hex.  Thanks to Rick, too, because the #10 Torx wrench did work.

Joe
 
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