Festool Kapex

[Nativespec]

I was in between clients and was reading the Festool catalog and looking at their Kapex sliding chop saw. The price is $1,300 and the 10 1/4" blades use a 1.25" arbor (proprietary blades).

After accepting these facts I read on and found that the depth of cut is only 3.46"-this is a big show stopper since this means a 4x4 cannot be cut.

I guess it was not meant to be.

David

[Alan in Little Washington]

What is the depth of cut on your current 10" mitersaw? I'll bet not much more.

10" blade minus a 1 1/2 - 2" arbor flange leaves 8" divided by 2 = 4" at best. Maybe Kapex will have a 12" out in the future. Of course for $1300 you could buy two or three of the other brands!

A couple of 10" comparisons:

"DEWALT designed the DW713 . . . . Vertically, the saw offers best-in-class vertical capacity to cut up to 3-1/2-inch base molding . . . ."

Makita: LS1040: "90-degree crosscut capacity: 2-3/4 . . . . " LS1013 (slider): "90-degree crosscut capacity: 3-5/8 . . . . )

[Nativespec]

Alan:

I have a 12" Dewalt slider that I bought used from the old Woodcraft in Raleigh ($300 + tax). I think it sells for about $650. My point is that this will be hard to market in this country given its price and cut limit. I guess you could plane the 4x4 first to get it down to 3.46"

David

[RayH]

I guess the advantage of me being a novice is that I can say foolish things and folks just let it pass (hopefully).

$1300 for a saw that will only cut to less than 3 ½” depth and uses proprietary blades??? What a steal!!!

I have never gone beyond glancing at the Festool ads because of the price. Is there really value in the mighty green machines?? I’m not trying to pick a fight over this, but I am really curious about the cost/benefit of tools like this.

I’ll appreciate comments, good and bad.

RayH

[Nativespec]

I have the Domino and I believe it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I have the big circular saw and MFC table and think it is great.

I bought the planer and am not sure why.

I have the small square sander and think it is great.

I bought the 1400 router with the midi vac, but have not used it yet. I am looking forward to using it with the rails/table because of the time savings of not building a special jig everytime I need one.


David

[PeteQuad]

I am considering a nice Miter Saw of some kind and haven't decided yet - the Kapex is in my radar. I do not have, nor will I be buying, a table saw, and I want some extreme accuracy in a miter saw for furniture making (for the day that I can be extremely accurate ). I saw some interesting things in a video of that saw, and being unfamiliar with that type of saw am not sure if others can do similar things. Such as, accurate, flat bottomed non-through cuts using a built in stop.

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy. I just started thinking about this and need to look at the regular field of tools first.

[Travis Porter]

I am a newbie to Festool, but so far I can say I am impressed. I now have the mid sized vacuum and 3 of their sanders. I bought them for ease of sanding and better dust collection. I figured it would be better, but I would have never believed how much better. The dust collection is outstanding. The fact that all the tools use the same hose and power cord is a real plus. The sanders are extremely smooth. They must use precision bearings in them. Unfortunately, they are EXPENSIVE. Don't get me wrong, I would do it again, but they are not cheap. They won't do anything any other sander or tool won't do, they just do it smoother, faster and better.

I would love to get the TS55 saw and at some point the domino as well.

[Alan in Little Washington]

I don't own any Festools, but was thinking about the Kapex before I heard the price- more than I paid for my new Unisaw!!

I have friend who is "in the business" and he claimed the Festool sanders are great, better than any other brand he has owned. I let him try my pneumatic Dynabrade- he conceded that the sanding action, weight, and feel of the Dynabrade was equal to or better than his Festools. As far as a comparison of dust collection, don't know. Festool dust pickup on their plunge circular saw is good also. My friend uses both with his Festool vac during cabinet installation jobs and he swears by them. He doesn't need to take any parts outside to cut.

It is hard to say if the price is worth it- I guess it is an individual thing.

[Nativespec]

Travis:

I would (and did) buy the larger 75 saw. It's not that much more and will give a deeper cut which is an advantage when cutting a bevel.

I only own one of their sanders (the small rectangular one) and I am impressed. But I bought the Bosch dual mode 5" for about $240 and its dust collection is pretty darn good.

David

[Travis Porter]

I was torn on the Bosch sander and the Festool as they look almost identical. I haven't tried the Bosch, but I can say the Festool is a whole lot smoother and has less vibration than my right angle PC ROS.

So the 75 doesn't weight that much more than the 55? For some reason I thought there was a very big difference in size and weight.

[Nativespec]

Size and weight is larger and heavier but the capability is greater. I always use it in the rail and have not found it to be too heavy.

David