kmmcrafts

Some time ago in one of the discussions on here about cordless tool batteries someone mentioned you could get adapters to use different brand batteries on your tools. I was a bit skeptical but I finally bought one just to give it a try. I have two of the 20V HF Bauer brand battery packs, both of which are larger amp hour than my DeWalt drill has. I got the adapter in the mail today and it seems to work.. Does get a little sticky with the release button and made from what feels like some cheap plastic but it does work and I think it'll work well for my needs.. We'll see how it holds up for some bigger jobs where I'm using it enough to get the drill motor a little warm.

Take a piece of thicker stock scrap and cut into it a short straight line, then spin the piece to the back of the blade.. should slide right into the slot you just cut if the blade is square to the table. Might be a dumb remark here but squares can throw you off sometimes as table tops get worn.. especially those painted table tops like the EX saws have.. could be worn and giving you a false reading. Edit to add: You table doesn't look too worn.. I have seen the dust port holes also give you false readings though.. There are only a handful of things it can be.. I've even had a bad "twisted" blade that was making weird things like this happen.. don't know how it got like that because it was brand new blade.. so if you haven't tried another blade maybe check that. I know you're not new to scrolling so.. Another thing is the actual wood itself. I've also had a piece of cherry wood that gave me fits.. turned out the wood was under some sort of weird tension and moved after being cut.. any other wood I cut was fine.. so it had something to do with the wood itself.

Can't remember where I got the pattern for this.. but this is one that I made several years ago. Might be here in the pattern section.. if not I'm sure one of the designers here would make a pattern.

I don't think with this "link style arm" saw that a smaller or larger saw has any difference.. at least not like a longer arm saw is.. Even the long arm saw as far as wear and tear on the mechanics of the machine is really not much difference I don't think.. so long as they are built right with weighted counterbalance to minimize vibrations etc. That being said, I guess if you have the extra space that a 30 inch saw would take and you don't plan to take it with you on camping trips etc.. then go for it..

Congrats on the new saw!! My first Hawk ( not my first scroll saw ) was a round barrel clamp style saw.. They take a bit to get the hang of them but I also really liked that saw.. Kinda wish I had not sold it.. But I still have the Hawk Ultra 226VS and the new BM26 I bought a few years ago. I mainly use the new saw but the other saws have a place and somewhat special use in my shop.. sometimes I get tired of cutting with the Hawks and will switch things up and use the Excalibur or Hegner.. both have a slight different style of cutting.. Like the wide legs but I bet that takes up as much room as two saws do, LOL.. That is one thing about these 26" saws.. they are massive and weigh well over 100 pounds too.. Beautiful work on that Lord's Prayer.. hope you show some more of your projects you do with the new saw.

I think @Rolf mentioned something similar with his Festool and plugging his Hawk into it.. The Hawk didn't have enough power draw to turn on the vac. I think he ended up plugging the vac into his footswitch for the scroll saw so it comes on that way.. I may be wrong but I thought it was Rolf that mentioned this. I have my vac hooked up to the foot switch. I used a three way plug to plug the saw, vac, and hour meter to plug into the footswitch so when I hit the foot paddle it turns on the saw, vac and keeps track of saw run time.

Got any pictures of your set-up? sounds interesting.. I'm open to different ideas... Originally I wasn't even going to fix the dust blower and my intensions was to build a dust extractor type of system.. I've seen a few different set ups but nothing looked real practical unless I'm missing something many of them look like the piping would be in my way on some larger projects etc. LOL.. I scroll all kinds of things and versatility is a must. Probably end up buying some PVC and fittings and just play around to find what works best for me.. but always welcome photos and ideas from others.

I've thought about how I could run the hose on the other side and attach a bracket to the accessory arm like shown in your photo. I thought that might get in the way of the blade clamp too though.. I suppose one could flip that clamp around so the knob was on the other side maybe, however I am used to all my saws having the clamp on that right side.. I just think it'd be better to have the hose on the opposite side of the clamp.. I may have to do some experimenting.

Here is a couple photos of my saw that I had on my phone so if you need better photo I can go take one of specific areas. I think if I had a couple good photos of the new saws I could make the bracket for the flexible loc line hose. I’ve been searching for a good shot of the bracket but most photos are of the opposite side of the saw. From what I can tell it looks like a piece of angle that bolts to the upper arm pivot bolt and then there is a pipe nipple to accept the hose from the bellow that screws to the bracket and into the loc line stuff. That would be super easy to make if that is how it’s set up. Hegner does have an upgrade kit for dust management but it’s also $80 and comes with a vacuum attachment etc. I’m not really interested in that type of setup at this time. Even though the saw was given to me I’m not wanting to put much money into it just yet. What little I’ve used it I really do like it and could see liking it more than the Hawk if I can get past this dust blowing into my face and lap and the small table is kinda hard to get used too. I like the compact three leg stand and overall size is small and lightweight compared to a Hawk.

