Thought I Needed Better

[Scrappile]

I have an Excalibur 21.  I've had it for about 18 month.  Before it I had a DeWalt.  I feel the Excalibur is an upgrade from the DeWalt, I know, there are people that will argue that, and I admit if you are happy with your DeWalt, there is no reason to upgrade.  I did and I think the Ex is better.  It will not do anything the DeWalt will not do but it does it a little easier and better in my opinion.  Now, after having the Ex for a while I thought if I feel the Ex is better than the DeWalt, what if I went another step up and got a Hegner???  That must be the ultimate, right?  I did it in a moment of weakness.  I have the Ex and a Hegner.  I am a very happy camper, and feel grateful I was able to do it.  However, in my opinion, after having the Hegner for a few months, I do not feel it was an upgrade.  The Hegner is a totally different machine and I am not convienced it is the machine to have if you like to to do delicate fret pictures as I like to do.  I can not explain my feelings, I love using the Hegner for lots of things, but when doing a delicate picture like a Charles Dearing "Lion Roar" or a Mike Williams "Moose", I am not sure it would be possible with the Hegner.  I have not been able to use a blade smaller than a #3 yet.   Not saying it is impossible just saying I have not succeeded yet.  The Hegner is a work horse, looks like it will be easy to repair, by me, if something does happen to break, and I love using it.   But the Ex is a sweet machine.

 

Okay, I am not sure why I am writing this.  Just wanted to give my opinion and maybe if some one is contemplating going from an Ex to a Hegner, think it through seriously.  The Ex WILL do everything the Hegner will do, but, I am not sure the Hegner will do everything the Ex will do.  Just saying Hegner is great, but do not ditch the Ex to get it.

[Scrappile]

I have no clue how I posted this twice.... Gett'n old, I guess.

[LarryEA]

It's 'Two for one' day.

[dgman]

Hey Paul, it's ok that you feel that way. No saw has it all for everybody. A few years back, it was time to replace my well used and worn DeWalt 788 Type I. Since I am an instructor at the local Woodcraft store, I was able to take an Excalibur EX1 for a test drive. It didn't have the feel that my DeWalt had. With the discount I get it would of been a great buy, but I chose to go with a new DeWalt and I don't regret it.

A. Few weeks later, I was doing a demonstration at the stores annual woodworking show. All the manufactures reps where there. The DeWalt rep asked how I liked the 788. I told him about my type I wearing out. He said bring in to the store and he would replace it. So now I have two perfectly working saws. It comes in handy as I sometimes give private lessons at home.

[Bfreeman]

I have both the 18"&22" hegners and I've used them both on fine 1/8 " ply. Up to 1 1/2 " oak fret working everything from Xmas ornaments to fancy boxes and shelves I have been very happy with both saws . Is it possible that your adjustments are off a little ?

[Scrappile]

I have both the 18"&22" hegners and I've used them both on fine 1/8 " ply. Up to 1 1/2 " oak fret working everything from Xmas ornaments to fancy boxes and shelves I have been very happy with both saws . Is it possible that your adjustments are off a little ?

Absolutely possible.  I am still getting acquainted with it and and the more I use it the more I find I can do with it.  But I have not been able to us a blade like my favorite the FD 3/0 New Spiral in it.  I snap them immediately when I try.  Maybe some day I will be able too.

[amazingkevin]

I'm on my 4th dw788,I highly recommend taking your dw788 apart and re grease every bearing(some need to be pressed out) with valvoline synthetic grease.I wore out my first and gave away and my friend is happy as a bird with a french fry with it.I told him keep it on 5 or less with the speed control and you'll get long life from it.i have too new dw788's for back up and am using another dw78 that i re greased that's wore out but tight as a drum now from the grease.

[mgmine]

I watched every video and read every review I could find and settled on the Excalibur EX 21. It was a toss up between the Dewalt and the EX 21. Because of the blade changing arrangement of the Hegner I did not think it was for me. I got rid of my other saw because of the balde changing system. It was so bad that I never used the saw .I didn't go with the Dewalt because of problems that I had read about as well as you had to buy or make something to hold the saw up while changing the blade.

[Phantom Scroller]

I LOVE MY EX. I can see this coming on a tee shirt. It's my favourite anyway I'm bias.   Roly

[dgman]

I didn't go with the Dewalt because of problems that I had read about as well as you had to buy or make something to hold the saw up while changing the blade.

If you top feed, you don't need to keep the arm up! My first saw was a bottom feeder. That's how I learned to scroll. I bought my first DeWalt because of the ability to top feed. It took one or two times loading a blade to learn how to do it, and I've never looked back.