kmmcrafts

I had thought the blades was getting longer, LOL but it turned out that the sloppy worn linkage was letting the arms drop down more and more.. At first just some slight wear you just adjust the tension but as it wears more and more the more and more often you end up having to adjust the tension.. pretty soon you run out of adjustment... I am wondering if this could be a design flaw on your saw that allows that much space to get your thumb in there or is that rod worn and it's letting the upper arm sag down... Kinda what happen to mine.. the arm kept dropping down lower and lower.. then it was like the 5" blades wouldn't fit in between the arms.. I at first thought I got a bad batch of blades.. so I started cutting 1/8 inch off of them.. then 1/4" etc.. I don't know if your saw has that same style linkage rod as mine did or not.. as my saw was a different model..

They are a decent entree level saw but they don't hold up well to production work.. I had one of the newer models than this one.. ( Model 1800 with the disc sander on the one side ) and the arm at the back of the saw inside the case that connects to the lower and upper arms ( linkage rod ) was nothing but a flat piece of steel with a roll pin holding it together rather than a bearing in there.. I had to change that piece 4 times in one year.. The part was cheap like $15 or so but I got to a point where I just started making my own, LOL.. Was a awesome saw and I probably could have redesigned that rod with bearings.. but at that point I just went with a DeWalt instead..

This is why I use all three of the brands mentioned.. I love the Pegas for the majority of my work.. However the FD and Olsen also in certain cases outshine the Pegas.. in my shop.. all the brands of blades are in stock.. I must have about 35 storage tubes of blades..

That's really neat..

Pushing slightly from one side or the other rather than straight on can do this too..

I believe some of the sleeves are the same as what comes with the DeWalt.. but I'm not 100% sure on that.. Pretty sure the ones at the front rocker arms etc are the same as DW788's but those at the back of the saw don't seem to be.. Most of what I've seen on videos for the DW788's was the bearings at the back of the saw.. however my saw had the originals in it at the back of the saw but I've had to rebuild the front rocker assemblies on it a coupe times.. and from what I could tell it was because that fine sawdust piled up on top of the lower assembly... probably absorbing up any moisture the grease had.. They was always dried out.. I got to where I would take the lower assembly apart for a cleaning and fresh grease every year.. Thinking this might be same possible issue with the EX type saw too.

Rolf, I pulled mine apart a year ago and had the same thing.. rusty bearings.. actually only a couple of them was real bad.. and yes.. almost seized up.. I think I posted about it last year around October.. The sleeves was really kind of beat up too.. I managed to get them cleaned up and working fairly smooth again but sadly due to the wear etc I only got about 8 months or bout 100 more hours .. before it got bad again... I could find the bearings.. but i couldn't find a source for the sleeves.. I took it to a local bearing shop that is known to be a good place to source them... But mine was a oddball size and he said they must have made them in house at the manufacture.. I'm thinking it was just poor China tolerances.. So this is why I just bought the whole assembly from Ray and basically made a new saw out of it.. Everything was replaced other than the frame and electronics etc.. LOL.. In my checking around and investigating.. It seems the whole assembly from Ray is much cheaper than just buying new bearings.. not counting the sleeves... That whole back part of the saw is only $114 from Ray.. Now the front rocker assemblies are a bit pricey since there is two of them.. The good thing about just doing the bearings and sleeves is that most times it's only 1-3 of those that get most of the wear.. and then you can save some money by just buying bearings and sleeves.. Now that I have a complete different innards I'll go that route next time... provided the sleeves are not some oddball thing like my China parts were, LOL

Steve Good has a pattern of a 68.. I think they 68-69 had the same body? Anyway I've made this one from Steve's pattern.. Edited: Nope.. the 68 is a little different from the 69..

Thanks Denny

Someone asked in the pattern request section the other night for a Shelby clock pattern.. I found a coloring page and sort of made a crappy pattern of one.. crappy meaning I didn't clean up the design and make it a actual pattern.. I do this myself quite often and don't typically share the patterns because they are not cleaned up.. no bridges and floaters and all.. I just modify the cut as I'm cutting.. takes too long to clean up a design to make it a actual pattern, LOL I don't consider myself a designer because of the lack of clean-up etc.. I just throw it together and cut.. LOL Anyway, I posted this in the pattern request and decided to cut it myself yesterday.. Got the photos and a listing up on the website today.. Cut from 5/8 Cherry on the Excalibur with a number 3 Pegas MG blade.. Not my best but not my worst work. LOL Enjoy the photos..

What material you cutting? I'm going to assume you're using 1/8" BB plywood When I first started scrolling I had a little trouble with this type of stuff.. what worked well for me is going up to a #3 blade and stack cutting them in a stack of 3-4 pieces.. Those small blades will drift real easy if you push at all to either side etc..

That is awesome!! How did you get in contact with them? Or did you just go back to where you bought it?

