kmmcrafts

Yeah I wondered what that smoker was too.. Thanks Bob for enlightening us boring people, LOL

Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've saved this chart to my computer and then can't find it.. I've printed it and hung it in my shop and totally forget it's there.. When I need it can't find it.. You would think after 20 years of scrolling I'd know all of them by now. Years ago the blade sellers listed the recommended bit for said blade ( Mikesworkshop.com still does ) and that is when I started just going to the website in which I bought the blades and look at the blade style & size and use the recommended bit.. However, now days the sellers of the blades figure we all should know this or have a chart handy.. which I do have a chart handy.. it's hanging in my shop as well as somewhere on my computer.. I just can't find them as easy as I can go to the site I buy the blades from and look.. Many times I'm in the shop instead of the house where the computer hard drive has the info.. Easier for me to set on at my saw and grab my phone to go to the website where the blades were purchased.. Except I switched to Pegas blades and since D & D sawblades took down the site no one else has that info easily to find.. just like the ones I have downloaded on my computer, Thinking I just need to go back to FD blades.. The one issue I also find is this drill size is not consistent with each blade manufacture. (ie a FD #5 UR will fit in a #60 but a Pegas MFG #5 will not so it's blade specific. ) IF they was standard sized across the brands then I'd probably have it memorized.. The issue is I use some FD, Olsen, Pegas, and Sharktooth brand blades depending on my project.

Thinking I need to make something similar for ornaments. I try to finish ornaments in batches and sometimes the batch ends up being a couple hundred at a time..

Wouldn't cork be flimsy and not really add any strength? The only reason I would add a backer board is to get more strength for the project.. those outer flower petals don't have much wood support because there is only like 1/8" of material on either side of them to hold them in place and I can see them getting broken off pretty easy.. Maybe cork is stronger than I thought but I always seen cork as a flexible material rather than more rigid.. I contemplate making another batch of these from 1/8 - 1/4" and stack cutting them and then gluing to a square or round shape contrasting wood.. such as maybe making them out of Maple with a Walnut square or round backer that is maybe 1/4" larger.. Not sure a trivet is a piece that would be glued / laminated as such though? Maybe I'll be the one to invent that?

At a 120lbs you won't pick it up for too long,

Also check out eBay.. was just on there and there is a couple Hegners that seller says they'll ship.. one was a 2004 18" saw for $350.. shipping to me in Michigan was $115.. The down side is you can't really "try it out" before buying.. but in our area that's not a bad price.. not a great price if you live out in California though, LOL.. they seem to have the best deals out there.. Here is one.. there are a couple more on there too.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/165918005360

I almost mentioned Hawk.. but you seemed pretty adamant on Hegner and for the first time I didn't want to show my bias for Hawk . This saw in the link you provided is a Hawk Ultra.. good saws made from around 1996 - around 2004 -5.. I think the price is decent. Look for extra lower blade holders.. the more the better value, LOL even though you can only use one at a time.. it is kinda nice to have blades already loaded so for instance if you are veining you can cut with a straight blade then swap to the already loaded spiral blade then switch back to straight if need.. I find Hawks are cheaper priced and I think it has some to do with the fact that I think they sold thousands of them back in the day and there seems to always be some for sale.. I'm not sure how they compare to Hegner as I've never had a Hegner.. I would stay away from the Hawk with the round barrel clamps as they are getting quite old now, and most owners had a hate / love relation with those clamps. Now do note that the lower arm sits behind the angle adjustment mechanism so you have to reach around that to change blades etc.. not a big deal to me and in fact that keeps the sawdust out of your lap.. I actually like my Utra better than my brand new Hawk because of that and a few other small things.. Anyway seems like a good deal on this if you like it I'd go for it. Doubtful you'll find a Hegner any cheaper than that and pretty close to the same quality.. parts still available for them. I think the most common wear part on these is the tension cam and the wedge and nylon washer on top of the wedge.. Edit to Add: Bushton has some videos on their site as well.. here is one pertaining to the Ultra.

