kmmcrafts

I think most species of hardwood is great for the puzzles. I started out using mostly Poplar for a couple reasons.. but mostly because that was the main wood everyone else was using. When my stock of Poplar was running on the slim picking side and some boards was too small for some of the puzzles that was ordered I had soft Maple on hand. Cut really well and felt more dense / solid than the Poplar.. I've cut a few out of Ash too they cut well and was nice puzzles too. Made a few from Red Oak.. cut nice but as you probably know.. Oak likes to break easily, especially along the grain.. Not very good in my opinion for puzzles. Honestly I think I've probably made them from most types of solid hardwood and even a few from some cheap pine.. all went pretty well but the oak and pine I would pass on unless I was in a pinch and for some reason needed to use it for the puzzles.. Obviously the density will affect how quickly one can be cut too.. that said.. I've run into some Poplar that was dense and tough cutting at times too. but for the most part Poplar seems to cut nice, sand quick, and finish well.. If I was to be a customer and had to choose between all of the types that I have made so far.. I seem to like the solid feel to the Maple and Ash ones.. Have not made any from Cherry but I do cut almost every clock I make is made from Cherry.. love working with Cherry.. As Dan said.. cherry can burn easily and a FD-UR would be my last choice to use on Cherry because of the burning.. I have never ever burned cherry using the Pegas MG blades.. even running the saw full speed.. Back when I used to use the FD-UR blades.. always had to be careful cutting Cherry.. Might just be the way my saw is set up or? anyway Pegas blades work best for me when cutting Cherry.. Not sure why.. You may have different results.. just telling my experience with them on Cherry is all. I do think Cherry would make a nice puzzle.. always liked the solid density and nice look of the Cherry.. A bit pricey compared to Poplar and some of the others though..

Yeah I think his name was Bob.. Not positive though.. I was helping two people with almost the exact same situation with the China made saw both never really posted in the forums.. they just PM'ed me for info. I get quite a few people that do that.. get PM's from people I never ever seen in the forums before.. But pretty sure this is the same person I'm thinking about though. Good luck on whatever kind of deal you come up with.

Welcome to the Village! I don't know anything about this brand of saw, don't think I've ever seen one in person but have seen images online from time to time. I'm guessing this saw has removable blade holders and that piece on the right corner in your third picture looks to me like a fixture to hold that blade holder while you tighten the screw to hold the blade. So yeah it's a blade holders holder to tighten the blade down..

I did just the opposite late last fall.. I installed a furnace.. got tired of working in average 15-20F in the winter months.. Thankfully most of the winter is doable.. but from mid January - a couple weeks into March are hard to deal with temps.. Not no more though... Shop rarely gets above 80 - 85 in the summer if I keep it closed up.. during the day and opened up the 7 windows over night.. stays really cool in there in the hot summer days.. I kept it about 60F in the winter this year.. and was able to get a lot of cutting done that normally wouldn't happen until summer to restock my sold out inventory from the holiday sales.. There is nothing like being comfortable while working.. whether that be heating it up to your desired temp or cooling it down.. Hope it serves you well this summer.. I didn't realize you was in FL.. I have a brother in FL

Sorry to hear about his passing, I think this is the same person that I had message back and forth with several times trying to help him repair his saw.. I don't really know what to say a value of the EX is.. If I remember correctly he had a lot of vibration issues with the saw, and I think the saw was bought for a fathers day gift to him a few years back that his wife and daughter went in together to buy him, and it had issues right out of the box. He wrote the company and they replaced with another new saw and it also had issues. Anyway if it helps any.. a new refurbished EX-21 is listed often on various sites for $499.99.. I think I've seen them for $450 a time or two as well on eBay. I bought mine new in sealed box from a person that won it in a drawing at his work.. I paid $300 but had $40 in fuel to go meet up with the seller since he was from Ohio. I'm thinking since it's not a working saw.. not much of the parts are the same if needed parts for the seyco and most parts from the China saw would be much more poor quality anyway.. I'd guess $100 tops.. That said though.. if the saw is complete and not taken apart.. his issues could have been simple such as not properly mounted to a solid stand with all the legs of the stand properly planted onto the floor.. My saw was bad too without adjusting the stand and getting it all dialed in etc.. Again, so sad to hear that he had passed, he seemed like a very nice guy as he didn't have the heart to tell his wife and daughter that the saw was a piece of junk and he felt guilty to say he didn't want it because it was problematic for him.. he continued to try to use it the way it was.. I didn't know he had picked up a Seyco. though he did talk about it..

you're right, that is what I like about the Hawk and Hegner saws.. Most parts could be purchased at a local hardware store.. what can't be bought at the hardware could be made at a machine shop.

