Bill WIlson

Glad to see you are still with us. Take it easy for a while and get well soon!

I appreciate the feedback and perspective, Ray. I know I'm swimming upstream on this one, given the nearly universally positive reviews these clamps have gotten. Like I said, I have little reason to replace perfectly good clamps, at the moment. But if/when I need to, I'll certainly give the Pegas replacements serious consideration.

Ray, I think you will like that table. The only thing I would caution you against is not to be too ham fisted when tightening the wing nuts that hold the fence to the table. I suspect that, over time, one could begin to draw the head of the bolt up through the slot in the table, if one wasn't careful. I haven't had any problems with mine yet, but those wing nuts give you a lot of grip to really torque those screws and the head of the bold isn't much larger than the slot in the table. I only have my shop vac hooked up to the collection port behind the bit. I catch a lot of chips there and most of the rest end up in the cabinet. I need to get a splitter so I can attach to the bottom dust port, in the back of the cabinet as well, but it hasn't been a big issue for me, yet. I've dedicated the Bosch router to being permanently mounted in the table. I like the above the table height adjustment that is part of the Bosch set-up. That table also comes with a starting pin for doing free-hand routing on curved edges. That is a nice feature and takes some of the pucker factor out of starting a rounded profile into a spinning bit.

Certainly the material has to be better than the clamp bodies on the Dewalt. They were what we used to call "pot metal", some sort of cast aluminum. They did strip and spread far too easily. I'll concede that the Pegas are a huge upgrade over the stock Dewalt clamps. Looking at my EX, however, they appear to be solid aluminum., although I admit that I'm not certain of that. They definitely don't look look like the cast ones on my old Dewalt. I haven't had the thumbscrew strip out yet, but I can't say that it won't happen. I've had this saw 4 years or so and use it as much as I used my old Dewalt. I replaced the clamp bodies at least twice, maybe 3 times in the 10-12 years I had it. I don't mean to belabor the point, but I'm still not convinced that the Pegas clamps are a significant upgrade over the stock EX clamps. I'm willing to be convinced, but just not there yet. If/when I do strip out my EX clamps, I'll probably use that as an excuse to switch to the Pegas.

I have this table and like it very much. It has a lot of nice features. I used a cheap Craftsman table for many years which was very limited in what I could do with it. I always intended to build my own someday, but kept putting it off. Finally I saw this on clearance one day, at Lowes and made an impulse buy. I've been very happy with it.

Maybe I'm dense, but other than the lighter weight and potential for less vibration and wear, how are these better than OEM Excalibur clamps, specifically? Judging from images on supplier's websites, they look very similar to EX clamps, in their overall construction. They still use a thumbscrew to hold the blade. The tensioning lever is pretty much the same. I understand that everyone who has them, raves about them, but I see no real functional difference between the Pegas and the EX clamps. Could someone please explain why they are so much better than OEM Excalibur clamps, beyond the weight and theoretical reduced vibration? I don't mean to come off as a skeptic, but for $90, I'd like some more specifics about how these clamps are going to provide an instant and tangible improvement to my saw. Thanks.

As has been mentioned on the forum a few times, it may depend more on what saw you are using. The more aggressive a saw cuts, you may want to use a less aggressive blade. I have an EX-21 and I'd probably use an FD-UR #1 for up to a 3 layer stack of 1/8" thick BB ply. Those bridges in the letters look pretty small, so that's is why I would tend to go with a smaller blade, for more control. Otherwise, I'd probably use an Olson #3 Mach blade.

Timbermate is great stuff. No wood filler is perfect, but, IMHO, Timbermate is the best you can buy. Do yourself a favor and try some.

I get large sheets of cardboard or big boxes from work. The sheets work great, because I can customize the size of the "booth". I tape 3 pieces together. This makes the back and 2 sides. Taping them together allows me to fold it up for storage. The back has a hole cut in it and a furnace filter hot glued over it. I then set another sheet of cardboard on top. I have a fan in the window with a furnace filter over it. Then I have another fan behind me, gently pushing the air through the booth and toward the window. I made a platform, with a lazy Susan turntable on it, so I can spin it around. This set up works pretty well for small stuff. I will say that a proper spray booth is supposed to have explosion proof lights. I don't, but I try to take care to avoid too much overspray fog.

Yes, the machine shop, where I work, has smaller upright bandsaws, cutting primarily aluminum sheet stock. We do have a horizontal band/cutoff saw that uses a continuous liquid lube bath, when the blade is running. They cut several different metals on that.

I suspect that it is conjecture. Scroll saw blades are so thin that there is very little surface contact with the wood. I would imagine that any wax that is on the blade will quickly wear off, so you would have to hold the wax to the blade the entire time it is cutting. Wax is often used on bandsaw blades, when cutting metal, but they move so much slower and there is a lot more surface area to hold the wax.

