KellisRJ

The nature of laser cut boxes is they are difficult to clamp. That's why the CA glues are most commonly used. I've used hide glue for chair repair, but I think it required clamping and 24 hr. set up.

@kmmcrafts Great, good to know. I looked over the manual a lot, but didn't think to look for other parts sources other than Ray at Seyco. My story is pretty much the same. On the Hobby Machinist forum my tag line is "Avid destroyer of many materials." Believe me, your belief on shop classes is a common one. Too many hobbyists have out fitted their shops from school auctions. Hang in there, it only took till I was ~55 to be able to start building out a set of tools. Ron

@kmmcrafts Thanks for the kind words. @OCtoolguy the view is with the upper arm raised and the frame it is mounted inside of. The picture with the gray splotches is the paint marred on the left inside the frame by the arm because the frame is bent in pinching the arm. The second picture is where the left and right sides of the frame come together under upper arm. I first thought only the paint had cracked when the saw was dropped, then I thought a weld had been broken. Kevin corrected me on that. OK, the saw now appears to be running well. I have a small metallic sounding ring from below the table, but it doesn't sound serious. I had to tighten almost everything and maybe I simply missed something. Kevin, I have done a lot of things in my life, one of which is a mechanic. Auto & metal shop in high school, then earned my FAA powerplant certificate. I've worked on aircraft, wheeled and tracked military vehicles. Fulfilled my dream of going to flight school, then later became a maintenance test pilot. During my 27 years in the US Army I continued to do most of my own car maintenance and repairs. Now retired for the last time, I have a decent metal shop though I also spend a lot of time fixing my machines that are almost all older than I am. Kevin, the new block assembly came with lock-tight on it, and a rounded end where it makes contact with the upper arm rather than the nylock nut under the block. It also has a nylon set screw coming in from the side of the block to put friction on the "leaver"/rod. I found the replacement block is a full millimeter taller than the old one. Also I may have been wrong on the poor manufacturing, the block "may" have been made to only go in one way. Anyway, what I decided to do was rather than making the new one fit, drill and tap the old block to take the nylon set screw. That's done and the block installed. Thank you everyone for their kind assistance. Kevin, if I find the frame needs to be replaced, how do I locate the Chinese manufacturer? Attached are a couple of photos of the block. The first is the block in a 4 jaw chuck on my 1954 Logan 10" metal lathe. The "Oh" ring is used as a quickie depth stop for the drill bit. The hole for the thread tap has already been drilled. The bit you see is to enlarge the hole for screwdriver clearance. After that was done I tapped the hole to match the threads on the set screw. 1/4" 20 threads per inch (TPI). Go figure. The second picture in the old block with the nylon set screw installed next to the new block. Now to cut some silhouettes for my love. Later I'll try the fancier work for an automata. Ron

Answering both @OCToolguy and @kmmcrafts Thank you both for chiming in. Saw was manufactured in China. Attached are two photos. One shows the place where I first thought the paint had been flexed. Taking a picture and enlarging it, there is clearly a broken weld. Completely removing the tension bolt was one of the first things I tried. With no difference, I next loosened the bolt through the link arm. Still no difference. I snugged the link arm bolt back up and got my machinist's square. Definitely not to to .001", but using feeler gauges the arm checks out parallel to at least .01" for the 8" of my square. If the arm is pretty square, the only thing left is the main body, part 1, getting pinched together. Don't think I can make it much worse, so decided to see if I could open up the interference gap. This time I removed the bolt through link arm and loosened the control housing bolts. The ~ 4mm housing bolts closest to the top were bent, indicating a hit on the left side. I then made a wedge out of oak to fit just above the arm. Took a good dozen good whacks, but it opened up enough the arm moves down with gravity, and re-installing the tension bolt had the desired results. Looking inside the body, it's obvious from the paint rubbings where the main body on the left was pinching the arm. Done I'm sure by me when I really lifted on it. Holding off on setting the arm height because I have a new tension knob assembly to install. The new one has a nylon set screw to, I assume, better hold the tension. "But" The new assembly was not made real well. To keep it simple, it's out of square by ~ 1/64" Combine that with some possible loss of alignment from the hit, and it's enough that it won't fit in the hole. I did some light file work, but I'm going to need to take it to metal working area and really take off some metal. I'd rather make the one with the set screw work than simply replace the knob and "leaver" that's for all appearances a threaded rod.

Thanks, no. West coast time, was past business hours when I finished that troubleshooting session. Been here two years and I'm still getting used to being on the other side of the country. After reading earlier posts, I'm hoping @kmmcrafts might see this and offer his opinion on the arm only or if the both the upper arm and drive parts should be replaced.

Inkscape is powerful, but I can't use it without constantly querying help. I've been using Https:\\boxes.hackerspace-bamberg.de/?language=en I don't often change the tab settings, but the program supports doing it when needed.

Thanks, beautiful pen! I've been alternating, but am taking this lesson to heart. Didn't help I didn't pay close enough attention to the bottle I grabbed. Nozzle hole is much too big but Star doesn't sell replacements.

