Thread: Kapex ks 80/120 compound mitre saw

thought i'd pipe up as i'm on roll. No experience with the Kapex...(they should rename it Cap Ex......seems appropriate)

I have a Makita compund mitre (i think its the 1013) for about 10yrs (i guess that was when Makita was Japanese made) i think i paid about $1100 for it back then (memory not so good). Im a weekend warrior too but i use it all the time (i was thinking that perhaps i should buy a new blade)....anyway its been accurate enough. The trick is you can make any saw super accurate with jigs and careful working. My mate is a master cabinet maker...his shop radial arm saw looks about 50 yrs old and has about 5 degree slop in the mechanism.....they all use it and get quality results as they know how. For example, for your mitres...it wouldnt be too hard to knock up a jig where u cut both sides of the mitre at the same time...as long as your jig is square the mitres will be 90......then chuck it on any saw. That being said i've started buying festool stuff because it works great, has superior dust extraction capabilities, is often quick to set up, accurate, a joy to use, and great customer service....if any of those things are important then its money well spent imo......the other manufacturers don't seem to get ticks in all those boxes

A friend of mine has a Kapex scms that he is very happy with. It is dead accurate and he uses it often for box making getting perfect 45 mitres without any trouble. I have one of the $300 saws and apart from docking timber to length you can forget it. If you can spare the money it is a no brainer.

Thanks for the replies fellas... It's as I thought. You get what you pay for and in this case you can even see the difference in pictures. But the price is a bit steep when the tool is going to gather dust in a corner most days...

A couple of years ago I lashed out over $2000 on the TS55, Midi dust extractor, guide rails and clamps. The bank account took a hit. I do not use the gear every day, or even weekly, however when it is used it is a joy to use, I love the ease of set up and big reduction in saw dust to clean up.

While the Kapex is a different tool, you will probably still be enjoying using it many years from now after you have forgotten the purchase price. I am sure you might even think to yourself, 'why didn't I get it sooner?'.

Bosch Glide saw is just as good as the Kapex for less money. It has no rails which makes it more compact but it is very heavy.

You can do better than a Kapex in my opinion. The Kapex is a beautifully designed saw, but woefully underengineered. I've had a troubled relationship with mine, as I have found the lasers difficult and fiddly to readjust, the zero clearance insert in the turntable has required replacement (twice) due to warping in humidity & temperature variations, and the safety guard doesn't always cover the blade following retraction. The intermittent nature of the last fault in particular makes this an extremely dangerous flaw: more so even than a Radial Arm saw.

The motor also appears underpowered in comparison to the others. It isn't down to the blade: it's the same irrespective of blade used. It's difficult to find cost effective blade replacements also: the unusual 260/30mm size limits choice. It is also, of course, in common with most Festool products and consumables, ludicrously overpriced!

In common with many Festool products the saw also appears a bit too frail and "plasticky" for my liking. It feels a bit too "lightweight" to resist the rigours of site work and multiple users. Festool make generally excellent workshop tools that were never really designed for harsh site work in my opinion.

While working at TAFE some years ago, all 7 of their Kapexes required remedial work to fix gearbox oil leaks.

It's not all bad. The Kapex has superior dust extraction when properly connected to a powerful vac with a big (35mm+) hose. It has a beautifully designed carriage tilt mechanism for bevelling, with an effective positive control as opposed to the "release and tilt" bevelling controls of the others. The "locked carriage, near cutting" skirting position allows deep cutting of narrow boards.

I also have a Bosch glide saw, which obviously has a wonderfully smooth action and superior cutting capacity. It does, however, flex slightly if allowed to at extremes of carriage travel. It's a big and heavy saw, designed I suspect for a long life.

I've used others also over the years. The Hitachi has a fantastic digital angle/bevel display that sits proud of the carriage, making it prone to knocks and damage when swinging around long boards (which I seem to do all the time). The Makita is a well regarded site saw, which while lacking in the overall accuracy of the Kapex, has huge capacity and a proven long life. The DeWalt is similar to the Makita in this regard, and also has a superior "shadow line" cutting guide instead of the usual one or 2 lasers of the others. Lasers are useless in sunlight, being rendered invisible to my (rather poor) eyesight.

Milwaukee apparently also makes a great SCMS, but I have never even seen, less than used, one.

One of the better saws at the moment is the Metabo. I've always had a very high regard for their tools. So does the company: in common with Festool and Milwaukee all offer an extended 3 year warranty on their products. Very confidence inspiring in my opinion. The Metabo, by virtue of its 315mm blade has the biggest capacity of all, and has the feeling of solidity and quality that the Kapex lacks. Dust collection is excellent too.

Best value for money in my opinion is the DeWalt, currently retailing about $900 odd. Best tech. and performance would have to be the Metabo, despite it's $1200 price tag. Worst value for money, but greatest accuracy and smallest capacity is the Kapex.

Originally Posted by Ratbag

.... and the safety guard doesn't always cover the blade following retraction. The intermittent nature of the last fault in particular makes this an extremely dangerous flaw: more so even than a Radial Arm saw.

Ratty, as far as I know this was for saws produced before around the first quarter of 2010, and was subsequently fixed (I purchased mine in May 2010 and it had the new fix on it). I'm pretty sure that the older ones can also have the fix applied, with a replacement part.

Originally Posted by safari

A friend of mine has a Kapex scms that he is very happy with. It is dead accurate and he uses it often for box making getting perfect 45 mitres without any trouble.

Hi Jorge,

I also make picture frames and mitred boxes straight off the Kapex. Beautiful. In contrast to the experience of ratbag, I have had no trouble docking and mitreing 200 and 300 mm width 32- 38 mm deep Jarrah and Red Gum boards (which makes it comparable to my Makita LS1214!). Just using a standard Kapex Universal blade. Even if it sits in the corner most days, the reproducibilty and stability will inspire confidence in your ability to make correct cuts every time.

I've had mine for about 5 years (I bought one of the first ones) and it hasn't missed a beat. Lasers don't move, blade cover comes down OK, it's just a joy to use. And the saw gets used daily. It also gets moved around within the workshop when I need extra space. Go for it!!

Regards,

Rob

Dewalt for mine, works like a charm. I suppose I should get around to "tuning" it since it is getting on 3 years old. Apparently there are adjustment screws for getting the angle of degrees to match the template, you know the guy in the factory just may no have put it together like it was going into his shed. On my third blade as I cut just about everything I can with it. Makita circ saw stays put in the triton as saw table(hardly used in 3 years now). Done solid timber flooring, 2 crates of blackbutt will blunt a blade, stud timbers am in middle of shed shelving right now etc.
by the way if you cut a 45 mitre and the saw is 1 degree out, one side is 44 and the other is 46 it still adds up to 90 will suffice for most jobs. I did come unstuck wanting to make an octagon box for SWMBO (1 degree out x 8 joins means nobody meets anybody) hence I looked up tuning of said saw. As yet octagon box MkI is now cut into other more important sawdust. Octagon MkII to come one day.
FWIW once you have said saw you will learn to cut accordingly paper wedges will give you 1/2 a degree etc for that fine work required but general use mostly drop chop glue up the slop (just came to me ha ha)
cheers