kmmcrafts

Very well said.. It'd be real hard to put enough content into one magazine to cover every type of sawing.. not to mention types of medium to be scrolled.. Wood is generally the main topic with scroll saws.. but so much more could be discussed.. the magazine I dropped several years ago but have considered resubscribing.. Back then.. there seemed to be more adds in the book than actual topics.. I would really entertain the thought of a electronic version of the magazine.. everyone talks about going green.. Maybe too much for server and website cost? Not sure but they seem to be stuck on doing old fashion practices and I myself see the future of all magazines fazing out.. heck most of my car themed magazines are online.. I could see many more people subscribing to a online form of the magazine.. log in and print the patterns they want... Most everyone agrees about the patterns being a Pain to take out of the magazine to copy.. much more simple to find the wanted pattern online from the designer at hand and buy it for a instant download.. Maybe this for me because the nearest copyer to go to for me is 15-20 mile away.. In todays busy world where people are on the go all the time.. it'd be much more convenient to look through the magazine while waiting at the Doctors office while on my phone.. or stuck in a traffic jam etc etc.. where one wouldn't normally be carrying the magazine. LOL It's been talked about many times and most everyone agrees that a digital version they'd pay extra for.. it's been brought up to the folks that put out the magazine.. SO.. not IF they go under but When they go under.. I personally wont feel sorry for them.. they've been asked and decline to offer.. So instead of having the magazine on my device to look at..I suffer through Facebook, Intagram, and TicTok instead of reading though a magazine.. I'm glad that people have the magazine to go to.. I just see them hurting the future of the magazine by not being at all interested in a electronic version.. Just my opinion here but.. the best scroll sawing magazine out there failed long ago.. Mainly because they refused to sell people magazines full of ads during the hard times.. I guess this one was supported long enough by all those ads that they was able to stay afloat.. good for them.. but bad for those of us that paid several years of subscriptions for magazine ads.. Maybe this is part of my dis taste to them.. Years ago the only way to get patterns was the magazines and books.. designers had to submit to the magazine and it was up to them to publish or not.. Now days a designer can get money and probably more of it by skipping the magazine and just start selling their designs on etsy or some other site.. It's only a matter of time where they'll have to conform to the new way of things or go under.. Just My Opinion..

I don't use a skip tooth blade so I don't have much experience with those for comparison.. I think the FD Penguin Silver is a skip tooth design.. and there is a few folks that have talked about them being a good blade.. I myself use the Ultra Reverse and sometimes the scroll reverse in the Flying Dutchman brand.. Though my favorite blade these days are now Pegas Modified Geometry.. I do still use the FD brand UR and SR blades on certain occasions.. The most talked about blades from reading these message boards over the years is the FD UR and as of recently the past couple years the Pegas MG.. When Mike was selling blades he use to give out a couple of sample blades.. I don't think they do that anymore.. Be nice to be able to try out a couple blades of each style and size... I pretty much have done that over the years... Have several packs of blades laying around that I'll never use, LOL Somebody must use them because they still offer them, LOL

When I was new to scroll sawing I would cut up to the sharp corner back out a small ways and then cut or like shave the waist area to make the kerf a sight bit wider so the blade can spin around a bit easier.. Hope that makes sense to somebody, LOL.. Anyway.. doing it like that somewhat still gives you practice in doing those tight curves.. eventually with more practice in cutting you'll start just cutting along without making the kerf wider.. That might be quite a long time though depending on what saw you use.. My DeWalt was quite aggressive cutting.. so i did this method probably about 6-7 years of the 10 years I owned that saw.. Going from that saw to the less aggressive saw.. doing those tight corners is sooo much easier.. LOL

Hawk also has a "table top" leg set.. or at least the use to have it.. just real short legs.. maybe 8" high? with rubber feet pads mounted on the bottom of them.. Of all the saws I've had.. the DeWalt stand was the best of them with the adjustable tilt etc.. and narrow enough to sort of straddle the stand.. The stand that came with my Delta SS350 and my Dremel 1800 wasn't too bad either.. The height of Hawk stand and figuring out what how to set up my foot switch etc.. took a long time to get used to it.. By far the worst stand for me has been the Excalibur.. The stand is quite a lot wider than the rest of the stands and no way to really straddle it.. figuring out where to put you're legs etc was troublesome for me.. That said.. The Excalibur runs smooth enough I doubt you'd really need it on the stand like you would with some of the other saws.. I ran my EX on the bench with the rubber feet things it came with for a while ...just i had to keep moving the saw off the bench to do anything else so i bought a stand made for it..

