tgiro

Good cuttings. Enjoy your EX - I've used nothing but for the last 6 years.

Ray - I'm not sure what $75 mop kit you're talking about. At Klingspor, a pack of 48 pre-cut strips cost $29.95, with the mandrell = $39.80. You don't need to buy a kit. If you make your own, a 2" wide roll of the gold sand paper cost $14.95 and the mandrel cost $9.95 = $24.80.

Rocky - what is the diameter of the tube at the bottom (rounded end). Your tubes look something like mine, except for the blue caps. My tubes are .650 at the open end and .605 at the bottom. I used a 5/8" bit to drill my holes and the tubes fit in nicely. My tube holders don't have a closed bottom.

A few years ago, I read an article on Steve Goode's blog on making sand mops -- http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.co...-on-cheap.html So, I ordered some Gold Flex sanding rolls from Klingspor and tried it. It worked great. But did I save any money? A little bit. At Klingspor, a 2" wide roll cost $14.95 and the mandrel cost $9.95 = $24.80. A pack of 48 pre-cut strips cost $29.95, with the mandrell = $39.80. But you have to consider the cost of drilling and cutting the strips. You will be cutting cloth backed sandpaper, so blades do not last very long. I use the FD-HD blades which cost about 50 cents each. It takes 6 - 7 blades to cut the fingers in the strips - add $3.50. One of the pictures, below, shows what happens to blades after cutting 6 2" lines. You need to drill a 1/2" hole through the strips. Don't try that unless you have a method for sharpening drill bits. I use a Drill Doctor, but not everyone has something like that. By making your own, you will get 60 strips out of a roll of sand paper, vice the 48 that comes in a pack. So, you will have a bit larger mop than a precut one. A well used mop will last two or three years (at least mine do). Now that I only have to buy the sanding roll and blades I get away with a cost of $18.50 per mop - plus the time it takes to make it. Compared to the $29.95 for pre-cut strips, I save money. But, I'm a retired hobbyist. A production shop whould have to reconsider time & materials. Something to consider - save a little money by rolling your own.

Most of my scrolling is for my intarsia so I can add a bunch of drum sanders of varying sizes to the list. Everything from a 3/4" Dremel drum up to a Sandrite 8" drum.

On my EX-21, the set screw doesn't have a rotating tip - the thumbscrew does. The set, that Seyco sells, has a set screw and a rotating tip for the thumb screw. Don't know if these would fit a Hegner or not.

And you need to check those nuts and bolts periodically because they do come loose. I check all the put-together stands once a year and I've quit being surprised at the loose nuts and bolts on those things. Even with start washers or lock washers - vibration normally wins.

I love my EX-21 - since I do, mostly, intarsia, I dcon't have to worry about the constant blade connect/disconnect that fretwork cutters do. If I do have fretwork or inlay involved - I'm a bottom feeder, so a top feeding saw doesn't impress me. What I like, most, about the EX is the head tilts - not the table. When I'm cutting rings for my bowls, I have a nice flat surface to cut with. The only Con I have with the saw is the bottom blade clamp. I'm a chronic over-tightener, and I keep spreading the darn things. I have to replace about once a year. Having said all of that, if you want to look into a new saw - go find one, sit down, and try cutting some things. I know scroll saws are not the most common tool on the market, but vendors do carry them. And wood working shows do demonstrate them. Wood working clubs have them and even some schools have them. Maybe someone on the forum lives somewhat close enough they would be kind enough to let you try theirs. Finding a new saw is a fun thing, but I have found if you ask 12 people about the best saw - you'll get 12 conflicting opinions.

We can see why the wife loves it. Anyone who wants to hang it would love it, Great Job!

I limit myself to what I keep, after cutting intarsia pieces. It can pileup really quickly. I know there are a lot of folks who take the smallest pieces and turn them into beautiful jewelry. But that isn't what I'm into. Having said that, I do believe the phrase "Ain't no such thing as Scrap Wood." Someone can take it and turn it into a workable piece. A friend of mine uses a lot of exotics in his furniture pieces, but he dumps a lot of cut offs. He adamantly claimed there wasn't much anyone could use his wasted wood for. I took that as a challenge and brought home an apple box of cutoffs from his shop one day. As an intarsia guy, I quickly realized there wasn't much going on in that box but since I also use my cutoffs for segmented wood turning - the box was a treasure trove. The result I took back to him, sort of astounded him as he, also did wood turning, just never thought of segmented pieces. BTW - he doesn't let me have any more cutoffs anymore.

Weight - clamps made out of steel (HSS) may be too heavy for the arms on the saw. Might cause extra vibration or damage. I have some machinist friends who could make steel clamps for my EX-21, because, I'm constantly spreading the bottom clamp from tightening too much. But after we discussed it, we decided against it, because of the weight of the steel.

Like when I cut a keychain for my wife and mispelled her name (we'd only been married for 25 years at the time. Luckily, my daughter caught it before I gave it to her. Stupid - I didn't toss the bad one and the wife found it in a shop drawer a couple of years later. Then she though it was funny. She still has it and pulls it out to tease me every now & then.

If you have a friend who has a micrometer, or can get a decent used one at a flea market, you can measure thickness and width of a blade. That, with the tooth count, compare against the blade charts from Olson or FD and that should give you an idea of what is in each tube.

Give Ray Seymore, at Seyco, a call. He probably knows more about Excaliburs than IM does.