kmmcrafts

Yeah but for a person on a tight budget these saws do still work well.. are they a Hawk or Hegner? no far from it.. I've not seen too many DW 788's around for $65 either so there is that.. I guess it's just me but at one time I didn't have money to spend on higher end stuff and that feebee 2 speed Delta made me a lot of money.. Not junk saws but not anything close to a Cadillac either.. IF I had the choice between the old Delta and a cheap Harbor Freight or one of those other really cheap entree level saws I would hands down choose the Delta.. provided it was in good working order. You can find them cheap at garage sales many times as good ones down to just parts machines. Everyone starts somewhere and that is how I started in the hobby / business.. In some ways I see them as a better more user friendly saw than a DW because the upper arm is spring loaded so it goes up out of the way on it's own. The quickset II blade chucks where the choice of blade chucks by many scrollers and they even had retrofit kits to put them on Hawks.. I believe Rolf has these clamps on his Hawk G4 actually.. I don't understand why people think the thumb screws are considered a good set up.. They've clearly never used a set of those Delta Quickset clamps..

The two speed variant is the saw I learned to scroll on. And I used that saw for quite a few years.. Still have it but don't use it. It was my fathers first "new" saw he bought and I was only like 14 years old and went with him to get it. He wore it out two times and rebuilt it and the third time he went and bought the variable speed version. He hung onto the 2 speed one for a long time and one day I asked if he still had it and if I could take it to try my hand at scrolling. He told me it worked but the bearings where bad and didn't saw quite right. Brought it home and tried cutting a 2x4 in half and said to myself that thing was slower than a handsaw and I throw it under the workbench and not to be used for several years. LOL My father had passed on before he got to actually see me get into the scrolling and I rebuilt the saw the 4th time. That was when parts were hard to source but I did find everything I needed NOS.

Looks like a model 40-540? They was made from around 1990 until maybe around 2000 ish then they went to a 250SS Shopmaster. Decent saws back in the day but now days many parts are obsolete..

The new Delta has the same set up as your King. Basically a grey colored DeWalt really. Unfortunately the Quickset blade clamps and the parts are no longer available.

Hard to beat those old P-20 saws and the nice quickset II blade chucks.. Too bad other manufactures didn't pick up on that style of blade chucks.

99% of my projects could be done on a 16 inch and probably even a 14" saw.. I have two 26" saws and a 21 and 18" saw.. It is nice to be able to have the option for cutting very large projects.. it's also nice to have more shop space for other useful tools, especially if your space is limited. Everyone is going to have different opinions based on what projects they make. Largest projects I recall doing was a 4ft wide x 2ft tall sign.. I did this back when the only saw I had was a 20" Dewalt. Blades can be modified by bending the ends so you can cut from the side of the saw instead of in front.. Spiral blades are also quite helpful in large projects.. No more large projects I do I really could just have a 21" saw and make do with how I go about cutting a large project.. IF I was always doing large stuff then yes a large saw would be a must have.. Pattern designers typically design stuff that works on most standard sized saws. I personally think a 21" saw is plenty large enough to do most stuff comfortably anyway. I guess you have to figure out if the space is going to be an issue as well as the price of the saw going to be worth it for the amount of projects you'll do with that big of a saw is the bottom line. Another tool could be had for that extra cash and also could use the spot in the shop for that extra space too.. Also feel like the extra cost of the saw is lost IF/When it's time to sell it off.. They seem to sell harder and don't bring the cash that the cheaper smaller saw would. Something I've seen time and time again is when folks retire they decide to travel in a camper, sell homes to downsize etc.. Many of them ask questions about small lightweight saws so yet having to buy a smaller saw to downsize.. Just something else to think about.. I know my wife and I plan to do a little RVing and I intend to keep my small lightweight Hegner to take along. I can't imagine dragging my 26" Hawks around in a RV, LOL.. Not only is it heavy as crap.. I could put 3 hegners in the same spot that one Hawk takes up.

ahh, okay.. makes a bit more sense to me now, I was wondering how the heck you might hold the filter while also handling the leaf blower.. I figured I'd try to get the wife to hold the filter while I blow the dust out of it.. If nothing else it might get some views on instagram, tiktok and youtube..

You can also just tap them on the clothesline post to knock off the big stuff.. just don't do it when there is clean cloths on the line.. Don't ask how I found that one out.. I now go over to the neighbors and tap the dust out of it inside his car on the steering wheel.. Just kidding.. I never thought about using the leaf blower, I've used the air compressor to blow off the dust.. this works a few times but over time it gets too much build up and makes it not as efficient as is should / could be.. so it is best to change it every few times of blowing it out. You'd be surprised at how much better it works with a brand new filter. Something I find odd is.. no matter the brand name.. they all seem to be the same machine with a different price and color, LOL.. I have the Grizzly one.. bought it on sale for about the price of the WEN model one, but that was before WEN came out with one so there is that.