Think if you look at the blade dimensions of FD vrs. Pegas.. you'll find that the Pegas run a bit smaller... A Pegas 2/0 blade is almost like a FD 3/0 blade in size.. A 0 size Pegas is almost the same size as a 2/0 FD blade.. Each blade brand has their own numbering system so a #1 blade can vary a lot between brands.. The actual blade dimensions and teeth per inch is listed on each blade brands chart.. For these reasons.. I tend to shy away from answering those post that ask what size blade to use.. because you could be giving false info.. too many variables to answer what blade to use questions.. I will give advise on blade styles.. for instance the FD NS is easier to control than the other spirals. Not just an opinion as that was why the new spiral was invented.. Back when Mike was alive and selling those blades he advertised them as "easier to control " that is why I tried them when they first came about.. as I was using spiral blade well before those blades even came out.. Back in those days spirals was what I used 90% of the time.. as I was doing a lot of portrait type work..until I found portrait work doesn't sell all that great.. LOL

I've never seen the magazine at Lowes.. only place I've ever seen it locally for sale was Barns & Noble book store.. I do wish more places had it.. but I sort of think they aren't sold too well in my area anymore.. 25-30 years ago almost any store had them.. while the wife shopped I'd go check out the latest magazine.. mow days I have to settle for car / truck magazines, LOL I've been contemplating subscribing again.. was fun going through them a few weeks back searching for a specific pattern that I'd cut way back in 2010, LOL... Found a lot of patterns I had forgot about..

I don't even know what tension I use on a blade because I just go by the feel.. When I had my deWalt I rarely ever plucked the blade for sound because I got to where I could just tell by the pressure I was pushing on the lever I guess.. Not really sure how I did it actually as it just came to me naturally.. .. I still to this day struggle with how much tension with the other saws I use when switching to a different blade.. the good thing about that is.. I don't switch blades very often and the saws stay at the same tension all the time unless I move the knob at the back of the saw. The FD new spiral is the way to go as far as the ease of use for newbies especially.. in my opinion.. I do like the Olsen and Pegas spirals too now that I have a little experience with spirals.. Even so.. I pretty much still use the FD ones.. I never use any larger than a #1 and almost always use the 2/0.. even cutting 3/4" hardwood.. Goes a little slower but easier to control a smaller blade for me..Also the smaller the blade the less rough the edges of your cuts are..

@Iguanadon I hope Harvey is doing better, I still plan to buy some patterns soon... before months end.. Just been very busy and undecided what patterns to get.. plus.. waiting to hit the lotto that I never play so maybe I could buy all the patterns.. LOL

Not to put down a Hawk or Hegner but if you love the Excalibur so much and you sell off the Hawk.. why not just look for a second Excalibur if you want two saws.. I like the Excalibur enough that I'd probably buy another before i spend the money on another "New" Hawk.. That said.. a used Hawk is more appealing to me than a New EX Pegas etc saw because of the price points.. Now that I have finally dialed in my Excalibur I find it cuts much like the Hawk does.. but I do like the way Excalibur adjust the blade aggression over Hawks method.. The one place the Hawk shines much more is the durability..and easy rebuilding if one ever needed rebuilt .. The Excalibur rebuild is much easier and quicker than the DeWalt too.. Going to keep my eye out for a Hegner deal.. Should be a lot of them out there right now since i have no extra funds for one..

Finished putting this back together this morning and dialed everything in.. Cut out some ornaments to be sure it still runs as it should.. All seems good.. Runs much quieter and smoother.. Should run a good amount of hours with the fresh cleaned up and a good grease added to it.. Now when running it I don't hear the Harley coming up the rd. like I did before.. Not a good sounding Harley either.. as I like the sounds a real Harley makes, but not so much when it's actually a China made scroll saw Harley

That's funny, I didn't know how it was spelled and spell check keeps changing it to what I've been spelling it and I thought it looked funny but who's to question the computer..

