kmmcrafts

Please let him know my birthday is on the 19th... I know it might be pushing it to get here on time.. so I don't mind if it's a few days late.. Well Happy Birthday! Congrats on the awesome gift.. I suppose it's up to you on the table covering.. I'm kinda funny on taking care of my tools and wax the whole machine, stand and all when i wax the table.. keep them clean as possible etc.. IF I was going to cover the table... I probably would go with the thin magnetic sheets like seyco saws use and cut it to size.. I believe several folks have done that on their Excalibur saws.. not to protect the table but to cover those dust collector holes and seem to get small pieces that drop out of your cut and bind your board up.. watch it with those.. they can really mess you and a project up when that happens..

Yes I agree with that..

Okay the other day I mentioned in one of the Pegas topics about my Excalibur is already making noises and vibrating again after I greased the bearings and all I had it running so smooth.. It turns out it still runs very smooth.. A while back I put a 2 x 4 under the back legs of the stand.. I totally forgot about this.. and it turns out the vibration and the bad knocking sounds was the stand was either knocked off or just over time vibrated enough to have the legs barely on that 2x4.. I took the 2x4 completely out and the saw runs just as I had it tuned to run after putting it back together.. Funny how that sound resonated through the machine and made it sound like it was coming from the back motor linkage area..

Ray do you suppose the blade actually stretched or do you suppose the upper arm etc wasn't completely rested to the lowest point? I asked that because ( mind you I have the cheap China made saw.. but.. I've found that on the Excalibur and even on my old DW788 the upper arm always dropped down more after I tension the blade.. SO what I almost always do now is push down on the upper linkage while tightening the thumb screw..BUT that doesn't always do the trick.. so Now I just do as mentioned but once tension is on I then release it and re-clamp the blade then saw.. It's an extra step.. and kinda in some ways annoying to do.. but.. doing so has always made the blade as tight as it should be.. Not an issue with the Hawk.. and many times I've seen recently that folks talking about the blade stretching.. I don't think it's stretching that much.. especially when I never have the issue with the Hawk.. The Hawk has a bottom out hole for the lower clamp.. put the blade in until it rest on the bottom and tighten the thumb screw.. somewhat the same with the top provided you have it adjusted properly the blade should come up just under the stop pin in the upper clamp.. so there is no fuss with the Hawk.. each blade goes in the same way every time..and one should never need to adjust this unless they swap blades from a large number to a very small number.. Anyway.. My point is.. the blades don't stretch on the Hawk but they do on the EX? I think it's more about putting a load on the upper pivots of the upper arm.. This is the downfall to these types of saws in my opinion.. way too many pivot points and bearings sleeves etc.. But not knocking the saws.. they are awesome to cut on.. until they get some wear.. then you get a little more slop and get the blade stretching issue.. LOL If that's what you want to call it..

Only thing I use the clear tape for now days since I started using the shelf liner is taping around the edges to hold a stack together..which in my case is daily use but still.. I also use it for making my boxes to ship my order in.. I do use the Duck brand "easy peel? I think.. It is a thicker tape and peals off the roll easy.. some of those tapes if you don't leave a tail on it and it gets stuck back to the roll you play heck trying to get it peeled back again without tearing and breaking many little pieces.. and the easy peel or maybe it's called easy start? anyway. it's the easiest best tape I've found..

I don't use patterns anymore.. I've cut these ornaments so many times now I just tape the stack together drill holes and cut it out, When i did use patterns.. I put the tape down first then the pattern.. On a few certain instances I've put tape on top.. but I hate cutting that way.. it seems like the sawdust builds in front of the line and covers it up.. the bellows isn't enough air to blow the sawdust off the line hen it gets trapped under the tape ahead of where I'm cutting..

My Pegas blade will also break on the Hawk... Mostly break right at the top or bottom of the stroke where the teeth are being used.. I run my saw 3/4 - 7/8 of the way up on the dial.. BUT... they aren't breaking prematurely.. but rather because I'm running them longer than I should.. They are so sharp and cut decent even when worn badly.. I don't break FD blades at all but I can't stand running them for very long either..they get dull and just won't cut without forcing them through the wood and flexing the blade ruining the project etc.. Those Pegas will chomp right through until they break... I almost always run them until they do, LOL That all said.. Never broke one on my Excalibur or DeWalt.. But those short arms on those saws I believe are easier on the blades.. Those long arm saws tend to stress blades more.. Especially the long arms on the 26" saws..

