kmmcrafts

Welcome to the Village, Sounds like you got a decent deal on that Hegner... I kinda kick myself for not picking up the $60 one last fall that I ran across. LOL They seem like very well made saws.. someday I'm going to try one out..

I use both flat and spirals.. I found that unwinding the spiral ends help.. I use two pair of needle nose pliers and use the one pair to hold the blade while using the other pair to sort of un twist the blade ends.. Seems to work well for me then..

I can compare.. My Excalibur only had about 6 hours on it and the OEM clamp was already having issues.. I know have about 50 hours on the saw.. no clamp issues... I'm not heavy handed.. My DeWalt I ran from 2008 - 2015.. same clamps and thumb / set screws... had read of issues with the DeWalt when I first bought it I bought extra clamps and a set of thumb screws.. Never opened up the packages until I got the Excalibur.. I tried changing the screws in my OEM clamps which didn't help much.. That all said.. I may very well have had a set of defective clamps from the get go. If it matters.. My saw is just before they moved production to China.. so it's not something to do with the move and the quality.. as it was made the same place all the others were made for the last however many years...

I was just going to use clear epoxy to fill in the void area of the cutout after I glue the backer on.. this makes it smooth, rather than having the cutout being recessed and having jagged edges snagging the inside of peoples pockets or purses.. The epoxy would fill that void and make it smooth while hopefully remaining clear so I could have a natural wood color showing the contrasting wood backer color.. Inlace is a liquid material with color pigments in it.. many colors to choose from.. and it uses a activator to make it set up.. The smell of the stuff and consistency reminds me of fiberglass resin.. but with color, LOL.. and I suspect it is mostly the same thing just pigmented and no fibers of coarse.. Don't think it's quite as strong as the stuff used on cars / boats etc.. though..They do have it in clear.. but I've heard it's not really all that clear like the epoxy resin stuff..

I've gotta be honest.. I never pay any attention to the numbers on the dial on the DeWalt. I probably did 10 years ago when I first got the saw.. but now I just can tell how much pressure to pull on that lever to know what the tension needs to be.. That said, I do change it slightly on my Hawk sometimes for certain blades I use I'll add or remove a slight amount of tension..

That knob changes the height of the upper arm.. You want the upper arm to be parallel to the table.. ( ie front of the upper arm should be the same distance from the table as the back part of the upper arm.. ) By turning the knob at the back of the saw.. you're changing that distance.. This also in turn will change the aggressiveness of the cutting.. ( forward backward motion of the blade.. While usually minimal but it will certainly change it enough to notice it if you're not careful..

So basically what I have is a silhouette cutout on one piece of 1/8 bbply and another 1/8 “ ( backer) contrasting wood like Walnut and glued them together. I was using the “ unlace” resin material for some of my keychains but some I kinda wanted wanted to keep the natural colors of the wood. But some of the cutouts have pointy spots that I thought would snag on someone’s pocket or purse so I felt they needed filed in with inlace or epoxy resin. I just never got around to doing them in part because I didn’t know what to use. Below is my keychain I made back in about 2008. It’s a wheel horse lawn tractor logo filled in with red and black inlace. The inlace is sanded flush to make a smooth snag free keychain. This is quite worn from 10 years of carrying in my pocket etc. This is what I was wanting to do with clear epoxy so the backer wood color would show through rather than the colored inlace. Edit To Add: Many of the ones I have done that need finishing is patterns that Steve Good did years ago.. If you go to the pattern catalog and search "key" in all categories the patterns I did was on the second page all the way at the bottom.. These used to sell real well and quick easy to make a bunch of them by stack cutting 5-6 at once.. Some I made are from 1/16" hardwoods glued to a 1/8" backer.. The plywood ones look nice and these are so small many times they can be cut from scraps or odd places on a stack of ornaments that I make such as doing four ornaments on a blank.. the center of the blank has enough room to cut a stack.. sometimes two stacks of the keychains.. or the backers..

I used to get my bits from Mikesworkshop.com ( where I get my Flying dutchman blades ) but not that they was bad bits or anything.. I don't think they are the best though.. especially when I place my last order of them from DnD where I buy my Pegas saw blades.. Those bits seemed so much nicer than the others I had been buying. https://www.dndsawbladesonline.com/page/448829586

