What have you found as your primary complaints of the Kapex?

[lagunaboo]

definately a burr in my case, new fences are machined perfectly.

Oh, and for Eli (Mungo), here is the box for the kapex

 

[mrwilby]

Sorry, mine has been long since replaced and I don't have a photo. I've had my kapex since last year. I'm in Finland.

Furthermore, I fail to see how a burr could be responsible, unless it was introduced at the factory and then the fence was damaged (at the factory). The fence was jammed since the get go. I.e. it was already jammed when I unpacked it.

I love my festool gear (I have a lot) but I can tell you, this was either gunked up at the factory, or then it was badly machined... and I stand by my earlier comments. From what I observed as my dealer replaced the fence, it looked badly machined to me.

Either way, it was replaced, and as I said, I'm not convinced my replacement is perfect. At this price we pay in Europe, it should be.

I'm sure you'll all love it when it is unleashed on that side of the pond. I cannot fault anything else about it.

 

[joiner1970]

I was speaking to a very good Festool dealer here in the UK and that was the only complaint he had about the Kapex, the stiff fence which he has had a couple back to be changed.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I agree with Eli, are you sure it was the machining quality, I bet some type of hard debris made its way between the pieces and cut into the metal producing a few burrs. Festool is know for high quality machining, I don't think your Kapex left the factory with any part that could be described as dire. I'm not suggesting you didn't have a problem or that Festool shouldn't look into improving this design.

Brice,

The machined ends of my MFS 400 and extra pair of 700mm extrusions are not smooth.  It appears the cutting edges of the machine bit were moving quite quickly across the extrusions.  I have not assembled and used them to determine if this will cause any problems with alignment accuracy.

Dave R.

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Dave, the ends MFS profiles are not perfectly smooth, that's true. They are perfectly square and for the purpose they are intended for the machining is fine. Check out the pic, its very hard to see the small lines left by the cutting operation, what you can see in this pic is the fact the machining isn't dire.

 

[ccmviking]

What I hate most about the Kapex is the availability.  Where are they?  June 1 launch are you kidding me?  If there are 100 or 500 of them on this great land of ours go ahead and ship Festool.  I guess I don't really get the June 1 or May 1 or whatever thingy.  Ship'em if you've got'em (I'll coin that phrase). 

Chris... 

 

[richard.selwyn]

I mentioned already in another thread I think, my only criticism of the Kapex concerns the accessory outrigger "stands".  They are very transportable but suffer from that fact by not being 100% rigid or accurate.  I would not recommend buying them unless you plan on taking your Kapex out on site regularly, in which case they are quite a good compromise.  Another comment - but not a criticism - the dust extraction needs a powerful vac - I use a CT33 - the CT mini didn't catch nearly as much dust.

 

[Eli]

what you can see in this pic is the fact the machining isn't dire.

;D ;D ;D

 

[Brice Burrell]

Chris, bad news, the Kapex isn't coming out until July 1.

 

[Eli]

So Brice, I think this is as appropriate a place as any, was I right about what a great saw the Kapex is? 

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Eli, in a word, yes. It's what you'd expect from Festool, a well designed and built tool. In Henderson I tried to look at the small things that make a good saw, the little things that add to or take away from usability. Like being able to set the saw 1/4 of a degree away from a detent, the blade guard easily move out of the way, good visibility on both sides of the blade and so on. The lasers don't mean a whole lot to me, but the dust collection and the trenching feature are great. However, its the ability to fine tune the bevel that I think I'm most impressed with. That's going to save a lot of time mitering taller base on the flat, being able to tweak that miter is going to be much easier with the Kapex.

  I have some concerns too and they all have to do with cost. The saw is a big investment, add the cost of blades, a dedicated vac (I think you need one), a D36 hose, vac filter bags and a saw stand/fences, you're talking about a lot of money. One more big concern, after a year, how much is it going to cost to have it shipped back to Festool if it needs repair or adjustment??

 

[Eli]

Expensive, yes.  :-[

Cheaper in the long run. I still think so.  ;D

Wouldn't trade mine for two of any other brand.

 

[nickao]

  Eli, in a word, yes. It's what you'd expect from Festool, a well designed and built tool. In Henderson I tried to look at the small things that make a good saw, the little things that add to or take away from usability. Like being able to set the saw 1/4 of a degree away from a detent, the blade guard easily move out of the way, good visibility on both sides of the blade and so on. The lasers don't mean a whole lot to me, but the dust collection and the trenching feature are great. However, its the ability to fine tune the bevel that I think I'm most impressed with. That's going to save a lot of time mitering taller base on the flat, being able to tweak that miter is going to be much easier with the Kapex.

  I have some concerns too and they all have to do with cost. The saw is a big investment, add the cost of blades, a dedicated vac (I think you need one), a D36 hose, vac filter bags and a saw stand/fences, you're talking about a lot of money. One more big concern, after a year, how much is it going to cost to have it shipped back to Festool if it needs repair or adjustment??

Brice don't scare me!

I have been using my clunky Ridgid slider for 4 years and although not the best saw it has never broken down(save a squeaky brake that I finally repaired with a good cleaning). Its been used everyday and even on job sites by many workers using(abusing) it. It never entered my mind that the Kapex would fail in a year. What a pisser that would be!

 

[Dan Clermont]

What I hate most about the Kapex is the availability.  Where are they?  June 1 launch are you kidding me?  If there are 100 or 500 of them on this great land of ours go ahead and ship Festool.  I guess I don't really get the June 1 or May 1 or whatever thingy.  Ship'em if you've got'em (I'll coin that phrase). 

Chris... 

Hi Chris

Festool USA is currently building inventory at the warehouse. I was told they need a demo saw for each dealer which equates to 500 saws just for the dealers!!!

They won't ship to end users until July 1st just like the MFT 3, MFK 700 and OF 2200 won't ship till May 1st.

Dan Clermont

 

[joiner1970]

Steve Maskery who rights for magazines here in the UK and posts on the UKworkshop forum, visited the Festool factory recently and said that it takes just short of 5 minutes to build a Kapex and they are making 78 per day in Germany. Wether this will speed up once you Yanks start buying them is anyones guess.