kmmcrafts

Was searching for the Jet scroll saw for pricing and ran across one that was sold with the rotating stand.. never seen one of these before but I thought it was neat. While I'm not necessarily cramped for space I do have 3 sanders and a grinder that I have each mounted onto a stand of its own which does take up a considerable amount of space. I think if I had this thing I could mount all of them on this one stand.. Not sure but I already have nice stands for my bigger tools like the planer etc.. and I don't see myself liking having to rotate to access the tool I need to use.. I like to just walk up the the tool and turn it on and use it.. but these sanding tools I have would be fine as I could have the main used sander set up but the once a year that I might use the other sander or grinder I could just rotate for that use. I could see this being quite handy for those with small shops.. Not cheap but practical for space saving.. Might could build something similar too I suppose.. I might grab one of these up if I find one on sale for black friday etc.. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Jet-Flip-Top-Benchtop-Machine-Stand-728200/316671718

Yeah that was me that suggested rotating the faces and mark the chuck.. I discovered that back in 2010 or so with my old Delta Press that I'm now replacing with this WEN I just bought (Hopefully anyway).. Anyway... I don't really understand why that makes a difference but it does work for some of us by rotating and finding that sweet spot balance where the mini chuck doesn't wobble..

Maybe you should ask what the runner ups are to the top commercial use saw, LOL.. I totally understand how the price can reflect a decision on those high end saws.. To be fair, I would say that the Jet, Pegas and those other saws in that category are not too far behind on quality.. and I'm assuming you're not going to be running a full fletch business using only the scroll saw.. I'd say that Jet would get you through without too much trouble if any.. Many crafters find "other tools " and hobbies along the way and don't set at a scroll saw for 8 hours a day much like I was doing.. I now have a laser and CNC and not using the scroll saw as much as I once did.. I've only seen a handful of folks talking about having to rebuild a Excalibur ( the original ones not the china ones ) or Jet, Pegas etc.. of coarse Jet and Pegas haven't been around a real long time yet.. BUT the same system as the original Excalibur.. I myself have been considering the 18" Jet.. cheapest saw out there in its league from Home Depot.. I got to snooping around and downloaded the manual for the saw and it list individual parts like bearings and bearing sleeves etc.. ALL of the other saw brands list part assemblies.. so if you have 1 bad bearing you buy a whole assembly to repair it.. not just the one bearing. It's easy to find bearings based off the bearing size and dimension.. however it's not easy to find the bearing sleeve or inserts for the EX, Pegas saws.. they want to sell you a $130+ assembly.. instead of a $10 bearing and sleeve. BRAVO to Jet for doing it this way.. Likely those bearings and sleeves are the same throughout the Pegas and other brand saws as they are all made in the same factory.. Of all the saws that I've rebuilt of this style there is only a couple bearings that really take a beating.. the rest are always like new still, but as I said it cost a couple hundred because you replace assemblies instead of just the bearing needed.. I even went to a bearing specialty shop to try to source the bearings and sleeves.. bearings they could get easily.. sleeves nope.. can't get that it must be something made in house was what I was told. Just to clarify what I said above.. Pegas and like saws also list individual parts in the manuals too... however looking up those parts you can only buy as an assembly.. unless possibly calling them directly.. Jet you can copy the part number and paste into google and it'll bring up the bearing or sleeve and the price and a add to cart to purchase right there.. This is nowhere to be found for a Pegas, Excalibur, or King etc. type saws..

Saturday the wife wanted to go to her favorite store which is just a couple blocks from my lumber store.. so I dropped her off as usual and went to the lumber store. I asked about the BB ply price on 5 x 5 x 1/8 and it was $35 a sheet or 10-20 sheets for 31.. I didn't get the price for beyond the 20 sheets.. but I do usually buy 10 - 15 at a time. A couple years ago it was $12 for the 10 sheets.. Last time I bought it ( last spring I think it was ) it was around $30 for the 10 sheets. I'm going to need to get some again pretty soon but hopeful the price will go down some by then.

The Seyco kit comes with a Dust Deputy on it.. I'm not sure the system is up to "production style task" that I put it through for the last two years.. This is what I had and what burned up.. https://www.seyco.com/dv-10a-cyclonic-action-scroll-saw-dust-collector/ Dust does escape the Dust Deputy and lines the bag which doubles as the filter... I did throw a lot of work at that thing and would have to clean it out at least once a week..