Well today.. inspecting all the parts etc. after cleaning them up and taking a closer look.. I think maybe the bearings did have grease.. I used a couple cans of brake cleaner and everything looked pretty good.. One sleeve was beat up a little but after cleaning it all up it was barely noticed with my finger nail.. so.. I took and cleaned them all up with some emery cloth and really not too bad of shape.. so I just greased everything up and they all see to feel smooth running so I put most of it back together tonight.. but i got stumped on a couple wires.. I took a picture of the wires from the motor etc at the circuit board.. but the two wires that I assume are grounds as they have a loop style end where a screw goes through.. One is green and the other is green with yellow stripe.. i can't remember where they were screwed too.. LOL Looked at my picture I took but they was already unhooked.... I believe one of them screws to the body of the saw right below the motor.. but not sure what one and where the other one goes.. Was getting tired so maybe when I go out in the morning I'll see here they go and think to myself duh.. LOL I ended up taking the front rocker arms off and cleaning / greasing those bearings and sleeves etc too.. sure can tell it's smooth rolling just moving them by hand.. can't wait to fire the thing back up and see how it goes...

What I'd like to know is what parts of the saw are made in China? would they really retool the whole saw and do the whole thing? Bearings are just bought from a bearing manufacture.. most likely in china for ALL saws whether made in Taiwan or China.. I doubt the motor is made from any place else.. I'd guess not a whole lot.. short of just assembling it I'd bet most all the parts are the same.. just assembled.. I don't know.. just seems odd to have the same saw made in two different locations.. Most the parts in the old EX was made in china anyway.. @hotshot I'd have took the deal on the big EX.. after all.. all the parts are still available from Ray... and other sources.. The expensive parts are the motor.. the rest is mostly bearings etc..

I believe the rust is from being assembled with no grease whatsoever.. Bare steel will rust pretty quick no matter how wet / dry the location is.. There was only this one bearing that had rust.. the rest had grease.. though getting pretty dried out there was grease in the others.. no sign of grease at all in the one that had rust.. The one that had rust was also inside the saw circled it red in this diagram from Seyco.. The saw was brand new when i got it.. in fact it couldn't have been sitting around too long because I got this saw ( china made version ) before they even released these for sale in the USA.. I'm not sure how the fella I got it from got his hands on it.. He is the one that told me that EX was bringing back the saws soon to Home Depot.. as his father is a big wig there I guess.. For all I know maybe he stole it.. I gave $340 for it.. He told me he won it in a raffle from his workplace.. All I know is.. I got a China made saw before they were sold in stores in the USA.. I've had the saw two years this October i think.. Maybe it was three years now I'd have to look at my paperwork to be sure.. As Rolf stated.. temp changes can rust stuff fairly quick.. In the spring thaw here in Michigan my shop gets quite a lot of condensation.. one reason I'm looking hard at heating the shop to help dry it out.. But this condensation is only a couple days of pretty bad... mostly the shop floor sweating.. If grease was present in the bearing it shouldn't have been an issue.. This year was worst than any other years I been here.. I'll be at a minimum running a dehumidifier this year.. Can't have that moisture around my equipment.. Never been this way in the past 50 years of living in this house.. that i remember of anyway, LOL

That might depend on how much the bearings are.. If i buy the whole assembly I'll be taking it apart anyway to use my GOOD grease in it.. so it's not going to be just a slap it together and run it thing either way... The bearings I need appear to cost me $20 if I order them online.. I'm going to check with my local bearing shop ( Edwards Industrial ) or ( Detroit Bearing ) to see what they have.. I've found that they ( though a little higher priced ) usually can get me higher end made bearings.. Did this with my DW and the saw ran forever before it needed rebuilt again..

I agree 100% While the design of the EX type saws and the style cutting they do does appeal to me more so than with the Hawk.. The EX will cut faster than the Hawk... However the simple no fuss blade changing of the Hawk and the little to no break downs etc.. Blade changing is faster for me on the Hawk.. I think at the end of the day it's pretty much a tie with the ease of use of the Hawk.. But.. The Hawk does have more vibration at certain speeds.. so there are down falls to both machines..You just choose the battle.. If one wanted to buy a new saw every year as Iggy does.. I think maybe the way to go for a production type shop setting.. Best of both worlds is having multipal saws of each style, LOL... I worked that EX hard last week putting 20 hours run time cutting out 200 Christmas ornaments for a custom order..