I agree with Stoney, while I do not have a Hegner, I do have a Hawk and the quality of these machines are over the top compared to the others and the price reflects that.. BUT, either people love them or hate them, they do have a totally different style of cutting experience and the blade clamping / tensioning is not as forgiving as those short parallel link arm saws like the DeWalt & Ex type saws.. I've seen people bash both the Hawk and Hegners on the FB forums because their experience is they can't get used to them.. well they just don't give themselves the time to "learn" them... My first Hawk I bought for $100 and I was so excited because the reputation is they are one of the best saws out there.. which they are so long as you have the patients to learn them.. I hated the thing at first.. but I knew it was more of a user error ( had to be with all the positive reviews of these ).. I kept my old DeWalt for "in a rush orders" but used the Hawk as much as I could to get used to and learn the machine.. the learning curve can be slow figuring out why I couldn't get blades from not breaking or get the right tension etc.. and they do cut a little less aggressive so it seems like it cut slower.. not sure it really does.. I find I'm way more relaxed using the Hawks than the Excalibur.. but I still go to the Excalibur if I'm just wanting to get something finished because I spend years running this style saw.. and muscle memory just makes it seem to get the job done faster.. In all honesty I don't think it's any slower considering you don't have to lift the arm up out of the way to change to the next hole as the arms on these are spring loaded.. if you break a blade or once you loosen the blade the arm just pops up out of the way.. My suggestion is.. first off.. I don't think you're going to really be able to dig in and get to know the saw with just trying one for a day... It took me weeks / months to really get the hang of the long arm saw and as I said.. I still today will go cut on the Excalibur when I feel rushed to get something done.. I suggest rather than buying a new one at nearly double the cost of the other saws.. I suggest getting a used saw.. the resale value on new saws is not there to justify buying it and if you don't like it you're going to loose about $1000 in value.. I've seen people struggle to sell new never used ones even at that $1000 price.. If you can find a used one for $800 or less you're more likely going to loose less money IF you can't seem to get the hang of it and have to sell it.. You may still loose.. but you're not going from $1700 down to $700 -800 ish.. These saws are built like tanks.. and rarely anything drastic happens and in most cases the parts are readily available so I wouldn't be scared to buy a used saw to try and learn on.. If you're adamant about getting new then try the used one for a year and then get a new one.. JMO.. If you have money to toss around then get the new one first and hope you like it..

I think it's daisies but not really sure, I just used one of the patterns from the book I have and the pattern was called Spring Flowers or something like that.

I’ve been scrolling for nearly 20 years now and always thought about making a trivet when I see others post about them. I seen a book while shopping with my wife last fall that had trivets and put it on my Christmas list. This is fresh off the saw. Cut from 1/2” cherry using a Pegas #3 MGT blade. I had to modify the pattern slightly due to the drill bit got off centered in the center hole, there was supposed to be some other cutouts around the drilled hole but it went off center so I just cut the hole out larger and recentered it. Think it’ll look good once dipped in Danish oil to make the color pop. I intend to finish with DO, but was curious how others finish their trivets? Does anyone make trivets with a backer? I’m just wondering because I feel like this is going to be quite fragile. Originally designed to be about 10” diameter but I didn’t want to piece the pattern together since I no longer have my large format printer and I would have needed to do a glue up going that large so I opted to size it at large as I could on a single sheet of which makes it around 8 inch ish. One more question, how thick of material is best for trivets? I was going to go down to 3/8 but with the details of this and how fragile it could get I went with 1/2.

I've used a fair amount of it too and have never seen the inside look like that. Typically the inside is bright purple and will fade into a brownish purple over time on the outside. post a photo of the pen when finished. I'd like to see how it ends up.

Kind of agree with Barb. I cut both BBply and solid hardwoods.. probably about equal amounts of both. Possibly more BB because I do make a lot of ornaments and some of my wall hangings are also BB with solid walnut backers.. only clocks and puzzles are solid hardwoods.. some stuff is even standard plywood from the box stores.. Keep thinking about trying some soft metals too at some point.

Just my opinion but I think any vacuum you use is going to spew out some fine dust.. Unless you get one that is Hepa filtered.. Yeah you can get a hepa type filter for a regular shop vac.. but it still just isn't designed to be a dust extractor like a Festool.. The Fien vac is a bit cheaper but it also doesn't come standard as a Hepa certified vac.. unless they've changed that since I researched it a few years ago.. You can get the filtration on one though.. for additional cost which prices it at or in some cases more than the Festool and then I'm not even sure it's actually certified as a hepa filter system.. Hooking up a exhaust hose might be the answer if you're not in the northern states where you would just be blowing the heat outside, LOL If you have a really sealed up new shop blowing all that air out you may need to create a air inlet.. I honestly think there is no "low cost" answer.. it's more about how much of this fine dust can you put up with.. I personally wear a filtered dust mask.. then do a full shop cleaning / dusting of that settled dust every couple months..

