rafairchild2

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.

Generally, I make sure that the blade is well-tensioned. I scuff the sides of it as well. I recently changed out the thumb screws thinking they might be worn. It just seems odd this started all of a sudden. I am very consistent in how I do my setup and tensioning. That being said, I am taking all suggestions and giving them a try. See my post below in a few minutes. I just ordered a Pegas Chuck Head renewal kit, just in case that is an issue.

Simply stunning work... Makes me wish I kept playing chess.

Yes, I just removed them before this photo. That held the plate for the wood hold down. So in this case, it does not affect things. I wanted to get my angle as close to the blade for the parallel adjustment. That being said, I reinstalled the plate. So far, I have checked the upper and lower rocker arm bolts, just tight enough to not come off, and have minimal slop when not tensioned. I made sure I did not over-tighten as to slow down the motor. Checked the parallel of the arm to the table front to back. Within 1.5 mm front to back. Checked the level of the table and the level of the arm horizontally, left to right. Spot on. Made sure my blade chuck holds the blade dead center top and bottom chuck Made sure the blade when tensioned is dead 90 degrees to the table I am going through checking other nuts and bolts, making sure that when the arm is up, it stays up. I use two hands to raise and gently lower into place.

Yes, this is the Chinese-made Excalibur. I had a WEN 16, and was just working my way up. At the time I thought it was made in Taiwan. When I learned otherwise I knew that it would have a limited life, thus why I kept it at slower speeds. I was hoping for 2 to 3 years out of it. Still, I have saved money and most likely will go Pegas or Seyco 30" if I am forced into it. I am hoping right now whatever is causing this issue can be fixed. Below are what I had cut before issues cropped up. Look at the circles and the heart. The pieces dropped right out and I stayed right on the lines. Now, it's as if I have no control on the turns.

Darn, that was the one thing I did not do, and usually check it every few weeks if I am running hard. Just tweaked it. So here is how close I am front and back, while under tension. Pretty close to parallel. 1.5mm diff. I am going to set my blade back where it was, as that seemed to make things worse. I was back to having trouble staying on the lines, and it is so far off 90 on the cut, it is not funny. The blade just was not responsive. Really drifty. I am pretty gentle raising and lowering the arm. Only a couple of times it came down and slammed, I tightened it up to prevent that. Is there a replacement part for the knob? This machine is just over a year old. I am not hard on it, and do not use it for major production. I also do not run it full speed either.

Okay, that is how mine are. I just wanted to double-check that the play was normal. I noticed when I tightened them the motor slowed down, and figured that was not good!

So here's my scrap wood test. I cut into a 3/4" Walnut and as you can see, the cut is 90 to the table. I did also back it in as well. A little sticky though. But here's the bug-a-boo. I cut the same wood in a circle, and this is how far it will drop before getting stuck. It seems the bottom of the blade is moving or something on turns. I went really slow and made sure I did not put pressure the wrong way. Again, everything is square to the table, I did a little fine tweaking of the set screws, and may try and see what happens if I move the bottom over more. I did a 1/2" piece round cut and it dropped right though. At least I was able to stay on the line during the turn, so I gained some blade control back. This is a FD #3 UR. So I have also tried 5, 7, and Pegas #10 on a straight cut. I replaced the thumb screws, I made sure the set screw was flat, and I scuffed. I tightened the rocker arms back just a little bit more. For those with an Excalibur, how much play do you have in the rocker arms when there is no tension? Same with the pagas chuck, is there any play when there is no tension?

Not the problem. I have been cutting for a long time, I am known for splitting lines, and had cut 3 toys just before things went sideways. I made sure I was not pushing hard as well. Sped up the blade, slowed it down, stopped pushing, and watched the blade... did all sorts of technique things. Nope, this is mechanical/ adjustment.

I was hoping Someone could point me in the right direction. All of a sudden today my Excalibur is not cutting right. See image 1.png and you can see how I cannot stay on the line in a simple curve. And look at the out-cut and how crooked it is. My cuts are not 90 degrees. This is walnut and I tried a #7 and #5 FD UR blade. This started after cutting 3 other toys with no problem. Now. I checked the blade being 90 degrees to the table and it is on 4 sides. (L, R, F, B) (2.png) I noticed that the rocker arm under the table from the pegas chuck had some slop in it, so I tightened the 3 bolts. (3.png ) I think I over-tightened as that slowed the blade strokes way down so I loosened them back a little, there is very little play on the bottom bar when there is no tension. When I tension it is rock solid. During the cut, I threw the angle on it, (4.png )and the top of the piece to the top of the chuck is a perfect 90. So I am thinking something is off below. But you can see by the piece how off it is. What's weird is, the first 3 pieces I cut today were fine, then the next thing I knew I could not stay on the line and weird stuff was happening. I just swapped out the upper and lower thumbscrews to my 'new' backups. I also checked the set screw that it was not worn and scuffed it. It is almost as if the blade is twisting on the bottom. Not sure though. Any suggestions on where else to look, and how tight/ loose should that bottom rocker arm be?

No, not Steve. Etsy, multidimensioncraft is the shop. They have a ton of 3D patterns like this. Most seem to be for laser. But there are some you can do on the scroll saw, like the cow.

The artwork on LP, in particular double LP's that opened up were always amazing. Now it is cliche and boring CD sleeves.

Hi folks... It's been a while since posting on SSV, as I have been busy at my day job, and also spending a lot of hours in the workshop. Yesterday, I dropped off an assortment of 10 wooden toys to the VA Beach PD. This is the first batch of many that will go to them. The first image are the 10 toys 'curing'. I finished them in raw linseed oil. They will be used by the SVU when they come in contact with children. Kind of sobering in one way. The second photo is the box I deliver them in (no used Amazon boxes ) I am waiting to hear from two other PDs and a hospital. I have another 10 ready to be boxed for whoever asks. The Hippo is a gift for my grandson who turned 1 yesterday. I also gave him the completed Noah's Ark made out of 12 species of wood. The Hedgehog, goes to my 'rent-a-son's' newborn daughter along with a 12 species puzzle. I also included some photos of some of the other things in various stages of production, a lot in dry fit stage. I actually just finished cutting out the Cow/farm piece, it is 5 layers. I did it as a quad stack, so I produced 4 at the same time. It is in dry fit stage, now comes sanding, painting, then glue up. So much to be finished. This is my box before I started the linseed process. I counted this morning, and I have about 30 toys, ready for drilling, sanding, profiling, and wheels. Some get linseed, some do not.

RTV Silicone works well too. https://amzn.to/3uqeYaO

Yes, I have the prototype as I was the first one James sent it to. When I am running with my bottom "throttle" at least 50% I get nearly zero dust. I have a small throw/catch box under the opening, resting between the table legs, below my knees that catches some of the larger 'chunks' that drop (and I pitch castoffs) or are not sucked up by the top vac. I also find with the top vac, I really do not need the 'puffer' either.