Right & Left Kapex Miters Not Equal?

[darita]

When I use the left side of the fence, my miters are dead on.  When I use the right side fence, the miter is slightly off.  I've tried tweaking the right side, but of course, when I tweak the right side, the left side changes as well.  Anyone else have this happen and have a solution?

 

[Brice Burrell]

Some tough love here, don't tweak the saw out of the box as you did.  Chances are it was more accurate before you ever touched it.  Now you'll be playing the back and forth game until you get tired of it and call it good enough. 

Everyone out there, think very carefully before you decide to tweak your new Festool tools out of the box.

 

[peter halle]

I believe you just calibrated your lasers.  The instructions for adjusting the miter and also the bevel are just before that section in the supplemental manual. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, I haven't had to adjust mine.  It does seem to be a trial and error procedure.

Peter

 

[Brice Burrell]

I believe you just calibrated your lasers.  The instructions for adjusting the miter and also the bevel are just before that section in the supplemental manual. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, I haven't had to adjust mine.  It does seem to be a trial and error procedure.

Peter

Before that he decided Festool didn't do a good job with the fence on his saw, so he figured he'd fix it.

 

[darita]

I believe you just calibrated your lasers.  The instructions for adjusting the miter and also the bevel are just before that section in the supplemental manual. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, I haven't had to adjust mine.  It does seem to be a trial and error procedure.

Peter

Before that he decided Festool didn't do a good job with the fence on his saw, so he figured he'd fix it.

...trying to, anyways...

 

[peter halle]

I believe you just calibrated your lasers.  The instructions for adjusting the miter and also the bevel are just before that section in the supplemental manual. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, I haven't had to adjust mine.  It does seem to be a trial and error procedure.

Peter

Before that he decided Festool didn't do a good job with the fence on his saw, so he figured he'd fix it.

...trying to, anyways...

I'm sorry.  I read your post again about the lasers and I was under the impression that you had it ironed out.  Take a moment to read the supplemental diary. I found that I needed to read it several times to get so many little details to stick.

Peter

 

[darita]

Actually, I got the saw cutting pretty close to dead on 90* on the left side fence and got the lasers adjusted,  thanks to the supplemental.  At first, I assumed the right fence would produce 90* cuts as wee, but I was wrong.  It's close, but not like the left side.  I'm trying to figure out how to get the right side cuts as close to 90* as the left side.  Since left and right side fences are connected by the semi-circle yoke, it's not possible to adjust one side, without moving the other side.  If they moved independently, it would be somewhat easier to adjust both sides to cut 90*.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I hate to tell you this, but if you are getting accurate cuts on one side of the fence, but not on the other, then the only possibility is the operator. You don't realize it, but you are introducing a bias into one or both of the cuts. We already know from your previous postings that your right and left fences are collinear. Therefore, The left and right miter angles must be complimentary (sum to equal 180 degrees). If one is 90 degrees, then so is the other.

 

[darita]

I hate to tell you this, but if you are getting accurate cuts on one side of the fence, but not on the other, then the only possibility is the operator. You don't realize it, but you are introducing a bias into one or both of the cuts. We already know from your previous postings that your right and left fences are collinear. Therefore, The left and right miter angles must be complimentary (sum to equal 180 degrees). If one is 90 degrees, then so is the other.

You may be right, because I am using my left hand to make the right side cuts.  I'll have to try making the cut right handed and see.  Thanks for the tip.

 

[Alli]

Hi Darita,

I have just read your other post 'Kapex fence Enhancement'. where you have stuck non slip surface to the fence of your kapex. Do your problems occur with this enhancement attached? I was just wondering that if some of the grit of the non slip surface was proud, either close to the blade or at the far end of the fence, this may be enough to throw off your mitres?

I'm probably on the wrong track but worth a mention  [wink]

 

[Alan m]

first thing to check is to see if the fence is straight.
if it is then rick is corect
if not then it would be imposable to get 90 degrres on both sides

 

[mastercabman]

How much off are you talking about anyway?

 

[darita]

Hi Darita,

I have just read your other post 'Kapex fence Enhancement'. where you have stuck non slip surface to the fence of your kapex. Do your problems occur with this enhancement attached? I was just wondering that if some of the grit of the non slip surface was proud, either close to the blade or at the far end of the fence, this may be enough to throw off your mitres?

I'm probably on the wrong track but worth a mention   [wink]

I was aware that the new surface might make a change, so I adjusted the fence without the new surface.  There was no change after the addition.  By the way, I check 90* with a 12" Starrett Master Precision Square.  I hold it up and look for light.  If there's light in the joint, I keep tweeking.

 

[greg mann]

Hi Darita,

I have just read your other post 'Kapex fence Enhancement'. where you have stuck non slip surface to the fence of your kapex. Do your problems occur with this enhancement attached? I was just wondering that if some of the grit of the non slip surface was proud, either close to the blade or at the far end of the fence, this may be enough to throw off your mitres?