They still wear out too I've seen post right on this very site where people had bad bushing and couldn't get just the bushing as it was back ordered so they purchased a new saw.. LOL.. Like I said.. they all wear out.. some much sooner than others.. your mileage may very depending on maintenance.. I do agree with you though.. they are built to last much longer. Just as Hawks are..

I'm not sure, Bob Duncan says the Pegas upgraded these bearings to a larger more robust ones.. How true that is or if it's just a sales pitch I don't know.. I probably could download the Pegas manual and see if they list the bearing parts / sizes as the EX does that.. and compare... One day I'm going to order one of those Pegas or pick up a used one.. and I plan to take it apart to see the differences myself.. Not saying Pegas didn't upgrade this.. But there are tons of sales pitches from certain sales people that most wouldn't go into a saw to see if it's true or not.. I'm one that does that though, LOL.. Only reason I spent all the money for rebuilding the China made saw was.. I wanted to see the differences.. and I found them.. All clones aren't created equal.. But my gut tells me all of these saws share the same guts on the inside since they are made in the same plant.. As the saying goes, all of these saws will wear out at some point.. no matter what brand.. maintenance can make it go longer.. but at some point.. we all want a new toy anyway..

The one I had issue with this time was the larger bearing to the right of the one you circled in the last photo. Those end caps are different height / thickness from the China made saw to the original EX parts I received from Ray at Seyco.. This bearing kind of wedges between the saw frame and has a through bolt that removed the whole assembly.. Being different thickness end caps made it sort of rock around in there and caused vibration.. I thought the bolt was loose or something. but couldn't tighten it down enough to pinch it in place. Changing the end caps all is good now.. Not sure how it ran so good for so long the way it was.. I did have some issues trying to keep the saw tuned and the more I run it the worst it got. If I remember correctly this larger bearing is the one that had the rust and shot bearing the first time around. Though the one you show was also like this.. I think they all could use more grease when they're new.. It's a wonder they last as long as they do.. As for bearings, Most of the bearing sizes are the same ones for the DeWalt.. I have all new bearings and sleeves for a DW from when I had my DW.. they were the same sizes.. The inserts / sleeves is what was different. I never found a source for the sleeves. I think if you look in the EX manual it shops the bearing sizes.. I don't know if one can buy just the sleeves or not.. In my findings.. the bearings alone without the sleeves cost more than the entire assembly for the EX-21.. each bearing from my source was 5-6+ and there are nearly 20 of them.. a whole assembly from Ray is $120 ish shipped.. I bought all new rocker arms at the front of the saw so my cost was nearly $300 in parts to do the whole new saw.. that did come with new blade clamps / chucks too. If you need to replace all of them or most of them like I did as they all mostly looked rusty like the one you show.. It's cheaper to buy the assembly.. but if you really only need a couple bearings then it'd be nice if they sold just those bearings / sleeves needed.

Hawk uses all ball bearings.. Not sure what's better? Ball bearing or bushing type bearing.. I'm guessing the best is something that is easily maintained so hopefully someone will actually maintain it.. They make everything throw away these days.. used to get greaseable ball joints, tie rod ends, u-joints etc for cars.. Most are just sealed and throw away now.. WHY? probably because a lot of people now days don't maintain anything in which case is better to have a sealed part where it keeps out the moisture and contaminates better than one where you add grease. There is advantages to both.. I see the Excalibur and DeWalt as the maintenance free crap.. It's all encased to help keep out the dust etc.. but since you have to take it all apart just to grease it.. not many are going to do that.. until it's too late and starts knocking etc.. LOL Then again, I find it to be somewhat the Manufactures fault for people failing to oil / grease at said intervals.. Why do I say that.. well there is no hour meter or way to keep track of how many hours you run a saw.. Hawk suggest oiling the certain spots every 25 hours.. How many people keep track of that.. many people in this world now aren't mechanical and can visually see the bearing area looks sort of dry.. I don't think it's about the hours you run the saw as much as it is just looking at the spots to see if they look oiled or not.. But it slips most peoples minds.. they just thinking about the project at hand.. not the maintenance that needs checked / done

