kmmcrafts

How much?

Just for curiosity I called Nicole from Hawk again today just to see if they ever got the CNC up and running.. and I wanted to ask a few questions regarding the business.. First thing.. the CNC got its part and from what I gather they got it running.. but now there is another issue.. the coolant / oil isn't pumping.. Sounds like they just got it together not long agao. and she said they are all out there working on it right now... She said they have been on a waiting list at a local machine shop to make the part for them.. and that shop said back in first part of Feb that they was booked out until sometime in March.. she mentioned this today and said either they will get their machine running or this local machine shop will call.. whichever comes first will be the one making the part so she can get all their saw orders out.. she said they have 18 saws ordered and are waiting on this part most of that 18 was ordered at Christmas time.... She apologized several times and said this isn't normal for them, LOL So.. I asked out of curiosity.. what is a normal time from someones order to get one made and in the mail to them.. She said normally 2-3 weeks.. I also asked if they build any of these and have them in stock or do they just make as ordered.. she said they try to keep one of each size ready to ship.. They want to have more on hand but there is not enough space to keep them.. They have a new shop going up ( so far just a concrete slab ) that will be a much bigger facility to keep more inventory on hand.. Anyway.. Just thought I'd share the update since I know many of you have been wondering as well as I have as to when this new saw might show up..

I'm going to use blue loctite.. that is the one recommended for small sized and for removable.. it's what we use for the set screws on the blade clamps.. and I'm using it because it's not the strongest hold but I think it'll hold quite well for this...Plus.. I have it on hand.. The red is not really permanent.. well.. it is sort of.. recommended removal is to heat it to loosen it up... I've used red in certain automotive applications when I was working as a mechanic..

Ray, I may be wrong.. but I don't think the saw stopping in a odd position should change the distance between the blade clamps.. I'm thinking more along the lines of the rod that screws into the wedge at the back of the saw needs loosened up to let the upper arm drop down a little lower.. Maybe I'm wrong on that.. Maybe you should raise up and lower the arm down a couple of times to be sure it has dropped down to it's lowest point.. a new saw sometimes has the bolts a little snug and the upper arm doesn't pivot real smooth and easy.. and will take a few hours worth of cutting to get it to sort of loosen up so to speak.. If that doesn't fix it then I would guess you'd need to adjust the rod.. which is underneath the cover where the power switch is.. the rod connects to the lever that you use to adjust the tension..

Well my hour meter experience hasn't been super great so far.. I ordered three of them from a seller on eBay.. Monday I received a package in the mail with 1 hour meter in it.. packaged in a Amazon package from UPS delivery.. which is what the tracking number said.. So right away message the seller.. stating that I only received 1 of the three I ordered and that I either want the other two or a refund for the other two.. Heading to pick up my son from school I get a message of a refund from PayPal but didn't read it.. on the way home I stop at my mail box and there is another package.. with another one... amazon packing again LOL... Get to the house and check my message and the seller claims they sent out two and refunded for the other... Anyway, I bought some wire today and will mess with soldering the connections and hopefully seeing if they actually work now, LOL

Well I never noticed it until I had issues clamping my blades or installing them.. it keeps rising up and to a point where the distance between the lower clamp and the upper clamp makes the blade too short or at least very hard to install and have enough blade to clamp too.. Now that I know to watch for it.. it's just second nature to lower it some until the blade fits between the clamps. I'm going to use some blue loctite on the threads.. shouldn't take much to at least slow it down.. pretty annoying having this happen a couple times in one project though.. I at first though my kids was just playing around with it as they do set at a saw every now and then.. but when it started getting to the point of changing during a project I realized it's doing it by itself.. LOL I do really like this saw.. the more I use it.. and I know I just gotta get the bugs worked out and get the saw tuned to me and my style of cutting.. but my experience doesn't seem to be as good as I expected it to be with everyone loving the Excalibur.. I don't love it yet but don't hate it either.. its starting to grow on me...

I don't use the Excalibur very much.. Mostly using the Hawk.. My Excalibur probably has about 30-40 hours on it in the year and a half I've had it.. So it's not getting used much.. mostly used to "Play" with and learn the saw.. testing things like the vac port and the new pegas clamps etc.. I want to use it more.. I do like the saw.. but things like the stock blade clamp issues I had with it and various other things have prevented me to use it very much... unless I'm just in the playing around mood and not rushed to cut orders etc..