I'm probably on the wrong track but worth a mention   [wink]

I was aware that the new surface might make a change, so I adjusted the fence without the new surface.  There was no change after the addition.  By the way, I check 90* with a 12" Starrett Master Precision Square.  I hold it up and look for light.  If there's light in the joint, I keep tweeking.

Light can be seen @ .001 or .002". How good is the stock you are using for these tests? If it isn't very flat and true you will be chasing your tail. Do you have a good way to check your square for accuracy.

 

[darita]

Hi Darita,

I have just read your other post 'Kapex fence Enhancement'. where you have stuck non slip surface to the fence of your kapex. Do your problems occur with this enhancement attached? I was just wondering that if some of the grit of the non slip surface was proud, either close to the blade or at the far end of the fence, this may be enough to throw off your mitres?

I'm probably on the wrong track but worth a mention   [wink]

I was aware that the new surface might make a change, so I adjusted the fence without the new surface.  There was no change after the addition.  By the way, I check 90* with a 12" Starrett Master Precision Square.  I hold it up and look for light.  If there's light in the joint, I keep tweeking.

Light can be seen @ .001 or .002". How good is the stock you are using for these tests? If it isn't very flat and true you will be chasing your tail. Do you have a good way to check your square for accuracy.

I'm fairly certain that the square is 90*.  I have 7 different sized Starrett precision squares and all compare dead square to one another, to my untrained eye, using the same "looking for light" method.  I'm using 1/2" furniture grade ply that appears to be flat.  I've turned the piece in different directions, but all have given me consistent results.

 

[greg mann]

Hi Darita,

I have just read your other post 'Kapex fence Enhancement'. where you have stuck non slip surface to the fence of your kapex. Do your problems occur with this enhancement attached? I was just wondering that if some of the grit of the non slip surface was proud, either close to the blade or at the far end of the fence, this may be enough to throw off your mitres?

I'm probably on the wrong track but worth a mention   [wink]

I was aware that the new surface might make a change, so I adjusted the fence without the new surface.  There was no change after the addition.  By the way, I check 90* with a 12" Starrett Master Precision Square.  I hold it up and look for light.  If there's light in the joint, I keep tweeking.

Light can be seen @ .001 or .002". How good is the stock you are using for these tests? If it isn't very flat and true you will be chasing your tail. Do you have a good way to check your square for accuracy.

I'm fairly certain that the square is 90*.  I have 7 different sized Starrett precision squares and all compare dead square to one another, to my untrained eye, using the same "looking for light" method.  I'm using 1/2" furniture grade ply that appears to be flat.  I've turned the piece in different directions, but all have given me consistent results.

Over what length of cut are we talikng about? Do you have some shim stock you can slide into the 'light' to see how much deviation you have. I am suspecting technique, left-hand versus right hand, or depending on the amout of deviation, unrealistic expectations. I don't want to seem argumentative, but Rick is right. If the fence is flat and one side is 90 then the other side has to be also unless there is a new variable; like your non-stick material being different on one side than the other.

 

[darita]

Thanks. If its me, then I'll have to work on that. I'll have to think of the easiest way to check flatness of the fence. Straight edge and feeler gauges I guess. Test piece is 8 to 10" wide.

 

[Brice Burrell]

first thing to check is to see if the fence is straight.
if it is then rick is corect
if not then it would be imposable to get 90 degrres on both sides

The fence being out could be the problem.  Worst yet is that you may have bent the fence in your attempt to tweak the saw.  Here are quotes from Kodi and yourself (Darita) from the fence/laser thread. 

I had to adjust mine.  I spent about an hour adjusting the lasers, and another 3 hours or so adjusting the miter.  The miter adjustment is very very fine, hence why it took so long to get it "perfect".

The manual warns you, however before you take this on.  You could foul it up and make the settings worse.  So you have to be very careful.

I know what you mean about "fine".  Not having read the miter adjustment part of the supplemental, I adjusted the fence, rather than the detent stop ring. I loosened all but one fence bolt, then tweaked the left end just a fraction.  That one adjustment took care of it.  I don't know if that will mess anything else up, but that's the way I've adjusted all my other miter saws.  Hope it will be OK.

You may have bowed the fence, or maybe even permanently bent it, but that's not all that likely.  Check it with a good straight edge.   

 

[darita]

I don't think I bent the fence, because it moved pretty easily. In fact, all the fence bolts were rather loose. I'll check fence straightness when I get home. Thanks for the help.

 

[darita]

Fence straightness looks pretty good, to within about .002".  It must be something I'm doing to make the cut go off.  I'll keep working on it.  Thanks for the help and suggestions.