Doug

Rolf I emptied the Dust Deputy yesterday when it was about one third full (five gallon Dust Deputy pail). I took the filter off the vac and there was almost nothing in the filter and if I really wanted to clean the inside of the vac I would have had to use compressed air as there was nothing which would have fallen out by turning the vac over. I did clean the filter just because I had it out but opening the vac was really a complete waste of time. For anyone using a vac for dust collection, there would be no better Christmas gift than a Dust Deputy. When using the planer and because of the high volume I put a dust/chip collector between the Dust Deputy and the planer. Mine is a Laguana which they no longer make. I had the Rockler shown on the web site but I managed to break the plastic tabs securing the top. The Laguana has clips which hold the top in place. Regardless, even with the volume of the planer nothing really got through to the vac unless I did not empty the dust collector and the Dust Deputy frequently enough. http://www.rockler.com/rockler-dust-right-dust-separator-with-2-1-2-expandable-hose By the way, I did start with only the Rockler between the saw and vac and it was crap. The Dust Deputy is the real deal and something like the Rockler between a high volume chip/dust generator does work well and lessens the frequency of having to empty the Dust Deputy.

Paul No science or logic to my opinion but I have been using auto off and on with scroll saw for several years with no problem. If you have not done so I strongly encourage you to get an Oneida Dust Deputy to place between the saw and vac. With the Dust Deputy almost no saw dust goes through to the vac and a clogged filter is probably harder on the vac then on/off with the saw.

Does that mean you just looked at the pictures?

Purchased a piece of Cocobolo recently. Which is now in three pieces with one of them pictured. Looks like a landscape picture of the Sandhills in western Nebraska. Every time I went to use it for a project I just could not cut into it so have decided it makes good wall art just as it is. I have included a comparison of woods so you can see its hardness and that at 12% moisture content it will not float. It is a heavy piece of wood but thought the picture worth sharing. Cocobolo Average Dried Weight: 69 lbs/ft3 (1,095 kg/m3) Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .89, 1.10 Janka Hardness: 2,960 lbf (14,140 N) Modulus of Rupture: 22,910 lbf/in2 (158.0 MPa)* Elastic Modulus: 2,712,000 lbf/in2 (18.70 GPa)* Crushing Strength: 11,790 lbf/in2 (81.3 MPa)* Hard Maple Average Dried Weight: 44 lbs/ft3 (705 kg/m3) Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .56, .71 Janka Hardness: 1,450 lbf (6,450 N) Modulus of Rupture: 15,800 lbf/in2 (109.0 MPa) Elastic Modulus: 1,830,000 lbf/in2 (12.62 GPa) Crushing Strength: 7,830 lbf/in2 (54.0 MPa) Black Walnut Average Dried Weight: 38 lbs/ft3 (610 kg/m3) Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .51, .61 Janka Hardness: 1,010 lbf (4,490 N) Modulus of Rupture: 14,600 lbf/in2 (100.7 MPa) Elastic Modulus: 1,680,000 lbf/in2 (11.59 GPa) Crushing Strength: 7,580 lbf/in2 (52.3 MPa)

I think these are all Steve Good patterns. The one is napkin rings.

Ray Use whatever is useful and do not overlook all of the other good ideas out there in deciding what works best for you.

There are numerous threads on dust collection and most can probably be found by typing "dust collection" in the search box near the top right of the page. Here is one old thread with a lot of comments which may be of interest to some. I have kept tinkering some since 2013 but you will get the basics of what I and others do from the thread.

I bolt the stand to 3/4 ply and have the ply on 4 inch locking swivel casters. I throw a 40 pound bag of water softner salt on the ply. Easy to move any time and no vibration.

If the track changes toward you, heed the lyrics: Go west young man Go west young man When the evil go east Go west young man…

All spirals except cutting the rectangles with a chop saw. Chop saw would not work on the interior cuts. To each their own and what works best for them.