The bearings themselves are a standard size.. It's the sleeve / insert that is size specific.. and even then the diameter is right and could use one from a DeWalt saw.. except the length is what's odd sized.. You can't get the length in the correct size.. ( If I remember correctly now as that was almost 3 years ago when I searched ).. The length is critical in order to hold it all together.. I did repair the saw.. not sure if you all seen my updated post.. But the length of the sleeve was wrong from the original EX parts from the China made one that I have.. So I did get it back up and running..

Which ones? They show HSS bits and Cobalt.

Yeah, I agree with Jerry, I switch to the 3M-45 a few years ago... Beggars can't be choosers though, LOL The store that I got my last can only had the gorilla brand.. and yes, I've used it before.. not bad but you do need to shake the can up good for it to work right / good..

Danish oil seems to be another product that is hard to find.. at least in gallon cans.. I finally broke down and bought a couple quarts a few weeks back just in case those go scarce too, LOL.. I've been waiting a couple months for the gallons to be restocked.. Last fall I was getting low on adhesive spray and happen to see it at the hardware on sale so I picked up a can.. should be good on that for another year or more since I rarely use it.

Thanks Paul, I thought maybe that was the brand Denny was selling but I wasn't 100% sure. Both sellers are great to deal with. I used to use DnD until Denny became a distributer for Pegas.. I just placed a order from Bushton MFG a month or so back for some Pegas blades and also some of the small drill bits.. They also sell the Mascott brand.. or at least that is what I got from them this time. Never ordered blades or anything from Bushton other than saws or parts.. I'll say they arrived 3 days later.. I've been reading that Bushton's customer service is improving and also they are starting to "stock" saw parts now.. Not sure who got their crap together out of the bunch but they are improving from what I've been seeing posted and my experience with my order.

I used to use the bits that Mikes sold. Not sure what brand they are but they start out dull and get duller quick compared to the bits that I bought from DnDsawblades.com. I haven’t needed to buy bits for a long time since buying these bits. Not sure what Denny sells. I think the brand from DND was Mascott

I gotta admit that I’d love the weather out there but I can’t deal with the crowded part. Our city that I travel to isn’t but a small town and the older I get the more I do to try to stay away from town. I can’t imagine myself living in a city. On a positive side though. When working on a project and need a part or forget a part, going back to the store would be quick. Now I have at least a 30 min. Drive to get to any parts or hardware store. When I was in my early 20’s I lived in town for 3 months, and that was the only good part about it. I could walk to the auto parts and hardware store faster than driving to town from the country. Lol. Guess being in the country is part of my dna.

You might know this but "most" blade distributers post the smallest drill bit that can be uses for said blades.. I use Pegas MG #3 most of the time and sometimes use a #5.. so I keep number 60 drill bits for the #3 blade and a 56 for the number 5.. A FD-UR #5 fits the number 60 hole as well..

From my experience and what I've seen from other members both here and elsewhere.. the main issue inside the back part is usually that larger bearing in that pivot rod.. That said though.. The whole saw has to come apart to get that out and inspect it good, so might as well clean / grease and replace what is needed. I hated to use that old sleeve on my new bearing but.. I figure as it sets the saw really doesn't owe me anything. I got my money out of it before the first tear down and regrease job. I knew then it wasn't going to last long as both bearings and sleeves was bad.. The worst was that big bearing.. sleeve was worn some but the bearing was toasted.. Since I had to pull it completely apart I did inspect the bearings / grease and all looked real good.. Just that darn 1/32" shorter sleeve ( may have been a little more than that much as I didn't have my glasses on and didn't use any calipers or anything.. Like to have but I was really just wanting to get it back together as my dinner was almost ready, LOL Eventually I'm going to order a Pegas ( I think ) or a used ( real ) Excalibur or Hegner if a deal pops up.

