My Hegner Modifications

[stoney]

Over a period of time I have made a few changes, or I like to think improvements to my Hegner Multi-Max 22V.   Thought I would share them with other owners.   First pictures shows how I cut off the cast boss and relocated the upper arm stop to allow the upper arm to raise higher and changed to a lighter spring.   Next I raised the hold down arm and installed a longer rod for the hold down.   Next I made and installed a sawdust catcher under the table.   At the bottom inside of the wood part I installed a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth to catch the bottom blade clamp when a blade breaks.   Lastly I made and installed a blade rack.   These modifications have made the saw a little more user friendly.       

[Scrappile]

Interesting.  Do you use a hold down?  Most, including myself. remove that.  I can see where it would be nice to have the upper arm raise a little more.  I added the "Quick Clamp" to mine.  I love that.  Wouldn't be with out it.  I keep trying to figure a way to and an auxiliary table on mine to have a larger table.  I want it to be easy to take on an off.  I will come up with something some day.  

[stoney]

Yes Paul I do use the hold down.   I have some arthritis in my hands and using the hold down on thicker materials really helps with the pain and fatigue. I also have the quick clamp   The amount the upper arm now raises is substantial and really comes in play with larger fretwork.   I have been thinking about an auxiliary table made of 1/8" baltic birch plywood covered with laminate and held in place by 2 countersunk 10/24 screws.   I don't have a problem drilling and tapping my table and 2 screws won't be too inconvenient.    

Edited May 3, 2017 by stoney

[Rob]

7 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Interesting.  Do you use a hold down?  Most, including myself. remove that.  I can see where it would be nice to have the upper arm raise a little more.  I added the "Quick Clamp" to mine.  I love that.  Wouldn't be with out it.  I keep trying to figure a way to and an auxiliary table on mine to have a larger table.  I want it to be easy to take on an off.  I will come up with something some day.  

 You could make a larger top and use wooden turn-buttons around the edge of the original table to hold it in place.  That would make it easy to remove and replace and should work I would think?

Rob

[amazingkevin]

10 hours ago, stoney said:

Over a period of time I have made a few changes, or I like to think improvements to my Hegner Multi-Max 22V.   Thought I would share them with other owners.   First pictures shows how I cut off the cast boss and relocated the upper arm stop to allow the upper arm to raise higher and changed to a lighter spring.   Next I raised the hold down arm and installed a longer rod for the hold down.   Next I made and installed a sawdust catcher under the table.   At the bottom inside of the wood part I installed a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth to catch the bottom blade clamp when a blade breaks.   Lastly I made and installed a blade rack.   These modifications have made the saw a little more user friendly.       

Seeing your modifications stirs up creativity for my shop .I'm not happy with my blade holders and after seeing yours i see whats wrong with mine.your dust collecting bag is a very simple mod i am going to have to copy that one to.be easy on me i can only bend so much.

[Scrappile]

6 hours ago, Rob said:

 You could make a larger top and use wooden turn-buttons around the edge of the original table to hold it in place.  That would make it easy to remove and replace and should work I would think?

Rob

This is along the lines I have been thinking about.  May have to do some experimenting.

[Jim Finn]

Your first listed modification is one I also did.  I do not do fretwork though.

[dwssr2]

I did the same first modification you and Jim did also on my 14".  Since the arm is short, not a lot of height is gained on raising the upper arm.  And I tried using the quick clamp on the bottom arm,  with a change of some of the clamp holders.  I was not real happy with the change, hard to get used to the quick clamp on the bottom,  I have a hard enough time using the quick clamp on the top arm.  Maybe with a lot of time I may get better/faster at blade changes.   This modification may work better on the polymax with a longer arm, but I do not want to saw the casting on this saw. 

[stoney]

22 hours ago, Jim Finn said:

Your first listed modification is one I also did.  I do not do fretwork though.

By moving the upper arm stop the blade end of the upper arm went from 3 1/4" to 6" above the table.   I know you don't do fretwork Jim but you can take my word for it moving that stop really does help especially on larger fretwork.

[Grumpy Old Bear]

I like the look of those blade holders. Do you remember where you picked them up, and how much they set you back?

[stoney]

Jim just google Baby Soda Bottles and you will find them.   They really work well I like the lip on top it holds the bottle right where you want it.   They are also easy to put a label on.

Edited May 6, 2017 by stoney

[Jim McDonald]

I'll second the Baby Soda Bottles.  They are great for blades.  Need to get more and steal Stoney's design for a holder on the saw. 

[Scrappile]

I keep coming back and looking at you pictures.  I really like the idea of the upper arm moving up higher, would make life somewhat easier.  I wonder why Hegner has not done this.  Does it give you more front to back movement of the blade, or can you adjust that out with the tension?  Actually I guess it wouldn't change the F/b movement, you are not changing the pivot point.  How do you know what size spring to get to replace the existing one? 

