trailfndr

I had this saw for a little over two years with no big issues at all. Ran well, very little vibration. The insert was the only real problem I had with it, and I simply made a new one out of MDF. Stand was fairly solid as long as the bolts were tight. I sold the saw to a friend when I bought my new Excalibur, and he is still using it after almost a year, so that's 3 years of use for under 200.00. Great saw for someone just starting out, or a on a limited budget.

They are the same saw. King bought out the com[any that built the Excalibur's, but part of the deal was to not use the Excalibur name. Its the same saw, built the same way, with the same parts, from all I have heard and can determine from my research

I have shipped many Intarsia pieces. I wrap in Bubblewrap, and pack tightly in a box so that it can not move. I have also used FedEx to ship larger pieces in what they call and Artists box. Have not had any pieces break to date.

Mine was set due to the limited space I have. I needed the saw table to be just a tad taller than the workbench next to it, and raised it accordingly. I tried the front lower option, and for me, flat is better. Everyone is different, and a lot depends on how you sit, or stand, how you cut, and your own personal comfort.

It comes in 3 widths, 18, 24, and 30 inch. I have the 24" Dust collection is great. There is an enclosed bin under the drum and it comes with a 2 1/2 inch port. Hooked it to my system and after sanding both sides of about 20 pieces of 1 1/2 x 8 inch rough sawn lumber, I had very little dust that didn't get caught. and my paper shows no sign of gumming and looks like new. The biggest difference in the three sizes is the drum itself. The 18" uses a smaller diameter drum. One of the nice things is that if you have the paper cut to length, switching from 100 grit to 220 takes about 30 seconds. And the big plus, because it keeps cool, the paper doesn't gum up, and you can reuse it many times. Company says 15-20 times taking a sheet off and putting it back on. You can also load half the drum with 100 grit, and the other half with 220 to save even more time, as long as you aren't sanding something wider than half the drum.

Finally got my new Flatmaster Sander this week, and got it assembled today. I can see many uses for it, from cleaning up the back of my Intarsia before putting the backing on, to sanding a scrollsaw piece to clean it up. Found today that it does a good job of cleaning up rough sawn lumber too. May not be perfectly even for thickness, but for Intarsia, that won't be an issue, as I sand everything when shaping. Took me about 12 passes to clean up some cedar on one side, but it beats having to pass on this less expensive lumber. This is similar to the Sand-Flee, but since I could never get anyone to answer questions from the company that sells the Sand-Flee, I opted for the Canadian version. Comes without motor, but that was no issue, as Harbor Freight sells a decent motor. Overall, the cost was still less than the sand-Flee and since the sander uses Velcro backed paper, it does not get hot, therefore no buildup on the paper, which translates to longer lasting paper.

So happy I put my shop in the basement. Took some effort to seal it from dust escaping, but while I was at it, I added insulation to sound proof it. Wife can barely hear the machines running while she is in the kitchen above me. And its so quiet, I can scroll, Sand, and run my dust collector and Air filtration while she sleeps on the second floor. Any dust that escapes, is on my person when I leave the shop, and I make it a habit to use insure that I get 90% of that off of me. Been cold here in Michigan, (in the single digits) for the last week or so.

Well, the sale was today, and thanks to advise from many of you, and a lot of encouragement, I did remarkably well. I sold 19 pieces between $45.00 and $250.00 for a total of $1600.00 in sales. Now I have to get myself back into the shop and build so I can do the next show in the spring. I was totally amazed at the response I received. I would have never believed that a craft show could produce that kind of result. I always figured that a Craft show brought in low dollar spenders, and the Art shows brought the bigger spenders. I am happy to have been proven wrong.

Dust control is a must. I NEVER hand sand. I use a belt sander, a flexible drum sander, a Dremel, and a Sanding Mop. For proper shaping, its important to understand the subject. For instance, If I am shaping a dogs face, its important for me to have a visual understanding of how it is supposed to look. I hang photos on the wall in front of my bench as I work, I can look at the pictures to see what is closer and what is further away from me, how the muzzle curves into the face, etc.. I have a dust collector connected to my machines, and a air filtration unit mounted on the ceiling that recirculates the air in my shop several times each hour. A dust mask is also a must. And as someone said...its done one piece at a time..