I sort of have an issue with both the DeWalt and the Excalibur with this.. It seems the upper arm doesn't always come down to the same position every time I switch to another hole to cut ( fretwork ).. on the DeWalt I got to where I'd use my one finger to push down on the upper part of the clamp bracket while tightening the thumb screw.. this made it pretty much always consistent enough anyway.. Then when i got the Excalibur the tension lever is kinda in the way to do it the same way as I do on the deWalt.. One thing I found helped was to clamp the blade and put tension on it then release the tension and then loosen the screw and the blade would rise up.. putting the tension on ( not all the way ) will pull the arm down sort of as if you was pushing the arm down.. then the arm is where it should be and you loosen the blade then re tighten it.. I don't know how to describe it.. and it does take a extra couple of seconds but becomes second nature to me.. These kind of issues with these DeWalt, Excalibur types saws really makes me like the design of the Hawk even better.. that system is pretty much fool proof and you get the same tension every time all the time.. To describe how it's done on the DeWalt. you can watch how I do it in this video on my blog.. To give the best view of me cutting I taped my phone on the magnifier light.. but then it was quite weird cutting because I couldn't see through the magnifier so I was cutting by viewing the screen of my phone.. so it was sort of difficult.. Many ask me how I place my camera because you get the same view as i do.. and no body else gives this view while cutting.. https://www.kevskrafts.com/post/397335857776/how-my-items-are-made

I may be wrong as I don't know when they changed to the newer smaller motors.. but every "Ultra" style saw I've seen has the better motor on it... that said.. this is the one that has the bearing plate bolted to the end of the motor with another bearing just inside the motor that I've hear a few had some issues and the bearing would get hot or something and anyway.. they can end up breaking the shaft on the end of the motor.. Honestly I think all saws had this issue up until the BM series redesign of the newest saws..

I thought maybe you started up a printing business for the other venture you're doing

Looking at the pictures the Hawk appears to be a 220VS Ultra saw based on the lower blade clamp style.. I'm not sure exactly when the ultra saws came out.. but I can say I have a older according to Hawk 1993 that is not an Ultra.. and I also have a 1998 that is a Ultra.. Based on reading online of others postings etc.. I've learned that they had Ultra models in 1996.. Based on that info the Ultra saws came out in the mid - late 1990's and they ran production of these until the Hawk G4 came out ( around 2005 ish ).. This style saw is a bottom blade feed only.. Tell tail wear points that I know of off the top of my head are to look at the wedge shape things at the back of the saw that the adjuster rod / bolt goes through them.. These wedges get worn and the point becomes rounded which will make the blade tension fluctuate during the blade stroke... that wedge should be quite pointed.. not so pointed to be sharp but not rounded over either.. My older saw was rounded some and gave me the tension issue.. I just sanded each side until it was pointed again.. but they recommend buying new ones and sometimes the saw arms need sent in to me re machined.. I think this is talked about in the videos.. Seems like a good deal from what I can see in the pictures Hawk does mention that they have had some of these saws come back for repair where the motor shaft broke You can watch the videos on their site that will give out info on wear points etc and problems they have had with them etc. You can either go to their site or youtube and watch the videos.. Lots of good info on them if you watch all of them.. Here is a link to their website video page. Any questions after watching these.. give a shout out and someone here may have an answer.. http://www.bushtonmanufacturing.com/Videos.html Rather watch on youtube here is a link to the channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFgc95v5zaz0G80IQChHJ2w/videos

Just FYI.. as a seller on Amazon.. I would say that Amazon rules for the seller is quite stiff.. they don't put up with any BS.. The payment process for items I sell on there.. They hold the payment from the sellers for 2-4 weeks in case they have to refund the customer.. IF I mail out a order past the time frame they allow.. even one day.. they dock the payout to me for the late fee.. They also allow a customer like 30-60 days to return the item for a refund.. I have to abide to these rules.. They have a thing called seller account health.. If you get complaints, returns, late shipping etc etc.. then they can simply remove your selling privileges.. On the flip side.. in the selling world.. some customers will claim they didn't get the item.. and many times ( all other selling venues ) the seller is required to send out another one or refund the money. BUT.. on Amazon as a seller.. if this happens.. as long as you buy shipping through Amazons shipping feature.. If the tracking shows the item was delivered.. as a customer.. you're SOL because the tracking shows it was delivered..Mail people now carry a GPS and can look up the address where the carrier scanned the item for drop off.. This can happen quite a lot.. package thieves.. as a seller on etsy I loose out on the money and the items.. I actually had seen a situation in the seller forums on etsy that a customer did receive a item but claimed it never showed up.. seller had to refund the money but she found proof that the lady actually did get the items buy looking her up on FB and seen her pictures of the item she had made her on her FB page LOL.. I would say that the safest place to be a buyer is on Amazon.. because they do have stiff rules.. I've seen them remove seller privileges from sellers that was a situation that really could have not been the sellers fault, LOL.. To be able to offer your products to Amazon prime you have to have like 300 orders under your belt and a 100% seller health status on all those orders.. I gained that status just before the holidays.. but I didn't accept doing it because they really are tough on the Prime orders.. You have to ship same day or first thing next day.. Being both a seller and a buyer.. I've sort of learned the ins and outs of shipping.. how to offer the best customer service.. Doesn't take much for me to see how important I am of some sellers.. as a customer I should be very important to them as I am helping them make money.. and by judging that makes me realize who I will do business with and whom I don't based on the service they offer.. both in communication, shipping times, and shipping charges..