Okay, SO... I found my box of old bearings and sleeves that i took out of my old DW the first time I rebuilt that saw.. and the bearings are in fact the same size.. BUT.. the sleeves are not.. well they are the same diameter..but the EX sleeves are longer.. and NO before you ask.... two DW sleeves is too long.. LOL.. SO.. now I'm torn.. on buying the whole assembly or just replacing the bad bearing and using that old sleeve.. The biggest thing that bothers me about just using the old parts is well two things.. 1 being two of the sleeves are kinda chewed up.. the bigger sleeve where the bearing was seized up really isn't bad at all.. must be a hardened sleeve? It's got marks where the rusty bearing road on it but I used my micrometer on it and it's not hardly worn at all.. Not enough to be bothersome or an issue. Anyway the other issue is the link arms are worn.. on the end where it connects to the front rockers.. Why they are worn.. it seems as the assembly line only put in a thrust shim on one side.. I don't think they originally came that way? My DW had one of those shims on each side.. that back portion of the saw had a shim on each side. so anyway the side without the shim chewed into the link arm.. Buying the whole assembly replaces all this stuff..

Only a few? I might wait a couple years.. that way it's more fun figuring out where it all went and what happen to the parts that are missing etc.. That's typically how I've always done it in the past.. LOL

Okay so this is the larger connecting rod I talked about. The first photo shows it with the pin and end caps in place then I show it taken apart. This thing was rusted about solid in place. I took two vise grip pliers and worked it back and forth along with some pb blaster got it freed up. The pin and caps was also welded together and took a lot of work to get apart. The pin really is discolored like it’s worn bad but I really don’t feel much if any wear in it, so I’m thinking I’ll just press in some new bearings grease it up good if I can’t find just the pin. Not going to spend $120 or so dollars if I don’t have to. The bearings likely $6 - 10 each. Two bearings side by side in this piece. If I can get the DeWalt parts back from my sons friend and they’re the same then I’ll likely replace the worn bearings and sleeves while it’s apart. Do a good grease job like I did with my DW and it’ll probably run better than a new one. Amazing how much smoother a saw will run even if it’s new when you take out the cheap grease they use and put it high end synthetic grease. I was amazed at how the old DeWalt ran after putting in a good grease. By by the way. There used to be a lot of people saying the Ex saws had sealed bearings. That is false for sure now that I took this thing apart. It’s assembly is no different than a DeWalt other than the tilting head and being able to adjust the motor. I wonder if one could make a adjustable motor set up on the DW saws like these have. I like the table on the DW better. Lol

More like a rubber mallet.. That's what I use on stuff like this.. though I didn't need to " hammer " at all once on the bench I just lifted up with two screw drivers and once it moved lightly was able to work it off..

I think I've done that ONCE... but never again, .. gotta learn the hard way once.. if you do it twice.. you're just stupid.. I read that somewhere..

Going to add some more photos a little later showing the bad parts. Phone died while working on it but I managed to get the rest of this apart. Pretty sure I can make the needed repairs without buying the whole assembly. Biggest thing is the one bigger sleeve is worn a couple thousands. Actually don’t think it’ll effect it at all so may try new bearings with the old sleeve. First will call Ray to see if he can get me just the bigger sleeve. Think it’s the same sleeve as the DW but not certain yet.

Well I was able to pull the motor with the connecting rod still on it.. once on the bench was able to pry up with two screw drivers and press off the connecting rod portion.. Now the whole back end of the saw is apart.. The one bigger connecting rod with the rusty screw and bearing.. that thing is locked right up.. with some PB Blaster I was able to get it to spin sort of.. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it from here.. I really only need this one bearing.. though there are two or three other sleeves and bearings in not so good of shape.. those I believe are the same bearings as the DeWalt had.. and my sons friend whom I've sold the DeWalt too which I gave him the bearings & sleeves with the saw... he still hasn't rebuilt the thing so i may see if he'll bring them by and at least let me use what i need if they are the same.. then I'll buy new ones to replace them back to him.. or I'll just confirm they're the same and order what I need.. Seyco sells the whole assembly for $115 + shipping.. But I have a press and can get my own $10 bearing if I can get this rusty one apart... it's pretty messed up though.. Even if I have to buy the assembly from Seyco the saw is well worth fixing.. especially since I did love the saw once I got things half way working.. Liked it better than my Hawk once dialed in..and to think... the thing never really ran right.. it couldn't have with that dry rusty bearing.. seemed smooth.. just really noisy LOL..