Glad you did decent with the sale, I did one at a small church a few years ago and the people putting on the show forgot to get the ad out in the local papers.. I did about the same as you just shy of $200.. Wishing you much luck next year..

When this happens to me.. yes slowing the saw reduces the noise.. and it only ever did this with certain pieces of wood... (ie It could be the same type wood and even the same board , just a different section of that particular board ) I never had any burning issues on the edges.. Slowing the saw does help but if you like cutting at a faster pace like I do.. Then switching to a better blade is your only option.. This never happen to me a great deal.. out of 15 years of sawing I've probably only experienced this a dozen times.. The PGT blades was the worst ones and the FD UR blades would do it too but not as bad.. Never ever had this with the Pegas MG blade.. Not saying they won't do it.. because as I said.. it takes a special board to want to talk to you.. Maybe it has feelings and you're cutting it hurts

Yeah Me too.. I need to put them on eBay one of these days.. I always say they may come in handy though.. never know as they all do cut.. just not as good.. There have been a couple times where blades was back ordered and I needed blades.. those blades came in handy a few times when this has happened.. But now.. I order a few gross of each size and style I use.. when I get down to my last package ( gross ) on hand.. I order.. so I'll likely never get into that situation again.. LOL

I think a lot of people are switching or have switch to the Pegas.. Those Mach blades is another that I also used on and off.. they're decent blades for certain work.. Those Pegas are hard to beat for the money.. The PGT blades are pricey..

I don't think so Ray.. The Olsen PGT re just like the Pegas MG blade and cut straight.. PGT is ( precision ground tooth) Don't think they're stamped like most blades.. but I maybe wrong on that..For about a year those where my go to blade.. but then I started doing finer detail work and the smallest one is a #5.. while the teeth area isn't too large the ends seem to be larger.. also for a while the double skip tooth was all I could find.. and I like the regular reverse tooth ones.. Still have a few.. they work pretty aggressive on thicker wood..

My biggest complaint with the magazine was just trying to print the patterns on my little printer scanner.. Then I realized I had a duh moment when someone mentioned to take it to a copier and copy the whole thing.. cut it up and scan the smaller pieces of the patterns I want / need.. When i first got those magazines I couldn't figure out why the heck they'd put patterns on both sides of the papers.. what if you want the pattern on both sides, LOL I intend to resubscribe when money gets a little less tight.. Also realized they do have digital disc for past issues as sets.. I really like to have all of those.. I always enjoyed looking through then but there was a time they had an awful lot of ads and very little of anything else.. maybe I'm thinking of one of the other magazines that used to be out there..

Okay, yeah.. forgot those PGT blades do this too.. think maybe even worst than the FD blades..

Let me guess... Cutting hardwood... and using Flying Dutchman UR blades... probably a #5 or 7.. .. I don't have any experience with this now do I.. LOL For the life of me I cannot remember the types of wood that I used to use that did this the worst.. But I can tell you.. Since I switched to using Pegas modifies geometry blades.. I haven't had the noise.. Might be a good time to give those Pegas blades a try..

I agree.. But honestly I couldn't sell this for very much money to someone.. and it's probably worth more to me to keep as a parts machine ( motor, circuit board, the front rocker assemblies etc..) if I was to buy another older EX or the better made newer ones.. Pegas etc.. I'm actually going to call Ray and ask him about replacement bearings /sleeves for this saw.. They wasn't in all that good of shape.. and that is the issue it's having again.. But the parts on Seyco site states not for the newer made saw.. Must be a slight design change in the whole assembly he sells.. I can get the bearings locally.. but not found a source for the sleeves.. and I already checked the sleeves I had for the DW788.. they are different. If I'm stuck with having to replace with another cheap china made assembly.. I'm done with the saw.. I could wait it out for a deal on an older better made saw.. but I do like the New Pegas.. Iggy is the only other person i know that does a lot of cutting.. I haven't heard him complain about the Pegas failing yet.. I believe he runs more hours on the saw than I do.. Not much fretwork in doing the puzzles.. My kind of work is stop go stop go (fretwork).. the puzzles I've made you can pretty much run the saw non stop for 20 minutes at least. maybe more than that.. If I saw for 4-5 hours my hour meter only shows about 2 - 3 hours..

