rash_powder

I've seen those Bosch blades at Lowe's, but never tried them. They are kinda big. If you can find some Olson blades I think you may have better luck.

I got my saw, a Hegner, used from a pawn shop; and found that I had a blade slipping problem. After troubleshooting it, I found that the tip of my clamp screw had a 'spinny' part just like the Excalibur's, but mine did not spin. I pulled it out with some work (it didn't spin because it was stuck) and cleaned things up real well and gave it a bit of white lithium grease - a super tiny bit as there is very little space in the screw and it will squirt back out and be a mess. That seems to have solved most of my problems. Maybe the set screws don't need replaced as much as just cleared/cleaned out and a touch of lube to keep them spinning free.

I experience random glitches in that software as well. Usually it all works again if I close out and restart it.

If you could find a rheostat in the same resistance and wattage that would work too. A potentiometer moves resistance from one terminal to the other - like the balance on your stereo; a rheostat is basically just a variable resistor. So, if you could find a rheostat that fits it would work.

If contact cleaner does anything it will only be for a short while. They wear out, especially when the sit in one place for great lengths of time. Open up your control board so you can get a pic of the writing on your pot. You want the part number if possible. Then call up DigiKey, they will help you get the correct component. They ship quite quickly from Thief River Falls, MN. Once you have it it is just a matter of un-soldering and re-soldering the pot. Easy peasy. You can try calling them without the part number too, they may have a schematic in their resources, however I would get that number first to avoid potentially wasting time. If no part number can be found, you can pull the pot, meter the sweep between the terminals, measure the shaft length and diameter, measure the body length and diameter, and use that info to find a suitable replacement. Hope you haven't to go that route as it makes things more difficult and takes the saw out for a while.

I've been cutting all the ornaments I make from 1/4" poplar. Its what I can source easily locally without ordering in.

Pics of the table suction addition. I did not drill the table like a Jet or Excalibur.

I do not have a pic, and am at work so i cannot take one. The pipe fitting that is visible is where my vac system hooks up. It points downward and now has a thru hole in the bottom. The notch at the top is for the table hinge, and the hole is below the cutout in the table. Everything is hot glued together and to the bottom of my saw table (so it can come off if I ever want it to). Since mounting it, I've cut almost 37 christmas ornaments, and no dust pile under the table or on the floor. It doesn't suck hard enough to hold parts to the table though, but a stronger vac may do that. I will try to remember to get a pic tonight.

If you are near the ocean, there is undoubtedly a marina nearby which would mean boats. Boats have canvas tops, covers, and sails; all of which need repaired or replaced from time to time. Find the boat top guy and see what he says/uses; he may even be able to do the work too as a side thing. I'm totally landlocked where I live in eastern North Dakota, and while I would have to drive an hour or two, I know of two boat canvas shops. There has to be near you. Also - while I was deployed to Iraq, the tents were all canvas or that cotton duck stuff. They were water proofed (I don't know why as it never rained in a year there) with a parafin and kerosene mix. Flammable as hell though - a 100 man tent burned up in just a couple minutes. Good luck on the project!

I struggled with vibrations while using my Hegner for some time. It turned out to be too much flex in the stand I built for it causing the vibrations to basically amplify themselves and it would SHAKE. I built a new cabinet stand for it from 2x4 and bolted a 2x4 butcher block style top to it, then the saw to that. Its quite smooth now. You didn't say what stand you are using for your saw, so first be sure that it is absolutely rigid. Then make it heavier, and if that does not work bolt it to the floor. 3 concrete anchors will sink fast and easy with a hammer drill. Drive them in and then bolt it down and it won't move. Once properly installed though, concrete anchors will not come out; they would have to be covered to hide them.

My first post has the part numbers from Digikey. They are an International vendor, and localish to me, so shipping is quite quick. I'm sure if you are in the US it would only be a couple days in the mail. Its going back a bit in my memory, but from the list I see I replaced a few resistors too. I think I recall that they were in the way of removing the pot which is why they were replaced.

@Trka2002; I'd actually forgotten about this work!! Yes, my saw is running better now, so I would say that the replacement parts helped. I do recall there was something a bit different with the potentiometer I got, I think it actually has an 'off' position that the old did not. I've not had any problems with it though. You'll need a soldering iron, some solder, and a bit of soldering skills to do this. If this is outside your comfort zone, you may want to find someone who can solder.

I don’t know if this counts as a ‘latest scroll saw project’; but it is a project and it is for my scroll saw. it’s a below-the-table dust pickup for my Hegner VS22. All those Seyco, Excalibur, and Jet saws with the through the table pickups had me jealous, so I’m correcting it. i e to drill the hole through the dust port, and then hot glue it under the table. There’s a pair of strengthening ribs under it this will fit between. Then an adapter for my loc-line pipe and I get to try it out. Hopefully it won’t be in the way too much. If I don’t like it I can easily cut the hot glue loose and put it comes. it’s made from PVC pipe heated and flattened/shaped as needed. No scroll saw was used, however. All hand saws, chisels, heat gun, etc. if not allowed feel free to delete post!

I have found 1/2 to 3/4 turn on my 22vs is adequate for the way I cut. Hope it helps you get going.

