Doug

Jerry I grew up on a farm and was staying with you until you got to stitching up animals and yourself - that is when I call for help.

I have always been in awe of your work. Now make me in awe of your recuperative and healing powers. Thoughts are with you. We expect you to and beat it.

Randy The custom table top I had done for my EX 21 runs 4 inches longer to the front and 2 inches wider to each side. I guarantee anyone using it will appreciate a larger table top.

Aw yes but they do not make 2/0 spirals with flat ends.

I posted this back in July but thought I would do again in this thread for those who are Hawk enthusiasts. I bought a Hawk BM220 last summer (2015) for $1,150. Used for less than 10 hours so like new condition and I will sell for $500 and you pay the shipping or pick it up in Lincoln, NE. Saw is a great saw but has one drawback which does not work for me. The thumb screw clamps do not have a swivel end like my EX21 and like a DW788 have. I almost exclusively use spiral blades which cause no problem with the swivel end thumb screw but lead to a lot of breakage with thumb screws not having a swivel end. Unfortunately the EX and DW thumb screws are a different thread size and cannot be used in the Hawk. I am not willing to hammer the end of my spiral blades flat as Bushton suggested others do. Bushton directed me to a swivel end thumb screw at Fastenal which is apparently the only swivel end thumb screw made with the correct thread size but it is both too long and the swivel end design does not work. No complaints with Bushton or their service. I drove to Bushton to pick the saw up when I bought it and they are all delightful and helpful folks and were helpful when I wrote about my problem. It just happens that the thumb screw design does not work with the manner in which I use the saw. I think it would be an excellent saw for those who hate spirals and primarily or all of the time use flat blades. If you are really bored you can go back to the following post and read a comparison I did at the request of Randy (Hotshot). http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/20140-free-proxxon-ds-115e-scroll-saw/?p=205980

I attached four 4 inch locking swivel casters to 3/4 ply and then bolted my EX21 stand to the ply and placed a 40 pound bag of water softener salt on the ply. I can easily roll wherever I want and with the dead weight on the plywood plus the weight of the stand and saw there is absolutely no vibration. I also used 3/4 ply between the stand and saw so I could have a nice shelf on both sides of the saw. 4 inch casters roll so much easier than 2 inch casters. You can guess how I know that. I do not work with an inclined saw but it would be easy to do either at the base with the 3/4 ply or at the shelf if you add the 3/4 ply between the stand and saw.

Casey Welcome and this is to recognize your service

Don When I had my DW 788 I first got the Jim Dandy. It may have just been me but I do a lot of fret work so raised the arm quite frequently and friction eventually wore a grove in the arm where there is a mechanism which slides. If you go with the Jim Dandy I would suggest an occasional light dab of grease in the slot part where the friction occurs. I later went to The Lifter you mentioned and had no problems and liked it better. If there is any problem because of your table tilt I think you would find it easy to engage the hook when lifting the arm and after a few times it would be automatic. You need to slightly raise and disengage the hook when lowering the arm and engaging it when raising the arm should be no problem if that became necessary.

I had enough insisting I should sign so to shut them up I got an electric branding iron and brand things Done by Doug Live Long & Prosper with no last name it is difficult for anyone to trace it back to me.

Not sure it is want you want for a doctorate but Steve Good has several patterns which are especially good for elementary teachers http://stevedgood.com/catalog/

http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/7141-dust-collection/?hl=%2Bdust+%2Bcollection See above link for more discussion. I have updated some but most of what is shown is still current. There is more discussion in that link or to get even more ideas go to the top right of the page search "forum" for the words "dust collection". Regardless of how good you collect it, the main goal has to be that none of it is collected by your lungs. By the way, I have a shop vac running through a switch that turns the shop vac on when the scroll is on and runs the shop vac for seven seconds after the saw is shut down. No extended runs of shop vac and I have never had to replace a shop vac.