I'm confused... so are you trying to hold the upper arm of the saw up? That's what it looks like and if so.. all you need to do is adjust the arm tension set screw at the back of the saw on the opposite side of the motor you'll see a bolt / screw with a slot in it and a jam nut on it.. loosen the jam nut and use a flat head screwdriver and turn it in slightly until you get enough resistance to hold the arm up.. don't make it too stiff because then your arm will get sore trying to raise it up, LOL.. should move freely and fairly easy yet have enough tension to stay in the up position on it's own.. might have to play around with in a few times to get it where you want it but man that sure beats having to hold it up in some way.. There are instructions in your manual for the adjustment as well..

Might be wrong but I think he was talking about the Festool random orbital sander shutting off instantly when he turns it off. I've watched a live demo at the local wood expo show and the dust vacuum does run for 3-5 seconds after shutting the tool off.. so I think it's the same timer set up like the Fien

There might be a better search term but, I went to Amazon and searched for "plastic stencils" and there are a ton of designs.. I think they are made for painting.. come think of it the wife has some she got from one of the local box stores that are some sort of flower and leaf stems etc.. she got them to paint a decoration around our cabinet door in our utility room.. Hmm, I'd have never thought about searching for those.. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=plastic+stencils&crid=1GFV05Q4N36NW&sprefix=plastic+sten%2Caps%2C194&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_12

Funny you mentioned the trivets.. I don't see a lot of mention or anyone making them very often. I asked for a book on my Christmas list this year and received it.. just today I scanned a couple of the pages and printed the patterns.. Not sure how popular they are to sell but I thought I'd give a few of them a try.. If nothing else the designs in the book could be shrunk in size and possibly can make some real delicate Christmas ornaments.. Anyway, yes as Ray said.. if you have a link to the ones you purchased post it if you would.. EDIT: This is the book I got for Christmas.. some really neat designs in it for trivets and coasters.. https://www.amazon.com/Circular-Scroll-Designs-Step-Step/dp/1497101506

I now have a 1984 Nissan 300ZX and also ( not really a classic but still a toy ) a 2007 Chevy Cobalt SS Supercharged with a built 2.0 4cyl. tuned to run on alcohol ( E85 ), dynoed at 385HP at the wheels.. That thing would run circles around my last toy that I sold a few years back which was a 1971 Chevelle SS.. also beats the MPG too so I can actually afford to take it out a little more, LOL. I built it to do time attack racing but I still need to do the suspension work for that and actually having fun just driving it around the streets may not even race it now. I bought the car last spring with a blown motor ( timing chain guide bolt broke and took out the valves and pistons ) and built it over the summer. The 300ZX needs a lot of work but was a 1 owner low mile car from Florida, it was my oldest sons project then my youngest bought it. I found a real nice one on marketplace so my youngest bought it and sold me the "project" LOL. Probably end up selling them, I'm not much of a collector... more of a builder / restorer and then move them on and start another build, LOL.. I've really been looking at the Festool RO sanders.. how do you like yours? I might splurge one day soon and buy the vac and a sander.. Been on my mind for a few years almost bought the vac last weekend when I was browsing through the local dealer..

Some of them are the exact same look as another brand I've seen but can't think of what brand it was now, lol... I've bought my share of their tools and for light use most of them worked for what I needed.. other than one sawzall I bought about 12 years ago to cut some PCV pipe for some drain work I was doing for my septic / drainfield system.. the (unknown brand name) tool from there cut through the first piece of 4" pipe just fine but half way through the second cut the plastic gears inside the tool stripped and then something come apart and smoke rolled out of the motor.. I'd of been happy with the tool if it would have lasted through about 6-8 more cuts so I could finish the job.. BUT.. the $6.99 I paid for it I guess I got what I paid for. I think they've been stepping up in quality over the last 5-6 years though.. I have a cordless impact that has taken a beating and still going strong.. Bought the Bauer brand leaf blower to blow the leaves out of the driveway so I can mulch them up with the mower without throwing rocks everywhere.. works great for blowing sawdust that has settles on my shop lights and blow the dust out the garage door instead of sweeping it up, LOL