Dave Monk,, I need to update that profile. I used a Porter Cable for nearly 3 years, switched to and Excalibur a year ago. The Porter was a good saw, and did a fine job, I just needed a deeper throat. to many pieces need a longer cut to complete.

I definatly appreciate all the words of advise. I have been researching shows for the past year, both in person and on the internet. Square is ready and I can take Chip cards Directors chair is available, but I am not planning on taking it, (I am used to standing all day) I WILL heed Rolf's suggestion of displaying only one of any item (Thank You) Business cards are in place, and I use ALOT of them I never sign my work, However, I put a printed sticker on the back, listing the designer, and woods used. I also glue on a business card, and seal in both with Polyurathane. Prices are printed on cards next to each item I had an order book made with my company name printed along with contact info for orders Always get 50% down on orders with NO refunds after 5 days I have nice frosted plastic shopping bags (3 sizes) with stickers showing my company name and contact info attached I plan to take a cooler, and Wife will meet me there after opening in case I need to leave the booth for any reason. Someone said my display panels look professional, They ARE. While doing research I knew I needed something light, yet sturdy, and since I plan to concentrate on Art shows, professionalism is a must. I found my panels on-line for a great price used , and traveled from Michigan to Florida to get them. I will report back after the show (Dec. 3rd) I am keeping my fingers crossed for a good show.

Because I have never done a show before, and all of my display panels are new to me, I decided to set up my booth in the garage as practice and to insure that I pack everything for next weekends show. Took longer than I wanted, but most of that is due to redoing things as I found the configuration that works for me. Here are photos of what I ended up with. Next step is to tear it all down, and pack it so its ready to move for the show.

Lots of folks say that clear packing tape helps to lubricate your blades. I use it religiously over the top of the pattern on every piece I cut. It seems to help and its pretty cheap

I use a good Dust collector with a 1 micron bag, and I mounted a Jet Air filtration system to the ceiling. Since my shop is small, the filtration moves all the air in the shop several times per hour. I go thru the furnace type filters on an almost weekly basis at times. I also use a good respirator when sanding. Even with all of this, I still pick up a lot of dust upon cleaning my shop each week.

Bought a dozen to try out a month or so ago. Worked well on thin stock. Not something I would use a lot, as most of my cutting is Intarsia, but I cut a fretwork cross the other day and had no major issues. other than having to slow down my saw speed.

I had a similar issue with a staples store. After a couple years of taking patterns in and having them digitized, a new person refused to do some for me. I went down the street to FedEx and they did it with no issues. AND it cost me less. I digitize all my patterns so that I can save to originals without damage, and can manipulate the size of a pattern, or even take just part of it for different projects if needed. Saves a lot of hassle by printing the areas needed on my Home PC when needing copies for Intarsia.

I have been doing Intarsia for about 5 years now. Aspen is the best for white unless you don't mine really expensive wood, then use Holly. As for finish...I have tried ALOT of different finishes, and I finally settled on MinWax spray on Polyurethane in Satin or Semi Gloss. If I want something to be shiny, I will use Gloss, but that is very rare. I find that the spray on saves me time, and I get a smoother finish without buildup as I use 3 or 4 very light coats. Drying time is under an hour before the next coat, and I let the 3rd coat dry overnight, and then use a Sanding mop on the piece to smooth any flaws (dust ect..) then a final coat. This finish dries clear, and only a slight darkening of the wood, regardless of wood species (and I use LOTS of different woods) Its available at Lowes and many other places, so availability is good. As with any finish you may use, the natural process of UV light WILL darken most woods over time. so I let my customers know that it is best to keep the piece away from direct sunlight.. Your work looks much better than you describe. Give yourself a break. I know we all do it, and in my opinion, that is a GOOD thing. it keeps us trying to improve, and doesn't allow us to settle for mediocre work. I still learn something with every piece I make, and I pray that I never stop learning, and improving.