I was told once you could cut a finger off but you would need to change the blade at least once.

And if you have a little extra time you can take Highway 20 west from Dubuque for about 30 minutes to Dyersville and visit the Field of Dreams and/or the National Farm Toy Museum. http://fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/ https://www.facebook.com/nationalfarmtoymuseum/

Wife's nephew is a Tennessee fan. Did this for him in case you need an idea for your daughter.

I have used something similar to what Rolf has done but without the small piece trap for some time. I strongly recommend Oneida Dust Deputy between your vac and your table top. The dust deputy lets almost nothing through to the vac and you very seldom have to clean the vac filter. https://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Air-Systems-AXD000004A-Deputy/dp/B002GZLCHM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1502463116&sr=8-4&keywords=oneida+dust+deputy

What do you know about dating a new woman - or even an old woman?

King Canada (not a retail seller) puts out what used to be the General International branded Excalibur scroll saw under the King Canada brand name of Excelsior so it can still be referred as an EX - probably just coincidence? They have several retailers who are all in Canada. Many and maybe all ship to the U.S. Listed price today is $999.00 Canadian and with exchange rate of $1.25 that would $802.16 U.S. dollars. $99.00 more Canadian if you want the stand rather than just the bench mount. I do not know what shipping would cost or whether there are any import/export duties. Maybe worth considering for some? If you are interested you might want to do it before NAFTA is flushed away. http://www.kingcanada.com/ Just one of the dealers you get which is not listed as an online dealer by King Canada (maybe more - just Google Excelsior scroll saw): http://marsonequipment.com/product/excelsior-xl-21100-21-professional-scroll-saw/ King Canada also lists service centers on its web site so if you do need Excalibur parts and Seyco does not have them you might be able to get them through King Canada or one of its listed service centers.

I use blue painters tape, spray it with 3M Spray Adhesive 45 (they also have stickier grades up to 90) and let it rest for around 45 seconds and then lay the pattern on. No spray on the pattern. 45 has always been strong enough for my purposes. It is usually available at craft stores (Michaels - Hobby Lobby), Wal-Mart, Amazon, and probably a lot of other places. Has worked for me for years.

I have now scrolled for several hours with the Seyco. It has been an enjoyable experience. I think the Seyco ran smoothly at all speeds and was at least as good as my EX when the my EX was new so, other than the assembly issues previously discussed and which Ray is remedying, I am pleased with my purchase. I expect the changes Ray is making for the tabletop legs for bench top assembly purposes will also make the swivel feature work smoothly like in Steve Good’s assembly demo for assembly as a stand. I previously commented on some design things I would have done differently but others may like the design features and they do not take away from the fact that the saw runs well. I did do three things as I was sawing which made an improvement for me and the method I work. I took the blower hose and shortened it significantly and took off the 90 degree end and put on a straight end. The magnetic table top seemed to hold my wood more than I would like so I decided to try some Johnson Paste Wax like I use on the tables of all of my saws both for protection and ease of wood movement across the saw table. The wax worked just like on my other saws and made the wood move across the magnetic table top much easier and smoother so that is something I will keep doing. This may be true only for spiral blades, which is all I use, but I did get some kinking in the blade ends. Both the EX and Seyco manuals say the set screw should protrude slightly into the clamp area and the Seyco came with that setting on the set screw. I had changed my EX so the set screw was flush with the clamp face and I did the same for the Seyco, upper and lower - problem solved; again, possibly a problem only with spiral blades. I had mentioned befoe that the clamp came with a longer set screw and then had a nut on the outside of the clamp which is presumably to lock the set screw. Since I was changing the setting on the set screw I did go ahead and use blue Loctite as well as the nut to lessen the change of set screw movement or creep.