I typically break blades in one of two places with my Hegner - just under the top clamp, or very near the work piece. I'm guessing I side load too much or bend the blade when bottom feeding when they break low; when high I feel it is because the top clamp cannot rock like the bottom can so it repeatedly bends the blade causing it to fatigue and fail. The next most common blade problem I have is they pull out of the clamp, typically the bottom. Thats tension or getting the blade clean and installed correctly.

Vibrations - bolt the saw to your work table/bench/stand. Make sure that stand is as rigid and heavy as practical. Aluminum - I don't know how thin you are thinking, but personally i wouldn't use a scrollsaw for anything thicker than the craft stuff at stores like Michaels/Hobby Lobby. Maybe 1/32" and less. Thats just me considering the way aluminum galls so bad, cold welds, and loads saw teeth. If you try it, I've found that the metal bandsaw we have at work cuts aluminum better at slow blade speeds and very very slow feed rates. Blades - Olson are good, I do most all of my work with them. It will be personal preference for brand and size though. A rough rule of thumb is you need at least 2 teeth in the material at all times. 1/8" wood, #3 and #5. If you want to break stock down quickly a #7 will rip through it super fast. Reverse tooth blades will leave a better finish on underside. I like #3 and #5 for the 1/4" poplar i use most often. Crown tooth blades can be flipped over to use the unused end if they don't break. Lexon/plastic - this will all cut like wood. Slow blade speed to avoid heat, melting, dulling blades quickly, etc. Blade tension - personal preference again. My Hegner recommends no more than 1 turn of adjuster bolt. Its about a 1mm thread pitch. Exotic wood - look up safety precautions for what you are cutting. some woods the dust can make you very sick. Speed - personal preference and material. some materials want a fast blade, others want a slow one. It will also depend on blade choice. Start slow and speed up if it seems like you can. cut stroke - scroll saws cut on the down stroke. blades with a few reverse teeth at the bottom are available to help with tear out/fuzzies on the bottom of your work. vibrations will almost always, in my experience, be from an inadequate support for the saw. I hope that helps some. Its really going to be a lot of loose guides and then your personal preference for work flow/process. Take notes on blade size, tooth count, type, brand, saw speed, and material and how things did/did not work. After a few projects you will have enough info to make good decisions for your setup.

Regarding the fine dust making it through the collection system - one could exhaust the blower air out an exhaust vent or window. A dryer flex pipe and one of those window adapters for portable air conditioners would do the trick.

Ask around church, work, school, etc. for old phone cords. We kept EVERY USB cable for EVERYTHING. Its been a great resource for miscellaneous repairs and lost cords. I'm sure others have a junk drawer or similar with those cords. I bet you can get lots for little to nothing by asking around.

$80?? He stole it!! I got mine for $400 from a pawn shop. IIRC, its a 1996 model. Runs great, does everything it should. The parts from Advanced Machinery still fit just fine. Hope he has fun with it!

So somewhere I did bad math. to get the 15,000psi a bandsaw would like, we have the equivalent of 6.72lbs on the blade, and a stretch of .002586” over the 5” blade. my hegner 22” saw has a tension rod with 1 thread per mm; one rotation changes its length by 1mm. The back portion of the arm is 19cm and the front is 40.3cm. That gives a mechanical advantage of 2.12; so 1mm of shortening the tension rod is 2.12mm of stretch on the blade. 2.12mm is .0835”. This is the max Hegner recommends. 1 turn of the adjuster yields 484,300psi for a pull of 216.917lbs 1/2 turn yields 241,860psi for a pull of 108.35lbs all based on an Olson #3 crown tooth. those little blades are really under a lot of load! It’s no wonder the blades break. so that’s it. Curiosity is satisfied

This really has me super curious now. It’s something I’ve wondered for quite some time too. I’m 3 hours from home this weekend, but when I get back I may measure the thread pitch of my tension rod and the lengths of the levers involved and see what I can figure out.

If it hasn't already been mentioned, different blade thicknesses will produce different tones at the same tension. So, let's do math! (blade stretch/distance) x young's modulus = tension in psi x/5" x 29000000 = 15000psi young's modulus for steel is 29000000, bandsaw blades are good for 15000psi, so a good stand in for us x = .0026" of stretch over 5" of blade or .00052" per inch of blade psi x area = tension in pounds 15000 x (.032" x .014") = .000448lbs or .007168oz .032 x .014 is an Olson crown tooth #3 More importantly, 1500psi is consistent from blade to blade, so stretch can be found easily. We also can work out how much stretch we give the blade via the thread pitch of the adjusting screw and the lever arm. So things could be dialed in exact. Or, as Hegner recommends, somewhere between 1/2 and 1 turn after the slack is out. Then account for user preference and people who do not have 'perfect pitch'. Basically, don't go farm tight; just a light finger tight.

A silicone basting brush from the dollar store works great for spreading glue too. When the glue sets it doesn't stick to the silicone - it just peels/pulls off; and for $1.25 they are cheap enough to be expendable.

This is the very thing I am most afraid of happening. One must always try to see the good in such things - be it practice or learning new techniques. Condolences on the loss; it looked to be a fine piece.

I've got 4 casters mounted to the bottom of my stand. It rolls wonderfully, and when I want it 'parked' I stand a 2x4 on edge in the middle of the back. It lifts the stand just enough to not roll and gives an extra wee bit of table tilt toward me.