kmmcrafts

Honestly don't think it was caused by back pressure from the muffler. It has a dust separator that came with it but it still gets plenty of fine dust in the dust bag. Me being cheap I ordered some bags off ebay but they are crap paper bags compared to what came from Seyco. The paper rips very easily and sometimes just putting them in they get torn.. The back of the vac was full of fine sawdust.. I change the bag and blow compressed air through it on a regular basis but I think my replacement will never see one of those paper bags.. I'm going to order some from Ray again. For me they don't last real long because while they don't "fill up" with dust they get a fine somewhat thick layer throughout the bag and thus restricts the air flow. I've mentioned in the past about the Vac getting louder and having to change the bag and clean out the vac with compressed air to make it run quiet again... About every week for me.. others might get a month or so but this should be checked regularly if you have this set-up.. could be a fire hazard too.. as the way the vac is made the air flows past the motor to cool it ( I assume ) and that fine dust gets back in around that motor.. that dust doesn't take much to ignite.. Honestly contemplating just getting a good vac made for this like that new DeWalt that was brought up a while back or a Festool.. I looked at the Festools today as we made a trip to the lumber store and they carry them.

I have the Dremmel plunge router with a WEN rotary tool mounted for those small bits but it doesn't work well for me.. There is just enough slop in the thing to make holes on an angle instead of straight, lol.. Works awesome in thin stock like 1/4 or less.. but the slop and the uprights is enough when doing thicker wood is enough to drill outside of a line on the back side.. also the little WEN motor really has to be spinning fast to be able to go through thick stock which in turn burns up the bits

Yeah, my Delta has the belt swapping deal too that gets really annoying.. when swapping from mini drill bits to forstner bits and back again. It also has the pinch clamp to raise and lower the table which I also don't care a lot for.. so two things was a must for me.. I wanted the gear / crank for raising / lowering the table and I wanted variable speed so I only have to move the lever to change RPM's .. This is the drill I bought.. I also ( maybe mistake and wasted money) bought the keyless chuck.. For some reason I can't seem to put the key to the delta in the key spot.. I always put it in my pocket or set it down somewhere.. real pain this time of year here as it's cold in the morning but by mid-day I'm ditching my jacket with the chuck key in the pocket when I come in for lunch.. go back out and need to change bits and can't find the key anywhere.. Some folks say the keyless chucks are junk.. but I've never had any issue out of my keyless chuck cordless hand drill. If nothing else I guess I can always put the key chuck back on if I don't like the keyless one.. I would think I'd be fine for drilling wood, I'm not drilling thick iron or concrete with a small benchtop press anyway. https://www.homedepot.com/p/WEN-5-Amp-12-in-Variable-Speed-Cast-Iron-Benchtop-Drill-Press-with-Laser-Work-Light-and-5-8-in-Chuck-Capacity-4214T/316951776

I have another Metro vac that I bought for like $24 on ebay as a new "open box" one.. same vac but the exhaust end on the Seyco has a longer end cap on it and it's stuffed with foam to make it quieter.. I may hook that one up to the saw until I get more time to figure out what I'm going to do... I like that it's small and moreless self contained to the saw.. I've done a quick look on eBay and may just purchase another one of them when one pops up at a good deal like my spare one.. I also looked into metro vac parts and they have replacement motors etc.. Looks like I could build the whole thing for around $50-60.. and everything would be new other than the metal canister, LOL.. Heck of a lot cheaper than a new larger vac that takes up more shop space..

Ideally, a Hawk G4 or BM series is the Cadillac of the Hawk saws.. but those are the newer models G4's started around 2005 and then the BM series came out in like 2012? ish.. Used ones are somewhat scarce to find.. Most of what you see out there for sale is the old 1980's and 90's era. Somewhere around the mid 90's and older there was quite a lot of them that got a bad rap because of the VS ( variable speed controller and or the motor ) or motor had issues and so many will say stay away from those. The "Ultra" version came out around 95-6 and they are pretty good saws.. They run the more square looking lower blade clamp. stay away from any that have the round barrel style clamps as those would be the ones with the motor issues.. even though I loved the one I had.. lots of people have issues with the clamping style of the lower clamp.. If you find one cheap enough they are decent saws just know you might have a burnt up motor at any given time.. I only gave $100 for the one I had but I did do a lot of upgrades and rebuilding of it.. and figured I was smart enough and have some good electric motor shops around I thought I could probably find a reasonable way and cost effective enough to retrofit a different motor on it if I needed to.. ran great the whole time I had it.. sold it to a member here and last I know it's still going good. That all said I do recommend a Ultra or newer saw.. I don't have any personal experience with Hegner but I'd say they would be one to look out for as well.. I want to give one a spin one day myself... just waiting on the right right one with the right price.. There are things to know with those as well when it comes to older and newer models. I'm probably not educated enough to give advice on those..

