OCtoolguy

Rocky, that's me. I'm going to use them for practice. I need lots of practice. Ray

Thanks guys. All good suggestions and I'll be doing pretty much what you all said. I will post some numbers tomorrow. He wrote on the pvc tubes but I have no idea whether they still correspond to what's in the tubes. When I got the saw, it had a big blade (9 maybe) mounted in it. Very coarse. His nephew who I bought the saw from said all he ever did with it was make toys for the kids. The blades are all pretty much covered with a slight coating of rust or corrosion. I'm going to try to clean them up before using them as they will leave rust marks on the wood. I'll cut something with them just to see if they are any good. I'm still getting over my "high" of owning a Hegner saw. I never dreamed I'd be able to afford one in this configuration. Even though it's old, it seems to have most all of the newest additions on it. I'm going to design a vac system for it next. Ray

I just bought a used Hegner saw and it came with a ton of blades in a carousel blade holder. The previous owner must have had some kind of blade identification that I don't recognize. The tubes that had labels from FD were empty and the tubes with a lot of blades had numbers written with felt marker but they don't seem to correspond to anything that I can I.D. Any suggestions on how to identify them? I can do some kind of tooth count and with a magnifier I might be able to figure out which ones are reverse but other than that, I don't have a clue. I want to give them a try but it would be nice to know what I'm trying. Ray

Me too at first. Then when I eliminated the foot pedal from the equation it was still there. I've been waiting for an email reply from Wolfgang at Advanced Machinery. I emailed him yesterday with a few questions but he must be busy as I have not heard back from him. Ray

I did notice that if I have the speed control all the way down at the lowest setting, the motor sort of hesitates and then starts hesitantly. But if I have it off the bottom and moving upward, then it is just a hesitation and go. I was thinking maybe the rheostat might either be dirty or have some corrosion inside of it. I have no idea how long my saw sat unused before I bought it. Things do get "dusty" when just sitting. Thanks guys. Ray

Thanks John, I was hoping that was normal but when watching videos on youtube, I couldn't tell Ray

I tried to search out this question but found nothing so I will pose it here. On the Hegner Multimax 18 that I just purchased, it seems to hesitate at start up. I tried it both with the foot pedal and without and it seems to do it more at the lowest speed or a bit faster. Once in the upper range, it seems to be more responsive. Is this normal? I will await your feedback before calling Wolfgang. So far, it's the only thing that I can find that I'm not too happy with so I'm hoping that it's an oddity and can be fixed. Thanks for your help, Ray

I'm hoping that I feel the same way once I get used to my "almost" new Hegner. Ray

For anybody who might have seen this post before I deleted it and rewrote it, please disregard it. I am more than embarrassed. I was trying to figure out why the blades wouldn't stay in the blade holders and it was like the blades were too short. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I didn't have the tension adjustment loose enough to allow the upper arm to go down further and allow me to catch more of the blade. Stupid!! Oh well, I never said I was bright. Ray

Thanks Jim. I got many questions answered in a short period of time. Of course, I'm not out in the shop because of you. HA! Ray

Excellent idea Dan. Thank you for posting it. And, I love your project too. What a great piece. I'll bet you could sell a ton of those if you were in the mind of a commercial venture. Ray

In reading the manual, it says to tighten the large black knob on top and then back it off one half turn. By golly, there is a lot to be said for reading the instructions. Something that most men do not do often. I must be the exception because I read everything. That's because many years ago, before I was married, my buddy and I set out to assemble a combination swing/slide set for the two sons of a lady I was dating. It was for Christmas. Anyway, he and I got to drinking beer and we got the darned thing almost all put together when we notice that the holes along the top rail were not centered along the rail. They were supposed to be on the lower side of the rail and we had them on the upper side. Partly because we hadn't read the instructions and partly because we had consumed waaaaay too much beer. Long story short, we had to disassemble the entire thing and start over. We ran out of beer but we got it together. NOW, I read all paper work. Ha! Sorry for the diatribe. Ray

I just realize that the "divot" is on the top of the blade holder directly underneath the screw that holds the blade holder in. I thought it was worn that way from having the screw down too tight. Then it came to me that Advanced mentioned that it was a "divot" and that would make sense. I have a total of 5 blade holders. I assume that the ones with the square screw are the lower ones. I have one extra square screw and the four pointed plastic knob. I'm starting to make sense of what I have. I made a couple of adjustments and now the blade stays put and doesn't fly out. I actually did some cutting with it. I will now attempt to understand the tensioning so I can not break blades. But, I have lot's to practice with. I understand now why I thought the blades might be too short. NOT! Anyway, it will be fun to figure it all out. Thanks again and keep it coming. Ray