They sure are pricey for what you get.. Maybe they are much more durable than a Co2 laser.. I don't know much about the diode type lasers as I've never used one. I have one that came with my CNC router but everyone on the CNC router groups say they aren't worth using as they are way too underpowered and very slow to do a job. They've come a long way with these diode type lasers though and many claim they can cut through wood comparable to a Co2 laser.. however the price of this so called 40W laser is more than buying a decent 60W Co2 with a larger work area so I'm not sure I'd ever recommend going with something like this. I say so called because a lot of these diode lasers are "claimed" to be X amount of watts but that is not measured the same way as a Co2 type laser.. I recall reading that the diode wattage is not the output power but more like a power consumption.. or something like that. where as a Co2 is the output power. They say a 40W diode is really about the equivalent to around a 10W Co2.. I think it's pretty hard to beat the power / price cost of the Omtech Co2 laser line up.. They are cheap China made lasers but they are pretty good quality for the money (Though most all the diodes are also China products) Their "polar" laser is a copy of a Glowforge. The polar is around $3000 last I knew, and a Glowforge starts at $6000.. https://omtechlaser.com/collections/omtech-laser-engraving-cutting-and-marking-machines I've got two of their 40W machines but back when I got mine they was about $300. The second one I picked up used and came with a lot of extra goodies for $250 a couple years ago. Bottom line in my opinion is.. Do Your Research and decide what laser is better for the money for the projects you plan to do..

I still try to haggle even if it's a good buy. The Free Hegner I picked up is a example.. he was asking $50 for it.. I mentioned it didn't have any blade clamps and we looked for some in the shop. Guy said well I guess I don't have any and I need it gone so if you want it take it or it's going in the dumpster, LOL.. I said okay I'll take it then.. He even carried it up the steep hill and loaded it in my car. I planned to offer $30 be he didn't let me get to the punch line.. lucky for me I turned down the $60 one the year before at an estate sale and then I bought the box of blades which once I got home I found I had 4 Hegner clamps in the bottom. Box of blades was actually free too because they found it after the guy that bought the saw had already left so they said I could just take the blades and parts.

They used to be one of the saws to have back in the day.. However parts are hard to get for them now days, even though many of the parts I think are the same but not 100% sure of that. Rocker arms etc I believe are probably the same as todays saws..

Wonder how many folk back then squawk about it not being handmade like we get today about the laser and cnc stuff.. I'll bet the blacksmith didn't like the standardisation crap and having to make stuff to tolerances..

Yeah, I've sold a awful lot of ornaments over the last almost 20 years.. heck some have bulk ordered as many as 400 in one single order.. and I agree.. I get more people buying the light colored BBply ones over the hardwood one's back when I used to offer the options.. nobody was buying the hardwood ones so I kinda stopped offering them..

I think for metal you'll need a fiber laser.. or maybe spray-paint the coin and then laser the paint off to reveal the lines.. I don't think any laser marks on metal without coatings other than a fiber laser which are not cheap.

I think that probably depends upon where you live.. Even with a really good lumber store near me.. 12" wide boards become either scarce or expensive and if one doesn't have the means to mill their own it's not so easy as you might think. My local supplier will custom do anything you want if you want to "pay" they'll glue up for you and mill to whatever size you like.. I have my own milling equipment but I still remember the days very well where I had to either have something custom made / cut for me or skip over the projects altogether.. So maybe easy where you are but that's not the case for everyone.

Was going to mention this, I have had several customers over the years request Cherry or other wood for a custom ornament and then they receive their order and realize the lighter colored wood shows up much better and then want me to make another from the lighter wood, LOL I now explain this a little to customers when they ask for darker wood. Trees are decorated with bright colors and lights that take the focus away from anything that isn't bright or light colored. I almost exclusively use 1/8 BBply now days..

This reminds me of those collapsible baskets that was popular back in the 90's early 2000's.. I have a boatload of the patterns but only cut one of them just to try angle cutting on one of my saws back in the day.. and that was about the only time I done any angle cutting, LOL

I've got a laser but I don't do that because it's time more time consuming to set up laser to do the quick engrave just so I can go back to cut it, LOL... If I'm setting up the laser to do something I'm just going to cut it on the laser while it's there and set up to run.. But my laser is more than just a low powered laser for marking / engraving so I can cut it out quickly and easily. In fact this is what I do now when people request personalization.. it's too time consuming to get a un-perfect scrolled ornament lined up to laser engrave on it so I just do the engrave and then cut it on the laser too so everything is lined up perfect.

