A recall would only be indicated if this was happening to a number of users regularly.  This is the first time I've read of this particular failure mode myself.

How old is the saw?  How has it been stored?  Any loose nuts or bolts on the floor from the guard letting go?

I note you said, "...still being held down by the hold downs." Did you have your work clamped on both sides of the saw blade?
If so, that likely caused your kickback. You never want to clamp the wood on both sides of the blade. Many boards have tension in them from built-in twisting or warping and you release that tension when you start your cut. The relieved tension in the wood has to have somewhere to escape. If locked down on both sides of the kerf, the wood can bind against the blade and will cause a kickback. You'll want to replace the guard and hopefully there is no other damage to the saw.
Sorry you had the problem. Hopefully you can get your Kapex up and running again soon and not experience any other issues. The Kapex is a great saw, just be careful to use proper and safe techniques.
Good luck!

No, that's just a typo.  It was being held down on just one side.  Also, the cut didn't make it even a full 1/2 way through the board (it basically cut a little more than a nick in the board, which is why my first reaction was that there was something in the board), so relieved tension could not be an issue because it never even got that far.

Not sure if this helps in anyway:

https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tool-problems/kapex-120-broken-blade-guard-dust-shroud-during-cut/?PHPSESSID=3qd76d86iv0sc350v61d4hnur4

I was using my Kapex 120 EB today.  I went to make a basic cut on a 1/2" x 4" piece of oak when both of the following happened (I'm not sure in which order): the clear plastic blade guard cracked in several places and the saw "kicked" and did not come anywhere near completing the cut.

At first, I thought that it might have been some sort of user error, but the wood was still being held down by the hold down (singular) and was flat against both the table and the fence.  There was nothing wrong with the workpiece either. 

My revised hypothesis is that the blade guard itself failed - released quickly and activated a stop in the machine which explains why the cut was barely just begun. 

Has anyone had this happen before?  Has anyone replaced a cracked blade guard?  If my hypothesis is correct, this seems like a pretty major issue that Festool needs to resolve promptly with a recall and replacement of the blade guards. 

Edit to add: This was the first cut of the day - There were not prior cuts where a piece of wood may have gotten caught in the mechanism.  The cut did not eve make it through the depth of the wood - so only about 1/4" of the top half of the wood was cut.

 I have had my first one since 2011 I think (whenever they were first sold in the US). No problems other the burnout a good majority of them suffer from. I replaced the part and was back in the game immediately. You just had a case of bad luck.

I might suggest that you contact Festool directly about your issue.

Peter

...
Release of the trigger
...

This.

When I shredded the blade guard on my Makita chopsaw (LS1040), the saw stopped very fast indeed - the shock from the noise meant I reflexively released the trigger, the motor break kicked-off and the blade stopped still stuck "inside" what was left of the blade guard.

Turned out - in my case - the blade guard came loose, "interacted" with the blade, which in turn made mincemeat out of it. It was in like 20 pieces all over the shop, biggest piece still stuck under the saw. Only a small 3" part was still connected with the guard pivot ...

Thankfuly no flying piece of plastic hit me in the eye. That is when I learned to wear glasses even working with "blade-protected" tools ... eh.

Nothing against Makita, it was a pure operator error - I have apparently not secured the guard "fixing" nut after a blade change the day earlier.

After that, I tested a bit, and with te LS1040 the same can happen when a major side-force is inadvertently applied to the guard - it can force the guard to come in contact with the blade and bad things happen then.


Point being, AFTER an incident like this the shock will make people forget what they did immediately before #&@# hit that fan. The reason I reliably know the cause is the screw securing the guard on my saw was very very loose. I completely missed the guard "falling" into the blade during the cut - it happened too fast.

Had I somehow pushed the guard into the blade instead, I would probably not remember that happening ..


I would advise to review the mechanism, screws, etc. and try to see what might have caused -or allowed- the blade to contact with the guard. This includes testing how much side-force you would need to apply to make that happen on your saw. Not have a Kapex, but I was surprised how little was needed with my Makita. I my case I found that a hand moving around and hitting the guard would do the trick ..

Thinking about this more, I would say the KAPEX guard is WAY BETTER than the one on my Makita /and most other saws/ which are transparent.

To be transparent, a non-reinforced polycarbonate is used - which is fragile in turn. On the LS1040 the interaction with the blade shattered the guard into tens of sharp pieces which were sent flying around the shop. So in my case the blade clearly won the encounter.  Better than pieces of blade flying, but not by much ... My saw worked - unlike yours - but because it no longer had a guard attached. Eh.

The KAPEX guard is from a non-transparent material which would be way tougher. That it "only" fractured on contact with the blade is a testament. Would say it did its job here in stopping the blade while staying mostly in-place.

Is there a possibility that the blade guard got pushed against the blade during or before the cut?

If that's the case there is no evidence of that happening - no evidence of the blade ever touching the guard.

Hello All,

Something very similar happened to me on my 2021 REB, I started the saw and it came up to speed and went to make started to lower it to make a cut and boom. The plastic shroud broke apart and spring went flying. Nothing was stuck in blade. Blade did not even com in contact with the wood ?

I sent it in to Festool and still waiting for it to be repaired, I just would like to know what happened. It kinda startled me lol.


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