Well, the saw belonged to a fellow who passed away and his nephew inherited it. He knows nothing about the saw. I did ask him about a cover and the owner's manual but he said they didn't come with it when he got it. I didn't know there was supposed to be a wrench. I did get a blade holder carousel that the owner had made that has a lot of spare blades in it along with the extra blade holders. I read on the website about the different sizes of holders and it said that the slots are visible to the eye as to which one is wider or narrower and that they mid size one started being marked with a divot let than 20 years ago. Since my saw is more than that old, I guess it's not going to be marked. I'm going to do the same thing as you with an engraver. As to the top blade holder being a "floater", I think that may be the problem. I noticed that the clamp screw with the spring under it is all the way down to where that blade holder can't float. I'll take care of that and see what happens. In messing with the blade and the holders, I noticed that a 5 inch blade doesn't really have any room to spare in length. It just barely reaches both clamps. Or else I'm doing something wrong. Thanks for all your help. I'll probably be picking your brain as well as the other Hegner owners. Ray

There is going to be a learning curve with this saw. I can already see that. And, I seem to be missing the wrench for tighting the square screws that clamp the blades. I ordered a Tuffwrench but for now I guess I have to use a small Crescent wrench. And, after doing some reading on the website, I now understand why have a bunch blade holders. I see that they have different width slots. That's new and different. The saw came with a large blade, I figure it's a 9 or so. After I cleaned up things I tried running it with that blade but for some reason, after running it a bit, the blade pops out and the arm flies up. I am hoping I can get an owners manual for the saw so I understand what I'm doing. Maybe some of Hegner owners can fill me in on any of the oddities that this saw seems to have. I don't want to do anything that might result in injury to either me or the saw. HELP! Ray

I would have to win a huge lottery to be able to afford anything close enough to this spot. Multi-million dollar homes. They do let us peons come an drool though. At least I live close by. I'm about a mile in from the ocean. I can't see it but I can smell it. Ray

I love the Oregon and Washington coast line too but the access to the beach is not as easy as it is here. Most of our beaches are very accessible after you get over the outrageous cost of parking. Another one of my b*****s. Oh well, the price of success I suppose. Ray

Well, today I drove to San Diego and picked up my Hegner. All I can say is I GOT LUCKY. This saw is like new. A bit dirty/dusty but it will clean up like new. The wood table cover must have been on it since it was new because I looked under it and the table hasn't got a mark on it. I got a magnifier light and the Hegner foot pedal switch. I am ecstatic to say the least. The motor is absolutely soundless and the saw works like a brand new one. I guess anyway. It's so quiet and smooth I can't wait to try it out. We got home after driving all day and I was too tired to even unload it. So tomorrow will be a fun day. And the weather here could not be more perfect. It was up to 89 degrees down where we went and we took the scenic route home along the ocean through all the little towns. I'll attach a couple of pics. Thanks again to all of you who helped me decide on this saw. I love it. Ray

Now we can be Hegner buddies. Anybody else want in? Ray

Did you see the pics of my system on my Dewalt? I have a Fein in one corner of my shop and the long hose from it goes all the way over to my saw in the other corner. I set it up so I could use the vac as my regular shop vac too. I had to make some attachments for it because it came with nothing. A heat gun and a couple of regular attachments did the trick. Let me know if you can't find those pics. It's really pretty easy to make. I didn't glue any of the connections so that I could change it around if needed. Ray

I imagine it would be no different than framing anything. It would require some wood strips with a small rabbet milled into one edge. Cut, mitered and glued up. I was wondering if edge banding would be an option. You could use the iron on type or cut some very thin pieces and glue them to the edges. If they were cut thick enough they could also be mitered and bradded. Just brainstorming here. Ray

Welcome to the Village. You came to the right place. I too am newbie and so far I have gotten all the answers to my questions. As I was told by many folks here, there are no dumb or silly questions so ask away. As to feeding the blade through the holes, when they are tiny holes, or even for larger ones for that matter, I was taught to use a small counter sink drill on the back side. My first foray was in marquetry using a #68 drill bit and a 2/0 blade. Those holes are tiny and by counter boring them they become much easier to see/find with the blade. The rest of your questions have already been answered by much more learned folks than me. Ray

I put together a vacuum system for my Dewalt and I will do the same for the Hegner. It works so well with the Dewalt, I can't believe folks don't do it for their saws. Even if they have to put their shop vac outdoors to stifle the noise, it is worth it. And incorporating either a remote on/off switch or buying a plug-in that triggers the vac when sawing, it will make your life much better and ease your breathing problems. Ray

I would be happy to wash your car Jerry. The next time I'm in Iowa. For sure. Do you live anywhere near West Liberty? That's where my Dad was born. I might try to visit that place sometime before I die. Ray

Nice looking saw but it appears to have been repainted. They didn't do a very good job of it. Thanks. Ray