Rolf/Randy Here is the Hawk web site http://www.bushtonmanufacturing.com/WebsitePages/The-Hawk-Scroll-Saw.html As mentioned, I do think you get closer to a true vertical cut and blade with the Hawk. Although most probably know it, I did not mention the Hawk has the tear drop table like the DW rather than the rectangular table like the EX. Randy - I did copy and paste to the scroll saw review under Hawk BM 20 review and cross referenced to it under the EX 21 review.

Yes Rolf, I did mean you. Roly is the other side of the pond and I know you like your Hawk.

Randy My experience and opinion only. Both machines have their advantages. The BM is made in America - I actually drove down to Bushton, KS to pick mine up. It is solidly but simply engineered. A reasonably talented handy person could probably do most repairs. It has fewer moving parts and fewer bearings and most of it is easily accessible. The EX has more bearings, more moving parts, and some parts are not very accessible. When the EX arm is fully up you have a solid 10 inches between the bottom of the top clamp and the table top. When the BM arm is fully up you have 5 inches between the bottom of the top clamp and the table top. Also on the BM there is an arm extending along side and below the saw arm which ends just before the top clamp and the height between the bottom of that arm and the table top is 4 inches. However the BM does have a blade slot which is elongated to the front and with the way the lower clamping mechanism is attached it will let the blade swivel to the front to give some relief to bottom feeders. The top clamp is also mounted in that manner but will not give as much relief to top feeders. I think the clamping mechanism is more awkward on the BM than it is on the EX. On the BM you generally will slip one of the clamps out of its holding mechanism, insert the blade and tighten the thumb screw, and then reinsert the clamp in its holding mechanism. You will then feed the blade through your work piece to the other clamp - this only has to occur when you change blades. If I had used the BM more I do think I would have gotten more used to the procedure and been able to do it almost subconsciously but I did not use it enough to get to that point. The BM clamps themselves are somewhat similar to the EX and DW clamps in that they have a set screw on one side and a thumb screw on the other side. The BM screws are a smaller diameter than the EX and DW which are interchangeable. I have also had to replace clamps on my EX - I am a bottom feeder so it is my top clamp which gets used the most on fret work. After I learned that I do not have to tighten the thumb screw as hard as I can, I have not really experienced a problem with threads although I am sure it will happen again. I doubt there would be that problem with the BM. I do prefer the thumb screws on the EX and DW over those on the BM. The BM is just a solid thumb screw and as you know the EX and DW thumb screws each have an end which swivels and will stop twisting when contacting the blade and while you are continuing to tighten the thumb screw. I think this design probably relieves some blade stress when you put it under tension and start sawing and that you may be more likely to break blades with a BM whereas with an EX and DW you are likely to be able to run the blade until dull; all other factors being equal. Both are excellent machines. I love the solid but simple engineering of the BM and if I could change anything it would be the size and configuration of the table top and the thumb screws. If you recall from postings on another forum, I had a machine shop friend do a new EX table top for me which is four inches wider and four inches deeper to the front of the blade. I do not care for the EX dust collection so it did not bother me to take that table top off when I got a newer EX and put the larger table top on. I think my under table dust collection is just as good or better than what EX has attached to its table top. Biggest disadvantage of the EX is a lot more moving parts to go bad and more difficult and costly to repair even if you can do it yourself. At full throttle the BM probably has a little less vibration and the BM is a little less noisy. I do have my machines mounted on the EX stand (separate stands for each) which is bolted to 3/4 plywood and 4 inch locking swivel casters and a bag of water softner salt on the plywood. I also have 3/4 plywood between the top of the stand and the machine so I could make an extra work surface right beside the machine. I really do not have a serious vibration issue with these machines. I hope I have given a reasonable comparison of the machines for you and anyone else who is interested in either machine. If I have failed to answer something you are curious about let me know. Because of what I have invested I really do not feel I can change my price but since I have already spent the money I would be willing to consider stretching payments over a comfortable time for someone who is interested as I would like it to find a good home.

