Quick review on my new Hawk BM 26

[Bpardue]

Thought I would give everyone a quick review on the new Hawk BM 26 that I received last Friday. First thing First, the reason I purchased the Hawk is because after reading reviews & thumbing through the catalog I felt the Hawk would stand up longer when it comes to cutting thicker wood and I liked the idea of being able to adjust the blade to cut either less or more aggressive. In the Catalog what sold me was when they were showing you things the saw could do, there were a lot of Intarsia photos and some fretwork. Sense I mainly do Intarsia I thought this was the best saw for me. I really did not care for the Hegner. I have a local friend that allowed me to try his Hegner and did not care for it. The other issue i liked was that the Hawk is American Made. 

Review:

1. When the saw arrived last Friday after assembling the saw (installing the legs) and reading the owners manual on how everything worked, it was time to test drive and make any adjustments. Checked to see if the blade & table were square. There was no issues. Blade was square to the table straight out of the box. 

2. I had to play around with the Tension a little to get it to my liking.

3. 1st test cut confirmed that everything was running true & square. - 1st cut was on 4/4 maple.

4. Through the 1st test cut I had some Vibration issues which was determine to be some minor adjustments to the legs to get them firmly planted on the concrete floor. 

5. Started to play around the adjusting the blade for a more aggressive cut. before making any adjustments I check the blade placement from front to back. What I found was that the lower blade holder was all the way forward and therefore the blade started cutting the bottom of the piece before the top. Adjusted the blade to be perfectly square from front to blade and ran a test cut. That setup was way too slow on the thicker woods I normally cut but works well on 1/4 or thinner woods. I adjusted the lower blade holder back or a more aggressive cut. From front to back the lower blade holder is about an 1/8" out of plumb from the top holder. Ran another test cut with 4/4 maple and it almost cuts like butter. Very happy with the aggressiveness of the cut now.

6. I have had to play around with the speed control to find the sweet spot which for my saw is at speeds 4 and lower or above 6. Speed 5 & 6 I pick up some vibration. This does not seem to be an issues for me sense I'm comfortable with running the saw in the higher ranges.

7. I'm having to get used to the removable blade holders, but that will come with time as i continue to use the saw.

The one thing that I'm going to like is the depth of the cut being over 2". One of the things I use the saw for is sense i cut 4/4 material all the time for intarsia, I have to resaw pieces and I have always been limited to about 1 1/2" wide pieces and now I can resaw pieces up to 2". 

For the purpose for buying this saw for myself was to cut the thicker woods for intarsia and for that purpose I think this is a great saw. 

As most know from other posts I also have a band new Dewalt 788 as well. That saw is set up as well and I will be using both saws. The Dewalt is set-up to cut thinner woods & plywood backs. I think if all I'm cutting on the Dewalt is the thinner woods & 1/4 ply for backs it will last a lot longer sense i believe the Dewalt is not designed to hold up to the prolonged cutting of the thicker woods. 

Far as the Hawk - I'm one very HAPPY CAMPER

Brian

 

[hawkeye10]

Good to hear you really like the Hawk. Brian I sure hope you don't have the problems others have had.

[Iguanadon]

Outstanding, great to hear Brian.

As far as the blade holders... Personally, I never remove them.  I feed the blade into the bottom one thru the hole in the table, then into the top holder, just as I do with my DeWalt.  It takes a little practice, but it beats having to insert the lower holder either blindly or having to bend over and eyeball it.

The practice part is being sure the blade is at 90 degrees from each holder once clamped.

[Scrappile]

Good to read, I have been  fascinated with the Hawk type saws for a long time.  Would really like to sit at one some time.  You will enjoy having two saws also.  I find my self going back and forth often.  I also know that the same blade works differently in each saw.  Something I have to get use to.  I am a very happy Hegner owner, but I also like my other saw.  Like you I do the heavy stuff solely on the heftier saw though.

Some Hegner owners may not know, I read in the manual, but I have never tried it, but there are two setting on the Hegner for front to back motion of the blade.  I think it is more difficult to change than the Hawk.  Like I said I did not study the procedure much and cannot think of a reason I would want to... Or maybe I just dreamed that.  I do have weird dreams.....

So glad you are happy with your saw.

Iggy, have you talked to BM about replacing your saw?  I would think they would want to. 

[Iguanadon]

"Iggy, have you talked to BM about replacing your saw?  I would think they would want to."

 

Hey Paul, the one I have is already a replacement for the original one I received that was really messed up.  I'm slowly getting this one operational.  I hope to have time to tinker with it some more in the next couple of weeks.  Busy with events over the next 2 months.

[tonylumps]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

Good to read, I have been  fascinated with the Hawk type saws for a long time.  Would really like to sit at one some time.  You will enjoy having two saws also.  I find my self going back and forth often.  I also know that the same blade works differently in each saw.  Something I have to get use to.  I am a very happy Hegner owner, but I also like my other saw.  Like you I do the heavy stuff solely on the heftier saw though.

Some Hegner owners may not know, I read in the manual, but I have never tried it, but there are two setting on the Hegner for front to back motion of the blade.  I think it is more difficult to change than the Hawk.  Like I said I did not study the procedure much and cannot think of a reason I would want to... Or maybe I just dreamed that.  I do have weird dreams.....

So glad you are happy with your saw.

Iggy, have you talked to BM about replacing your saw?  I would think they would want to. 

Scrappile that adjustment is for Blade stroke.I have used it for very thin work.But slowing the RPM down gives you the same benefit.

