kmmcrafts

I'm not sure other than to say my daughter has always been into those fancy looking fonts. She used to come out in my shop and take my nice live edge boards and make signs out of them with paint markers doing free handed calligraphy.. she's one of the few younger generations that can actually write nice cursive and can actually read it, . I always tried to get her to do that stuff with my wood burning pens but she preferred the markers. I might have to make her write out what she wants engraved and put that into my software then just engrave her own writing of what she wants, LOL

Daughter is getting married in September and they asked me to laser engrave a mirror similar to photos shown. I’m trying to find a nice font like the word “Love” in the mirror and or the other font in the other photo of an invitation sample. May be the same font and that would be okay as they are close. Anyone know this font or something similar. I’ve never messed with different fonts really and not even quite sure how to get them into my laser software. lol But at least finding something is a starting point. Sorry for the poor quality invite image as they took a picture of the computer screen which is never a good photo but it’s all they sent me. lol Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Yeah basswood cuts very easy.. I haven't messed with it in many years as that was what I made portrait style cut from before I learned about BBply so that was in the beginning of my scrolling days. I remember getting some fuzzys on the back but that may have been blade choice or the cheapy scroll saw that was likely untuned, LOL

I went from many cheapy entree level saws to a DeWalt, and then to Hawk, Excalibur, another Hawk and yet another Hawk, and then picked up a free Hegner... That all said, it sure was a change going from a DeWalt to a Hawk.. and I might have given up and sold the Hawk and gone back to a DeWalt again had I not have kept both saws and used the DeWalt when I needed to get orders made.. but during slower times I would make myself run the Hawk until I finally got used to the different cutting experience.. DeWalts cut quite aggressively and going from a saw that would chew through thick wood in a hurry to a Hawk which was not very aggressive cutting I felt like going 8 hours on the expressway at 70mph to driving in a residential at 30mph.. BUT once you get used to the cutting style and learn to cut sharp turns you can cut just as fast and at times faster on a less aggressive saw. SO, If you have the space and can keep both saws for those "I need to make it quick" jobs to use the DeWalt while taking your time getting used to the Hegner I'd go with the Hegner.. BUT on the flipside if you do a fair amount of angle cutting I like the Pegas style saw way better for that type of stuff. Longevity of the two saws.. Hegner will be around for the rest of your life... not so much with the Pegas style saws.. way too many pivot points that can create wear.. the design is very much the same as the DeWalt.. possibly they use better bearings but you still have many bearings and areas of friction to wear out. Might be in your best interest to search for a used Hegner.. get one new enough that it has the same design as the newest models.. could save you a bundle of money and then you're not spending for a new saw that you'd never get your money investment back out of if you cannot seem to get the hang of the different style cutting, while these are very nice saws they just don't hold a very good resale type value like a Pegas or other lower priced saw does.

I'm not sure what part of the world you live but if you can get your hands on a King, Excalibur, Pegas, Jet, or Excelsior stand they would be the same I believe.. However you would need the one for the 16, or 21 inch saw.. the 30 inch saw uses a different stand. Jet only has a 18 0r 22 inch saw but I'm pretty certain it's the same stand.

Welcome to the village! Basically the same saw as the Excalibur or Pegas. I would mount to a stand made for the saw. Some have made their own stand with good results. I had a cheap generic stand I got at a garage sale and the top was too small for the base of the saw, so I had a piece of scrap plywood and bolted it to the stand and the the saw to the plywood but it vibrated badly. I then found a used stand made for the saw and it worked perfectly. This is why I suggest one made for the saw. The Jet, Excalibur, king, and Pegas saws I believe use the same stand.

I’m no electrician or even know much about it. Kinda sounds like a bad ground connection somewhere. In the back of the saw opposite side of the motor there is a cover plate with 3 screws. If you remove that and look inside there it should have a ground wires on the back side of the motor. Maybe that vibrated loose? Aside from that I’m not sure what to sa other than I wouldn’t be using it until you get it sorted out. Does the I. D. Tag say it’s made in China? I know the China made laser and CNC machines are notorious for bad ground connections. Sometimes they attach poorly crimped connectors or they attach connectors right over a painted surface. Many post about this on laser groups about having to remove the ground and sanding off the paint then reconnect them.

