rafairchild2

Took my time setting it up on the cart. Nice and stable got my table angle (higher in back) set, leveled the table and arm side to side, checked and adjusted the arm to table from to back. Got the blade 90 degrees to the table. Ran my power cables nice and neat with wire clips and such. MAN! When I first turned it on, it was so bloody quiet and smooth. You can hear and feel the difference of better materials! WOWZER!! Did a simple cut just to make some sawdust. Now to figure out how I want to place the cart and plumb it all into my dust collection system and move my top vac line and hose over.

Thanks. A stellar sales and delivery. Just waiting for someone to help me lift it onto the cart. But I want to know who was the genius that thought it was a good idea to stick a big ass sticker on the cutting table? A bit of it would not peel off, so I got stuck using a plastic scraper. Still residue on the table.

HOLY HOT TAMALE'!!!! Ordered my Pegas 30" saw Tuesday. SAME DAY.... shipped via UPS... It arrives TODAY!!!! 2-days! Should I complain how fast the shipping and delivery is?

So my hunch is that the tension knob at the back of the saw is coming loose. If you remember during the troubleshooting process, one of the first things done was making sure that the arm/table was parallel adjusting the rear knob to within 1 mm. But when running the speed test after tensioning with the lever, after running the saw and untensioning, the blade 'flopped' much more than what it was prior to flipping the lever back on the pre-tension. I said in the video the arm and the table are losing parallel. Sure enough, the arm dropped past parallel. To test that, I added a step before flipping the lever back in the test yesterday, and that was tightening the knob in the back, or at least checking, as I know the feel of how tight it should be. Sure enough zero flop after running and flipping the lever forward. Test cut when very well. I did a small horse with various turns. Nailed the lines. So that is why I say that is the culprit. My solution temporarily... will be to check the knob frequently. Next, will be adding some lock-tite, finally replacing the knob. Sucks that this would wear in a years time. Regardless, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 30" Pegas. I am going to buy and modify a US General Service cart this weekend and have it ready.

I have a laptop on a cart.($120) I use the built-in camera for when I decide to show up on the camera My main video camera focusing on the scroll saw is on a small boom stand ($20) clamped to the right side of the laptop cart, and I am using a 7-year-old Canon VIXIA HF R800 Full HD Camcorder ($350). My other is a cheap chinese knockoff video camera ($200) for my workbench, that I can move to see my drill press and router. Now that I have my table jigsaw and 1x20" belt +disc sander on the same cart I can pivot the camera to that. This camera is on a tripod ($30), any sturdy one will do. I also use a mic pac, using the lapel microphone. This gives me the best audio, ($45)

Start with a cheap tripod and a cellphone clamp, and you are golden. Then you can work up like my videos with 2 cameras plus the one in the laptop. I can now inset myself in another video feed and also do split screens, like my workbench and scroll saw 50/50%. My cameras were left over when I was filming my Apache Helicopter radar training classes for the Army.

Duhhh, I should have gone to Steve's page. He has been a great resource to the scrolling community.

Hopefully, people will find this thread useful four years down the line like yours Kevin. At least for the different preventive maintenance items to check. Comparing Excal chucks to the Pegas. I wish now when I was videoing that I did one on the chuck swap, so there is a clear record of how to do that. Maybe, I will do that this weekend if I have time. You have to wonder how much longer the Chinese Excal will still be sold. There are a lot out there already and many used ones coming up on the 2nd hand market. So maintenance and repair help needs to be centralized.

Yes, I had actually book marked your thread over a year ago!! I also saw your images.. Oooofffaaaa! I am not in the mood to disassemble just to add lock-tite! I am pretty sure I do not have wear issues, as I did not have to adjust it much. it has held well, but you never know. I have been searching for the video your mentioned, but no-joy. Are there any service manuals? What I found is not really a breakdown of the unit. I am surprised at how hard it is to find information. Wish there was a singular source. After getting the Pegas chucks back on, I went through things again on my unit, and hopefully fixed the 'slop' issue. I am not sure if the high speed tests made the knob loosen or not, or my going through the bearings helped.. or not... By the time I got everything done and posted, it was bed time for me. I am up at 0300, so it is early to bed. I will try some cuts today and see what's, what.

