Thread: Bosch v Festool SCMS

A couple of cents worth (and no, I'm not a FT "fanboy" ).

I have the Kapex and the only other saw I can compare it with is a 1980s Makita clunker, so none of the modern saws have been in my hand.

The cut, especially with an 80 tooth blade, is beautifully smooth on end grain - this is not always important of course. I like that I can get a 60° mitre, and I really like the clamping system (quick, and strong if you employ a certain technique), but it needs a supplementary clamp for short pieces (shortest piece is about 200mm from memory).

It's reasonably light, but that is irrelevant to me as it is fixed in place. I made my own clamp attached to the "wing" so I could hold very short pieces.

DE is reasonable (but I haven't seen others) and I use a 36mm hose. I also have a 4" intake to the big DC near the back of the cut for when I'm doing either large cuts or numerous small ones - this helps a very great deal, and there is not much dust left behind when I use the VC and the DC in tandem.

I purchased an after market zero clearance phenolic strip (purpose made for the Kapex) for USD20 and this improved the DC a fair bit (and stops the channel from filling up with crud. O'course as soon as I cut the first bevel it was no longer zero clearance, but still not too bad. Lee Valley sell vinyl strips for ZC that will go on any saw. They are cheap and disposable ($1 each?)

It may well be that other saws will deliver the same smooth cut, and have good clamping. The latter is always important, the former only sometimes.

The trenching function is pretty limited in its scope. Furthermore there is a slight rubbery feel at the bottom end which means that the various cuts may not be quite the same depth (if you use different pressures for each cut).

HTH

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

......there is a slight rubbery feel at the bottom end which means that the various cuts may not be quite the same depth (if you use different pressures for each cut).

HTH

I have this problem with the Bosch Glide as well. I haven't used the Kapex so I can't comment if it's better or worse. I do like the Bosch though. DE is quite bad as others have reported, but the great thing about having it on the gravity mobile base is I can easily set it up outside and not have to worry about the mess.