They are the same, I have a Seyco vac that I bought new from Ray 2 years ago.. that's the one that fried.. and it says MetroVac right on it.. I also bought a MetroVac from eBay New Open Box and it's exactly like the Seyco one with one exception.. the back of the one from eBay just has a end cap on it and the end cap on the Seyco is about 6" long and lined with some kind of black colored foam.. I assume for sound deadening as it is quieter that the ebay model.. same model but shorter and louder. My Seyco would get loud too.. take the bag out of it and go outside and use compressed air to blow the fine caked up sawdust out of it..put back in and quiet again for a while.. Also a good idea to take that back portion off and blow the dust out of the foam now and then.. while it comes with a dust deputy and has the bag / filter.. dust still escapes all that and gets caked up around the motor and that foam muffler thing.. I suspect this to be what fried mine..

This is something I've kinda been looking at.. Tempting to get and try.. Certainly could be a market for something like this to scrollers to be able to just use their cordless drill motors in.. Not sure how accurate something like this is.. but it's have the power unlike the Dremel with plunge router set-up https://www.ebay.com/itm/165747743389?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D242365%26meid%3Dce23d0d042924f148e72f60f48fa9861%26pid%3D101506%26rk%3D8%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D393849357129%26itm%3D165747743389%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWebMskuAspectsV202110NoVariantSeedNoPLX%26brand%3Dwolfcraft&_trksid=p2563228.c101506.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A165747743389ce23d0d042924f148e72f60f48fa9861|enc%3AAQAHAAABMAzdIKOcP6rVYsexH8mCu6bA2DY6ElM67JKComxjxAnyT9vOhsWu88eBePRdeUyezGJzQOV7Xuwj4hElfgg5l6tm2B6f3pGHs3PI0MARKZnFsQJ9yiF8twtjgOyxrNWBigYEbuFX9RLWUyCJs70YGPWdLj4czvis3TXprwMaNA5uyzd6AJ9CHuZNSSlz1YuIC9SiYbvuuuWs1%2FEUKjuUWeCKjV2qa0NndScXt6GmTKzK%2F3rXTObQUGBZe4PGmp8rCtHD3u6Uru8NnK%2F8FEQoq%2B1LR2v53Z5%2FvvxY5hBmh76iqS7%2BnxbY5kYySBIDOpCbjZNIcLxU24kd%2BaNQvyOGE39pOxBJmvrGffspW6dufupo4ryttBqx0gwirWNcML10od7emABSgxvOIBgqUjFkCcA%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2563228

I've always kind of wondered the same thing Paul... I've read in the pash about the shop vacs melting or catching fire yet I see a lot of folks using them, LOL. I myself used one for a couple months on my Excalibur to use on the dust port.. Worked really well.. so much so that I'm thinking I might go back to that set up but using a quiet DeWalt, Fein, Festool type quiet vac. I hated the noise from the shop vac.. To change the subject some more.. I had both my systems ( Seyco vac and Shop Vac ) set up to come on / off with the foot switch ( not both vacs at the same time but that's how I set up the shop vac and when I got the Seyco I did the same ) but I've read a couple times that could be hard on the foot switch and or scroll saw or vac.. Should one have these hooked through the foot switch or not? Seyco vac comes with the items to hook up that way and they are lower powered vacs than a large shop vac. so maybe the Seyco is safe for that but would a actual shop vac be safe to do like that? I'm actually leaning toward the Festool as it comes set up with a power outlet to come on with the machine.. Maybe Fien does as well? Interesting topic.

Will the Dremel brand tool have enough torque / power to drill through 3/4 hardwoods without running crazy RPM's? I have the cheap WEN knock off of the Dremel..That's the issue I have with those small tools is there is no power until you run 7000 rpm's and then you burn through instead of drilling through.. discolors the wood around the hole too.. Not a great choice for vein cutting.. I can see where they work well for stack cutting 2-3 pieces of 1/8" plywood etc.. but worthless drilling through 3/4" cherry or other hardwoods. Thought about the Seyco scrollers drill but I've heard similar with those.. Being production minded I consistently stack cut or consistently cut 1/2 - 3/4" thick material so the Dremel tool for me isn't what it is for others.

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