It'd be great to meet up sometime.. This year I have plenty of lumber so I won't be buying any lumber.. If I understand it correctly they aren't having the Expo.. only having sales on the lumber... I have enough lumber to last me well into next year and probably longer.. The only thing I could use is a few sheets of BB ply.. I'm not going to make it to the show this year as I said.. I have plenty of lumber thanks to my brother giving me a lot of cutoffs etc from his sawmill.. I should go one of these days and pay them a visit.. I don't think I've been there this whole year.. maybe I did go January or Feb.. They all probably think I got the Covid and croaked, LOL There is a store up there that my wife really likes to go to... so I usually drop her off and head over to Johnson's to look around.. but with the Covid it had been shut down and also we both have been very busy so we just haven't gone out shopping much at all.. Our 27th wedding anniversary is on the 11th.. this show timing every year seems to make it tough to take a trip etc.. so with most of the expo cancelled out and I don't need the lumber.. The savings on a few sheets of ply isn't such a big deal with everything else being cancelled out I guess we'll be doing something else.. We usually go to the frontier days and there is always a lot of events going on in the small town.. Thinking we may take a small road trip this time.. Hopefully this will all be behind us next year and more back to normal and they'll run the full show with seminars etc.. SO.. If they run out of lumber or plywood it's not my fault this time, I'm saving it all for you..

Here is a good start.. https://www.youtube.com/user/SarbarMultimedia/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/Thinklaser/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwdToptD2gZucQsMrOAnFhA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyNU1TLem7uaiAQDV6ZsvQ And then our very own housekeeper here on the village... Travis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt-bWfn-g1ELeE-7aJcsDFA I've probably left out a bunch of places.. I've been interested in these for a very long time.. Steve Good I think did some laser stuff too at one point.. also a lot of the CNC router stuff kinda pertains to the Laser stuff somewhat too.. I've followed some of these for probably 10 years.. There is a couple good groups on FB as well and a few forums.. They used to be forbidden to talk about on any scroll sawing forums and groups but more and more people are getting interested.. Maybe Travis should put in a laser and CNC category ... Lot's of folks here somewhat have interest.. but refrain from talking much about them much because these machines was and still is very much hated on by those that do what they call Hand Made done with the hands.. Technically a lot more to these and CNC's that is done by hand than what most realize.. If the internet was around back in the day I bet you could read old arguments about the Treadle vrs Powered scroll saw... Now days is about craft shows and online selling... scroll saws and lasers / cnc's etc etc.. times change..

Yes, safety eye protection is a must.. I'm amazed they are allowed to sell these open design lasers to most anyone.. even these K40 enclosed machines to be honest.. If anyone ever gets one.. be sure to check the wire connections.. I've read on the forums that some the wires are just twisted around rather than having a connector... Mine had all the connectors but some of them they didn't even crimp the connector to the wire and in my initial set up I inspected the wires.. my ground wire wasn't even crimped and pulled right out of the connector, LOL These are cheap very basic lasers but very powerful and can be run as a business money making machine provided you don't mind tinkering with them and doing simple modifications.. If one doesn't mind the tinkering a person could have a nicely upgraded cutter for about $400 and to buy a name brand machine comparable is nearly $2000 .. I paid $320 for this one and I have another $60 for the air assist that I haven't even set up yet.. I'm running K40 Whisperer for the software . It's a free program that's quite powerful.. My control board won't work with lightburn... but they have a upgraded control board that is just plug and play so you can run lightburn.. I may give that a try at some point.. board isn't too awful expensive.. can't remember if lightburn was free or not now.. I did research it some time ago.. but since it's all new to me I thought I'd run what the machine control board came with first.. The smoke exhaust is one thing about all the K40 groups say is the first and most needed upgrade.. I found that raising the lid about 1/16 or so makes the smoke flow faster.. Probably cheaper to buy a more powerful exhaust fan but I've kinda wondered if putting a small computer cooling fan at the front of the machine would be a benefit since i have those laying around.. or maybe just adding some louvers in the front of the cabinet.. They only have two holes drilled on each side of the cabinet.. about 1/2 ish holes so I'm thinking the bigger issue could be more about air flow rather than a more powerful exhaust fan.. My first mod is going to be a safety switch to the door.. I've caught myself twice now opening the door before killing the power switch to the laser.. While it shouldn't fire without having the computer telling it to fire.. I still don't think it's smart to stick your hand in there and grab your finished piece with power to the laser still on, LOL So I'm going to add a safety switch that'll cut the power if the door opens.. Two other mods are a water flow meter and a water temp gauge.. I have a air assist set up for it but I need a larger diameter lens for the new laser head unit..

Yes, 1/8" BBply.. I have the power setting at about 8mA and running 10mm a second on the speed.. They say you shouldn't run these at full power or you shorten the laser tube life.. Max power should not go above some say 15mA.. I don't know if it'd cut through 1/4" ply or not if ran more power and slower feed speed.. I've read where people cut 1/4" though.. but with modifications to the machine like air assist and.. I have mods I bought for the machine.. but for what I want to do with it.. I realize I probably didn't really need them.. Probably could turn up the power and run a faster feed rate to get the same results and be more productive... These are the biggest learning curve of these lasers is the power and feed rates to get a nice clean cut / engrave...