A quick note. I used some thinset on Baltic ply last week and of course had an "oppise." A spot almost 1-1/2" across. I tried acetone and CA remover. Arggg. Of course the Danish Oil didn't penetrate. Just glad it was on the bottom and my partner didn't care. My luck, I never get anything close to the advertised set times. This provides ample opportunity to either get stuck to something or trying to prevent it waiting out the set. An acquaintance uses it as a sealant on wood carvings.

@kmmcrafts I suspect you already know what I'm mentioning, but it may help others who are considering laser work. Have you tried Laserburn? I doubt there is a quick solution for changing slots width, hole width & height, etc. But there's a pretty good user community. Someone may know some tricks or Inkscape options. For those who don't know, most programs draw with dots of color. But lasers need to follow a line. Inkscape is a popular free, and can have a steep learning curve, program that draws with lines a laser can follow. If the outer dimensions are staying the same I often center a square the size I need and just start moving or adding lines, or extend it as a rectangle, cut out the bottom, then extend the pattern line to the new slot centered where the old one was. Can be slow . . . Honestly hope you are way past this point. 2D & lines I can deal with. CAD has literally driven me close to tears. Ron

Posting this in case anyone has needed to perform major surgery of an Excalibur. eBay seller was honest as far as they knew on return damage done by terrible packing by the original purchaser. But as I started to look it over, I found more. The tension assembly shaft is bent and I could see a flex crack in the base of the upper arm base. Rather than pay return shipping, the seller refunded my purchase and told me to keep the saw. Figured I may as well see what all I could find. Even with bent tension assembly, I was able to level the upper arm. May have been a mistake, I used the blade tensioners to square the blade. Ran the saw. One serious vibration was the lower blade guard banging into the blade holder. Thanks to an earlier post, that's sorted out. Vibration is gone, saw appears to be cutting properly. But don't forget the flex crack. The primary damage "appeared" to the tension knob assembly. But about the upper arm. I didn't remember reading in the manual the upper arm lifts for fret work until I saw a demonstration YouTube video, darned if I can find it in my history to give credit. The arm didn't want to lift. I let all the tension off the upper arm and with difficulty got it to move. My opinion is that it's bent. But what else? Could also include the control box. Worse case rocker arm and both drive link assemblies are also bent. So it cuts, but could be pushing the rocker arm, drive assemblies, and blade holders to an early violent death. Have to make some calls and price out parts. Could start with the upper arm and see if that "straightens things out." Decisions . . .

Took care of one major vibration, again thanks all. I don't know what are noises/vibrations are "normal". but not going to hijack the thread. Ron

A year later I have the exact question! Thanks everyone for their assist. My saw had a huge mark down from poor return packaging but I took the sellers word the saw works. Found several problems and the seller decided to refund and not bother with a return. I'm still working out what is "normal" or possibly bent components. About 3 seconds after starting the lower blade guard starts vibrating and then contacts the lower blade clamp with a resultant not good sound. Pushing up on the guard stops the vibration and the saw is really quiet. So maybe this is the final fix. I have a complete upper arm tensioner coming because the shaft is bent. I've been able to check the arm level, and that's good. So yea! Going to see if I can use a right angle screwdriver to remove the guard before taking the table off. Appreciate the shared experiences. Ron

Thanks Dan!

Thanks. Can't say you will see a lot of me, but I subscribed as thanks for all who keep the place alive. All I know about ID is the road from Boise to Twin Falls where my brother teaches automated machine technology. Coding I'll never do LOL.

Thanks Denny. Can't say how much you will of me, but I bought a subscription as a way of thanking all who keep this place alive.

Thanks Ber.

Mostly acknowledging all the generous help:

I'm a person with too many hobbies, in which most I'm simply an avid destroyer of good material. Joined because of a post I spotted during an Internet dive down several rabbit warrens. Mostly want to acknowledge the assistance I received and, FWIW, another example in my life of why "paying it forward" always pays off far more than the time spent helping others. Thanks to Allen, Barb, and Wichita for helping me out. Now I'm thinking it really is time to replace my mystery maker, vibrates so bad it's hard to even see a line, saw.

Wichita, thank you. Much appreciate your time and help. If the link is bad etiquette or forbidden on the forum please let me know and I'll pull it or ask the mods to pull it. Thanks again, Ron Two patterns in the post. The angel fish is the second and not listed in the post title. https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2025/02/heart-box-scroll-saw-pattern.html?m=1

It happens, I respect artists also have to put food on the table and situations change. Thanks for the response. Please see my detailed response to Barb, I simply saw her response first, no slam intended.

Barb, thank you very much for the information. I'll take a look. Much appreciated. I toy with automata, hence the scroll saw. I was bouncing ideas around when I stumbled across this. For the curious, take a look here for a good explanation. Many creators on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. There is a small community on groups.io

Hello Allen. Very low time hobbyist with too many LOL, This is just what I was looking for, but darned if I can fine it. Is it the pattern library? TIA Ron