If you own a Festool Kapex

4/7/19, 6:02 PM #1

Dick Coers
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If you own a Festool Kapex

Dick Coers

Long story short, don't cut off short pieces of 3" dowel stock without a zero clearance fence.

Long story; Cut off a 3" long piece of 3" maple dowel I had turned. I think the round cutoff rotated at the end of the cut and it sounded like the saw exploded. The cutoff had climbed up and ejected through the opening of the fence. Can't say for sure if I let the saw head pivot up or not. Anyway, the blade had a horrible wobble. Ordered a new blade. Put new blade on, still wobbled. Watched a youtube video on rebuilding the saw, and decided pulling the shaft was only three bolts, so why send it away. Easily pulled the shaft assembly out, put it in a vise and brought up a dial indicator. Zero runout, so didn't bend the shaft. By chance I looked at the back saw blade washer. It was bent so badly I could see it with my bad eyes. Put the two washers together, the gap was more than 1/32" off from one side to the other. Could not imagine how the blade deflecting could bend that washer, but ordered a new one. $32.41 and I'm back in business! Well that and the new blade I didn't need. I definitely checked all my digits when that cutoff exploded through the saw. Luckily had my hands in the correct places. Very fortunate!

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 1:43 AM #2

Barry Irby
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Thank you for the warning.....

Barry Irby

I don't have a Kapex but the fence on my Makita has a gap in it and it may do the same thing. This sounds like a mistake I would make. Thanks for the warning. Glad you weren't hurt.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 10:24 AM #3

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN
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Question

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

Did you hold the saw down while the blade came to a stop, or did you allow it to raise while the blade was still spinning.

I don't have a Kapex, but I found with my DeWalt slider that if I had a small offcut in danger of being flung by the blade, I would make the cut, and let the blade come to a full stop before raising it, and the chance of a projectile is very nearly zero then.

Jason

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 1:50 PM #4

John in NM
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Same here...

John in NM

I often keep the blade down on my ancient Hitachi for that very reason.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 2:48 PM #5

Stuart Johnson
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Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

Stuart Johnson

I recently had a boat load of shoe molding that required some very little end pieces and would loose half of them when the kicked back. I finally started to have good success by bringing the blade down toward the piece and then letting go of the trigger. The blade had enough momentum to make a nice clean cut but didn't fling the piece about.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 4:19 PM #6

Barry Irby
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I have watched a number of videos....

Barry Irby

on chop saws, some of them Kapex I think, and the demonstrators nearly always stress allowing the saw to come to a stop before raising it back up. I thought that was unusual. I am self taught and have never even read the manual, but I have never bothers to wait on the saw. I thought they were waiting to avoid the blade damaging the end of the piece. Maybe it was for safety.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 5:04 PM #7

Dick Coers
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Can't really say

Dick Coers

I'm well versed in the safest way to use the saw, but honestly can't say if I let the motor up a little or not. I also can't remember if I had the two moveable fence sections closed together as tight as they can go. It's been a couple of months since the explosion. Feeling like a dumbass didn't encourage me to hurry up and see how I damaged a high end machine. Well that and it's cycling season now in Illinois. So add in some operator error with the chance of a 3" diameter dowel section being able to easily move on the table, and it made for a scare. I still would never imagine the back washer would bend in a situation like this. Blade damage yes, but not that washer. Certainly cheaper than a new blade though.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/8/19, 8:49 PM #8

Kneale Brownson
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My first-ever chop saw, long departed, had a brake

Kneale Brownson

and I got used to letting the blade stop before raising. Glad for that after reading here.

- - -

I’m a fairly spry 82-year-old who had been a reader/participant at WoodCentral since the demise of Badger Pond. I started visiting BP to learn something about finish for a project I’d completed and became hooked on internet forums as a way of increasing my knowledge about all sorts of topics. I have been a moderator for a couple other forums on subjects I enjoy. My interest in woodworking began in the early 1970’s when my wife and I had contractors add to our house near Traverse City, MI, and I ended up doing the trim work to reduce mounting costs. I had no tools. I bought a P-C skilsaw, hammer, screwdrivers and one of those wooden miter boxes with a backsaw. I made trim for windows and doors from one-by lumber and started my woodworking career. At the same time, I started a 50-year career as a ski instructor. I got onto the night shift at a mental hospital so I could ski days, and spent my 30s and 40s with that schedule. I eventually replaced the PC-upside-down-in-a-board with a real table saw and began the purchase of enough equipment to fill a jam-packed 40-foot shipping container we used after we sold our property in Michigan. The ski instructing had taken us to Colorado and we were spending too much on maintaining utilities for two homes. A couple years ago, the dozen years spent at 10,000 feet of elevation was making my body produce too many red blood cells, so we had to leave my “forever” home in the mountains and we moved back to Michigan. Now I have to find myself a shop space for all those tools in the container.

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/9/19, 10:11 AM #9

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN
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Re: I have watched a number of videos....

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

I only worry about it on small pieces that are the offcut, and that I intend to save. If I'm chopping a 16' long piece of baseboard in half, I don't worry about it.

Jason

Re: If you own a Festool Kapex

4/9/19, 11:49 AM #10

AZ
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Re: I have watched a number of videos....

AZ in Colorado Springs

The DeWalt manual (I did read it) says to let the blade stop before raising it. I think it's both to prevent a more scarred end of the stock and to prevent this kind of kick back -- flinging the offcut.

If you own a Festool Kapex

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