The Pegas from my understanding have a epoxy coating on the table. I can't speak for the older EX saws but my china made saw is just painted.. and a good portion was worn off within the first ( estimated ) 20 hours of run time. with nearly 150 hours run time it's pretty much gone other than the primer coating which is getting quite thin also.. The primer coating actually is holding up much better than the paint did, LOL.. At one time I had thought about painting it with a Urethane auto type paint or have it powder coated.. those two would hold up way better than what as on it.. Not sure which is better powder coat or the epoxy coating.. both are pretty tough coatings though.. I was only going to paint it as a test to really see how long they'd hold up. as I honestly do not see why they coated them to begin with.. I've not seen any other saws with a coated table... While it looks nice at first.. and does prevent rust.. so does waxing it.. waxing it also helps keep it slick..

That has kinda crossed my mind a few times.. I'm pretty sure i could buy my old one back.. my sons friend bought it used it and made about 6-8 projects he wanted to do for his house.. now it just sits in his shed.. That said.. I do like the EX style better over the DeWalt.. I just will never buy another China made one.. in fact.. I'd have never bought mine had I known it was a China made saw.. I bought it before anyone even knew the EX 21 came back.. they wasn't even available online or in stores yet... The kid I got it from said they was going to be bringing the EX back and that Home Depot where his dad worked said they was coming back.. but this was before anyone had mentioned anything about them being made in China.. I'm wondering how he got his hands on one.. it was probably stolen, LOL This is why I say I have a early made China made saw.. Also have to say.. I'm not the guy to sell some junk to others that might like the hobby end up hating it because of a crap saw.. If anything I'll pull my pegas clamps off and haul it in with my scrap metal..Not sure it's even worth scrap prices, LOL

DeWalt stands are the same as well.. Only mount the saw so the work end of it is where the two legs are on the stand.. and no way to change that set up not even by drilling new holes, LOL... Edit to say: I find it odd how a DeWalt can run soo smooth without a stand.. just setting on the wood workbench.. I did that with my EX and that thing had a considerable amount of vibration.. Now I don't know how the better made EX saws are since mine is the China made one and had to be one of the first few made. so it's bound to have issues... I call the thing a piece of junk.. but then I realize just how much I saw and maybe I'm kinda harsh.. I'm having some issues again with it since I re-greased up the bearings etc.. But I've also put nearly 100 run time hours on it in the last 3-4 weeks since I did that.. I feel like I've barely even used it.. Maybe I have a lot more hours on this saw than I really think I do.. Then again.. The DeWalt never gave me this much trouble.. LOL. Or any other saw I've had..

My brother started his mill business back in the early - mid 70's and got started with it powered by a john deere.. not sure what model it was.. but it was the old jonny popper type motor.. I worked a lot for him over the years starting out at about 8-10 years old stacking the slab fire wood.. moving up as I got older to making pallets and then catching the lumber at the end of the mill..

This is so very true what you say.. and just to take it to a selling thing.. Some of my "Best" selling items on my website are things that either me or my wife say who'd buy THAT!... Many many things I make I have no interest in whatsoever.. and for me... I just enjoy the time in front of my saw no matter what I'm cutting.. short of.. I'm not a big enthusiast of cutting things that go slow... NOT meaning projects that take forever to finish.. more like projects that the cutting goes slow... I hate cutting real thick wood because the cutting seems to go so slow I could fall asleep.. LOL.. I don't know how you guys enjoy cutting those 1+ inch compound type cuts.. I'd rather cut a portrait out with several million cutouts..

That is a Sue Mey Pattern... she has many of this same themed style clocks of many other themes..

I love all of these projects from you all wonderful work!! This is a great theme.. I live out in the boonies and there are plenty of dairy farmers and fields of corn, hay, and many other things.. This should have come up when i'm not too busy.. I have a old John Deere tractor patterns I've wanted to cut for a while now.. I just don't do much for portrait work anymore.. I'll show a couple cuts I have that are farm related but for this theme I really like the portraits... Sorry I posted so many, LOL Couldn't decide what ones I liked best for this theme

When going to his FB page.. instead of scrolling through the main page.. I just go over to the side and click the photos tab.. this brings up all the photos and patterns he's put on there.. Of coarse there are a lot of them and you still have to scroll through the pictures.. I find it easier that way though..

Great looking puzzles and a great looking saw.. I was out cutting ornaments this morning and my China made Excalibur is giving fits again.. I went to Seyco website and was ready to just buy the whole inside mechanism only to see that the site says the parts fit all saws except the very early ones without the tilting head.. and the newest 2017 + models.. well that's when they move to the China plant.. I've just about had it with that saw.. There may be a Pegas ordered before the end of the year.. At least I have the Hawk saws to use.. Will be selling the older Hawks and keeping the newest one and buying a Pegas I think..