Scott Smith

I will be discussing this with Nilus.

Our blade holders are actually tapped using a #7 drill (.201") which makes it slightly less of a difference than even that. The tap will work, but it will still be a bit loose to start with which means you run a larger risk of it not being straight when the teeth of the bit catch. If you can get the tap started straight, I would imagine that this would work well.

Our current working theory is that the saw may have been dropped and the jarring effect from the drop may have misaligned parts in the motor, specifically the armature or bearings. We will be giving it a very thorough look-over though. Thank you for always having our backs Rolf!

The nylon washer was placed there to prevent exactly that. The wedge should not need lubrication except where it touches the arm. If the nylon washer isn't dry, it will allow exactly as you describe to occur. Most older models don't have the nylon washer and it was far more of a problem at that time.

I'm always willing to answer questions. If you have more, or just want to pick a brain, you can always message me at [email protected] 1. We put everything but the table together loosely, then mount the motor, install the table and table tilt, and align all of the components to the motor. There are alignment instructions available for anybody who calls and asks for them. 2. If we have vibration in a new saw, the first thing we check is did we get the alignment correct. Then we check the pitman arm (the one that goes from the lower arm to the motor) to be sure the spacer washers are properly seated. Then we will check the tension system. Sometimes it's a bent tension rod, or a bad cam somewhere. Then we replace the motors. Because they are a sealed motor, we do not open the motor unless it has been on a saw that has gone out of warranty. We will replace them outright. Our harmonic point can have some bad vibration and we do as much as we can for that, but unfortunately we haven't found a way to smooth it out. Nilus will be providing me with a longer explanation for causes of vibration to post here at a later date. 3. If you call in and ask about getting untapped blade holders, they will probably want to talk to Nilus about it, but we can get some to you the next time we make a batch. I've already spoken with Nilus and he has agreed. I warn that we try to make those in batches that range into the hundreds, so we may not have one available immediately, but I can be sure we get some to you when we make them. We will be needing to make the lower one in the next couple months.

We try. I am one of the more tech-savvy people available here as far as social media and the like. I'm primarily the machinist for the company though and don't spend much time at the office, hence I rarely think to check in and see what's going on in the forums.

We have one that is being boxed today. We had a saw together and after running about 45 minutes it started to get a little noisy, so we were troubleshooting it. It will be leaving the shop Monday with very little noise and I have already stood a nickel on end while it ran at full speed, so I apologize for the delays, but as stated previously we are not some multi-million dollar company mass producing machines. We have three people in the shop, two in the office, and two owners who do a little bit of everything. Nilus is the primary one you will hear about because he is also the engineer of the machine's upgrades and if there's a problem he will fix it and figure out why it happened in the first place.

Absolutely we will be inspecting the machine upon its return. Nilus will be working on an official reply to this forum over the weekend and as soon as we have the saw in hand, I will happily let you all know what we have found to be the cause.

The "5 (or 6) year warranty" they had when it was RBI was more smoke than anything. Our 1 year warranty is more comprehensive and we stand behind our product completely. If any piece at all breaks or is damaged or even wears out in the first year and in many cases beyond the first year, we will replace it. In the case of one customer who saws over 1000 board feet per day, he had several issues with his blade holder brackets. He broke three of them in a year and a half! We had never had one break before his since we moved away from RBI's cast parts, but we looked into his issues and his needs and altered things slightly so we could keep the man happy and scrolling! We stand behind our saws and I, as machinist for the vast majority of our parts, I'm offended that you think we don't stand behind our machines.

Nilus is one of the owners and does not have time to personally check each saw. As several have stated we are a very small company and only have one person who handles most assembly, though the rest of us will jump in to assist if he is running a little behind. Each saw is tested by assembly with blade installed and on legs. The blade used to test the saw is shipped in place with the rest of the unit. I actually helped assemble that saw to get it out as soon as we could and there were no issues before it was placed in the box.

Hello Rocky, I want to apologize for the trouble you have had recently with Hawk. We are a small, family owned and operated company. Nikole works in the mornings and is very well-versed on all the Hawk tools. Adreann works in the afternoons and helps some in the mornings and is also knowledgeable about our machines. Both are especially well-versed in discussing the scroll saws. If they don't know something, they get your information so they can discuss the problem with Nilus, co-owner and engineer for Bushton Manufacturing. He is very busy and does not take calls unless it becomes necessary for him to handle something personally. After collecting the necessary information, they are usually prompt in attempting to reach back out to you. In the case of something like the ShopSmith saw, we will provide what parts we have, but will not "upgrade" the machine to be a stand-alone unit because it is simply not cost effective for a 25+ year old machine. The delay on your order for the 216VS was due to us being out of stock on parts. When you placed the order we were at the state fair and Adreann, who was working the offices full time while we were at the state fair, would not have been certain whether the parts were available or not since we send a lot of parts to the fair with us. I agree you should have gotten a return call once it was discovered your parts were on backorder, but these things sometimes get overlooked, especially in the hubbub of moving everything in and out for the state fair. The one thing that I want to stress is that our "receptionists" are excellent technicians and can assist you with almost any problem you are having with a Hawk machine. If they don't have an answer, they will get one and get back to you as soon as they are able. They have issues when someone calls in and demands to speak to a "technician" and won't listen to them because, and I say this because they get it often, "I need a man to help me with this problem" or some other bigoted comment. Not saying this was the case in this instance, but it happens more often than people realize and it is highly offensive to assume that they can't help because they answered the phone and/or are a woman. I want to take a moment to thank Rolf for reaching out to us. He watches several forums and has helped us reach out to several people with issues like this if he can't provide an answer himself. You are a blessing Rolf and we appreciate your support. Scott Smith Programmer/Machinist Bushton Manufacturing [email protected] (620) 562-3557