Rolf

I use a 240 grit mac mop on all of my fine sanding. including very delicate Christmas ornaments. The trick for me is I hold them on a flat piece of wood for support and the gently kiss the areas I want to sand. gently is the key word. by using a backer you are not stressing the work. I am not a fan of the Guinevere system as is, it should be variable speed.

If I don't use clamps I wrap it with clear packing tape after the first cut, It holds the pieces together and lubes the blade.

Ray my objective was not to advertise the kit that I provide but to make a point about shipping costs. But since you asked I make the kits or this Clock. Only the metal parts except the weights.

Why not just scoll your own?

I agree, Denny dealing with has been a joy. Regarding shipping. I have been providing a hardware kit since 2013 for a Brian Law clock project that was published in an issue of SSWWC. I sell the kit at a very fair price as my primary reason for making and selling it is so that more folks will attempt this project. Getting back to shipping. I either include the shipping in the overall cost or charge for it. My cost includes the packing, the shafts are all individually wrapped so they don't get nicked. The package itself and then of course the postage. My out of pocket has been about $6 just to ship a kit that I charge $24 for. For me this is part of my hobby but as a business a bit of a fee for time should also be included. The folks that supply us with blades etc. are not getting rich on this. JMO

Talk about poor design!

I agree with Kevin. I have except that I am down to primarily 2 brands. The Olson and the Pegas. I do use an occasional FD puzzle blade. As others have said try them All you will eventually find your comfort blades. Smitty definitely consider upgrading your saw to pinless blades.

Kevin, as you say the bearings are easy to find. but the sleeves are another issue. The diameter of the sleeve is the easy part but the length is critical. I will check the hardness of the old one and see if I can make a new on from some high quality drill rod. I do have a small metal lathe. I will be rebuilding her second saw at the end of the summer.

Kevin, I rebuilt my friends EX on Saturday. As you said it is not that big of a deal if you have few tools small metric sockets and a mixture of inch and metric allen wrenches. Just a heads up! I have already posted some of this on the SSWWC forum. A good friends EX-21, an old original green one, broke. She sent me a picture of the broken adjuster rod (since been eliminated in the newer designs) She ordered the parts from Ray and I told her I would install them. While she was at it she also ordered the Pegas clamps from Denny @Artcrafters. This was my first tear down of an Excalibur. Since I keep hearing about dry bearings on these forums I decided to take every joint apart and re-lube the needle bearings. Good thing I did as they were ALL dry. The new linkage included the pitman arm and I immediately realized that it was just flopping around. The old one was almost seized. I took it apart and found the pin was rusty as were the needle bearings. Even if it had dried up grease they would not have been rusty. This bearing has never seen grease.! When it was all re-assembled I adjusted the motor for the front back motion and re-aligned the table so that it was at 90 deg. when the alignment pin was pushed in. The saw runs great but I didn’t get to run it before it broke so I have no comparison. She has a second saw of the same vintage and I will be rebuilding it also.. I am going to order a new needle bearing for the old pitman arm so that she has a spare.

One thing I have learned is that as I get towards the end of a project the tendency is to push a bit to get it done and usually with a dulling blade. Now no matter how close I am to the finish, if the blade doesn't follow the line as normal or I find myself pushing. STOP and put in a new blade. It does two things I makes you re focus and also better control with the sharp blade.

Fred Kile That is some very nice cutting. I always wanted to go to the Reno races. I love the train coming out of the tunnel.

The main reason for the run time is for maintenance intervals, especially when you only use the saw intermittently.

I have posted this before I don't remember where. I put a dedicated timer on both my Hawk and now my EX. First reason I wanted an idea of the hours for maintenance purposes. On the EX I put an hour meter in line with the power cord. They are cheap enough that I have one on each saw. I am a gadget junkie so I play a lot. Since I do a lot of test cutting for SSWWC I need to track all of my time not just the saw time, for that I use an ordinary kitchen timer. Lastly I have an old photography process timer that runs when my saw runs, it is real easy to reset to 0. I use it to track my blade life, especially early on when I first started to scroll. Now I am more sensitive to how the blade is cutting and toss it just before I know it will break.