Randy Sorry I am not interested but I have another deal for you. I bought a Hawk BM220 last summer for $1,150. Used for less than 10 hours so like new condition and I will sell for $500 and you pay the shipping or pick it up in Lincoln, NE. I had a larger table top made for my EX21 which I really like and just could not come to like the BM220 table top. Maybe Roly will see this and be interested.

Can't remember Just know I love to see what is hiding in a piece of wood.

Welcome aboard Rolf. Glad to see you over here sharing your work and your expertise.

If you do not get the Steve Good e-mails you might want to look at his site - a lot of great patterns and if you scroll down a little on this link you will see a dino pattern he posted today http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/

After seeing all of your puzzles I regret making any suggestions. The puzzles are awesome and there is nothing more special than using your skills to add to the enjoyment of children.

Scott You are getting a great start on an amazing hobby and I like what you have done. I am including some pictures as food for thought if you want to take a different approach to any of it but you know best what you like and what the market likes. All of these were cut in 5/8 hardwoods. In those with the figures if you look close you can see that rather than just cut out the figure I put in what are referred to as bridges in certain spots to hold the interior pieces in place and basically just cut the outlines of my pattern but with a few small gaps or bridges. Just meant as food for thought if you decide to experiment.

Ray I cut exclusively with spirals and with practice you will be doing straight lines and curves with little problem. As a spiral user I try never to use above a #3 and, depending on the wood, generally use a #1 or a 2/0. They will cut a little slower than a #5 but I think you will be more pleased with the final product. I suggest you get some of each and I think you will then want to set aside the #5. Although you supposedly can cut in all directions with a spiral, I have not found that works very well for me for cutting sideways or pulling the work toward me as I am stressing the blade differently since I am sitting in front of the blade and not guiding as well or as straight. This is from someone who mostly cuts 5/8 wood. If cutting 1/4 or 1/8 wood the "cutting from any direction" would likely work much better. My guess is your blade breakage will diminish significantly if you mostly cut straight ahead, feed at a rate that is acceptable to the blade and wood which requires some feeding pressure but should never require significant feeding pressure, and go to a smaller blade. For spirals my blades of choice are either Flying Dutchman or Pegas. Pegas is a little more agressive and not quite as smooth a cut but does better with Oak than FD does. I generally use FD for Walnut but each piece of wood is unique. You just keep experimenting until you find your happy place. My work is not the quality of most of what you see on this site - even though it is not created with the same talent as others, it is still created with as much love and passion. As Steve Good's pattern says:

Superlatives do not adequately describe the Oneida Dust Deputy - almost nothing gets through to the vac and you seldom ever need to clean the vac filter. As most of my dust collection is scroll saw and sanding I do not need to empty the Dust Deputy too often. When generating larger volumes by planing I also have a cyclone canister from Woodcraft and the hookup runs from the planer to the cyclone canister, to the Dust Deputy to the vac. I started with a cyclone canister but their design just does not stop enough from going to the vac and still having to frequently clean the vac filter - after adding the Dust Deputy my problems were solved. Well, at least my vac filter problems - I still have trouble following a line on a pattern.. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/158384/laguna-16gallon-cyclone-canister.aspx

When all you have is big box blades, go to your local tavern until the mailman brings good blades. I really like what you did but when I get the good blades I would probably work to get a feel for how they cut and then redo the entire thing, Be sure to save this one so you have a reference point for how much you improve and how quickly.

It sounds like blade slippage under tension. Do what Len said but take out the set screw also to clean the surface of the set screw. When reinserting the set screw use the blue loc tite and get the surface of the set screw flush with the inside surface of the clamp - do this upper and lower. I cannot speak to all blades but I know FD blades come with a little film on them which ultimately can cause this slippage under tension so for all blades, not just FD, I dip the ends in denatured alcohol whenever I open a dozen, wipe the ends, and then before using the blade scuff the ends with 220 grit sandpaper.