DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 29, 2017 shares
Document and Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	Colfax CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0001420800
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Trading Symbol	CFX
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding	123,115,844
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 29, 2017
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2017