[hotshot]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

 

Some Hegner owners may not know, I read in the manual, but I have never tried it, but there are two setting on the Hegner for front to back motion of the blade.  I think it is more difficult to change than the Hawk.  Like I said I did not study thdure much and cannot think of a reason I would want to... Or maybe I just dreamed that. 

The setting you are talking about on the Hegner actually changes stroke length for cutting very thin wood.  This is unique to Hegner, but not useful to most users.  Unfortunately, it does not affect aggression.

[Scrappile]

Thanks, guys. Said I did not read it very well.....

[tonylumps]

2 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Thanks, guys. Said I did not read it very well.....

I forgot what I said

[Scrappile]

You and Randy explained what the adjustment on the Hegner really was for.  Now I am even wiser than I was yesterday....

[tonylumps]

15 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

You and Randy explained what the adjustment on the Hegner really was for.  Now I am even wiser than I was yesterday....

It's tough getting old

[Dave Monk]

Sure am glad you are happy with your saw.

[Lucky2]

11 hours ago, Iguanadon said:

"Iggy, have you talked to BM about replacing your saw?  I would think they would want to."

 

Hey Paul, the one I have is already a replacement for the original one I received that was really messed up.  I'm slowly getting this one operational.  I hope to have time to tinker with it some more in the next couple of weeks.  Busy with events over the next 2 months.

Iggy, I thought you were going to return your new replacement, wasn't that your intentions? I didn't think you were satisfied with it, would they not take it back or did you just decide to keep it?

Len

[Rolf]

I am so happy that the saw is working out for you.!!!!

I ran my old 2005 Hawk G4 through it's entire RPM range. It has one spot at around 6 on my dial (what that relates to in rpm is an unknown) where I get some vibration but not bad by any means. 

Regarding the removable blade clamps, that is one of my favorite features. When I go into ornament production mode I cut stacks of 6 1/16 baltic birch ply with a 2/0 R Olson. I toss the blade at the 15 minute cut time mark. So for efficiency I have a few blade clamps pre-loaded with my blade and just pop another in.  I also have a few loaded with my most used blades.  After 12 years of use popping the clamps in and out is automatic.

The one thing that I did not like on the new BM Hawks that I got to try is the metal clip that holds the clamp in place. On the older Hawks it was plastic, better but I made my own using beryllium copper, it is very springy and tough. 

Edited September 23, 2017 by Rolf

[Iguanadon]

20 hours ago, Lucky2 said:

Iggy, I thought you were going to return your new replacement, wasn't that your intentions? I didn't think you were satisfied with it, would they not take it back or did you just decide to keep it?

Len

Hey Len,

I haven't had a chance to figure out how to box it back up to ship back and in the meantime, some discussions here on the forum have led me to make a couple of adjustments that seem to have helped my situation.  So, I'd like to try to get the saw to where it will work properly for me if at all possible.  I hope to do some testing in the next couple of weeks.

[Lucky2]

Iggy, if it's not already firmly bolted to the floor, bolt it down now if possible. Doing so will help with vibrations, it stiffens the saw up.

Len

[Rolf]

What is the weight of the new BM 26? My old G4 is around 104 lbs and it doesn't move. There should be no need to bolt it down.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Rolf

[kmmcrafts]

28 minutes ago, Rolf said:

What is the weight of the new BM 26? My old G4 is around 104 lbs and it doesn't move. There should be no need to bolt it down.

According to their site the weight is 97 lbs.  

[Mark1]

Rather than bolt it to the floor, I'd arrange a lower shelf.  On this shelf I'd put 2 or 3, 25# bags of lead reloading shot.

This is shot used by shotgun shooters who reload shotgun shells.  These bags of shot are dead weight and will absorb vibration by themselves.  They won't bounce.

This would hold your saw down, yet if you wanted to move it you could without leaving holes in the floor.  The disadvantage I see is the expense.  Here in Milwaukee Wisconsin, these 25# bags of shot are $34 each.  I would imagine they're about the same almost everywhere.  Once you lift and hold a bag, you'll understand what I'm meaning.  They are just plain dead weight.

Mark

 

 

[kmmcrafts]

5 minutes ago, Mark1 said:

Rather than bolt it to the floor, I'd arrange a lower shelf.  On this shelf I'd put 2 or 3, 25# bags of lead reloading shot.

This is shot used by shotgun shooters who reload shotgun shells.  These bags of shot are dead weight and will absorb vibration by themselves.  They won't bounce.

This would hold your saw down, yet if you wanted to move it you could without leaving holes in the floor.  The disadvantage I see is the expense.  Here in Milwaukee Wisconsin, these 25# bags of shot are $34 each.  I would imagine they're about the same almost everywhere.  Once you lift and hold a bag, you'll understand what I'm meaning.  They are just plain dead weight.

Mark

 

 

I'd think a couple bags of children's play sand would do the same.. been a while since I bought play sand but last I knew it was only a couple bucks a bag... as far as that goes.. dig up some dirt from the back yard.. LOL

[Scrappile]

On did similar to what Mark is describing with my Hegner.  I bolted the stand to a piece of 3/4" plywood and than placed a bucket of 2 gallon bucket of sand on the plywood.  Holds it well. 

[Mark1]

The sand will certainly absorb vibration too, but it's not as heavy or dense as lead shot.  Maybe the lead shot is overkill, but I'm sure that would work the best.

Try the sand first, that's the cheapest.  If it helps, but not quite there, you can do the lead. 

Either way it beats drilling holes in the floor.

Mark