Well, after getting caught up on my orders I took a better look at the EX-21 and found the issue to not be a bad bearing or sleeve, but rather a mistake on my part during the rebuild last fall. Turns out there is a difference in the length of the sleeve, not by much but enough that the sleeve wasn't getting pinched together enough to tighten it all down good. I ended up having to use my original sleeve, luckily it wasn't too bad of shape. That would be one more difference in the China made saw too then.. Kind of baffles me how it ran good like that for as many hours as I run the thing.. I didn't run it much after putting it all back together and tuned again.. but what little I did run it, it ran really well again so.. Yay..

I need to haul my trailer load of scrap in.. should take my van on a one way drive to it's final destination too, LOL Problem is I don't have a replacement for it yet. Been a great van, too bad the rust has taken its toll on it. Bought it 12 years ago for $2800 to haul the family around, now the kids are grown I don't really need a minivan anymore but I may end up buying another.. Nice to be able to fold the seats down into the floor and haul 4 x 8 sheets of ply or 10ft. boards etc.. and not have any of it get wet if it's raining or snowing. Dang my old Dodge pick-up can't even haul as much as the box is only a 6.5 ft box. Now days trucks with a 8 ft. bed are hard to find. Anyway the old van.. never did anything to it other than normal maintenance. Pushing 300,000 miles.. I've put 150,000 on it myself. Maybe if scrap is high enough I could get another van,

Not sure how Lawson does it but I use a clear drying wood glue and mix the sawdust into the glue.. stir it up good and keep adding more sawdust until you get the desired consistency.. I've never bought or used actual wood fillers.. When I saw I will take some of the sawdust and store it in the same test tubes I keep my saw blades in.. mark it for whatever type of wood it is..

The bearing can easily be changed.. The issue is you cannot buy the oddball sized sleeve insert. I have a press and have pressed the bearings out / in when taking the saw apart a couple years ago to do a clean-up / grease job. I found a worn bearing ( same one ) and sleeve back then.. and I tried sourcing bearings which I was able to find.. but the sleeve insert is oddball sized.. So I just cleaned / greased it and ran it until it broke. LOL.. Then bought everything new except the electronics and replaced it all last fall. Yeah I have a neighbor / good friend who is a supervisor for a local machine shop.. I can get him to make the sleeve.. I just honestly don't have much respect for the saw at this point. I picked it up in late Nov. 2017.. didn't set it up Feb. 2018. I've had this saw apart 3 times in this amount of time.. Not sure if I got a bad lemon and then another bad lemon in replacement parts or these saws are just not make to work very long, LOL.. The complete rebuild last fall cost me over $300 in parts.. Not doing that again for a 6-8 months use.. LOL.. I do throw a lot of work at these saws though so maybe that's just the life expectancy of them.. I honestly don't NEED the saw anyway.. I do like using it though.. I do have 3 Hawks that hardly ever give me any trouble. I may order a Pegas as they supposedly upgraded this particular bearing to a heavier duty larger one. I'll keep this saw around for some parts.. or strip the good parts and send it to the scrap pile..

I don't think you understood what I was referring to with the roll pin, or else I'm mis-understanding your question. I was talking about the roll pin in the blade holder / clamp in the picture below.. They started with a roll pin but found the pin can bend when too much tension is applied or just being tensioned a lot over the years.. This is now made with a solid steel pin. I think you was referring to the pin that holds the nose assembly on? There should be a little play in that as you don't want it binding etc. and I believe this is still a roll pin on the new saw.. I'd have to look at mine to be sure of that though..

The blade clamps are different from the Ultra to the new BM series but the BM series shares the same clamp as the G4 Hawks.. They are pretty close to the same but they rounded off the corners on the G4 / BM series.. This is the Ultra lower blade holder: http://stores.bushtonhawkstore.com/lower-ultra-blade-holders/ And this is the G4 / BM series.. note the rounded corners. http://stores.bushtonhawkstore.com/g4-blade-holders/ I think the G4 / BM series is also slightly wider.. The Ultra ones fit in the BM as I've tried that.. but the BM ones don't fit into the Ultra. Also note that the early Ultra blade clamps pin that goes through are not a solid steel pin and they can and do get bent sometimes.. They no longer make them with the hollow ( roll pin ) because of the failure of them bending.