Well, I took off the Pegas, and put on the Excal chuck, same results. When I put the Pegas back on I inspected the bearings and sleeves and all looked fine. I did add some lithium grease before getting everything back together. Do you have tear-down instructions on the large knob at the back of the saw? I am thinking of adding a little lock-tight to it. I noticed with all this testing, that it loosened a little bit, which could be the source of the blade slop. I usually did not have to adjust it, other than when I did my monthly preventative maintenance. The thing is, when this issue cropped up, that was one of the first things I checked and I was only a hair over a mm difference front to back. it might be running at 100% and was enough to loosen it. I never run the saw that fast.

No. I set the lever back (yes, I know tensioned position) to insert the top of the blade, thread the bttom of the blade through the hole, and place the top of the blade in the top of the chuck. I have the lever back so I can see the top of the thumb/set screw. I tighten the top of the blade, I then pull the lever forward and tighten the bottom of the blade, I then push the lever back to tension. I run it for a few seconds, lever forward, loosen the top and pull up on the blade to take up any slack that occurred in the first run, re-tighten, set the lever back to tensioned. What I am saying is before I tension after the 2nd repositioning there is no flop. After I tension, run the saw, and untension there is way MORE flop. Check my blade prep video further back which shows the whole process. I do it right.

So... Not the chuck, not the set screws... I tensioned my Pegas as normal and ran at high speed for 10 seconds or so. De-tensioned and the blade flopped with a boat load of play. Okay now what? Dug out the old Excal chucks, that barely have a week of use on them, and pu them on.. let me say the difference between the two.. oh my! Excal are real POS's. Ran the same test, same result. See video. Sooo... this means something more structural, catastrophic... Mother...@#$%^&*(!!!!, son of a &^%$#%^!!! Here's what I discovered... First video was the Pegas, then I swapped to the old Excal in the 2nd video.

Do those set/thumb screws from the Ex fit the pegas? For some reason I thought they were a different diameter/thread/pitch.

I'll add this on my Pegas 30" purchase. They want $130+ shipping for their table. I recently got a US General service cart for my 1x20 belt/ 5' disc sander and my portable table saw. It's a roller with a drawer and shelf. I got it for $99. When Harbor Freight has that offer again, I will buy one for the Pegas. I already measured. Change the length of a couple cabinet screws and I am good on the fit and height, now I am more flexible on my shop since I am in my garage.

Considering that this is a year old saw and I keep it clean. I use my air hose to blow off any dust. I also have a top vac that takes most of the dust away. It would seem odd for this type of failure, but it is chinese quality. I am trying to not by chinese on expensive items. I thought it was a Taiwan model. I could not imagine it is the Pegas chuck, as they are only a year old too, and I do not over tighten things, I do not slam things. Hopefully your hunch is correct on the set/thumb screw. I ordered a set of each from Seyco, so I will drop those in as soon as they arrive. But for them to let loose so quick seems odd. 3rd piece fine... 4th piece+ wacko. I would think that a set/thumb screw failure would be a slow process of wearing. Interesting, that Seyco support never replied back to me, this was one reason I did not consider buying their 24 inch. I like the big table on the saw, and that would have been a selling point for me. But to not reply, seemed odd. I found the original chucks that came with the Excal yesterday. If the set/thumb attempt on it's own does not work, then I will switch to the Excal chucks. They have almost zero hours on them. So that'll show if it is a chuck failure or not. Of course I am having buyers remorse as soon as I push the purchase button on the Pegas 30". But I have been working OT hours, so I had the money already.

Do you happen to know where to get replacement bearings that fit? Or would purchasing the whole rocker arms from Seyco be a better way to go? I hope it's not the drive link or the rocker arms (those would be replaced as a pair) I just pulled the trigger on a 30" Pegas from Bearwoods. I think what is happening to my Excal is more catastrophic and the cost of fixing a $360 saw, and the time to do it, might not be in my best interest. Not sure how long I would be down and I have a lot of toys and other items that need to be produced. I will try and continue to troubleshoot, and if I can fix it, then it will become my backup rig.

Yes, I scuff the the sides of the blades top and bottom. Again, everything was fine. i was 3 toys into my production, then all of a sudden, I cannot hold lines.

