Sent my Kapex in for a tune-up, works better than ever!

[Tom the Remodeler]

I recently sent in my Kapex for a tune up.

The blade guard arm (497504) had deformed over time where it rides on the bearing behind the dust extractor port, so the action to draw the blade down had become quite stiff. My Kapex was also in the first batch to be shipped to North America, and experienced all of the problems that first batch experienced (remember when we were calling it the "Scrapex"?). The fence action had stiffened over time. Generally, the saw had been bouncing around in my Sprinter it's entire life, and it needed some TLC.

I shipped the saw to Festool on January 15th, and received it back on January 24th, a very impressive turnaround time! Service performed included new carbon brushes, power cord, armature, bearings, "housing"(?), cleaning and a full alignment. Not only was the stiffness in the blade resolved, but the miter function is works more smoothly than it ever has!

Russell V worked on my saw, and I just wanted say a big "Thank You" to Russell for performing a great job on the saw. Keep up the great work!
Best,
Tom

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Tom,

Thanks for sharing your service experience. The service guys are awesome! I'll be sure to share your post with Russell and his manager.

Shane

 

[briankb]

That is great to hear! I am just starting to use my festool collection. I doubt with the limited time I will put on them that they will have issues but if so it will probably be long after the 3yr warranty. If you don't mind sharing. What did it cost to have them give your Kapex a tune-up? I'm assuming it was out of warranty of course.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

That is great to hear! I am just starting to use my festool collection. I doubt with the limited time I will put on them that they will have issues but if so it will probably be long after the 3yr warranty. If you don't mind sharing. What did it cost to have them give your Kapex a tune-up? I'm assuming it was out of warranty of course.

Hi Brian, glad to hear you're getting into Festool! Oh yeah, this Kapex was LOOOOONG out of warranty!  [tongue]

I first contacted the Festool service department, they gave me a part # and transferred me to sales. The part # was for the original shipping box and inserts for the Kapex, Festool shipped this to me as well as detailed instructions on best practices for packaging the saw for shipment.

Being out of warranty, I am responsible for shipping costs.

In total, shipping included, I probably spent $350, of which $160 went towards a new armature. Looking at the service break down, I feel that I got a great value for the amount of work they performed on this saw.

I understand that some would scoff at paying this amount for a repair, but the way I figure it, if I'm going to spend $1400 on a miter saw it needs to perform at the highest level. Besides, I have a tool repair budget figured into my job pricing.

Remember, every saw is going to be different in regards to service needed, the above info relates strictly to my saw and its service needs. I hope this was helpful!

 

[RKA]

That's really quite reasonable for a thorough work over of the saw, shipping both ways and shipping of the proper packing materials to you!