My Hegner has the older style dust blower tube on it that is just a hose that connects to a metal pipe fixed into the upper arm. It works great, however I'd like a flex ( loc line ) set up like the new saws have so instead of blowing that dust at me and my lap.. maybe I could send it off to one side where i would also have a box fan and filter like I do with the other saws in my shop.. I haven't used that saw but 4 hours worth in the year I've had it because it sends all the sawdust onto / at me. I was looking on their website for maybe a possible upgrade to the newer flex hose but I don't see anything available. It looks to me like the parts list shows the older saw as having a smaller hose than the newer one with the flex line. If no upgrade kit is available I'm sure i can figure out how to connect something up. It looks like the newer saw has a pretty basic metal bracket at the back of the saw.. like maybe it connects to the bolt that holds the upper arm pivot bolt but I haven't seen any "good" photos of that area.. Has anyone upgraded their older saw to have a flexible line or do you just enjoy having the dust in your lap so it looks like you been working in a sawdust pile, LOL

I agree with Ray.. and I've been messing with inkscape since around 2008 ish.. Only started getting better at it because having a laser and CNC you can't just print a pattern or modify one by taping several pieces of paper together to create a custom pattern like I used to do back in the day. These machines do whatever the file / drawing shows.. no modifying it as you cut.. LOL so I'm slowly getting better with that program.. BTW.. I've had these machines since 2018 and still barely know that program even though I have to do it and figure it out.

Kind of what I was thinking too. Also I’m quite sure loc line has adapters to go from metal tubing to their plastic fittings. They are pretty versatile. Somewhere ( maybe eBay) I’ve seen these fittings sold individually.

I don't know what size these are in this kit but it shows two different threaded parts and one looks a lot like what you show here. I've bought pieces and parts of this stuff from here before so maybe do some looking. Also known as coolant hose for metal drills/lathes etc. so that might be another search term to use. https://www.grainger.com/product/6Y724?gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2293:99F1R6:20501231&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzoeuBhDqARIsAMdH14Ghe-brxtcqgwme5esjlHRkXt5xcAAFkvjYVd-ihU4pm762EcEcRssaAis8EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Edit Oopps I guess I should have read better. Looks like you've already searched the parts but cannot find exact thread size.

I would imagine this would be a copyright / trademark issue to sell them

You could give it a try on some scraps suppose, Everyone learns differently.. and you have to do what you're comfortable with doing.. Starting out I didn't really have a choice for speeds so I had to learn to gauge the feed.. blade sizes also played a roll back then.. first starting out I was using blades that were probably smaller than what would be recommended as that slowed down the cutting until I learned to relax and not feed the wood too fast.. But eventually I learned that my feed rate is what makes the cutting fast or slow.. saw speed has nothing to do with how fast you cut.. well it does if you have the saw speed too slow.. but running saw fast you can control how fast you feed. If you find you're pushing to fast and flexing the blade maybe speed the saw up some and try again. A good way to see if you're pushing too hard is set up a camera to video your cutting. If you see the blade flexing a lot then you need to slow your feed rate or speed up the blade speed until you get to where you're not pushing through too fast. There is people out there that have been sawing longer than me that still run their saw on slow.. that's probably how they learned and what they got comfortable with.. Nothing wrong with going slow.. Learning on a saw where you don't have a choice to turn the speed down I feel like gives the person a different skill set than those that use the saw speed to gauge how fast they want to cut. At the end of the day.. it's not a race.. just do what you're comfortable doing.

Nothing wrong with that.. Everyone has a different pace that they like to scroll at. My very first saw was a old delta 2 speed saw and low was too slow.. so I learned to cut on the high setting which was like 1700 strokes per minute saw speed.. so I run my saws mostly at around 1500 SPM.. just how I learned to enjoy scrolling so that's how I continue to scroll. I feel like things would be a lot different had I learned on a different saw that had variable speed. When I did finally get a variable speed saw and ran it slow, I found that I was used to the saw going fast and that I would end up pushing the wood through too hard and flexing the blade etc.. now I'm just trained to go fast, LOL.. Not to mention I've also been at it for 20 years now and production style cutting for about 16 years.. so I have a bit of time at a saw... so running the saw fast and cutting fast is just what is natural for me.. Lots of people mistake it thinking I cut fast because I'm doing it as a business and feel the need to race the clock.. but I was sawing on high speed since the first or second day I learned to scroll saw.. 4-5 years before ever doing it as a business.. I do sort of think if everyone had to learn on a saw that only had a fast speed they'd learn to control the wood feeding into the blade better. Just because the saw is running fast doesn't necessarily mean you have to feed the wood fast. Most scroll saw videos I watch the people cutting are flexing the blade too much.. They need to speed the saw up and relax and let the blade do the cutting.. If the saw running fast make you "cut too fast then you're pushing the wood too hard" You don't have to speed up just because the saw is running faster you just have to learn to control how you feed the wood to the blade slower. In other words I think too many people rely on the variable speed of the saw to control their cut.. rather than learning how to control their feeding. I see lots of people turn up the saw speed on easy long straight cuts and then slow it down for fine detail cuts.. But everyone learns it different and no right or wrong way really.. just do what works for you and you are comfortable with.. Like Ray said.. It's not a race... Took me a long time to learn to be good at cutting because I had to learn how to control the wood based on a fast running saw..

