kmmcrafts

So another warm night out there 33F so I went out and replaced my upgraded tension cam and the new style upper blade holder.. New bearings wasn't needed.. in fact maybe bearings was made better back in the 90's as these look like new.. good thing too.. because after taking the saw apart I find that it has a whole different style of bearing than the newer 226 Ultra has... connecting rod bearings the same.. but again wasn't needed.. She's running real nice and smooth through all the gears.. no vibration to really speak about through the whole range of speeds.. I sort of like the thrust bearing style of this older saw better than I do the newer one.. Guess now my next project will be to set up and tune the new Excalibur and when these are all done and running good.. I'll take the 788 apart for new bearings inside the case at the back of the saw.. getting a little noisy back there and still running the originals from 2008 back there..

I need another mag light and have been putting it off as to researching etc.. since it's not something I desperately need.. since I can take one off one saw to move to another.. as i have 3 of them.. but have 4 saws.. and like to just sit at a saw and go to work.. without having to move stuff around.. Anyway, I have never thought about a head mounted deal like that.. This would be much easier to move from one saw to the next... and I would always know where to mount it for the least amount of vibration.

I don't think I'd change much from what you listed there.. But.. I would like a variable adjustable blade angle ( which the new Hawks have ) so I could change the aggressiveness of the cut just where I need it.. My Ultra is not enough in the one slot and the other is just a tad too much for some of my cutting.. I've been known to stop in the middle of some cuts and release the tension to move the blade position from one to another ... having a motorized adjustable angle to adjust this on the fly with a separate foot peddle might be cool, LOL One in between would be good.. but variable would be great.. Now your going to call me crazy for that one. Hahaha I like the old Delta clamps.. Wouldn't mind seeing something set up much like the Jet's upper clamp / tension with one lever.. ( However I have not used this type so may not like it ) The concept of it for a lot of fret type cutting seems like it would be awesome.. While I've never really made one.. there have been times I wish I had a zero clearance table insert.. Why did they stop making table inserts? and none of the high end brands never had a insert to begin with ( that I'm aware of ) Upper arm must be spring loaded ( like the Hawks ) where when the blade is unhooked the arm goes up by itself.. Rather than a dust blower.. they need some sort of dust collection... But.. for me.. in a nutshell.. a Hawk BM series with Delta style clamps.. Personally I sort of like the fixed clamp rather than the removable.. and the only real advantage I see with removable clamps is having some other sized blades ready for cutting.. If I needed a spiral for doing some veining in a project.. But I find with the removable blade clamps is.. I forget what blade is in what clamp.. and most times end up just changing to a new one anyway. I often wonder how a variable speed foot peddle would be.. there are some instances where I'm on a long straight away and would like to speed up the saw some.. or the opposite.. while now that I am more experienced that is not a issue much anymore.. but do wonder if it'd come in handy for certain projects.. and could be helpful for a newbie..

I started a new topic with the story on the parts I replaced etc. http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/forums/topic/27532-hawk-226-ultra-is-back-up-and-running/

That's a really cool idea, Where did you get a timer and how did you hook the timer up.. Seems like I recall Steve Good doing a thing on this.. maybe I'll search for that.. I had forgot about that until you mentioned it.

Just wanted to say that the group at Hawk are not into the electrical stuff for these saws.. and they just ( from what I've been told ) replace the whole power unit as a whole so this is why it is $140 to replace the rheostat.. and like I said.. the part is only around $5 .. I just replaced mine on my Ultra saw.. not because it was acting up.. but because I was dumb and broke it while working on replacing a bearing on the end of the motor..

