Not a Festool user…..yet!!

[Packard]

I guess it's for safety reasons but I would like it if there was some way of locking the Kapex on so you could leave it running when making multiple cuts. I could be wrong but the constant on/off cycles with the soft start and the electric brake kicking in must cause a lot of heat and can't be good for the motor where a constant running motor might run cooler? If I'm going to be making a lot of cuts I turn my extractor on to manual and just leave it running, it seems better than it cycling on and off every few seconds with the saw.

My radial arm saw can run continuously. I can set 5 or 6 pieces of 1-1/2” wide material against a stop block and cut them all at once. 

But note, a poorly maintained RAS is possibly one of the most dangerous machines in the shop.  This is a problem mostly brought on by the marketing people at Sears.  When you visited the woodworking shop area of any Sears store there would be a RAS setup and the head would slide as smooth as silk.  But that was usually because they set the bearings too loose.  In the real world, a saw set up as loosely as that ran the risk of climbing the stock and rushing back at your chest. 

Mine seems noticeably less fluid, and is less risky to use. 

But if precision is required, not only does the stock have to be solidly banked against the stop block, it must also be clamped against the fence and (probably) clamped flat against the saw’s table.

You can spend serious bucks and get both speed and precision with automatic feeds and automatic clamping, but otherwise you have to balance the speed/precision aspect.

 

[Coen]

Isn't something like a CS 50 not a better option for a lot of small cuts? You can leave it running in between too. Depends on the stock you are cutting of course.

Can't just compare the Kapex 1:1 to most other mitre saws. The Kapex is a compact design, requiring way less space behind it. That category is always more expensive. It's more in the category of something like the Bosch GCM 10 GDJ (double hinge design) or Makita LS1019L (two sliding bars on one side). The Festool design is the most sturdy of those three, but they don't make a 305mm (12") version. Price wise, you can get a 305 compact version from the other brands for less than the 254 Kapex.

I don't think DeWalt even has a compact design mitre saw available? Maybe when their website will become more than a collection of '404' someone can actually check.

In the United States of 'big everything' the space requirement might in general be less of an issue than in most European countries with smaller spaces.

No, make your own thread instead of hijack this one.

A nice warm welcome to a new FOG member there. Way to go, Coen.

It's the Dutch way... we are very direct. Instead of just ignoring his hijack like most, I tell him how he can get better results.

Besides that... that post makes no sense whatsoever. I was thinking 'bot' too.

 

[Ron B]

No, make your own thread instead of hijack this one.

It's the Dutch way... we are very direct. Instead of just ignoring his hijack like most, I tell him how he can get better results.

Besides that... that post makes no sense whatsoever. I was thinking 'bot' too.

I was thinking, in the States we would call that being a New Yorker.  Then I remembered my history and remembered New York City used to be New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch.  Those roots go deep!

I did get a chuckle out of your first reply. 

 

[mino]

A nice warm welcome to a new FOG member there. Way to go, Coen.
...

If you read that 2nd post carefully, it has glaring factual inconsistencies which are consistent with an AI-produced spam*) where the OP post was used to "prep" the model.

No one with the knowledge to ask such specific question would make such absurd mistakes/statements at the same time. Corrugated metal beds with miters on raw wood? Yeah. Sure. Got a bridge to sell too!

Coen gave the spammer the benefit of a doubt. IMO that was a mistake, he was too nice and too caring.

Isn't something like a CS 50 not a better option for a lot of small cuts? You can leave it running in between too. Depends on the stock you are cutting of course.
...

For a lot of small repeat cuts I would even look at a chopsaw as the volume player. A $200 10" chopsaw will be about as accurate as a KAPEX for the stuff it can do.

*) Well, not precisely. This type of posts are done to harvest accounts to be sold for future marketing campaigns.
This stuff is made by poor kiddos who have no clue about the trade, so use ChatGPT to produce seemingly-genuine responses. Once the accounts are sufficiently "mature", they would sell them to the actual spammers. Nothing against he kiddos, but the mechanism here is that if such is allowed/tolerated it can kill a forum eventually.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

But note, a poorly maintained RAS is possibly one of the most dangerous machines in the shop.  This is a problem mostly brought on by the marketing people at Sears.  When you visited the woodworking shop area of any Sears store there would be a RAS setup and the head would slide as smooth as silk.  But that was usually because they set the bearings too loose.  In the real world, a saw set up as loosely as that ran the risk of climbing the stock and rushing back at your chest. 

Mine seems noticeably less fluid, and is less risky to use. 

Yeah, the Craftsman was the quintessential RAS in the US for decades. They were/are in a lot of grandfather's garages/basements, but that didn't necessarily make them a good tool. Then there was the crazy advertising of "ripping sheet goods, standing on edge, being dragged across the floor, while the blade is extended (parallel to the floor and fully exposed) Horrific.

The old-school DeWalt was more of a commercial/tradesman type thing.

My main experience with an RAS was the one in the cabinet shop. It was an Italian-made unit, from a company called Maggi. It had a 30" cross-cut capacity, but it's main feature was a safety stop that would not allow it to climb (over-accelerate) There was a cable, connected to the carriage, that acted very much like a seatbelt in a modern car. Pull slowly, it pulls all the way out. Jerk quickly....nothing.

I'm completely unaware if this is some European safety standard, so they all do it, or something that company did on their own?

 

[Cheese]

My main experience with an RAS was the one in the cabinet shop. It was an Italian-made unit, from a company called Maggi. It had a 30" cross-cut capacity, but it's main feature was a safety stop that would not allow it to climb (over-accelerate) There was a cable, connected to the carriage, that acted very much like a seatbelt in a modern car. Pull slowly, it pulls all the way out. Jerk quickly....nothing.

I'm completely unaware if this is some European safety standard, so they all do it, or something that company did on their own?

That's similar to what Northfield still uses on their RAS although it doesn't have a clutching action. They refer to it as their ram rewind.

 

[Michael Kellough]

The content of the two posts does not follow the pattern of bots.

 

I defer to your apparent superior knowledge in this, but I was referring to the second post, not the original.  This type of posting does follow bots and scammers based on activities in the discussion boards I own, owned, and moderated.

With your experience as a moderator etc. your knowledge far greater than mine. This is the only forum I frequent.

What I see in the second post that makes me it isn’t from a bot;
1. A typo, “ou” instead of you.
2. “Hence Festool.”

Unless the bots are getting a lot more sophisticated I haven’t noticed anything other than suspiciously perfect spelling and grammar.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

It was the first post coming 3 minutes after another first post....and subsequently nothing, that seemed off to me. That and the over familiarity with of calling by name.
At least it wasn't blatant advertising or trolling