Another update - Ray read my post and I just had a satisfying call with him which I hope I relate properly. They are doing different legs for the bench top mount and if you have already ordered and intend to use the bench top mount for the frame (that is you Paul-Ray said he was going to try to reach out to you) you should be in touch with Ray so that he may process your order with that in mind. Ray says using the short adjustable legs for the full frame which the manual seems to indicate should be done were found not to have the correct angle and they are furnishing completely different legs for the bench top mount - I hope and fully expect after our telephone call that when Ray sends those to me it will solve the tolerance problems which I had. Kudos to Ray for reaching out to me since I had not reached out to him. If anyone does plan to order and use with bench top frame call your order in and be sure to tell Ray your want the bench top frame legs because unless the website gets updated you will not see that option when you order.

A couple of followup comments. Note that my review was limited to the assembly process for only the machine I received and mounted on the stand as a bench top and a few comments about some features. I did not criticize the actual operation and I hope and expect that in actual operation (since I do not ever tilt the saw) I will find the saw I have to be an excellent machine. The actual saw is fully assembled but then has to be attached to the stand which holds the body of the saw in place. This attachment is basically at the front and back swivel joints which permit the saw body to swivel. It was at these points where the tolerances did not permit a secure but easy mounting process and then also at the point where the table was fastened to stand. The manual states "Your scroll saw has been carefully tested and inspected . . ." and also "All components of each Seyco Scroll Saw are carefully inspected during all stages of production and each unit is thoroughly inspected upon completion of assembly." I think these comments must be considered as applying only to the saw unit and that any factory testing of the saw unit occurs in a manner which does not require attaching the saw unit to a specific stand; although I do have some curiosity about how the words "tested" and "inspected" are used and intended. Based on Seyco's reputation I fully expect and hope that future reviews of the assembly process will be more positive than mine and that all reviews of the saw in operation will be positive. I do look forward to Paul's review and Steve Good's review of both assembly and operation. I do not want to be unfair to Seyco but did feel I owed it to my friends in the scrolling community to post my experience.