[stoney]

Paul I took the original spring to my local hardware store so I could get the right length.   Then I looked for a lighter tension spring.   All that is required is a spring just strong enough to raise and hold up the arm.   I was lucky as I found just the right spring on the very first try. 

The reason Hegner hasn't done this is because of the hold down.   If the hold down is to be used the modification I made to it is required.   What would have been nice is if Hegner would have made the upper arm stop adjustable. 

[stoney]

5 hours ago, Jim McDonald said:

I'll second the Baby Soda Bottles.  They are great for blades.  Need to get more and steal Stoney's design for a holder on the saw. 

By all means Jim.   I love this forum and sharing with other members here.

[OCtoolguy]

On 5/2/2017 at 4:32 PM, Scrappile said:

Interesting.  Do you use a hold down?  Most, including myself. remove that.  I can see where it would be nice to have the upper arm raise a little more.  I added the "Quick Clamp" to mine.  I love that.  Wouldn't be with out it.  I keep trying to figure a way to and an auxiliary table on mine to have a larger table.  I want it to be easy to take on an off.  I will come up with something some day.  

Paul, the used saw that I bought came with a homebrew table top that the previous owner made out of hardboard (masonite). I incorporated a table insert that is replaceable. It's really a simple table that he made. It is the same shape overall but just larger and then he put wooden stopper strips on all four sides underneath. I'll take a couple of pics tomorrow and post them. Nothing fancy but it does give you a larger work surface.

R

[Scrappile]

Ray, this thread was started a year ago.  I add a masonite table top to mine, not to long after I first responded to this thread. Works great.

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Ray, this thread was started a year ago.  I add a masonite table top to mine, not to long after I first responded to this thread. Works great.

Ok Paul, I forgot that I was reading an older post. You see, I have "old timers" and I forget stuff.

R

 

[ImaginationUnincorporated]

On 5/3/2017 at 12:24 AM, Rob said:

 You could make a larger top and use wooden turn-buttons around the edge of the original table to hold it in place.  That would make it easy to remove and replace and should work I would think?

Rob

This is how I hold my bandsaw table in place. You'd have to glue some 3/4 to the bottom of thin ply to get enough meat to install the hold-down (up?) bolts to thin plywood.

[ImaginationUnincorporated]

On 5/15/2018 at 10:56 PM, octoolguy said:

Ok Paul, I forgot that I was reading an older post. You see, I have "old timers" and I forget stuff.  Add to that, starting an entirely new post cover the same things an old one covered just make it more difficult to get to good information.

R

 

The age of a post is not relevant, if even one person, like me, finds the information in it useful.  A suggestion to the contrary would seem to imply such posts should just be deleted from a site, or locked so no one can correct, add to or otherwise comment on them.

[OCtoolguy]

27 minutes ago, ImaginationUnincorporated said:

The age of a post is not relevant, if even one person, like me, finds the information in it useful.  A suggestion to the contrary would seem to imply such posts should just be deleted from a site, or locked so no one can correct, add to or otherwise comment on them.

I agree with what you are saying but my intent was to say that my answer came a long time after the fact. But, I can see what you mean. All info is good info if used correctly.

 

[Rockytime]

OKAY Ray, since you brought it up here are homely mods to m y 14 inch. They are crude but for now they work. Don't understand why Hegner wants to blow sawdust up my nose. Good thing they lost the war. If Hegner had built the Panzer they might have kicked our butts. Dust collector is just a canning funnel. Fits perfectly. 

[OCtoolguy]

14 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

OKAY Ray, since you brought it up here are homely mods to m y 14 inch. They are crude but for now they work. Don't understand why Hegner wants to blow sawdust up my nose. Good thing they lost the war. If Hegner had built the Panzer they might have kicked our butts. Dust collector is just a canning funnel. Fits perfectly. 

Can you get in behind that funnel to change blades or do you have to move it? It looks like it's in the way. Other than that, all good.

 

[Rockytime]

It is held in place with 1/2" rare earth magnets in the wooden bracket. Slide it to the side and I'm good to go. There is a blade guard that gets in the way. I remove it on both saws. Also the long knob or,bolt that locks the tilt is replaced with a hex bolt on both saws. For the hold-down I'll  make a swing away blower with loc-line. 

[Rockytime]

6 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

It is held in place with 1/2" rare earth magnets in the wooden bracket. Slide it to the side and I'm good to go. There is a blade guard that gets in the way. I remove it on both saws. Also the long knob or,bolt that locks the tilt is replaced with a hex bolt on both saws. For the blow-down I'll  make a swing away blower with loc-line.