My experience when I was using wood instead of plywood the thin boards were more prone to warping / cupping. Plywood can warp too but much more stable and usually not as bad of warping. Thicker stock also will warp too. They say to look at how tight the grain lines are. If the grain lines are tight together not as much warping as if they are farther apart. So if you’re able to go in person to a lumber store and pick through the boards look for the tighter grain stuff. I am no expert here just saying what I’ve experienced and there are many more people who are more experienced in this than I am.

I did notice there were some lines, or markings going across the strip of lights. There is no instructions that I received with them at all so I wasn't sure if I needed to cut at any particular spot so I just took the chance and cut at the needed length. Now I probably have to cut at one of those marks in order to connect the power source to what is left of the strip. As cheap as these were I'm guessing it's just cheaper to toss out the remainder of strip. I'll hang onto them for a while and see if I come up with something to use them for but like you say.. it's probably cheaper to just toss it out. I'm not planning to sell anything using these at this point just experimenting and making some future gifts.

Just thought I’d update my progress on this project as some showed some interest in the lighted mirror. I made a frame using several layers of bbply to make enough spacing to run the light strip around the outer edge of the box frame. I painted the backer section with white paint to help reflect and brighten it up some. The box part is maybe 1/4 - 3/8 inch smaller so the mirror rest on it and then made a frame around the mirror and a top piece to secure it in place. Haven’t glued it all together yet as I’m going to keep this one all set up so I can test other mirror engravings etc. as it’s easy to just swap out mirrors this way without having to build another frame. I purchased the lights off Amazon and they were 6ft two pack for $18.99 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086VC3981/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A2W3MWSXDHHF1R&th=1 I ended up only using about 4ft of the strip. Going to do some research to see how I might be able to use the leftover light strips. Seems wasteful to toss out 2 ft of good lights. Anyway here is some pictures of my frame work and how I ran the lights. Lights was on a peel and stick strip so that made it very simple to use. EDIT: Took it in the bathroom where there is no windows and turn off the light so we could see how it looks in the dark.

Like that dough bowl.. Great job on both, several years ago I did the Michigan version of the sign because a friend wanted one.. I stack cut three of them from 1/8 maple and put the Walnut backer.. sold only the one and still have the other two, LOL.. Feels good to get back into the shop after a long pause don't it..

You're right JT.. It's worth $500 but again.. that's to the right person.. I don't know where I put that it wasn't worth $500.. maybe I could have said it better or the written word was misinterpreted.. Maybe I need to go back to see what I actually said.. I thought I said $300 - 500 and if he just wants to get it out of his way then maybe $200 ish.. I've watched the marketplace for these for several years and I don't see them really moving very fast in the $400+ range.. If I bought every $200 Hawk I've seen in this condition I'd have a shop full of Hawks that I'd be setting on for several weeks just to get $250 - 400 back out of them.. they'd build up faster than I could sell them for. Here is a G4 which is the Cadillac of Hawks lineup.. not quite as clean looking but you don't see the G4's come up very often either.. This is well worth it to the right guy that knows these saws.. however there are tons and tons of Ultra saws like the original poster has and people that do not know these saws would just see a expensive used orange saw.. they all "look" the same.. and they see that they can get a scroll saw at Harbor Freight for $250 and get the extra warranty and get a free saw every two years if an issue arose. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/683232744287565/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A1371d8a1-fdde-4079-a1ad-b9218e8c9af2 For what it's worth the original poster put this saw up for sale 3 weeks ago for $400 and has already dropped the price to $350.. doesn't seem like he's wanting to set on it forever.. I have notifications set when a new Hawk is put on marketplace I get alerted about it. Like I've said.. I watch these pretty closely.. be interesting to see how long it takes to sell it and what he actually ends up getting for it. Many estates people just need to move stuff to empty out the house to sell the house.. I got my Hegner free because the guy had it listed for $75 and I drove an hour to look it over.. plugged it in and at ran but was missing the blade chucks.. he searched and couldn't find them.. had a dumpster out there with table saws and all sorts of stuff in it.. he said I could have it as he had 3 days to get the place cleaned out.. If I didn't take it he was going to put in the dumpster since it wasn't all there. I has some chucks here that I bought a box of blades from a different estate sale and in the bottom of the box was several Hegner clamps.. My point is.. most estates the family has no interest in the things they're selling and they don't usually want to bring it home to take up their space either.. so they try selling the stuff and hope to get "some money" but they also get tired of the hassle of selling the stuff too.. at some point he may just say screw it.. $200 and someone will walk away with a good deal.. as you say.. scroll sawing isn't what it used to be.. people have moved into laser and cnc stuff.. The economy is tough right now.. not many folks spending money on old saws.. they'd rather eat eggs for breakfast, LOL SO, as a seller if I had that saw yeah, I'd be happy with selling for $500.. BUT, turn the tables and as a buyer.. I'm not buying that saw for more than $300.. that's just me and the economy that I see right now. Why do I say that.. well I usually look for a deal that if I needed to sell I could get most my money back fairly easy.. There are tons of $300 saws like this out there.. Maybe a good place to try to sell for more money would be on the scroll saw FB groups.. specifically the Hawk one as those folks know the saws and if someone wanted a second saw or whatever there is Hawk interest there.. not so much here as many folks are looking for the cheap saws.. not the commercial ones high end ones.