This is lengthy so stop now if you are not interested. When I said I had ordered the Seyco some asked that I give a review. As you read of some of my issues do not jump to the conclusion I had no idea what I was doing - I grew up on a farm and have been assembling things since I was eight years old and that was a long time ago. Also, this applies only to the machine which was shipped to me and, hopefully, will not apply to all machines which are shipped. I assembled mine with the bench top legs rather than as a stand and then mounted it on the 3/4 plywood top I have on an EX stand. I will be interested in viewing whatever video Steve Good does for assembly of his to see if he encountered any of the problems I had. I will also be interested in the assembly and operation experience of others who are getting the Seyco so hopefully they will weigh in with their comments. The manual says there are upper and lower blade guards but my unit had only an upper blade guard and none of the manual pictures show a lower blade guard. This is not a problem for me as I have viewed blade guards on scroll saws as a nuisance rather than a safety factor and have always removed them. The manual says the speed is 400 - 1600 strokes per minute but the motor says 400 - 1550 not a big difference but they both should say the same thing. When you look for the mechanic’s square, it is in an unmarked box with two positive blade angle stops which are provided but not listed as enclosed. The manual does not say what tools you will need so I suggest you have a 12mm and 11mm open end and or box end wrench. A hex key is provided but it does not fit the hex heads for the table top attachment and you will want a 5/32 hex key. Assembly bolts for the stand assembly all worked fine but were of two different lengths, someone reached in the wrong bin or had thrown some extras of a different length in the wrong bin. The swing tilt head which is the actual saw unit was a problem when assembling it to the frame. Where shoulder bolts were used for the front and back swivel the distance from front to back was probably 1/4 to 3/8 inches too far and too much pressure had to be used to mount the saw to the swivel points in the frame. I am hoping that in operation there is no thread failure due to this extra stress. Also, the bolt welded on the saw which slid into the arc for adjusting the swivel/angle was slightly off and would be totally unacceptable if I ever wanted to adjust the swivel/angle as it has to really be forced to make it swivel. If I did work with adjusting swivel/angles, I would either need to return the saw or grind 1/16 to 1/8 of metal off of the swivel arc for freedom of adjusting. In this respect the EX had a much better method for angle adjustment. Every place where I had a problem with tolerances had a weld rather than being stamped and I am guessing this was the problem. If each weld were just slightly different, assembly of the saw to the frame would have been a breeze. Although they probably were robotic welds, they really looked more like manual welds. The preceding made assembly of my unit extremely frustrating. I did get a hammer but ended up not using it. Although not a problem, this same lack of tolerances appeared in the rather long tilt locking knob and when screwing it onto the bolt there was an up/down type of movement indicating the thread insert was not placed straight in the mold when it was formed. Tolerances were also slightly off on the brackets the table top was mounted to and the bolts took a little forcing which should not have been necessary. I do suggest you get six larger flat washers for when you mount the table top to the frame. I am sure there must be a reason for it but it is incomprehensible to me. What you do not see on the Seyco web site is that if you take the magnetic table cover off, the steel table top has a fairly large rectangular hole through the table which is a few inches in back of the blade slot and directly above the under table mechanism for changing the angle. For better or worse, this means you are almost wedded to the magnetic table top (which I am not sure I will like) or you are going to be getting a lot of saw dust going down that slot as you rotate your work or the blower (which is designed to blow from the front to rear of your work) removes the saw dust from your scroll line. It is not likely it was meant as a sawdust dump since the magnetic table cover conceals it so I am at a loss on the reason for it. I will be interested in whether anyone ever finds the graphics on the magnetic table top helpful as I think I am more likely to find them a distraction. If there was not the rectangular hole in the steel table top, the magnetic table top could also have been left out and offered as an option. I do not do any angle cuts and have no use for a digital angle gauge and I prefer the hand switch for on/off so will not use the foot switch. Nothing indicated whether the foot switch is on/off or a dead man’s switch. Both of those items could have been left out or been offered as optional features. Most folks probably already have the Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and rather than the nesting place in front of the speed control for the Wixey I would have rather kept the on/off switch closer to the front where it is somewhat more convenient. Most scrollers who like the foot switch probably have one of those also. I know I have a foot switch because I had to try it to find I did not like it for the way I work. Maybe I will find something else to put in the Wixey nesting spot. It is to small for a can of beer but a shot glass might work. The money spent on those two items and even the mechanics square would have been better spent improving the angle/tilt mechanism or for offering a slightly lower price (maybe even using a table top without a rectangular hole in it and making the magnetic table top optional). All of the manual photos show the same clamping assembly as the EX and which is also similar to the DW and the thumb screws come with the swivel ends like the EX and DW. The set screws in manual photos all appear the same as the EX and DW but on the unit I received the set screws were longer and had a nut on the outside - I am assuming this is a method for locking the set screw rather than using Loctite. All of the mechanisms for (i) adjusting blade as vertical by setting table top (sideways blade adjustment) and adjusting motor (back to front blade adjustment), (ii) adjusting the back knob for adjusting upper arm horizontal to table top, and (iii) lifting the top arm to a stationary up position are the same as on the EX. The manual does not tell you that the motor adjustment can be used to adjust the back to front for a vertical blade - that knowledge comes from the EX manual. After assembly I did start the saw and ran it from slowest to fastest and it is quiet and does seem vibration free so after the frustration of assembly I am anxious to drive it and expect I will really like it. I still need to complete my under table dust collection hookups so have not tested it with actual scrolling but should get to that over this next weekend. Although Seyco seems proud that the dust blower is designed to blow the dust to the back and away from you, I have a feeling I am not going to like it positioned in front of or near the front of the blade and likely will change the blower tube end and maybe remove a few links.

Will be pleased to do so after receiving, set up, and a fair trial run.

Seyco is now taking orders and payment for their new scroll saw - just placed my order so am anxious to receive it and drive it.

Tony You are either a fool or a very brave man or both. After she reads your comment, let us know when you get out of the hospital.