Having worked with very powerful precision lasers at work for many years, always wear the proper eye protection when tuning or doing any adjustments with the interlocks defeated. !!! I actually had to put interlocks on the doors to the room, so if I had the enclosure open and someone ignored my signs it would turn the laser off. OSHA safety requirement. Kevin, What software are you using? Once you get comfortable with the laser itself and have some time to spare, try a free trial download of Lightburn. Take a look at some of their videos. As with anything there are learning curves . And yes do not use anything other than DI water for cooling! And occasionally follow the MFG recommendations on keeping the optics clean. Focus is absolutely critical ! You may also want to figure a way to clear the smoke faster or it will coat your optics. I am impressed with how it cuts. I see you are boxing your ornaments, My wife suggested that for our second year of selling ornament Huge improvement in sales. Have fun!!

We went there as kids, it has been closed for a long time, All of these beautiful cars and planes, I made this one years ago. The pattern was published Back in 2006 in an issue of SAW.

Do you live in my area?

I have to say I am having a really hard time visualizing where the Dragon is in that image.? I would also recommend using Contact Brand clear removable shelf paper on the wood instead of tape. It is much easier to remove than tape. And yes when cutting things like this I would work from the inside out and I always TRY to plan my cuts so that the delicate pieces are supported as long as possible. This comes with practice.

All of these great automotive cuttings are getting me motivated! Some beautiful work. I had Commissioned Charles Dearing back in 2007 to do a fretwork pattern of my car, maybe it is time for me to finally cut it. Actually I want to do an Intarsia version of it that I will design myself. All I need is time.

The drill press is as easy or complex as you want it to be. You can just simply change the speed with the knob or program in presets that require just a push of the button. If you are not sure what speed is best then use the menu. I have compared their recommendations with my machinists guide book and they are spot on. It is tall and very heavy. One thing I tried yesterday was to hit the emergency stop while it was at high speed. It has electronic braking, and it really works. Good to know if ever something goes wonky. I also put a dial indicator on it to check the chuck run-out. When I first put it together I did not clean the taper as well as I should have. I chucked a 3/8 steel rod and it had a bit more wobble than I would have liked. I then replaced it with a Jacobs chuck from my metal lathe and it was no better. So yesterday I cleaned every thing up properly and put the chuck that came with it back in. About 1/2 inch below the chuck I had about .0005" runout at 4 inches below the chuck .003". I am very pleased with those numbers. I will play some more another time to see if the jaws are seating evenly.

OOps, I forgot the rules! "no pictures didn't happen". LOL I will fix that a bit later.

The Nova is replacing a Delta 16-1/2 inch, 12 speed belt drive floor model. I could not afford a variable speed at that time. I have a multitude of hobbies that include working with metal, plastics and of course wood. They require changing speeds or risk destroying drill bits and or the project. Most times I didn't take the time to change the speed. I already have the Nova DVR lathe and really like how it works. So now I don't have to even look at recommended speeds in my machinist hand book. I select the drill and size, the material and it sets the speed. The only thing is that the display is up high. I am 5' 9", so I think for someone shorter They may want to put a small platform in front of it. Of course you could always shorten the column.

When did these crap clones first appear in the US? I have a friend with broken EX-21 that I will repairing for her. She has had it for probably 5 years. I just hope it is not one those as she just ordered repair parts for it from Ray.

Kevin, your timing on this post is perfect! I will be fixing my friends EX-21 as soon as she gets the parts from Ray. I believe her saw is an original EX. Like you I love to tinker and fix stuff, I actually got paid to do that for 35 years and 11 in the AF fixing flight simulators. Your pictures and suggestions are supper! THANKS

I finally bought a Nova Voyager Drill press. I have been drooling for one since it was released. No more belts to change speed. Computer controlled drilling dept etc. All kinds of neat things.

OK it seems Kreg does NOT make a table saw rip fence. They do make miter fences which I have. I do have a Kreg Band saw fence, which is very accurate. Maybe it could be adapted https://www.kregtool.com/store/c48/saw-attachments/p86/precision-band-saw-fence/ It seems most quality after market fences cost more than the saw.