That’s why I went with a DeWalt way back in the near beginning of my scroll sawing journey. Then I found a Hawk for $100 and then some deals on other saws so I bought a wide range of saws to try. lol. I bought the Dewalt new from Grizzly on holiday sale for $350 with stand and light. Sold light for $20 and run the saw production cutting for 6 years with one rebuild and needing it again soon but sold it for $250 instead because I had two Hawks and the Excalibur. I bought that new hawk in 2018 for $1700 ish and I’d be lucky if I could get $500 for it. People would rather spend $600 and get a new saw instead of a 5-10 year old saw that realistically would outlive the new one several times over. But they seem to think new with warranty is better. It takes the right person to know the value of the Hawk and Hegner to sell one and many of them that know them already have one. lol unfortunately they are just hard to sell at any real value unless you want to set on it for several months and wait for that right person to buy.

Yeah, kinda like where I'm at.. most any given time I can go to marketplace and there will be 12+ of these for sale in the $250 - 600 price range and those in the $300+ are setting there for sale for months.. These are only worth what someone is willing to pay.. which is why I suggest a bit lower value than some might think. It might be worth $600 to someone but price it at that and wait 6 months for that someone, or price it to move it.. Hegners are another example of this.. You pay big money for a new one.. but try selling it 2 months after you buy it and you're lucky to get $600 from it unless you wait for that special buyer that just knows it's a good deal..

Guess I was way off.. my serial number is 10290 receipt shows it was ordered Dec. 1998 but wasn't delivered until Feb. 1999. Location plays a huge roll in the value as is one's opinion of a good deal vrs. another.. Many folks see these older used saws and think they'd rather spend $300 - 600 on a brand new saw that has a warranty.. I see many of these in my area in great condition for $350 - 500 and many times they're on there for several months before someone snags it up. Then you have the folks that know these saws saying they're easily worth $500 - 700 but then they already have one and know what they are, LOL and nobody is really buying them very often for more than $350 - 450 so that is why I place my value lower than one would expect me to.. I put up one in this condition and also placed it on many FB groups for $450 and I lowered all the way down to $300.. then took it offline.. someone here was looking for a saw and I spoke up about mine and just basically wanted to move it out of my shop so I sold to him for $250 if I remember right.. that was probably 5 years ago. As you know I put hour meters on my saws.. My 226VS Ultra that was new in sealed box when I got it only has 100 hours on the meter.. and to be honest I'd sell in a heartbeat at $400 - 450.. even though I really feel it's worth more like $600 - 800 for the condition.. even my new saw I'd be happy to get $400 - 500 out of.. but it does have 500 hours on it.. and I am going to be selling both of these hopefully soon.. just in case anyone is interested. LOL

