kmmcrafts

Glad you finally got to a point where you truly enjoy the Hawk. Many people either love them or hate them. Doesn’t seem to be a in between with them and most that hate them usually do not properly tune them and or give them time to learn the clamps and tension system. They are a totally different experience from the average saw but if you get it tuned and learned good they’re also a totally different experience to use as well. Unfortunately many give up on them before that happens. I almost gave up on them as well when I got my first Hawk. They’re so different from the DeWalt that I had used for many years and also all the other saws I had before the DeWalt.

Just my opinion but when I made these back in the day I removed the doves / butterflies altogether. It’s beautiful without them and much less fragile.

It’s a must for the old saws before the Ultra came out as those old saws you had no adjustment screw under the front tension cam so those wore out quickly. This really only makes it easier to change the cam when needed replaced. No real benefit as far as scroll sawing experience goes but easier to work on when needs service.

I'm happy to help the village folks any time I can.. I'm glad the tips helped as having a properly tuned saw just makes the scrolling that much more fun to do. I think I remember you saying you didn't get a manual with your saw... They are available online through Bushtons website.. Here is the one for the G4 which I think is what you have if memory serves correct. http://www.hawkwoodworkingtools.com/files/SawManuals/manual_G426.pdf

I have a Christmas ornament pattern I had someone make for me several years ago.. If a ornament works.. Sorry for posting a link to the ornament.. I tried to right click save it to upload here but it won't work so I'll just post the link to the item. https://www.kevskrafts.com/listing/485054599/physical-therapist-or-assistant Probably could enlarge it and make a backer if you wanted to make a wall hanging piece out of it.. send me a PM and I'll share the pattern if it'll work for what you have in mind.

After that is adjusted correctly and if you still have issue with the lever at the back popping up.. You may need to replace the wedge shape thing underneath the lever at the back of the saw. That wedge should be pointed and not sharp like to cut you but it should be fairly sharp pointed.. You can just use a piece of fine sandpaper on a flat surface and sand the flat edges to make it sharp.. just be sure to sand both sides of it somewhat evenly..

Front tension cam has a set screw to adjust the tension lever on the upper arm. It’s a very small Allen screw directly on the bottom side of the upper arm right below where the tension lever goes into the arm. You adjust the set screw without a blade in you move the front tension lever as if you’re tensioning a blade and adjusted correctly you should feel some resistance about 1/8” - 1/4” before it is fully in the tensioned position. You should also have a small hole in the top or some saws have it on the side of the arm near that lever to place a drop of oil to lubricate the cam so you don’t wear the screw or ensentric out. If you can’t get it to have the resistance then you need to either replace the set screw or the encentric or both. Flip lever over and kinda let it flop over on its own. Should stop before hitting the arm and being all the way n tension position. This shows after I pushed it down the rest of the way. See the hole on top where I oil mine. As said before some have hole on the side instead. This is under the arm where the set screw is.

VBX is where I bought bearings for one of the saws I had rebuilt over the years.. They have some decent quality and also lower grade cheaper in the same sizes.. or at least they used to.. Ray, I looked up on Grizzly for the saw and they have parts list with prices on the site for the Grizzly version.. I do not know for sure if they're the same sizes etc.. but I assume so because they are made in the same place as the Seyco, King, and the others.. Not the place where the new EX's are built.. even those had all the same bearings / sleeves or at least the one I rebuilt did, LOL Check it out, scroll down for the price list https://www.grizzly.com/products/g0969/parts

Yeah there are some folks just using the system unfortunately.. I'm guessing this was about the more recent car pattern you did. I asked what year and no response from them either.. Also as JT mentioned, happens allot with people looking for information as well.. they come ask a question and several answers replied to them and no solution or thank you ever replied back from the original person asking the question. I don't know what happen to politeness over the last few years but it's gotten really bad with this type of thing. Just yesterday on another local FB group people were talking about the FB selling adds and how you make appointment to go look at something and they sell it before you get there and never contact you to let you know it sold even though they know you're on the way.. Guess someone drove 4 hours one way and someone did that to them. That kind of thing is happening more and more and is a real crappy thing to do.. seems nobody has any respect for others..

They also have a nice individual parts list.. it'd be really nice of some of these other "supposed higher end brands" would put together a parts list and individual purchase options rather than buying the whole guts of the machine because of 1 bearing and one sleeve..

