Rolf

I like it, I am making some out of tree slices and doing a bit of carving. I do like the bevel cut. for the 3d effect.

Hubby is a talented guy. You should keep him.

I have been a customer for a very long time. they will be missed! I talked to Rhonda a couple of weeks ago when I ordered a bunch of blades. And she mentioned that her husband was going in for major surgery and I know she has also had some issues over the years. From what I saw they ran the business form an out building on their property so not such not some thing you could just sell. I wish them the best in their retirement. Sorry I never got to meet them.

Bill, I am not sure what the stock clamps are made of I suspect some cast aluminum alloy. I never liked the so I never even considered any saw with that style of clamp. Being on multiple forums two of the most frequent complaints I have seen about the stock clamps is 1. the threads get stripped out and 2. the jaws spread and you get chronic blade slippage. The Pegas clamps are machined out of a high quality piece of aluminum. I have only had an EX style saw for a few weeks that I bought used with the Pegas clamps already installed. It takes a minimal effort and tension to clamp the blade and even being a bit heavy handed I don't foresee me stripping the threads and certainly not being able to spread the jaws. I would love to be able to have the old and the new side by side and do actual measurements. I wonder what issues the folks that were unhappy with Pegas clamps had.

It stinks when life gets in the way of fun Randy, I have been making all small ornaments so only bottom feeding, and I am using the Olson 2/0 R and that is a stiffer blade so no hockey stick.

Minimum of three a three stack 1/8 Pegas MGT 2/0 R and 15TPI For the small details I personally would use my Olson 2/0 R 28TPI for greater control. But that is just my opinion.

Richard I look forward to a report on the New Pegas when you have used it for a bit. I do love that color. Denny I didn't know you were a dealer. Randy I had those feelings when I first received my Hawk G4 back in 2005, I am having those same feelings again with the New to me EX16 Pegas clamps. I have about 7 hours on the saw making Christmas ornament inventory.

Getting back to the original question for a moment regarding VAC noise. Using a Radio Shack DB meter I measured the noise from my Festool MIDI VAC running at low speed while extracting the dust from my SS. It runs at about 66 Peak. Not too bad. I will measure my shop VAC just for giggles.

It really depends on the size of my project and how small my entry holes are. I top feed on large detailed fretwork. it is easy on my hawk and the EX. On most of my smaller projects I bottom feed. Top feeding becomes second nature after doing it for a while. The EX is a bit more interesting because of all the holes in the table.

This is a link to last years show pictures , this years have not been posted yet. http://liwoodworkers.org/events-meetings-albums/

This is another one of her pieces. She does a lot of mixed media. but it is shaped wood then painted. She has used fabric, glass and pretty much anything that gives her the effect she is looking for. Note the eyelashes.

That is why I call our annual show "My annual Humbling".

This piece done by my friend Andi is what took 1st place. It was an incredibly complex piece to cut and assemble, I did help her with with some technical aspects of the project. It is based on a picture of her daughters and each strip is about 2" wide cut to 45 deg on each edge, then each colored piece was cut out on the scroll saw, painted and re-assembled. Then two strips were glued together to form one pleat. Those pleats were then glued to the backer board. If you look at it from the right it is one color from the left a different set of colors. It is about 4ft long. Absolutely stunning in person.

I had to put it in a Unique category. first and second place where really amazing. Next year it will be game on. I have a design I want to do. I had no time to take pictures at the show too busy hawking the hobby and demonstrating the scroll saw. I had the new for me EX 16 there. I may be a convert.

Didn't know where to post this. I did this Sue Mey designed dragon for SSWWC magazine. I did one with just the Dragon using Baltic birch ply and Alcohol dyes. They then asked If I could do one with a shield. I made that one with natural wood except for the Shield and backer which is 1/2 BB ply stained with Minwax Ebony. When the photographed it they had a sword (not mine). When I got it back I decided to make a sword. It is a combination of turning , carving, shaping and some painting. I am reasonably pleased with the end result for a "down and dirty " project. The blade was some scrap plywood from a crate painted with gold leaf.

I put blue tape under the pattern it has the same effect. I never put clear packing tape on the wood, it is way too easy to miss a piece when peeling it off only to be discovered when finishing. The only time I use clear tape is when holding my compound cuts together after the first cut. Clear removable contact paper under the patter is also a great alternative for larger work and very easy to remove.

I have the Festool MIDI, with the HEPA filter. I use it for my RO sander and on my Scroll saws. I cut a lot of baltic birch and the smell of, I think adhesive, really bothers me. I always used a half mask when scrolling. With the Festool I get no smell or dust. But a heads up don't expect this vacuum to do your general shop cleanup. It is great for small bits and pieces and of course fine dust. Larger pieces get stuck in the hose. When I clean up chips and heavier debris i.e. lathe work I connect a hose to my central dust collector or the screaming meamy Shop Vac. Since my shop is in the basement I also installed a Jet 1100 Vortec with pleated filter in a far corner and ran 4" PVC duct work along the ceiling with drops and gates at each machine. I use a remote to control it. My longest run is about 30ft.