Finally got a chance to order my parts I needed from Bushton on Monday.. parts came in the mail today.. I just came back in a short time ago after putting all new bearings etc. in Is it safe to say I wore out a brand new Hawk in 5 months.. bought the saw in May and replacing the bearings in it already.. Pretty sure it would have lasted much longer had the bearings actually had grease in them.. Not sure to blame that one on Hawk.. or China.. Bearings say Made in China.. Hawk says Made in the USA.. I picked up the bearings from a local bearing supply house.. The parts needed to complete my bearing job was the darn special spacer (washer) that goes in between the lower arm and the connecting rod.. I dropped the darn thing while trying to put it together last month.. I seen the general direction it took off to and i moved all the lumber around... never could find it.. now that is back together it'll show up, LOL Needles to say.. she's got all brand new bearings ( with grease too ).. and is running smoother than it ever has.. It's virtually smooth all through the gears until the very highest one.. she's got some vibration at top speed.. but used to have a pretty bad area right around the middle speed and would walk across the floor on just before high speed and up from there.. Hawk mailed me a paper with alignment instructions which one I had not thought of myself or tried.. which could have been part of the issue.. however no grease in the bearings I'm sure played a part too.. Now I need to put my new updated upper clamp / tension mechanism on my old Hawk 220.. the tension lever wouldn't stay down into the tension position.. guessing that's why that saw kept breaking blades.... This saw is one oldie as it doesn't have the small set screw to adjust to give it more tension.. so the whole new updated to the BM series style upper clamping system had to be used.. But since I am taking the arm off etc.. I also picked up new bearings etc for this one.. so if anything is bad or worn.. should be like new when I get this one done too..

That looks like it'll do the trick quite well.. you should have replaced that a few months ago and saved yourself a lot of testing and headaches, LOL Kind of off topic maybe? I have a lot of pine trees and the darn needles get into my landscaped areas.. I rigged up my shop vac with a piece of screen to keep my vac from sucking up the needles and the mulch.. the needles are a PIA to pick out by hand.. the shop vac with the screen picks them right up and then I brush the screen in my bucket to dump.. also the mulch is once in a while sucked up to the screen if I get a little too close to it.. and that screen also saves it from going into the vac..

Could be a good deal to the right person.. I'm betting they could just replace the controller pod as I did on my Hawk.. if they know how to solder the part is a whopping $5 shipped, LOL.. the problem may lay deeper than that part.. but I'd run some test to see for sure before sending out the assembly for a $140 repair Something I wish everyone selling a Hawk would do... Post a close up of the back wedges, and a good shot at the lower blade clamp.. since the wedges can tell a story about the miles on the saw.. and the blade clamps can tell you really what type of saw it is.. barrel clamps = old saw.. ultra = two lower blade slots etc etc.. It's nice that they show the serial number.. would be nice if Hawk could have a page on their web site with serial number year data.. They are busy people at Hawk.. and I hate calling them all the time just to get a small amount of info on a saw.. should some of that be online.. one could look the info up and decide if the saw is really worth the money..

Good find... I need to finish setting up the one I bought a few months ago.. Imagine I will be messing with it more since the weather is finally bearable..

This will be delayed for quite a while.. better eat the popcorn before it goes stale.. I had a good reply topic but guess what.. The mailman brought me my parts I ordered on Monday for my Hawk.. and it's a nice warm day 32F so.. I'm headed to the shop to get my 226VS back together.. and the new upgrade for my old 220VS part came too.. so I'll get that one upgraded.. tonight too.. I hope..

Giving everyone some time to fill up your popcorn bowls and pull up a comfy chair..

Looks like it was a good turn out and a good time.. Surprised you didn't video the ribbon cutting for all to watch :( Hope your newest path turns out very well for you..

Some people are sounding offended because I said the Hawk can't cut as fast as my DeWalt.. I've never said I don't like my Hawk.. I've never said it's a piece of junk saw.. I've never stated the DeWalt is a better saw.... I don't believe I've implied anything degrading to either saw.. I like both saws VERY much for different reasons.. I've simply stated a Hawk is slower cutting saw and many of the others have agreed that they are slower less aggressive cutting.. I don't understand why it all gets taken out of context.. I've simply stated two things about the Hawk I've observed and that is.. It's slower cutting... and blades don't last as long.. While maybe I should have stated it's slower cutting for ME.. blades don't last as long for ME... which could be because I end up pushing harder on the wood as it's not chopping away as fast as I LIKE to cut.. though I do not believe that to be true simply because over the coarse of my time on message boards over the last 12 years I've observed that many others state the same exact thing.. Precision cutting? YES.. very much so compared to the other saws I've used over the years..

Had not thought of doing that.. Maybe once I get my parts in from Bushton and get my saw back together I'll give it a try..