The sleeves are also included.. it comes all assembled other than the one larger bushing and the spacers. That larger bushing and bearing seems to be the one that really gets beat up also seen where the connecting rod part that connects to the motor I've seen some have issues.. Other than that the rest of the bearings always look decent inside the saw.. Now at the front of the saw I see some issues especially with the bearings in the lower arm.. probably from all the fine sawdust falling onto those bearings.. The link assembly doesn't include the parts at the front of the saw.. IF you could get a bushing from Jet.. and some good bearings it might be cheaper option now days.. I see they raised the prices of them on Seyco.. Then again everything went way up so maybe bearings and sleeves are still the way to go..

Pegas has parts but not individually, just like seyco and Excalibur you have to replace the whole drive link system as a kit rather than the one or two bearings that are usually the main issue. Seyco sells the drive link for Pegas saws as does bearwood. But if you just want to order pieces nobody other than Jet has the individual parts unfortunately. With all that said, back when I was researching for my rebuild the individual parts if buying all bearings and sleeves was more money than just buying the link arms as a whole and then you don’t need to press the old bearings out and the new in etc. Back then I think the assembly was $114 but last I heard it’s more now. Best thing is if you have a spare saw is to pull one apart and just grease it up good before you need parts.

It doesn't matter at all with a Excalibur or like saw... but the tension changes with the blade length variations on a Hawk or Hegner if you're installing the blades in the clamp properly by bottoming them out in both clamps which if the blades are exactly the same length then you should be able to set the tension and never have to touch it again unless you need another tension for a different size blade. I've had some Pegas blades so short they wouldn't even reach the clamps in the Excalibur.. Hawk and Hegners saws are way more picky about correct blade tension than any other saw I've ever used.. Improper tension almost always results in a broken blade.. But with the short rocker arm saws you could almost forget to apply tension and not break the blade.. sawing experience will make a difference of coarse but the blade doesn't break or slip out of the chuck. I do nip the pointed tip off the ends on these blades which does help but it's still something we shouldn't have to do IF the blades were made properly with the same length like all the other blade brands..

I've been able to easily find bearings as that was how I originally intended to repair my saw but my issue was finding the sleeves. Rolf also ran into that issue when he rebuilt a saw for a friend in their club. The only thing I've ever been able to find individually was bearings from a bearing supplier.. What I did find more recently of coarse right after buying that whole assembly was that Jet sells individual parts and appear to be the same sized bearings ( again according to the manual ) and you can buy those sleeves through any dealer that sells Jet parts such as ereplacement parts etc.. Might be something for you to look into more.. as far as I could tell you could get everything through Jet.

I'm not sure why they are there.. at one time it was said to be to determine what was the top / bottom of the blade... however they're never consistent with whether they are top or bottom or even have that at all.. It's been my biggest peeve of these blades because they're also not consistent in length.. so for a Hawk or Hegner user where you bottom the blade out in the lower clamp and then pull the upper arm down to the top of the blade and bottom out then it's never consistent blade tension from one blade to the next.. The way Hawk and Hegners are set up you shouldn't ever have to mess with tension unless changing blade sizes but when running the Pegas you need to check it with every blade..

That's a interesting idea... look forward to hearing how the transport goes.

A few years ago I did a parts list comparison for bearing and sleeve numbers via the manuals for each saw. According to the manuals I looked at they're the same thing inside as far as I could tell. I have not had my hands on a Pegas or a "real" Excalibur to take apart and actually compare them side by side. As you may remember I did buy Excalibur guts from Seyco a few years ago and installed them in my China EX-21 version and everything fit fine except the aluminum pieces that fit into the arm tubes at the front of the saw where the rocker arms connect.. The tubing size was smaller for the China saw so I couldn't use the inserts. I was able to take the rocker arm assemblies apart and install them into my china made parts so those were the same otherwise. Be interesting to see if each saw uses the same quality bearings / sleeves.. just because the sizes are listed the same doesn't mean the brand / quality is.. The China saw certainly had cheaper looser bearings in it vrs. the ones that I got from Seyco..