OK Karl you have piqued my interest. What do you cut? What kind of projects would you like to see.? Don and Ray, Not sure how much influence I have but I will send a note to the editors about putting a letters to the editor back into the magazine. But in the mean time feel free to send an e-mail To e-mail [email protected] Let me add this. There are several folks that are very negative about the contents of SSWWC, it reminds me of some of some of our club members that bash every thing we try o do or suggest, but if asked for suggestions or ideas to make things better, God forbid you ask them to step up and run the club it is always total silence. MY POINT is if you don't see what you want Please send them an email with ideas they will listen. It is not easy writing and publishing a magazine and the editors are not clairvoyant they can't read our minds to see what we want. And yes I have written articles (thanks to the editing team they have been readable) and I am the current president of our local scroll saw club and that is a blast but not easy trying to keep all skill levels entertained. I guess this is my week for rants. If any of you are in the New York Long island area Our woodworking club is having its annual show Nov 9-10 At the old Bethpage restoration Village. You can come and say hello or yell at me politely.

Granted I have been working with the magazine since 2010 so I may be a bit biased, there have been some staff changes over the years, but one thing that has been consistent is the customer service. They have always been very accommodating and certainly friendly. Kevin if you are having trouble getting your magazines, maybe there is a local issue at your end. May be a neighbor that is also a scroller. As far as content goes, that is a difficult thing, there is a new Editor in Chief that took over when Mindy left, and two new editors Kaylee and Danielle taking over for Mindy and Bob. They of course bring in new ideas and projects. They are charged with trying to keep the magazine fresh and with new ideas without alienating us old guys. with my test cutting I have done lots of John Nelsons shelves, they sit in boxes in my basement. I won't hang them on my walls as they are not to my taste. So I am excited to see new more modern directions in what the magazine offers. The Lion and Tiger geometric inlay come to mind. They were very challenging and I will be interested in seeing what kind of reaction I get from the public.

I was showing a new club member the Ex 16 and had it running real slow only to hear a light metallic ticking sound. After he left I tore down the top arm assembly and added some lithium grease to the needle bearings. It seems to run much quieter now. I think I will tear the entire saw down after my holiday cutting frenzy is over. I will have to ask the guy I bought it from how much cutting he did with it. Octoolguy (Ray) I turned the three legged stand around so the single leg was forward. Strangely the saw really vibrated that way, I turned it back the other way and the saw was fine.? I assume that the added mass of the two legs was the reason.

I have said this before, as a test cutter for SSWWC I am asked to cut projects that would normally not interest me. Having said that, with rare exception when I am done with those projects, I end up having really enjoyed making them. Each project has its own challenges and some have design issues that I try to find and correct before it is published. My point is try cutting something that initially doesn't pique your fancy you might be surprised.

I bought a propane heater like this for my garage, I had hoped to work on my car over the winter. I also plugged in a digital CO monitor. With my ROLL up door partially open I still got wicked headaches and the monitor hovered around the alarm threshold. I sold to a friend that was doing construction. So please be careful. It does crank out some huge amounts of heat. I ended up mounting a Modine 220 V ceiling heater. That I got for free from a friend. Not great but it takes the chill off. I never have worked on my car in the winter. Maybe this year.

You guys are great! Randy that method is a simple and repeatable way of setting the clamps. I would also use a rule or something totally flat instead of a coin. Looking at my clamps they setscrew protrusion (like that word) seems to be equal on both the top and bottom clamp. that was one of the first things I checked. I got a message from Bob Duncan and his thought was that the two surfaces were not meeting on center and to turn the set screw just a tad.

I am getting a bit of a hockey stick in the bottom clamp. So I took the clamp screw apart and put a drop of Silicon lube on the o-ring to see if hat helps. Regarding reducing the blade tension. I have been bottom feeding so I release the the tension and upper clamp, when I but the blade back in I drop it down about 1/16 in the clamp, it is real easy to see in the Pegas clamp. It is very repeatable no broken blades yet. The saw seems to be more forgiving on the small blades than My Hawk.

The $15 one only has one hole in it to fasten to a jig, not sure what you would do with the ring that is on it. I now have a couple of hours on the saw. Cutting Alex Fox Christmas tree that reduced to 50% from 10" to 5". A very delicate cut in a few places. A stack of 2 1/8 BB and am using a 2/0 Pegas 28 TPI blade. No reverse teeth, I ordered the wrong ones. I never broke a blade just dulled one. The saw has a bit of vibration. But over all I am very pleased.