What's a good material for inserts for Kapex?

[erikfsn]

I've read that some people have replaced the plastic ones with MDF, but I was wondering what other materials would be good.
Any suggestions?

Erik

 

[woodshopdemos]

oak flooring...BUT that is alot of work to create an exact copy. I find that there is too little time to do things so I would rather pay for a replacement.

 

[Warrior]

ebony works pretty well  ;D. but I made mine out of baltic birch. Mine is pretty worn and I think I will replace it with an exotic hardwood.  I have plenty of scrap material in hardwoods to make a few.

I really liked the insert when it was new. After making some bevel cuts it ceases to be a zero clearance insert. I think it might be good to have one for bevels and one for straight cuts. but that also will most likely too much trouble to switch them out.

I will maybe make one that has a replaceable center so I can insert a new center when I want a fresh zero clearance.

 

[justinmcf]

i replaced mine with tasmanian oak, took about 20 minutes to make 2.

everybody that comes into the workshop thinks it looks great, but they also ask, did i have to do the same with my other cheaper dropsaws, i honestly never did have to replace this part before on the other well known brands.

makes me wonder why we are paying through the nose, when festool let little things like this slip through the cracks...........

 

[justinh]

If you cut a very shallow 1" dado in the middle of the homemade zero clearance plate you can use the Fastcap Fast edge tape to make the replacement strips.  When it gets a little sloppy or you change the blade, you just pull off the tape and replace it with a new strip.  I have one set up this way on my DW716. 

Justin

 

[johnsonri]

I haven't used anything but MDF on mine. To me MDF seems perfect for the task...it is durable for its purpose and cheap to buy and replace.

The MDF insert and fence face, when totalled, together costs just over a US dollar. At that price, I'm fine with them being consumable items that I replace every so often.