I wonder if they offered the flex hose as an optional add-on from rbi, because I bought my saw new still in the sealed box in 2017 for $400. The receipt in the box shows it was ordered late Dec. 1998. There was a bunch of added things in the box as in blades, books, 10 extra blade holders, etc. I’d have to see if I can find the original paperwork to see if that was an added cost. It was quite hard to read as it was one of those carbon copy receipts and I’ve never showed it as it had all the credit card and name info on it so out of respect I’ve never really bragged on showing that side of my deal lol. I don’t know my serial number off the top of my head but I think it’s 32**. I’ll try to remember to look when I’m in the shop later.

Based on the lack of a flex air hose tells me it's a earlier saw.. I don't know when they switched to a flex hose but my late year 1998 saw had the flex hose.. Hard to see for sure if it has the square blade holders or the round ones.. serial number is quite low so I'd guess this is around a 1995 ish. If square blade clamps then I'd say worth around $400.. if the round ones.. not worth very much.. maybe $200.. The issue with these saws is.. they're hard to sell a old saw for much money even though new they run over $1500.. I see a lot of them take forever to sell for $400.. if you just want to get it out of your way you may want to put a low $100 - 250 price on it.. maybe try $400 for a few weeks to see what happens.

I don't have a router or router table, but I do have a chainsaw which does pretty much the same thing if you know how to use it. I like my table so my arms are right close to the 90 degree mark.. I think that adjustable table could be very handy.. don't know how much they cost but there are some tools I like to use at a higher or lower height. Like routing with my chainsaw the bench needs to be lower..

Looks great Jerry! I have also done this but when there is a sharp corner in a line or it intersects another line I drill at those points as it hides better. See circled in green for reference of what I'm talking about.

I like to be that oddball but this time I have to say mine is set up flush as well.. so that means I need to adjust it.

I pretty much have always used both.. really depends on the project.. much like you say.. sometimes both on the same project.. I don't see a lot of people using them on thick wood either.. usually portrait type cuttings in thin stock. I also sometimes will use them after I've used a flat blade, such as for widening out veining tye cuts.. The spiral will usually follow the cut line perfectly once you've already cut a line with a flat blade.. Most of the body lines in my car clocks I make are done with a spiral this way.

Yeah, I have several places online to buy it.. I mentioned I haven't found it "locally" .. I don't get to Hobby lobby very often and when there I've never seen it.. maybe I've not looked in the right spot.. possibly the small Hobby Lobby we have local doesn't have it? I know my local one is a small store compared to the others in the bigger cities.. My local store would almost fit inside the one in the bigger town.. Same thing with Walmart.. the craft section is like one isle while the on in the bigger city has like 3-4 rows with lots of craft paints etc.. almost one whole row is paints.. while my local one has a small section about the size of a end cap that is all the paints they have, LOL

Acrylic mirrors yes, I suppose with the water drip system and the right blade you could do these glass mirrors. I wanted acrylic but Lowe's didn't have any that I could find so I went with these mirror glass tiles.. With acrylic the laser will cut to shapes or sizes that I want.. I haven't found anyplace local that sells any type of acrylic.. and I'm not certain what plexiglass is made from.. certain types of plastics and vinyl are very toxic to engrave / cut etc on a laser and in some cases can ruin a laser machine..

I can't take credit for the mirror engraving or the lights behind it... It's something I seen on a laser engraving youtube channel that I watch. The design I engraved is of a ornament scroll saw pattern that someone named Dean made the pattern. I saved it a few years ago to make for her back then but never did.. then I modified the design to work on the laser.. IF you take a stab at engraving mirrors you have to engrave the back side of the mirror and since it's on the back side you need to mirror the image in inkscape or whatever program you use so when you look at the front everything is the way it should be.. If you forget that step it'll be backwards on the front,

Local Walmart or online? They sell about anything online and these days it's hard to tell on the website if it's something in stock or sold by a third party seller, LOL..