Okay folks... finally took this saw apart.. was determined to make it run as everyone claims they do.. I've toyed with the saw quite a lot over the couple years I've owned it.. but it's never been what I considered "working right" For those that don't know.. I'll do a little re-cap.. I bought the saw second hand ( though still in the sealed box ) back when the saw was no longer available in the USA for that short time.. The young man I got it from said he won it in a raffle at his job's Christmas party.. he also mentioned to me that his father worked at Home Depot and that his father claimed they was bringing the Excalibur back to HD in the USA. A few month later we all get the news that they are coming back but made in a new plant in China.. Not sure how the young man got his hands on the China made machine that I have.. I never knew it was a China made machine until one day while doing some organizing I run across the original box that said right on the sticker " Made In China " I did a double take on that.. then right away went to the saw and low and behold the I.D. tag said the same.. From day one I had issues with the upper clamp.. just was sloppy and would troublesome.. I thought it was just me being new to the saw.. though I used a DeWalt for 12 years and it's not that much different to be having such issues.. Buying the Pegas clamps solved most of those issues... Then started in with the self adjusting of the nob at the back of the saw.. was so bad that even doing small fret cutouts I'd have to stop and re-position that knob.. Finally tired of this I took the thing apart and put blue loc-tite on the treads which solved it.. The saw has always been a little noisy and kept getting worst over time.. I finally took it apart as best I could.. and so far I've not found any grease in the bearing that is pressed into the back connecting rod..Don't believe there was ever grease in this one particular spot as I had a heck of a time getting it apart.. once I did get it.. the thru bolt and inside where it goes through was just full of powdered rust.. Many of the other bearing sleeves are also pretty dry of grease however you can see it had grease in it at one time.. just very little I suspect.. and the sleeves are a little on the chewed up side at most of the pivot points that I've taken apart so far.. If I put this back together it'll need all new bearings and sleeves.. and grease, LOL So far I'm stumped on getting the smaller connecting rod off the end of the motor.. The nut is off ( yes left handed threads if anyone wondered ).. But the thing seems as if it's welded onto the motor shaft.. not wanting to beat on it too much and it's in there where you can't get too it very well to do anything with it.. Now that I have the link arms and the longer connecting rod portion apart and out of the way.. I might see if I can remove the whole motor with the connecting rod attached to see if I can work at it on the workbench.. Now a question.. do you suppose the new China plant makes that larger connecting rod.. Do you suppose they are just buying the parts from a supplier and assembling these in China... hard to believe they'd re-tool to make all these assemblies when they already have them in the Taiwan plant.. suppose the Taiwan plant is buying parts from the China plant? Be interesting to me to see how the new King, Pegas, Jet and other similar saws pan out in a few years.. when people get several hours on them.. I installed a hour meter on mine back in Feb - March.. I've got 60 hours run time on this machine since then.. and after having the hour meters on my Hawk saws etc I have a better idea of run time.. I'd guess this Excalibur has around 160 hours run time.. BTW.. Newest Hawk has 100 hours run time.. not a hiccup or anything.. Been lubed up 6 times. in all it took me about 2 minutes of my time to preform the maintenance over the coarse of those 100 hours.. I've got 5-6 hours time in repairs on this new EX, LOL I'll post some pictures of this thing in pieces in a while.. I have some on my phone.. but for now I'm going back out to see if I can get the motor off with that connecting rod still on it.. wish me luck with that, LOL

I haven't done a craft show in years... so my answer for a craft show seller is probably irrelevant.. My best craft show seller was ornaments..when I did crafts shows... angel themed ones sold very well back then.. Now with that said.. my online experience is most my shoppers are women looking for unique gift themed things for men / boys.. so car themed things sell well.. So with that said.. make things your shoppers would be looking for for the men in your local area I guess would be my best advice.. but it really depends on your local shows and what type shows they are..