Okay here is the listing I seen.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/386617494498

Been a while since I messed with 1/4" BBply without stack cutting etc.. just one off would cut slightly faster than cutting 2-3 or 4 of them.. I'd say it'd probably take me around 1 - 1:30 hours to drill, cut, sand and be ready for whatever finish I intend to apply. Add about 10 - 15 minutes to that if I'm cutting 2 of them. Or 4 of them at 1/8" thick which is what I mostly use these days. This is just a wild uneducated guess.. LOL Now.. If I lasered that it'd be about an hour but I can only cut 1/8" in one pass so if it was 1/4" then probably 2 hours.. LOL If I CNC routered that it'd be 2 days 5 hours and 45 minutes.. The 2 days and 5 hours is trying to figure out how to get the CNC to follow the pattern..

Welcome to the Village!! I have no idea where one could source parts for one of these old saws.. That being said... I seen one on eBay the other day that was a nice looking unit for as old as they are.. and it had the disc sander parts to it. Wasn't all that much money. I suspect if you did find a source for parts, they'd cost more than this saw I seen. I'll see if I can go find a link to it shortly.

I agree with RJ, You did very well on this!

It last a long time.. even all the waxing I do on my saws I'm still using the very first can I bought.. which was back around 2006. I've been seeing the bottom of the can for a few years now but it has some in the corners still, LOL. Probably have enough for another year or two. When I got word of them not making it anymore I picked up another can.. That should last me my lifetime.. There are some alternatives..

Beautiful work!! I have a few of my fathers old scroll sawn items.. One being a wedding hearts with my wife and I's name on it and our wedding date. However it fell off the wall a few too many times and I ended up having to make it from another type of wood that is more sturdy. He had made it from oak and it likes to break along the grain too easily. Anyway, I have to say the most favorite things I have that he made is Christmas ornaments.. Every year at Christmas time we decorate the tree and it's as if he is here in the room with us as we dig out the ornaments and hang them on the tree. The other things I have hang on the wall year round and I guess they sort of get forgotten about so to speak but when I get the ornaments out.. just a special time of the year and remembering those loved ones that are no longer with us.. Here is a photo of the hearts I mentioned.. NOT Mine.. this is one I made for someone but this is what I was talking about. They are somewhat fragile even though it's 3/4" thick wood..

This is the listing where I got the photo from. They seem to be parting out this saw and has a few other parts for it listed but not the pieces you need. You might try sending them a message and ask about the rubber pieces you need. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275569355730?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20211130125621%26meid%3D4daa0a688ba542a782410c8a177bb5fb%26pid%3D101465%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D293835338534%26itm%3D275569355730%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D3650466%26brand%3DDelta&_trksid=p3650466.c101465.m3507

For some reason the parts list are different in the link I posted above than the list that is in the parts manual. There was a type 1 and type 2 saw so that might be what's going on. I looked up a couple different parts manuals and one showed a part number 29 that he as talking about. The part is used in both the types but listed under a different reference number, The link I posted above shows the part as number 52 and another manual shows it as #21 and another as #29.. gotta love the part changes they did in the manuals back in the day.. and now days you get one manual for all saws of the same brand lumped into one manual and some of it is wrong, LOL Anyway it's just a square shaped rubber that fits / seals somewhat into the C channel and the arm protrudes through it. I believe it's purpose is to help keep dust from getting into the bearings. It probably wouldn't make any noise if he removed the rubber.. but I don't know that for sure.. it may also be a "cushion" for the arm as well.. If you look closely at the photo I posted I circled the rubber inserts that he is talking about. I think it's more of a dust shield than a cushion though and he could try removing them to see if it quits rattling.

I guess I never looked at all the terms of stamped, ground, and milled etc. I just buy a boatload of blades and try until I find what works best for what I make. Pegas MGT blades are my number 1 choice of blades. I've tried every blade brand that I came across and most of the style / configurations of those brands. Maybe William was back before I got on these forums boards. I don't recall the name.. I'm not sure who is selling the FD blades that you are referring too. I'm not aware of anyone selling FD blades here in scroll saw village. May have been but I don't recall that either. I do think someone helped Mike out by taking over until he finally ended up selling out to Wooden Teddy Bear.. but I can't think of who that was.