That worked.. I just made another one and had to resize the pins and the square cutouts had to be resized a bit too as the other day I had to sand them to get them to fit at all.. apparently the 3mm ply they designed this for is slightly different than the 3mm ply I have, LOL.. probably because my ply has been sitting since last year absorbing moisture as the grain is lifted some from what it was when I bought it. Anyway, thanks for pointing out the issue..

Okay that might make sense to me now after looking at the parts again. I was thinking that if I glue the pins that it wouldn't allow the door to move at all, LOL.. But looking it over again I think you're right. Maybe I'll go make another one and see what happens.

So bringing this back up and looking for suggestions.. I made these yesterday ( not my design, I purchased a pattern from Etsy ) with my laser. I've actually made quite a few with my laser via several laser designs I purchased from etsy. So far we like this one the best but I have a complaint about the box doors. They swing open which is really neat, however when you swing them wide open the weight of them lifts up the hinge part off the stem and the door falls off if not careful. I've been trying to think of a way to solve the issue but I have no idea so I thought I'd share the photos here and a screenshot of the assembly directions that came with the pattern.. maybe someone here has a idea as I'm at a loss of ideas for the issue. Heck, maybe I'm not assembling it right.. I used no glue whatsoever other than the center part and the two circle pieces on top of the hinge..

I've seen it in the past but I guess I didn't realize how it was done.. Do this from time to time with metal work but metal doesn't break like wood either. I've never seen anyone doing this with scroll work.. I know it'd be a pain in the behind to do but it'd give the piece that much more wow factor in my opinion if scrollers did this sort of thing.

Oh, that's not too bad of a drive.. last time I was that way M66 was a nice road to take and I'm only about 4 mile west of M66 and 42 mile south of Ionia. Let me know, I'm in no huge hurry so can wait for nicer weather or when / if you get down this way instead of making a special trip. I'd just like to have some of this stuff out of my loft..

Don't know what part of Michigan you're at but you should come get a free stack of rough cut walnut from me.. I have about 5 stacks waist high that was given to me.. If I didn't take it they were going to put in the wood burner.. I've tried putting it on FB marketplace last year for $100 per stack, and not a single person messaged.. I'm about to burn it myself.. I've been giving some of it to my future son-in-law as he toys around with woodwork stuff.. I'd like to make some space in my shop for my new laser so going to be selling off some tools and moving this walnut wood whether someone takes it or I burn it.. by mid - late summer it's going to be gone one way or another. I hate to burn it as there is lots of good stuff there.. I'm just tired of the space it's taking up and I'm not doing much working with wood anymore as I'm going into the laser dark side, LOL

So this is something I've been messing with on my laser cutter but I don't see any reason someone couldn't do this with a scroll saw.. though you'd probably need to be a pretty good with the scroll saw to make it work correctly. Look at how you can cut several lines into this 1/8" BBply and then you can bend it right around a corner. When I first run across this type of work I thought no way that really works so I had to purchase a laser file ( also comes in a printable PDF for those wondering ).. so the design could be printed and cut on a scroll saw. The designer has many different things like clutch purses etc.. I'm not sure how the designer quality of the particular person I purchased this design is as I'm having fitment issues so they are sort of working with me on a fitment flaw of their design. For clarification the design comes made for several different thickness of plywood and they designed this maybe they tested with 1/4" but the 1/8" version is off I don't know but the one I used is not correct to work right.. hopefully they'll fix the pattern and make it right with me.. But anyway back to my point of this bending right around the pretty sharp curve by just cutting several relief cuts.. I've not seen anyone doing this sort of thing with a scroll saw.. I may have to try it on on the scroll saw just to see if I could do it. Btw: This is a card box if you didn’t figure that out. Edit: Guess I should have uploaded the pictures.

AI drives me crazy as it wants to do everything for me and then if I let it, it does it wrong anyway. I haven’t messed with it for designing work partly because some selling venues don’t allow you to sell artwork from AI generated art/patterns. I don’t know how to tell if an image is generated from AI from the many pattern designers I buy patterns from though so at some point I might get kicked off those selling sites anyway. One thing that bothers me is the two sided use of it. For example I can’t use it for my artwork but the same sites use it to see if the sellers are using it, . Many sites using it to help create better selling / listing pages for better search results and they encourage sellers to use it. Yet I can’t create anything using it. I’m happy and content not using it but I feel I should probably learn it as it seems to be the way of the future and someday I may need to know how it all works.