I have a big Shopvac brand shopvac and I use the paper cartridge filters.. Also NOTE there are better filters too... For mine there is a standard paper filter and then there is a better one for smaller particles.. in my case it's a blue colored filter.. and the paper is more like a cloth? I'm not sure what it's made of but it is a different material. Plus as you already learned of about the bags.. I use the better bags made for fine dust.. I also bought a muffler for the exhaust air coming out of the back of the vac.. I really don't think it made it much quieter but the muffler is a foam thing that just clips into the exhaust port.. I imagine that might help with filtering a little too. I also have the grizzly ceiling mount dust filtration system which is just like the WEN you have. While that thing does get a lot of dust in the filter it is helping some.. The biggest one is just the cheap box fan with furnace filter.. it moves way more air than the ceiling mount thing, and works very well. Unfortunately the hand sanders is my biggest issue even though it doesn't spew out dust terrible as the dust filter / canister catches most of it.. it does spew some out of the side of the sander. I used to have a box fan / filter set up on the side where the dust spews out of that RO sander and it'd fill the filter up with dust at a sanding sesion.. I'd take it outside and tap the filter on the trash can and it'd look like a smoke cloud, LOL.. I have the Seyco scroll saw dust collection on the saw as well and that helps a lot too.. I just need to get a collection source for the top side of the saw table and I think 99% of it would be collected right at the source. I just think that, no matter how much collection and filtration you do.. there is probably going to be some fine dust settle every day because that is just the nature of making sawdust. LOL About 3-4 times a year I take my shop vac and a brush vac attachment and vac the whole shop.. all the tools and stands, walls, shop lights etc. etc. Pretty much takes a whole day to do a full cleaning.. While it's clean I use the Johnson's past wax and wax the saws, stands etc.. having the wax on the equipment helps keep the dust from sticking to them and makes for easier cleaning.. plus keeps rust of the table tops etc.

The best source for dust collection is catching it at the source before going airborne with a "Good" Hepa type filtration system.. Not just a ordinary shop vacuum unless you have one that has Hepa type filtration. Not just your scroll saw is spewing dust.. I find that my biggest fine dust producer is the sanders.. I even have the ones with a canister that collects the dust but it still escapes and goes into the air.. Just yesterday I was looking at my local wood / tool suppliers and I was looking over the Festool Vac and sanders.. Hard to swallow that $500 for the cheaper of their vacs and then another near $500 for a sander, LOL I keep saying one day I'm going to do that.. I've heard they have some really good quality tools etc.. they better have for that kind of money.. My question would be.. for those tools.. I imagine there is still going to be "some" airborne dust no matter how much I spend on tools that are supposed to minimize that dust.. As Ray said, Maybe time to find a less dirty hobby if it's bothering you that much.. I loved it when I had a wood lathe and did some turning.. However those make a huge mess and really fast.. I sold it shortly after getting it mainly because of that mess... IF you like working with wood but don't like that messy dust.. maybe look into getting yourself a laser cutter.. one that extracts the smoke.. I find if I don't do any sanding of the thin plywoods and I only run my laser.. I rarely have any dust.. I'm kinda leaning towards doing more laser work and less scrolling.. My shop is really in my garage and I'm also getting kinda fet up with the dust on my classic cars if I park them inside during the winter months, when I get them out in the spring they look like they've been locked up in a barn for 40 years. LOL

That is really cool! The brain that makes these designs like this is way smarter than my pea sized one for sure, LOL

I also use templates quite a lot.. Though I've really only made a couple permanent ones which are clock bases because I make so many of them.. However if I'm working on a project that requires more than one shape I typically will cut the first one then just trace around the others for instance this piece I'm currently working on. I cut just one of each of these pieces that'll be glued together eventually. I'll never make this piece again so no need to make an actual template.. EDIT: For the lighter colored circle was the paper pattern but I needed a larger circle so I took a flat washer and put the pencil in the hole of the washer and trace around the outer circle to create a larger one. I have a stack of different sized washers for various larger sizes.. Typically use that method for signs and plaques that I want a backer slightly larger.. but it worked real well for this project too.

The plans / patterns are on the blog website now that Dan first posted.. They are downloadable and printable.. However to do over which I'm hoping not to have to do again I would enlarge the sizes maybe 10 - 15%.. My original plan was to put a pendulum clock in it.. However the size of the torso and where the clock would be I don't see the pendulum being able to swing.. shortest pendulum I've found was 5" and it's just about right on the dot 5" from the center of the clock to the bottom of the torso.. so I think it would need to be at least a inch or so taller... Thinking I'll just put a 3" clock insert in it and make a wood pendulum to decorate the torso rather than having the functional one, LOL. Probably paint gold. Thinking for the shoulder of using 1" dowel and then scroll out the arms and glue it all together since I seen some left over Maple Dowel rod I had tonight while looking for something else. Since the one on the blog was made from foam.. they have the arms just as rolled up foam.. I could do it that way as well but rather make it all entirely out of wood. Think I have some 1/4" walnut dowel too so that might work for the hair / hat or whatever is on the head, LOL.

Making a little progress. Just a bunch of pieces cut and stacked up, nothing is sanded or glued together yet. Think it should look decent once it’s finished up. Still have to drill holes for the clock and make the arms hair and other decorative pieces.