Kevin, Never buy a large quantity of ANYTHING until you try a small sample to insure that it works as you want it to...I never buy more than 1 dozen of any new blade, until I test it out to see what it is best utilized for....Then I decide if I want to buy more or not.

With the Porter Cable Hockey Puck, I found it is better to make a new one, or put a spacer UNDER the original, than to place something on top of it. I made several out of Masonite, leaving the shiny surface on top, so that the work piece slid easily as I cut. You can easily make one from Masonite, or Plexiglas. Might need to sand down the thickness, but that's easily done by inserting it upside down, and using a orbital or vibrating sander to sand smooth to tabletop so its flush. Flip it over and your set with a slick surface. As for blades.. WOW, so many choices and so many different opinions. When I started, Flying Dutchman had a "Sample" pack of different types of blades that I purchased from Mike. it held 5 or 6 different types of blades in size #5. It let me try different ones, without a large output of cash. My personal preference are the Ultra Reverse, but don't go by what I use, as 95% of what I cut is 3/4 inch hardwoods for Intarsia I use #5 as my normal blade, but will go to a 3 or even a 1 if I need a really tight cut. Means slowing down the feed, but they do the job. I have also tried the olson, and a few other brands, and keep coming back to the Flying Dutchman. For different woods, you can order thin stock hardwoods from www.ocoochhardwoods.com They sell different widths and thicknesses of scrollsaw ready lumber in several species of wood. All are sanded and ready to use. Delivery is quick, and service is second to none. They stand behind what they sell 100% Last thing, if you do a search on the web, you can find some practice patte4rns for the scrollsaw. I used one when I first began just to learn to follow different types of lines, from sharp corners, to curves. Was a great learning tool, and allowed me to use basic scrap wood to learn the saw better. Good Luck to you, and remember, the more you practice, and experiment, the better scroller you will become.

I have very limited experience with inlay, but to my thinking, it only makes sense to go in only one direction. If you are doing it right, your blade or table is at a slight bevel, so I would be cutting so that the scarp on the outer piece is wider on top than bottom (hope that makes sense) and the same for the inlay piece so that iots a tight press fit when assembled. You should end up to where you have to slightly sand the inlay piece to match the level on the backing piece. Hope this helps....

Bruce Worthington has a nice Intarsia one.

Installed it on my laptop which was win8.1 No real issues, and took a little over an hour. Waiting on the win7 PC for a little while just to make sure its as stable as I need it to be. IE will not be the browser....the new EDGE Browser takes a little getting used to, and certain settings aren't easy to fine, but after a few searches on the web, I found what I needed. Also, the have "Cortina" which is similar to Apples Siri, I disabled it once I found that it collects a lot of info about your searches and such in order to narrow down what you see to be more relevant. I don't need Microsoft knowing that much bout me.

I have never used a lubricant, but I do cover my wood with clear contact paper to which I spray glue my pattern pieces, and then always cover my pattern with good quality packing tape. On the rare times that I didn't, my blades had to be changed more often, and I end up with more burning on certain woods (cherry for one) I have heard for years that the packing tape works like a lubricant and help blades last longer, and in my personal opinion, this is very true. I cut ALOT of hard woods, and everything I cut is 3/4 inch for Intarsia. After well over 100 Intarsia pieces in just the last 2 years, I like my process and will keep using it unless I find something far better. Pattern removes with NO residue and simply peels right off with ease. Even on the rare occasion that I make a fretwork type pattern, the pattern and tape peels off usually in one piece, with no residue or remover fluids ever used.

You and me both Kevin, but Alas, I will be right here in Michigan, covered in Sawdust as I make yet another intarsia piece.

Finishing a Macaw, and starting a bear for a customer Both are Intarsia's After those, I have 3 dogs, and a cat to get done.