The Festool Kapex, page four.

A unique feature on the Kapex is the rack and pinion micro bevel adjustment. The right rail has a handle on the front that turns the bevel adjustment gears to fine tune the bevel angle.

Here’s a picture of the back of the Kapex with the cover removed to show the gears that adjust the bevel.

I noticed the sound of metal to metal when adjusting the bevel, so took the back of the saw off to see what was making the sound. It’s the bevel locking device that makes this sound. The bevel lock rides along a steel flange (that also acts as the stops for the bevel setting); in this picture you can see a small line where the lock rides along the flange. I don’t see this doing damage to the saw, but time will tell.

The micro bevel adjustment is one of the features that I’m excited about, with the large scale and this micro adjustment in is possible to set the bevel to ¼ degree repeatedly. This feature will come in handy when it comes time to tweak a miter on a baseboard.

The Kapex’s power switch (trigger) is two stage like the TS plunge cut saws, with one difference. The trigger must be pressed part way to lower the saw blade, then the safety button then the trigger can be pressed all the way to the “On” position. At first I found this very awkward. The Kapex has a vertical handle that sits high on the saw, reaching up this high and depressing the trigger was the issue. It sort of bent my wrist in an uncomfortable angle. However, by the end of the first day of use I settled in on a method that worked well for me. My method is to not wrap my index finger around the trigger, but rather keep it straight. The Kapex is set up to be used with right or left handed, notice that I’m using my left hand, normally I’m a righty and I have no problems using either hand.

The dual lasers, well I don’t consider myself a “laser” kind of guy, I’ve always used the blade to align the cut and that has always worked well for me. My other miter has a laser on it, but I didn’t use it much. Like I said, my method works, why change it now? Well, efficiency, the lasers can help align cuts when the saw blade can’t be placed on your measurement marks; that can speed up the process and increase accuracy. The lasers are easy to adjust, follow the directions in the manual and you have the lasers setup perfectly in no time.

The Kapex comes with the angle transfer device, “angle finder”. The angle finder can be used on both inside and outside corners. Once the angle is set, take the angle finder over to the saw, align one of the lasers with the line on the angle finder, now you have perfectly bisected angle. The angle stores in the saw’s base, in the slot in the left side of the base, shown in the photo here.

The two sliding fence extensions give the saw another 90 mm (about 3 ½”) for a total fence height of 120 mm (about 4 9/16”). The fences slide to move out of the way for bevel cuts and they can be removed entirely. They have a locking lever in the back and a set screw to prevent them from being removed, the screw can be adjusted (screwed in) to allow the fences to be slid off the saw. Fences have holes to attach a wooden sacrificial fence. The fences are made of the same material as the base, a light weight magnesium alloy.

Also included is a hold down clamp. What I really like about the hold down is how easy it is to use, so easy in fact, I have actually used it. The hold down from my last saw was so inconvenient that I never used it. I took it out of the box, tried it and then placed in on a shelf somewhere and haven’t used it since. The Festool hold down has cam like clamping action that the Festool Clamping Elements have. No time consuming screw clamp like the old saw. This is a small thing that can make a big difference in time savings and safety. I’ll now enjoy the added safety that a hold down clamp provides. In the picture above, I’m using the hold down clamp to secure an acute angle jig.

The special cutting position fixes the carriage so the saw acts like a chop saw; this holds the saw in the perfect position to maximize the cutting height. This position can used when cutting crown “nested” or “in position”. To set the saw to the special cutting position there is a lever that folds down, this engages in the back carriage to lock in place. There is a small green button on the back of the carriage to release the lock; you can see it in this picture.

The Kapex uses the Fast Fix blade changing system. The green knob behind the handle is the Fast Fix; turn it to lock the spindle and lockout the power switch (it’s still a good idea to unplug the saw). First, with the Allen wrench located on the back of the saw, loosen the bolt move the arbor bolt guard out of the way. Then remove the arbor bolt and outer flange, it is a lefthand thread, turn it clockwise to remove. Depress the power switch to move the blade guard out of the way to remove the blade. Reverse the process to install the new blade, remember to turn the arbor bolt counterclockwise or anticlockwise to tighten. The saw and blades have an arrow printed on them to indicate the proper orientation.

Page Five.