I don't know how one would do such test.. certainly would be a pretty complex test.. For ME.. cutting ornaments I can stack cut 5 high at a time.. I cut out about 15 -20 ornaments with one blade on the 788.. and that same thing on the Hawk.. is about half that many.. same with cutting out clocks.. I can cut ( depending upon the clock of coarse but average) 1 clock sometimes partway through another with one blade.. but on the Hawk.. most times I'm changing the blade near the finishing of just one clock.. but this ( as I said before ) could be me pushing the wood too hard on the Hawks as they aren't as aggressive.. someone that cuts at a leisurely rate.. may get many more miles on a blade..

I recently made a couple puzzles.. and during the shrink wrapping I got to thinking about how the puzzles would possibly be purchased by someone as a gift for a small child to play with.. does anyone display any caution signs or anything to make people aware of the fact? I'd hate to have a child get their hands on these and choke.. so while packaging my puzzle up I include a business card but along with the card.. I also searched google for choking hazard logos and found one to print off.. I arranged it so they would print 9 of these per 8.5 x 11 paper.. and cut them out.. kind of tedious to do if I was going to make a crap load of puzzles as Iggy does.. I'd have this printed on a sticker or business card type stock through Vista Print.. Anyway, I sort of feel you cannot be too careful.. I know that the parents should know better.. the truth is maybe the parent is not buying it for the child.. Just feel it's something for those selling puzzles should consider.. IF I start selling a few of these online.. I'll be taking one photo of the item in the package with the warning showing in the photo.. as well as have this warning written in the items description..

What if I did a video using the same blade.. same board.. on the Hawk and DeWalt saw.. set a timer for 30 - 60 seconds cut a straight line and measure the distance of cut for each saw.. would that be a fair comparison for you to believe that one saw will cut faster over the other saw? Could even do a comparison of the Hawk in the more aggressive blade position and also record the distance.. Would maybe be a good test to try.. I'd do it if it was warmer out.. temps supposed to warm up over the next few days.. maybe I'll video several different testing methods.. or the video expert ( Iggy ) could do this if he has time..

I've done the same test about a month after getting my first Hawk.. ( Just didn't video the process.. thank you for taking the time to clarify the same findings I had ) I sort of think it's more to do with the blade clamping design being able to rotate on the Hawk as opposed to the fixed / rigid position of the DeWalt.. If you put a blade in both saws.. get a board and with the saw off.. push against the blade with some firm but moderate pressure.. You'll find the Hawk saw has more flex to the blade.. While i don't think this is the total reason for the saw being less aggressive and slower cutting..

For me the blades don't seem to last nearly as long on the Hawk.. but possibly due to being impatient and pushing the wood through too fast...

I think you people are missing the point... It's not about production numbers.. or at least for me it's not... Like driving down the expressay at the speed limit and come upon a person doing 10 MPH under the speed limit.. do you pass them and get to work 30 seconds quicker or stay behind them.... You've been driving all day at 70mph.. that 60 MPH just seems real slow.. even though it's not a huge difference.. Ever cut a super dense wood and think you're never going to get it cut? Kind of the same principal.. going from a 788 to a slower cutting saw.. that's the point.. NOT a production number thing.. it's a personal preference thing..

Back in the days before I got involved with scroll sawing.. My dad said he used to buy a brand that he couldn't remember.. this would have been late 1980's early 90's.. before the internet... and the store that he bought from stopped selling them and only carried the Olsen blades.. I started sawing in 2006 and went with olsen blades as well.. Used them for a year or so then seen on then seen the postings about Flying Dutchman blades been using them ever since,, well I do still occasionally use a few select Olsen blades.. and then about a year ago I gave the Pegas brand a try.. now I'm hooked on those.. and occasionally use FD or Olsen.. Mainly just so I can remember just how good those Pegas really are, LOL

I'm betting they are one of those " online only " purchases or order in store.

No I haven't.. Temps too cold the last few days to do much out there.. It's supposed to warm up the next few days again.. so maybe I'll get a chance to tune / tweek it..

Some of it for me is, I've used my DeWalt for 10 years.. have rebuilt and tweeked it to run as it now does.. I used higher end bearings and high grade synthetic grease.. I'm in the process of rebuilding my Hawks right just ordered some parts today for them both.. I won't rebuild the EX yet.. since it's brand new ( so was one of the Hawks but that's happens to be the one with two bad bearings too) until I actually give it a going through and tuning it.. then if I feel it can be improved upon I'll look into it.. I think once i get to using the EX.. I'll probably end up making that my main saw..