To help out sometimes I will drill a couple different holes for the same cutout area.. this way I can cut in a direction where the board is toward the back of the saw giving me more sitting / standing room at the front of the saw.. and also as JT mentioned.. bend the blade ends so they cut from the side instead of the front of the saw.

When I do them from hardwood lumber I make them at 3/16". I don't make very many out of hardwood anymore as many of them get partially painted so I use 1/8 BBply.. Thinking about going to 1/16 ply actually because many of the painted ones get glued to a backer.

I have not seen much on any bearing replacement on the Hawks other than the arm that connects the lower arm down to the motor.. I have done that on one of my saws and have seen topics where others have also done that. Never seen anything on the arm bearings though. What kind of questions do you have about the arm bearings? I've had the arms off of a couple of my Hawks but they were older saws that had a different style bearing than these newer saws.. but maybe I can answer if you have a specific question about them.

This showed up on my FB page this morning.. I thought it was interesting set up.. I think it might work well for fine dust but I don't see how this would work for chips.. I see it getting plugged up with chips.. https://mullettools.com/products/mullet-boom-arm?fbclid=IwAR0lxHwegDTkpLSImNQdWxhcSu7dxCxsyKEDZdgPhWzdzm7jedLUI9deLts

I also use full sheet labels for most all my projects unless it's something larger than the standard size sheet of paper and i have to piece it together. I also use my 4 x 6 shipping label printer now and then to do a quick one off print of something small enough to fit on it, such as a single ornament that's personalized or whatever. However most of my personalized stuff now days I use the laser to create what they want.. since it's there and it can cut and do the personalized engraving anyway why not just do the whole thing on that. The Gnome's are pretty cool and looks like a good way to use up some scraps.. most my scraps I save for the summer camp fires so they at least get used and enjoyed by many. Gotta say though they are typically small bits as like you.. I use up most of what I can..

15+ years ago I would have to agree with what Larry and JT are saying.. and many folks years ago got burned on the money they spent on the crap tools they sold back then and will never buy from a company again because of that.. so I do understand where they're coming from. Not all of us are rich enough to go buy a $300 DeWalt or Milwaukee sawzall for a 1-10 times of use.. example.. I need to cut a hole in my roof to install a vent.. I don't have any saw to do that job.. do I spend $300+ or - just to do this job or do I go to HF and buy the $40 tool? Likely will not use it much at all after this particular job but if I need to and it still works then that's a bonus I suppose. The other option is to pay a contractor $500 or so for doing the job for me.. Years ago I would have not considered HF for the tool but they have improved the quality quite a lot.. and they are very good at honoring the warranty if it's needed. I broke a 18" breaker bar, I snapped the pin that holds the end onto the bar. Guess adding a 4ft pipe to it wouldn't hold up.. also bent the handle quite bad. They exchanged it too with no questions asked and it was probably over a year old.. Sears wouldn't do that for me 10 years ago with their Craftsman one.. At one time they used to be good on exchanges like this but they got pretty peddy in the more recent years.. I'd buy HF "Pittsburgh" brand tools way before I'd consider Craftsman now days. Craftsman built up a great name years ago but then cheapened up trying to make cuts for more profits.. HF started out cheap but over the years have gotten better.. A lot of contractors and ditching DeWalt stuff from what I've heard locally because DW is kind of doing that now... Just how companies do to try to survive I guess.. So that All said I can understand why some feel the way they do about HF tools.. I can also relate to buying a cheap tool just to do a job yourself and save a few bucks too. Most tools I buy from them are just low expectation use tools for a particular job I'm working on.. If I intend to use a tool a large amount then I do look more towards a well known brand quality tool.. but also got to watch it with some of those too as most of them are cheapening things up.

So I bought this tool yesterday because I had a job of changing out my toilet flange and I needed to cut some of the old PVC pipe / flange away and Harbor Freight happen to be the only place i could find a very small saw blade on a arbor.. I originally was going to use a drill to do the cutting. I do have a dremel that may have worked too but I really didn't want to take my plunge router attachment off of it so I bought this flex shaft tool.. Maybe I expected too much from this but it lacked power on the slower speed setting and on the higher speeds it kept just turning off.. to the point I had to keep flipping the switch off and back on again.. It did come in handy and I'd probably still be trying to use the drill so it was useful but.. as I was working with it I found that if I took it super slow it did work great.. so again maybe it was just my expectation of a larger more powerful saw.. I've had a few dremel tools over the years and I always felt the same about those so it might be just me expecting a very small tool to have the power of my higher end air powered saws / grinders etc.. that i use for working on cars etc. Maybe it would work great for sanding and or carving with some small bits.. I sort of figured the PVC pipe would be soft enough that this would have powered right through..