Yeah, putting the loctite on it was what I was thinking.. I may just do the line of paint ( paint marker ) for a reference.... what direction makes the cut more aggressive? lower the arm or raise it? can't raise it much the way I have it set up.. as parallel makes it to where the blade just fits nicely.. it could raise some but not much.. and probably doesn't make a big difference in cut... I didn't think about that being part of why it is adjustable.. I was only thinking the motor movement.. there are times I like a more aggressive cut too.. but I usually just go to the DeWalt for those task.. LOL

This took some time for me to figure out at first until I seen someone else posting about it on another forum.. then I was like duh... LOL The upper arm is to be parallel to the table.. when I set the saw up I did just that.. as time went on.. it seemed as though the blades was getting shorter.. but seemed to work the same in my other saws.. Turns out the knob at the back of the saw turns on its own over time.. and is raising the arm up so it is no longer parallel to the table.. This isn't a big deal if it takes several weeks / months I suppose.. but my saw seems to move quite a bit.. Like every project or two my blade is too short to clamp.. Now that I know what is going on it's not such a issue.. But it's quite annoying to me.. Anyone put lic-tite or a jam nut on this thing? I'm about to fire up the welder and weld the dam thing permanent, ... at a minimum paint a line on it so I can see it has moved or needs to be put back a little every once in a while.. I checked for a line on the knob and there is non... while others claim there is a white line on the knob.. Maybe the paint wore off from me having to turn it back so many times already What other purpose does this have? seems like the designer could just build the saw so it's parallel and make it non adjustable.. then this silly issue wouldn't arise.. DeWalt doesn't have anything to adjust the arm.. I guess Hawk does but once set it stays.. To me this is a design flaw or poorly / cheaply designed as a jam nut or something simple as a nylon washer could save the user a lot of frustration.. I bet the engineers laugh at everyone of these going out the door... There... my little rant is over.. But I would like to know if anyone has done anything to keep this from turning on it's own.. I'll be looking into something... maybe just the welder.. as that's cheaper than a jam nut, LOL

You should never have to adjust that knob at the back of the saw for adjusting blade tension.. If that is what you're talking about... though it does move on its own some times.. That is only used to make the upper arm level or parallel with the table..

Not all the Walmart stores have that great of a craft section.. There is a Walmart in each of the surrounding towns I live by.. of coarse the farthest one away has the best craft section, LOL... one of them doesn't really even have a craft type section.. LOL On another subject of Walmart products and prices.. Motor oil... The same brands from the local autoparts stores is about 30% higher.. some brands even more than 30%.. I do my own oil changes etc.. and buy the big 5 quart jugs they have.. the parts stores are more money for the jug but not just that.. they also only come in a 4 quart jug and the one quart size at the autoparts stores is almost as much as Walmarts 5 quart jug.. LOL..same deal with Transmission fluid.. Not sure on other things like car / tractor batteries as I buy the factory blemished ones from Interstate battery.. $35 for a brand new Interstate battery that has a ticker on upside down or something is awesome compared to the $130+batteries from the auto stores, LOL

I didn't take any offense to your reply.. I was just merely stating that I've never needed to add weight to any of my saws.. and I would guess that a lot of people wouldn't need to either IF they set up their saw and level it to the spot where the saw will be parked at.. The DeWalt is the only saw I have that has a three legged stand.. others are four legged..

I've never added any weight to any of my saws.. nor have I had the need to.. Now that said.. I did at one time years ago add some carpet padding between the saw and stand on a Dremel 1800 saw I had.. helped a lot..on that old saw.. but my Dewalt, Excalibur and both my Hawks just needed the legs planted firmly to the floor.. by loosening the bolts of the stand and letting things settle to the floor where they are parked.. this is greatly important.. and even just moving the saw slightly can sometimes pick up some vibration simply because its not parked where it was adjusted at / to.. My new shop has a real smooth and level concrete floor.. this isn't quite as much an issue in the new shop.. old shop had concrete floor as well but was one of those DYI jobs that shows when you're setting up things on it like this.. to look at it.. it looks good and flat.. but it's not..lol

Yeah that one is my favorite one.. especially when you envision it with a nice Walnut backer and have the clock installed.. I think it'll be a hot one to sell once it's complete.. Though those VW's sure are popular too..

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and likes.. Starting to feel a lot better with this sinus infection.. I maybe working in the shop soon again to finish up the half done projects.. LOL..

I drill appropriate sized hole in a piece of scrap 1/4" or 1/8" BBply.. drill the hole just the right size so the screws will actually thread into the wood.. thread both or all four as I do into the wood put a couple strips of wood on each end of the plywood high enough to keep the screws off the table and run my orbital sander with 100 - 150 grit paper and sand all the screws at once.. you only want to dress a minimal amount so screw the screws in the wood just about flat with the wood.. just enough to touch the sander.. Works great for me.. You could use the belt sander too in this manor.. but screwing the screws into the wood helps hold the tiny things and also helps in holding them flat so you do not round over the edges etc..

I also wax my tables quite regularly.. not every day.. but.. all my saw tables get waxed about every week.. even if I'm not using that saw.. and about once a month I wax all the tables on all woodworking tools.. not only the table but fences and guards that the wood passes through get waxed too.. and about two times a year.. i also wax the entire machine and stands just to do a nice cleaning.. the dust doesn't stick to the stands and equipment by doing this.. then this makes cleaning up easier.. just vac / sweep the floors.. because the dust slides off the equipment onto the floor for the most part.. one day when it warms up.. I'm going to hook up some dust collection systems to my saws etc..for an easier yet clean up.. I've never waxed the blades.. I keep beeswax for making my homemade finish.. so I think I might give this a try on my scroll saw blades.. Somewhere I've seen a wax stick for scroll saw blade lubricant.. can't remember what website it was on now.. but they also sold blades..