That's pretty cool. The show was a little before my time, but INSP airs multiple episodes on Saturday mornings. I've probably seen them all at least 3-4 times. Someone took a count and did you know that the Rifleman killed 120 people over the course of the series? Yikes, poor Mark should've been scarred for life.

Ok, that is pretty cool! Those DeWalt miter saws must be dialed in pretty well, to maintain consistent enough accuracy to pull that off. Really neat sanding station as well.

Thanks for the link to the review, Rolf. I had not seen that before. That is the most comprehensive review I've read. I can certainly see the benefits of the Pegas clamp over the DeWalt clamp. I never had any trouble with mine spreading , but I did strip out a few sets over the years I owned it. I think people often tend to apply too much torque to the DeWalt style thumb screws in order to get them to hold. As long as I roughed up the end of the blade, kept the clamp screws dressed and positioned the blade correctly in the clamp, I could get it to hold consistently by just snugging the screw. I actually have a little more trouble keeping the blade in the top clamp of my EX than I did the DeWalt. I may need to dress the clamp screws, but it has gotten me to wondering if an upgrade to the Pegas clamps would really benefit the saw. I don't notice much, if any vibration now, on my EX, so that isn't a big factor for me.

Glad you like the EX Rolf. Looks like it's in great shape. You got a killer deal! What is it specifically about the Pegas clamps that makes them significantly better than your initial impression of the DeWalt style clamps. I do remember that the pot metal clamp bodies on my DeWalt left something to be desired. The clamp bodies on my EX are machined from solid aluminum. I'm just wondering how much of an upgrade these really are from OEM EX clamps.

I had a DeWalt for several years. I sold it and bought an EX-21 a few years ago. I can't say I even noticed the shorter distance between the front of the table and the blade. I knew it was like that, of course, but it has not been a hinderance at all, to me. Admittedly, I am strictly a hobbiest user and like to make a variety of things, but I rarely am swinging large sheets of material around on the saw. Perhaps if I were, I would think differently. I really like the rack & pinion angle adjustment on the EX. It's so much easier to use than my DeWalt was. Each of us have characteristics that we prefer in a saw. Depending on what you do, how you work and what you've become accustomed to, your preferences will be different or take a different priority. Now let's talk about blades....

According to Bob Flexner, in his book "Understanding Wood Finishing", good old fashioned varnish is the most heat resistant of the finishes available to the average hobbiest. However, I'm not sure that "heat" in this context is intended to mean the type of heat one would expect to get from the bottom of a pan, right out of the oven or off of the stove top. Anyway, I would probably lean toward a renewable finish, like a Danish oil. Reason being, if it gets damaged, I think you can sand and re-apply it a little easier. This is another reason why I prefer Corian for trivets.

Corian makes great material for trivets, if you can find a reasonably priced source for it.

The stuff I get is low odor, but it comes in a metal can. I can't recall what all the label says, but I'm pretty sure it says "pure mineral spirits" on it. Every time I've heard or read about problems or the milky consistency, it has been with the more environmentally friendly stuff in the plastic jug.

First, I extend my sympathies to you and your family, for your loss. As Roberta suggests, I would start with a wood suitable for use outside. Black Locust is another option, dependent upon availability in your area. You mention the first one rotted at the base. Was the wood in direct contact with the ground? If so, try to avoid that, if possible. If it absolutely must be in ground contact, then you need to use a material that is rated for ground contact. You could add pressure treated wood to that list or go big and try to find some Ipe. You may even consider a man-made material, such as a composite decking board. As for a finish, you just need to be aware that any finish will eventually fail, when subjected to the rigors of weather, UV light and ground contact. A good exterior paint is the best option. I would stop there and not bother trying to add anything else on top of that. Apply several coats and be prepared to repaint every year or two, depending on conditions. If using any of the natural wood types previously mentioned, a topcoat of paint may be less necessary, but will still help preserve it.

Yea, I'll have to weigh the tediousness of cutting and keeping track of all those little pieces vs the uniqueness of the pattern. I like to do something a little different each year, for my ornaments. They need to be challenging, but not oppressively time consuming. A few years ago, I made a handful of painted segmentation ornaments, for the grandkids. The patterns came from SSW&C magazine and were originally intarsia projects. They were really cute and fun to make, but the thought of cutting and shaping 100 of them was just a little too daunting for me.

Thanks Dan. If I go that route, I'll be stealing that jig idea. Definitely will stack cut. Cutting ornaments is where I learned that trick 20+ years ago. I'll probably try both Aleene's Tacky Glue and CA glue. I use a fair amount of both. Did you use a screw eye to attach the string? I figured it would have to be to the right of the peak of the roof, to hang straight. How did you determine the location?

Got it, Thanks Melanie! I've been looking for a unique ornament to make this year. Only problem is, I'll be making about 100 of them, so that means I will have ~ 900 pieces to cut & keep track off.

I'm unable to locate that pattern on Steve's site. Anyone care to provide a link? Thanks

Post some of the wording from the pattern. Perhaps someone on the forum may recognize or even be able to translate. Nice work, by the way.