I've been wanting to do that for quite a few years now since I make so many clocks.. Just leave my forstner bit in one drill press and use the other for small bits. I think I'll be doing that with my new one now.. I'll set the old one with forestner bit as I normally drill a small starter hole for the tip on the forestner bit to follow along with and works well even though the spindle wobbles bad.. Small bits is a pain though. LOL

I would put Hegner and Hawk saws at the top of commercial machines.. Just my opinion but I myself do not consider Excalibur, Pegas, King, DeWalt or any of the other saws as "commercial".. well built and designed? Yes.. commercial? Not really in my mind.. That's coming from one that does scroll work for a living.. Have owned DeWalt and like saws.. get maybe at best 1.5 - 2 years ( approx. ) 300 runtime hours on them ( yes I wired up hour meters on all my equipment ).. Having to rebuild / replace a DeWalt / Excalibur every couple years is a pain but if you really like those particular saws and calculate it into your expenses then that's great.. Having had my Hawk BM-26 since 2018 and run about 500 hours on it now.. no sign of wear on any of the parts including thumb and set screws.. still running like it always did... I think that's the way to go for a saw for commercial use myself but others will disagree. I personally don't see any issue with bearing types so long as they're designed well with their application.. Hawk saws run ball bearings and have served me very well.. Hegner saws use the Oillite bushing type bearings and they seem to hold up very well on those saws... Considering the very similar design in the Pegas, King, DeWalt type saws and the fact they're made by the same company I would most certainly think the Jet has the same bearing set up. Something to consider is build design.. A Hawk or Hegner has only about 5-7 bearings in the whole saw... Pegas DeWalt etc type saws have nearly 20 bearings.. lots of pivot points.. and slight amount of wear in just a few of these bearings become a huge amount of slop at the blade end of the saw.. Back in 2010 when I first rebuilt my DeWalt with new bearings.. the cost of every bearing in the saw cost $200.. I pressed new bearings into the saw.. Back in 2020 when I rebuilt my Excalibur.. It cost me nearly $300 for all those bearings and sleeve inserts etc.. IF I was to need to rebuild my Hawk.. bearings are around $6 each with the exception of one big bearing on the motor that I've never heard of having a issue but if it did maybe $50 for that one. The whole saw could be rebuilt in just a hour or so but to be fair I'll say 2 hours.. Takes nearly 30 minutes on these other saws just to get access to the bearings. About 4 hours if you have to press in the new bearings etc. but maybe 2-3 if you just buy the whole assembly and swap the parts out. That all being said, I like the Pegas and like saws.. and will probably always keep one in my shop.. they have a different cutting style and have features that Hawk and Hegner do not have.. great saws.. I just don't think with the design and all those bearings they are up to a "commercial use" standard...

Couple weeks ago I decided that my old $2 garage sale Delta 8" drill press had been good to me for the last 14 years and it's got a bearing that has been noisy for 2-3 years.. I finally bought a cheapy 12" WEN variable speed DP.. Now to find some time to actually open the box and set it up.. The noise on the old DP didn't bother me as much as the sloppy spindle.. not just small bits wobbled, LOL.. always had to kinda guestimate where the drill was actually going to put land when drilling.... actually got pretty good at that.. Probably not going to get to set it up until after the new year..unless the Delta quits and forces me too. LOL

Lasted just over two years.. I hooked it up back when I rebuilt the Excalibur in 2020.. 299.9 hours on the hour meter since rebuilt when the smoke roll out of the vacuum today.. LOL.. I might have to give one of these DeWalt Quiet vacuums a try to see how that works.. Certainly forgot how much sawdust I make but was inconveniently reminded when I stood up after finishing the puzzle I was making and my whole lap was covered in sawdust,

I swap back and forth all the time like that too between the Hawk and the Excalibur..

When I first seen it I thought it was just the PureBond brand plywood as Tom said but it does appear to be different. There is certainly a market out there for solid core plays like BB.. and I think many different species would be awesome too but seems they all always do plain ol Birch. LOL There is enough crafters laser operators etc out there now that use this stuff and want it stained or ? I think different species would sell well if someone made it, lol

I'm pretty sure it's the pivot arm.. IF the bearings are still sitting tight in the arm ( they are pressed in ). You might be able to take the arm to a bearing shop and buy a couple $5 bearings and not need a whole new arm. Another thing that can cause the blade slippage is a worn upper arm where the wedge rides against.. Some of the newer saws had this area machined out and a steel insert in there that can also be replaced.. IF you're saw doesn't have the insert you can send them the whole arm and they'll machine it and add the insert if it isn't worn beyond repair. But it wouldn't typically make this sound for that so as i said I think it's that pivot arm

He brings up the point about how the blade doesn't cut without you pushing it.. This is the same example I've explained about my saw speed.. People always said it goes too fast for them to cut with the saw running on fasted speed.. LOL.. He also mentioned blade flexing.. I always said if the blade is flexing you're pushing to hard..

