Trouble shooting Kapex KS 120 EB

[Stratus]

Hi, new to the forum, not new to festool. I’m mostly a hobbyist these days but with lots of professional saw mill experience.

I just took a gamble and bought a broken kapex super cheap and am planning to replace the armature myself. The saw is otherwise in good shape with minimal wear.

I was told it was dead with no further details of how it died except that they were cutting 8/4 oak with a dull blade  [blink]. Back home, I tried firing it up - it struggled to spin and did but weakly with lots of hesitation, the lights (on the same circuit) started dimming and it started to smell nutty. I stopped before tripping the breaker.

I read all of the armature posts on FOG and noticed some also mentioning they also needed a new controller. I’m sure I need the armature. Is there a good way to test if I need the controller as well?

 

[Stratus]

Ok, fixed it after some sleuthing- previous owner must have tried fixing it but had connected the wires incorrectly!

 

[ChuckM]

Surprised to hear that the saw actually spun a bit even though some wire connection was wrongly done!

 

[Ron B]

Bravo for fixing it!  I know I am showing my age,  but in today's world it seems no one knows how to fix anything, or how to maintain anything today.  I miss the days when my dad would take me to the local blacksmith and we would get some farm item beaten back straight and welded together.  Now everything is throw-away and we have do depend on some supplier half way around the world. 

You mentioned you worked at saw mills. We had a tractor mounted circular saw-probably 36-42" that mounted to the front of the tractor and ran off of the endless belt pully.  We ran it on a 1941 SC Case.  No safety guards, no nothing-just that blade turning with the power of a tractor behind it.  It could create a big wood pile in no time!  Our chainsaw at that time was a two man saw.  The engine did not tilt, instead the engine would stay upright and the bar would rotate 90 degrees.  The end of the bar had a handle at the tip end for the 2nd person to help guide the saw.  It was like carrying a VW engine around, but it would cut!

 

[Packard]

I read the title and thought, “What could be so difficult about shooting a Kapex?  Get out your pistol.  Aim.  Fire.  Easy.”

Read down further and found that this is about “troubleshooting”.  My bad.