This ornament was designed for a CNC and was actually designed to be cut on a plasma cutter.. original size was abut 20" long.. I first made a desk clock with this design but shrunk it down to about 9 - 10 inch.. then I shrunk it even more and made this ornament.. ornament is 4.5 inch wide and about 3 inch tall.. The veining was done with a 2/0 spiral blade.. I now have smaller drill bits but at the time all I had was a 56 I think it was.. I shrink down a lot of patterns to make them into ornaments... some actually turn out

Yeah, but can get expensive when you buy a lot of them and then never cut them.. The many awesome free ones offered here sure helps offset the cost some..but still... LOL

Yes, the new Hawks are top or bottom feeders.. highly unlikely I'll top feed as I've always been a bottom feeder.. the deWalt and the Excalibur I have is both top or bottom feed... and I tried to do top feeding but just couldn't get the hang of it.. I do want to try it again though sometime when I've got time to just play around in the shop.. Not too much playing out there this time of year other than making what I have to or sometimes it's not to bad but then I just wanna cut instead of play around.. LOL

JT The older Hawk also has the same style bolt with rubber over it.. I didn't think it did at first.. but it does.. just down there farther and harder to see.. I think Rocky is bottom feeding as well... And yes while the blade is flexible and moves around easily.. it is still more difficult to do the feeding of the blade on those larger projects.. You having saw experience for so many years and doing large projects on the same saw that you're used to running it probably just comes natural to you.. It mostly does for me too.. but switching from one saw to the other that the arms go up a different amount I can certainly say that if the arm goes up slightly higher it is in fact easier.. still can be done either saw.. and running just the one saw I've gotten used to that.. Yes I did order a new Hawk.. BM-226 basically the same as the older saw like you and I have with the exception of the arms coming out in front of the angle adjustment and a few other changes.. I haven't received it yet.. but plan to do some talking / video about it once I do get it and start assembling it etc.

I'll try to explain some of this to clarify.. The first picture shows a bolt sticking through the side of the saw at the back.. just below the upper arm.. This bolt has a rubber sleeve covering the threads to cushion the blow from the arm coming down and hitting it once you release the blade or break a blade.. Pic #2 is the measurement of the distance between the saw table and the upper arm raised up.. This is on my old saw 1993 220VS old enough to use the round lower clamps.. Pic #3 is the distance on my newer ( 1998 226 ultra.) that has the square type clamps.. ( I believe like your saw JT as I recall you having a bent pin on one of your clamps ) As for why does it affect threading the blade.. I'm taking my experience ( Bottom feeding ) it's difficult to raise the lumber up high enough on larger projects when your trying to catch a hole way out in the middle of the project.. to see and or just thread the blade through.. If your arm goes up higher.. you can raise the lumber up at a steeper angle and easier to see and thread the blade.. Many times one can raise a different side of the board to get better angle to see and thread the blade.. Edit: That orange box is just the bottom of my tape measure that got caught in the picture.

Right JT.. every company makes mistakes.. if not yet.. they will sooner or later.. some more prone to mistakes than others.. A great deal of thought goes into how I would decide on whether the company still gets my business.. and how the mistake is handled is a huge part of that..

Just in case the video don’t work here are some pictures. Note the height difference between the old saw and the ultra.

Not sure this short video will post but here is what we are talking about. A995D79F-D76A-41F1-990C-26C32CF43952.MOV

Copied from a FB Post.. Totally me the last couple days going through the pattern files on here..

I think we're all talking about bottom feeding because we all have the older Hawks that I believe are all bottom feed only saws.. The older saws the upper arm goes up higher.. after looking more closely at my old 220 VS it does in fact have the stop on it.. it's just down there a long way and I didn't see it at first.. The Newer ones the stop is placed up much higher and not allowing the arm to go up all that high.. It'd be a bit easier to use if the stop was 1/4 - 1/2" down farther.. as it's not horrible but certainly is in the way some.. that old Hawk goes up so high that the next thing in the way is the accessory arm.. or the blower tube depending on how you angle the tube..

Beautiful pen, Thank you for all the great information.. I'm glad I asked the question as I almost just bought it and gave it a try for myself.. I didn't realize there was casting type and all the other types.. so who knows what my out come would have been because of these different types.. Again Thank you for taking the time to shed some light on the topic,

That’s what I thought you probably meant. Must have been the way it was read on my part. Perfect example of how words can be read in different ways. This is how I do too.