Again, a true tuned saw shouldn't vibrate much if any different while cutting.. A blade forward / rearward adjustment is what comes to my mind when you mention this.. My Excalibur did the same until I actually tuned the forward / rearward blade motion by moving the motor.. While the saw cut pretty good.. without doing this.. it was considerable smother once I did this.. Mine was far enough off that I had to take the motor bolts right out and move them to the next set of slotted holes..

As has been said.. You can tweak and tune a saw to run smooth at different speeds.. I personally don't run any of my saws less than half way.. most run at just shy of full speed.. All of my saws would pass the nickle test because I've taken time to adjust and do little tricks to get them to run that way.. I won't say they'll all pass this nickle test through the whole speed range from slow to fast.. I will say.. the DeWalt and the Excalibur I have running smooth throughout the speed range and I'm certain they'd pass the nickle test.. I think my dewalt is probably the smoothest running saw I have.. I know this one will pass.. and Ii know the Hawks would fail at some of the speeds.. but they run real smooth in the speed range that I like to cut at so I don't care much about those slower speeds.. Edit to add: The biggest fail of a saw vibrating in my experience is nothing to o with the saw itself.. It's more to do with the stand it's mounted too.. My Excalibur vibrated pretty bad at certain speeds when I first set it up.. But after tweaking the stand to have all four legs planted firmly onto the ground I have it to a point now where I'm certain it'd pass the test throughout the speed range..

Most do not reset.. This particular one has three modes.. two of which can be reset.. and of those two you can stop in the middle of a project and start another project on the other mode which then you can come back to the one mode and resume the first project.. this is the reason I chose this particular one.. Also can be hooked up to my lawn tractor if I choose not to use it on the scroll saw..

Marg, All of these patterns was purchased on ebay.. they are actually designed for CNC or Laser and are formatted as a DXF file.. which takes a DXF reader to open them.. You might try to search the design and ask the seller if they'd do a jpeg or other printable file.. or just download a program that'll open them so they can be printed.. I've been purchasing them as DXF because I now have a CNC and may want to use them someday on that.. That is.. if it ever warms up so I can assemble the machine.. .. You should share some of that heat with us, LOL.. You're probably thinking if I would share some of the cool air with you, LOL... we'll both get the right weather soon I hope..

Yeah, it's really just for my own knowledge.. I don't think it's a very accurate why to keep track of how long a piece takes either because some pieces don't take much time at all on the saw.. but can take a lot of time just doing sanding and finishing prep work.. I've made pieces that took much longer to prep for finishing than it did to cut, LOL.. But yeah.. big detailed portrait style cutting would be interesting to see.. but I don't do a lot of that type cutting either...

I bought a few of these to hook up to my saws.. Steve Good did a video on these quite a while ago and ever since I seen it I wanted to get one for my saw.. I'll be hooking one up to my new Hawk once it arrives and then I plan to put one on my Excalibur since it's fairly lightly used.. ( probably about 30 hours ) and also put one on my Hawk ultra.. While I typically think I run my saw quite a lot.. but doing fretwork really isn't working a saw like doing the puzzles like Scott makes.. After cutting some puzzles last year I realized that the saw runs the whole 20-30 minutes to cut a puzzle.. but doing fretwork you might cut for an hour but the actual run time on the saw might only be 40 minutes.. While it doesn't take much time to stop and change the blade to the next hole.. but that time I'm sure adds up doing some intricate projects.. I just thought it'd be interesting to see how much run time there really is in some of the things I make.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Searon-Digital-Hour-meter-of-12V-24V-36V-48V-110V-220V-230V-AC-DC-for-ATV-Law/323662394749?hash=item4b5bc8357d:g:1QEAAOSwAx9cSAyA:rk:1:pf:0

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done much cutting due to getting a sinus infection and it’s bothersome wearing my dust mask. I have several new clocks cut but waiting on making the backers. Was going to wait and post all of them but since I’ve not been able to work in the shop and I was able to glue these and finish them up I thought I’d show them. Stack cut three of these and put a walnut backer on two and one with a cherry backer. Ill post a couple of the half finished clocks as well since I don’t know when I’ll get back in the shop as when I do get better I have some other things to do and it could be a while before I finish them up. EDIT: Not sure why the pictures came up in the wrong order.. Probably my phones fault, LOL.. well.. the phone operator

I don't think there is as much of an issue with the Mineral Oil bleeding out on Poplar like it does with so many other types of wood so probably not many complaints would come through for that process... I surely wouldn't do that with cherry or oak .. especially oak and some of the other quality hardwoods with the open grain.. For many of us that do home decor type pieces the mineral oil alone isn't a finish we choose because it does not dry.. and it will wash away during cleaning / dusting of a piece.. and can / will get onto your hands on things people handle a lot.. These type of things need a more sealed type finish in my opinion.. For what it's worth.. all wood finishes sold in the USA once fully cured are child and pet safe.. from what I've been told...