I was also afraid of mine.. still am because it's quite powerful and you don't see the laser beam or anything.. could very easily loose eyesight or catch something on fire if precautions aren't taken.. BUT... it's really quite fun and addictive now that 2 years later of seeing the box it shipped in I finally got brave and set it up... Now wish I'd have done it the day I took delivery of it..

But how does one know what it's worth? Everyone values things differently.. I've seen people diving into dumpsters to fetch something out that had value to them but no value to the person that tossed it into the dumpster.. Time has more value to some people where as not so much to others.. That new mother would give anything for just a 30 minute nap instead of cleaning up after dinner, but the father says he doesn't have time because he needs to go sit on the porch and drink a beer and unwind after a long day of work . So they hire a maid to come help out... That maid values the money for her time.. and the mother and father value their time and willing to pay money for it.. Vicious cycle of value of time that means the world to some and means very little to others.. There is also leaders and followers of value.. many folks will go to etsy to see what people are selling similar items for.. Issue with that is.. everyone is following everyone else and there really is no leadership for the price or the actual value of time and money spent on a item.. Not to mention the cost of doing business is different from one business to the next and one town to the next.. So the bottom line is.. value your items based on what YOU need for it to make you happy.. and don't worry about what John Doe says about your prices.. whether they are too high for him or too low.. I look at some things at crafts shows or on etsy and think to myself... How do they make money at that price... or How can he sell those at THAT price! LOL I know what you're saying.. I'm just making a stupid point about value that many people just overlook.. because you mention your time isn't worth anything.. and I'm a believer that time is the ultimate price we all pay.. because time passes whether we want it to or not..

I just start my projects at the end and work towards the beginning... that way I know its going to mess up first instead of last..

Here is how they are turning out now that I’ve got the settings dialed in better.

While the throat capacity on the EX-30 is larger than your DW788.. You won't like the fact that the distance from the blade to the front edge of the table is only 3 inch.. take a notice of how much distance there is from the blade to the front edge of the table on your DW788..... Imaging cutting off half of that distance and scrolling a large piece.. Going with the a Hawk or a Seyco with the larger table... not only larger table but that distance makes a huge difference when cutting those large projects.. Those folks that say that distance doesn't affect them haven't done too many large projects like this.. If your going to do large stuff.. the only real option is the Hawk.. Even though there is a whopping 8" between the blade and table edge on the Seyco saw.. you still only have a 21" throat.. so that leaves you with a Hawk.. Pegas is no offering a larger table.. and supposedly will fit the EX saws.. so the other option is a EX-30 with a larger Pegas table.. These saw manufactures leave out the guy that does very large projects it seems... But then.. most folks aren't making real large stuff now days.. and it's not real practical to make a 30" saw when you only sell a handful of them a year.. JMO

Well I haven't made anything new other than these toilet paper ornaments.. These are about 3.5 inch ornaments.. The first part of the video is finishing up the engrave part and is sped up 4x but the cutting is real time.. 10mm / second cut speed... 500mm second engrave speed... It was dark out so the photos of the finished piece is dark and poor quality.. I've got the settings down to where there is almost 0 smoke stain and the edges are not all charred up etc.. When I cut the first batch ( photo above ) they was really charred and looked bad.. I sanded them but some of the details got sanded out.. What I did wrong there was I put a backer board under the piece.. Guess I thought I was running the CNC and didn't want to damage my table, LOL.. but in doing that it it raised the piece 1/4" ( 1/4 backer sacrificial piece ) and raising the piece changes the focal ( focus ) point of the laser so it wasn't cutting through the material as well.. A lot of K40 users remove the table and clamping piece and make adjustable height table so they can change the focal point for different thickness of materials etc..

I bought mine with intentions of doing engraved ornaments and keychains etc.. I made another video of it last night that maybe I'll post on here to give a better idea.. The one photo I posted above shows a quick ornament of a picture of my wife and I.. I could do personal engraved picture ornaments like that of people or pets etc.... With engraving like this gives me another new list of things I can do with ornaments.. I get a lot of customers asking if I can engrave this or that.. This can do a portrait but max size would be about 8 x 13 ish I think..

My old 220VS surged a little when I got it too.. I took the switch / VS box apart and blew ( low pressure air ) the dust out of it etc... Not sure if that was the cause or sure or not but it hasn't done it since then... That was 6 years ago.. There really wasn't a lot of visual dust in there so that's why I say.. not sure that's what the cause was.. maybe just jarring it around etc who knows but I'm not complaining..

I've had a few projects back when i still had the DeWalt that I had to use the Hawk 226 because the 20" DW was too small.. BUT those projects are far and few