Looks like a decent deal compared to BB.. I didn't see 1/8" unfortunately that's mostly what I use..

Love to watch Charles live YouTube videos.. and some of the good conversations / entertainment in them.. I just never happen to catch them on live this time of year.

Never thought about the pivot arm.. I also had this happen once.. It's nothing but a piece of flat stock with pressed in bearings.. Pivot arm is the flat stock that bolts to the motor and to the lower saw arm and is what powers the saw. Just has two sealed bearings in it. Might look at that too as Dan mentioned. The saw is awful noisy, Hawks are normally quiet like a sewing machine when running so you have something going on.. maybe a couple things, LOL

You say you bought a new wedge that goes to the back tension rod.. Did you also replace the nylon washer that goes on top of the wedge? I only ask because it looked like in the video that your adjuster handle had turned some and was hitting the back uprights of the saw.. that hitting could mess with your tension. That nylon washer is supposed to help make some friction to keep that back adjustment lever from turning on its own.

Well, sounds like you did about everything that I would have suggested. You said you adjusted the set screw, how did you adjusted it? It should be adjusted to a point where it gives some resistance about a 1/4” above the upper arm. See my photos and excuse the mess as I work a lot in the shop this time of year. Another thing to check is maybe your thumb screws or set screws need replacing or at a minimum sanded.

I've seen soy wax but have not tried it.. Many of my customers like the sweet smell that the natural beeswax gives my woodwork pieces and as Wayne mentioned.. I don't know how it'd do with the mineral oil. I don't use Mineral Spirits in my wax mix.. just the oil and beeswax and heat it until the wax melts down. I know supposedly the MS will evaporate but how will the smell affect the mixture.. My wife can't stand the smell of the Johnson's wax whatever is in that.. be the beeswax she likes the smell of.. Might have to watch her to make sure she's not eating my beeswax mix.

Honestly I've never cut anything over 7/8".. But yeah a FD-UR is not a good blade for this type of thick wood.. I've seen people mention using skip tooth blades for thick hardwood.. I never liked them myself.. also see mention of FD Polar, I have not tried those.. I did try a sample of sharktooth blades from PSWoods .. If I was attempting to cut htis I'd go with those Sharktooth blades.. Not cheap blades though and no reverse teeth soo you'll have a bit of a rougher cut on the bottom side..

Hard Maple? Best blade I've used is a chainsaw. I cut a Trucker ( semi truck ) puzzle from one of the patterns Iggy sells from Hard Maple.. Never again.. Next mistake was doing the next one from Hickory..

Very tempting to buy the max quantity ( think it was 5 ) and put them on eBay over the holidays for a couple hundred more.. I see used ones selling for this kind of money on the Marketplace all the time.. I've been known to do that stuff.. if I find good buys from anything tools shoes or ?? a good buy is a good money maker with doing almost nothing,

Cheating and using Posca paint markers. Kinda like a big kid coloring. They are not cheap but I found that since these brand are water based paints I found a way to take them apart and clean them once empty and I can buy any old cheap water base acrylic paints and refill them or make my own colors.. Problem is I need more colors than the set came with ( should have bought the bigger set maybe ) and I haven't run out of paint in any of them yet soo.. I had to go buy some individual colors which may have been the way to go in the first place.. as the set has a color I'm not sure I'll use.. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Drawing-Illustration/Markers/Basic-Color-Posca-PC-5M-Paint-Markers---8-Piece-Set/p/81095039

I posted a while back about making layered ornaments and painting for contrast etc.. These are not handmade as I made them with my laser. But is hand painting them still make them somewhat handmade? LOL Anyway showing off my painting not the lasered ornament, LOL I might be biased but my favorite one is the Ultrasound Tech.. biased because that is what my daughter does now that she graduated school.. The last two I'm not sure about the black.. it might show up better if my box had a different color bottom on it as it blends in with the box too much.. It's supposed to be MRI Tech and Xray Tech.. one has a skull on the back piece and the other the bones of a hand.. in case you can't make that out.. I might change the colors of the lettering..

Was on another CNC site and it was brought up about a sale on the DeWalt Miter saw.. This is a good deal with the free rolling stand gift that you get to choose.. If my old one would have broke closer to the holidays I could have saved me about a few hundred dollars.. I see stores starting to offer some deals already. https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-15-Amp-Corded-12-in-Double-Bevel-Sliding-Compound-Miter-Saw-Blade-Wrench-and-Material-Clamp-DWS779/321488482