Tinkering With The Hawks Today

[kmmcrafts]

Just out tinkering in the shop with the Hawks.. getting them more user friendly for me.. 

Anyone on here that uses the older Hawk that has a bolt at the back of the saw that connects the upper and lower arm? The older Hawks ( depending on saw size ) used either a 8" or 8.5" ( I think that was the sizes ) bolt.. My old 220VS saw when connecting the blade the upper arm will come down well past the blade stop in the clamp..  so I am continually adjusting the height of the upper arm when connecting the blade in the clamp.. 

The newer Hawk has a threaded rod with a lock nut.. etc and you can turn the lock nut on the rod to adjust the arm stop at the desired height.. so you can bring the arm down to the correct height every time.. Not sure if my Hawk has the right bolt length in it or if that was just how they was back in the day.. I shimmed mine with some washers for a temporary fix.. but not sure if the added weight will affect the function of the saw.. Probably will measure the distance and either buy a bolt the correct length or maybe just update it with a threaded rod with the lock nut etc.. like my newer Hawk..

 Also been testing the different heights of blocks to make my foot switch user friendly so I can sit on my stool comfortably while sawing.. I've always had to stand or sit on the edge of the stool and stretch to reach the foot switch..  Maybe I should just eat some miracle grow and hope I get taller .. my luck I'd just get fat.. 

[Rockytime]

Kevin, I don't know if this helps. First photo is the lower end of the tension rod on my 216vs. The washer means I forgot to remove it. Second photo is the upper part of the tensioner. When I bought this saw the blue lever was missing. The previous owner replaced it with a 2-1/2" knob for tensioning. The rod is 1/4-20 all thread because I happened to have it. It works quite we. Photos three and four are the lower and upper tensioners. This saw is a 220vs Ultra. The fifth photo is the original Tension rod. It is just under 9-1/2". The blue lever has a brass threaded knob threaded into the round holder for the rod. I did this because after scrolling for a time the threaded rod would turn and lessen the tension. The brass knob prevents that. Thus I do not pay attention to the clock diagram for tension. I just set the tension and forget it.

[kmmcrafts]

20 minutes ago, Rockytime said:

Kevin, I don't know if this helps. First photo is the lower end of the tension rod on my 216vs. The washer means I forgot to remove it. Second photo is the upper part of the tensioner. When I bought this saw the blue lever was missing. The previous owner replaced it with a 2-1/2" knob for tensioning. The rod is 1/4-20 all thread because I happened to have it. It works quite we. Photos three and four are the lower and upper tensioners. This saw is a 220vs Ultra. The fifth photo is the original Tension rod. It is just under 9-1/2". The blue lever has a brass threaded knob threaded into the round holder for the rod. I did this because after scrolling for a time the threaded rod would turn and lessen the tension. The brass knob prevents that. Thus I do not pay attention to the clock diagram for tension. I just set the tension and forget it.

Thank you, 

I originally thought the bolt in mine was wrong because it has so much slop (ie the arm will come down so the blade will almost go past the top of the upper arm if all the way down).. then I looked in the manual and it came from Hawk with a bolt... must be before they figured out they could just use the threaded rod with a lock nut.. I think I will buy some of the threaded rod and make one..