Thread: Dangerous Kapex

On Saturday I took my Kapex to Beyond Tools in Malaga because I had the problem of the plastic guard not dropping back down after cutting. I have still got all my fingers and toes but I would rather be safe. Today, Monday morning they rang and said it is fixed.

Just out of curiosity, do you have to take the kapex back to place of purchase or can it be taken to another festool stockists?

G'day Shane,
I took it back to the place I bought it from but I would think that you could take it to the nearest service centre. I will be collecting mine today - can't complain about the service!!

Originally Posted by Shedhand

OK! I finally found the problem. Its obviously a design flaw. The plastic safety guard (PSG) raises and lowers via a 2 piece bail-arm joined with a flat-headed rivet at the pivot point. This rivet head doesn't clear the rear of the PSG because the plastic protusion on the back of the PSG is about 5mm too long. I filed the protrusion gradually until the PSG returned smoothly. The amount filed ended up being 5mm (see photo **NOTE** I pushed the guard slightly to the left so I could photograph it). Now the PSG works perfectly as it should have in the first place. I haven't contacted Festool but if the their QA people are any good at their jobs they should have it fixed on the more recent versions of the machine. Or maybe Anthony can give them a buzz. Hope this helps others with the same problem.
Attachment 128691
Cheers
Sheddy in the Shed

I finally located this thread.
A few months ago I started haven the same problem intermittendly after a short offcut had gotten caught between the blade and the guard (had to remove the blade to get the piece of wood out).
A while later I experienced another known kapex issue (the stuck sliding fence) (allthough I was aware of this; kept the groove in the back clean of sawdust, and greased it with dry silicone spray; it got stuck anyway when trying to quickly putting it back on when I removed it for bevel cutting)
I then took the saw back to the dealer I got it from, to send it in for warranty repair (I only had a few weeks left of the 3 years). At the dealer's, the guard simply refused to get stuck; but I insisted he would put it on the warranty request form, because it was a known issue, and they'd know what to do.
After I got the saw back, the guard got stuck after a few cuts, and a bit later everytime the sawhead was lowered. I found one of the two threads you started at the fog-forum, but it only showed 1 picture (the one with the red circle before you did the filing.

Anyway, just printed the picture in this thread and went at it, I carefully removed a bit at a time, but the file I had thin enough to go between it was very fine, so it took a while; and I kept wondering how much you were taking off, it was only when I wanted to write this reply when I saw your ***NOTE*** of the pushing the guard to the side (I kept thinking: "if you take of THAT much, it wouldn't stop swiveling down anymore)

Sorry for the rambling, but it worked, and thanks very much for sharing this

O by the way, in what way was the replacement part they installed on your saw different than the original?

/edit: note to other people who might need this fix, aswell as the blade, you have to remove the transparent lens-cover for the lasers, to do this you first need to unscrew a posidrive screw on the side near the trigger, then you can push it forward a bit so it lowers and you can slide it out.