Thread: Festool Kapex KS-120 Oil Leak

I had a little dribble on my saw but with constant use it has seem to of disappear, I talk to the festool rep about it and he said a sometimes they leak a bit from new but should go away and it did

Thanks for the reply. After emailing Festool, they have asked me to return the saw for a check and repair. The laser requires work as well because I cannot get it aligned as good as I expect it to be. I am sure they will sort it out for me and then I can get some work done with it now my workshop is up and running again.

Col.

Some years ago I was doing some casual teaching and TA'ing at a local TAFE.

All seven of their Kapexes developed oil leaks, requiring removal and repair.

Given my personal experience with my own Kapex as well, I concluded that they really aren't a particularly good saw.

I tend to agree with you. I found that my Hitachi saw, the smaller 8 1/4 inch version, was easier to use and adjust and all round a much better saw and I could have purchased two of those for the price of the Kapex. I have the Kapex now so I will have to make the most of it. I now wish that I hadn't been so hasty in purchasing it and also selling the Hitachi for next to nothing. I have learned that it isn't always about how much something costs in relation to how good it is or isn't. Tool snobbery maybe. (me, another victim)

Col
Lara, Vic

Originally Posted by Locky

I had a little dribble on my saw but with constant use it has seem to of disappear, I talk to the festool rep about it and he said a sometimes they leak a bit from new but should go away and it did

After just re-reading this it reminded me of the sticker I had on my old Landrover. "Ät least when it leaks I know there is still oil in it". One of my ex Harleys could have used the same sticker. Always leaking oil. Glad to say my current bike is dry and clean.

Col.

I got my Kapex back yesterday. All fixed and a very quick turn around too. It came back packaged as new. Box, foam and all, so it was well cared for which put a smile on my face. A new part was fitted to prevent the oil leak and laser aligned properly.

Total Tools (Geelong) and Festool

Col.
Lara. Vic

I also have the Kapex saw,this one is my second one as I wore the first one out after 5 years, When I sent it back for a rebuild, the people at Festool wanted to send it back to Germany for evaluation and appraisal as they said it had done the most work of any Kapex they had ever seen. So they sent the saw back and about a week later they said that they would give me a new saw for approximately half price as it was not worth sending my saw back and repairing it. I have owned every other brand of saw except the awful new Bosch one and can say that the Kapex and the service from Festool is second to none.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

I have owned every other brand of saw except the awful new Bosch one

Please tell us more about the Bosch.

I certainly don't find my Bosch Glide Saw to be "awful". In the 2 years I've had one I've found it to be easy to use, accurate, safe and reliable.

The Kapex I owned, by contrast, was the opposite: Difficult to adjust accurately, at times inaccurate, unsafe and dangerously unreliable.

If pressed I would have to criticise the Bosch in being rather heavy and (when fitted to it's gravity rise carriage) rather cumbersome to wheel through narrow doorways.

Originally Posted by Ratbag

I certainly don't find my Bosch Glide Saw to be "awful". In the 2 years I've had one I've found it to be easy to use, accurate, safe and reliable.

The Kapex I owned, by contrast, was the opposite: Difficult to adjust accurately, at times inaccurate, unsafe and dangerously unreliable.

If pressed I would have to criticise the Bosch in being rather heavy and (when fitted to it's gravity rise carriage) rather cumbersome to wheel through narrow doorways.

I also found the new Bosch Glide awful and returned it and purchased the Kapex. There was too much movement in the Bosch which for carpentry is probably good enough but for joinery and fine work it was unacceptable. To me anyway. To be honest, the smaller Hitachi with a fine tooth blade was better than the Bosch and Kapex. It was lighter, easy to adjust and I found it very accurate. The Kapex is fine once you get used to it but the Bosch is too big, heavy and cumbersome with too many moving parts which will only lead to greater inaccuracy once it starts to show some age. If you happen to put any pressure other than straight down on the Bosch you get a degree or more difference in the cut. it does not happen with the Kapex or Hitachi.

Thats just my 2 cents worth anyway.

Regards Col.

Leaking Kapex's, Glidess that move during use, I guess it is back to a mitre box and hand saw.

I've just bought the saw in question, maybe 2 or 3 months ago, I hope the issue is resolved! For 2.5 G I have high hopes!

Originally Posted by Col

I have a Festool Kapex Ks-120. I have had it a year or so but it hasn't seen much use due to a recent house relocation. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I went out into the workshop yesterday after all of the strong winds just to check all was well and I noticed a pool of what I thought was water on the Festool saw. Bloody roof leak I thought but on closer inspection and a feel and smell it is oil leaking from the saw spindle down the plastic guard and pooling underneath. Not happy at all considering the saw would have done a total of less than two hours work. Now the time consuming task of unbolting it all and taking it to a service depot for repair and hopefully no arguements.

Has anyone else out there had an oil leak from a similar saw? Maybe just a one off I hope.

Col.
Lara Vic.

Hi just to let you know that the oil leak is caused by a leaking bearing seal and to rectify this it, needs to be sent to a festool service agent as it is a fairly major strip down, sorry it is not good news, it would be worth shouting out loud about the prob as it should not have occurred in such a short space of time assuming of course you have owned the machine from new. Regards Graham