New clues!!! So as I was walking out to head to work at 0400, I sat down at my scroll saw and UN-tensioned the blade since I left it on from last nights high and low speed run for the above video posts. Man, that blade went sloppy!!! usually, when I flip the lever, it will be somewhat tight at the point I had pulled up on the blade prior to tension. If it did not slip in the chuck (it seemed tight in it), then my rockers are out of alignment and that distance changes while in operation. So this tells me that either the blade slipped out of the chuck due to worn set screw, or the bottom rocker arm holding the chuck (or chuck itself) is not running parallel to the top. I am leaning to the arm, as this problem started quickly. Like I said earlier, I cut 3 pieces no problem, then boom... I could not keep on my line ever since. So assuming it could be an arm slipped or something broke, where could I look? I will take a photo when I get back from work later today. One other thing. When I would pull up on the blade after the first tension, I noticed that it does not come up as high in the chuck as it used to. This tells me there is more distance between the upper and lower chuck. About 3 mm difference. Bent, broke, slipped???

Yes, I have played with the motor and had it at the right spot. Again remember whatever happened, happened all of a sudden after cutting 3 pieces for the day.

Here's the upper again. I did a full sweep around, and tried at the end to have everything line up on the camera's crosshairs so I have 90 degrees.

I will rerecord the upper shortly. Meanwhile here is the lower and I start at 100%, I move the camera angle left and right to give you the full view.

Here's a speed video of my excal. I go from all the way slow to full speed and a few in between. There is a spot in the middle where I get a little noise. Do you hear anything odd? I tried cranking the Chuck's thumb screws to see if it would cut right. Still no joy, I try cutting an oak circle and it wanders way off to the right.

Yes, I have tried hard and softer woods. 1200 >> 400 janka. 3/4" thick. The 1/2 was not as bad, but still it was harder to control. It just feels like the blade is unresponsive. I will be cutting a circle clockwise, with the waste wood to the right and the blade just keeps heading off to the right, then it will 'snap' back into place, and of course over compensate. The Pegas modified #10 seems to not do this as bad as I assume thickness of the blade. But the FD UR #7, 5, and 3 are unresponsive now. I think what I might try since I have a rebuild kit coming is to crank the lower chuck REALLY tight and see if that stops it. I am trying to narrow things down to the bottom chuck, and/or the st/thumb screws as being the issue. I am not hearing and rattles, bangs, pops, or crackles from the saw. Speeds seem to be normal, so the rocker arms are not too loose, nor too tight.

I am leaning towards slippage too. i only replaced the thumb screws as i could not find my spare set screw. I ordered a refresh kit from Pegas. As to my process, to change/tighten the new blade. I first scuff my blade top and bottom with a sharpening stone. I lower the arm into place. Without a blade in, I flip the lever to the TENSIONED position, as this allows me to see inside the chuck better. I thread the lower part of the blade through the blade hole, then line the top of my new blade with the top part inside the chuck (hard to describe, but it is the same point every time). Next, I tighten the top thumb screw finger tight, and UN-tension the lever. Reach under the table and tighten the bottom thumb screw. From there, I UN-Tension the lever, loosen the top thumb screw, pull UP on the blade getting rid of any potential slack, and tighten the thumb screw. After re-tensioning, I run the saw for a few seconds. I repeat step 6. After resetting the blade (if needed) I will check for any lateral movement and also 'pluck' the blade listening for that high 'C' note. Rock and Roll. Here's a video of my process.

If you take a look at the image you can see the issue I am having. The only way to describe this is the blade just not tracking as it used to. I did 3 pieces and all was fine, then boom 4th piece things went nuts. I find the blade is not 'responsive' on the turns, I can see it twist, but not respond back for quite some time, I am even pulling back to reduce any blade pressure from front to rear. Note, I cut with the waste wood to the right However, all of a sudden the blade will 'snap' back of course over compensating when turning back. I am making sure I am light in the hand, light pressure/push. My gut is telling me that the lower chuck or the lower rocker is moving laterally while I am cutting the turns. Even though it is tensioned properly. I just don't know where else to tighten. Even though my blade is 90 degree's, to the table/piece, I adjusted the top chuck set screw to move the top of the blade to the left more to compensate for this issue, there is a lot you can move the screw before it is out of 90 when throwing the engineering angle on it. The below image shows the issue after cutting. The top of the piece is on the left side. If you notice, there is almost a curve in the cut, again pointing to something mechanical. PS: You can see I check everything to engineering grade angles and such. I am really anal about setup.