Received my new EX-21 and have concerns/questions

[TerryC]

Well the wait is over for me my Excalibur EX-21 from Home Depot arrived today. All is not/was not smooth. The bag containing the 24 bolts, 32 washers and 28 nuts for the stand was broken open and the hardware was all over the box, well most of it. Some must was have fell out of the box so I was short washers, and nuts. Ok...back to Home Depot for replacement item. Of yea....its about 22 miles each way to Home Depot. Ok back home the stand is together and tight.

Problem #2. I carefully take the saw out of the box following the directions that say to grab by the motor and front of the table. and place it on the stand. Hmmm why is the blade not centered with the hole in the table?? It was way over to the right ( see posted picture ). Is there a way to adjust and center the blade with the hole in the table? I would think it is suppose to be centered? I'm not happy with the way it looks, especially with a saw costing close to $900.00. I expect more but if its just misaligned from shipping and be corrected I'm ok with that. I don't see anything in the manual to correct this.

Problem #3. The finish is off on the left side of the table which might have happened from rubbing during transit. Not a big deal I guess and in time it will probably come off anyway as I use the saw.

I do like how quiet the saw is compared to my Shop Fox saw but the blade to the table alignment has me bugged.

Thanks for any guidance.

 

Terry

[TerryC]

Here is a picture of the table finish.

 

Terry

[kmmcrafts]

For the blade alignment.. I'd start with making sure the blade is centered in the blade clamps.. ie the set screw opposite of the thumb screw may need adjusting to get the blade in the center of the clamp.. If it is centered.. maybe loosen the bolts that hold the table to the saw.. and see if you can get it centered and then tighten them back down.. 

As for the finish on the table... yeah it doesn't last long anyway.. I think mine was wearing off after only about 5-10 hours of use..

Hoping you can get this blade centered to the table though.. 

Also like to note that.. I doubt this is anything to do with being made in a different country now... I have the older saw that was made before they moved production.. and it was all kinds of messed up straight out of the box.. bolts loose and table out of wack just like yours... I think those that bought there saws from Seyco.. probably never seen this sort of stuff because Ray always tuned the saw prior to sending them out.. My guess is.. they just slap them together on the assembly lines..

[TerryC]

Thanks Kevin for your quick response. I was able to center the blade. I loosened the four bolts on the table and was able to align the blade with the hole in the table. I was surprised just how much you can move the table. Everything is in line now. Thanks for the help. I do appreciate it.

 

Terry

[OCtoolguy]

4 minutes ago, TerryC said:

Thanks Kevin for your quick response. I was able to center the blade. I loosened the four bolts on the table and was able to align the blade with the hole in the table. I was surprised just how much you can move the table. Everything is in line now. Thanks for the help. I do appreciate it.

 

Terry

You will love that saw. I recently bought a used one that was built in 2011. So smooth, I can't believe it.

 

[JimErn]

Terry, you see all those holes around the blade, those are dust collection holes and there is a plastic collector under the table for a vacuum attachment.

When doing fret work, small frets will drop in a hole and either stop the piece from moving or sometimes clog up the plastic collection piece, most of us have removed the dust collector plastic piece.  Keep it in mind if that happens.

I put an overlay on my table to cover those holes and only have the blade hole to deal with.

I agree with others though, you will love the EX, I wouldn't change mine out for another brand

[Roberta Moreton]

From what I am seeing in your picture, your blade is not centered in the clamps. Did you adjust the set screws in the clamps the way Kevin suggested?

[WayneMahler]

Glad to see you got this worked out. You are going to love this saw. As for this finish on the table. Mine was worn off in no time. 

[Travis]

@TerryC I experienced something similar.  I bought mine from HD too.  It came in and a lot of the bolts and nuts where strewn about the box.  I found them all, so it wasn't a big deal.  The finish on the table was similar to yours, but mine was on the side a little further up.  I'll scratch it up eventually, so I didn't mind as much.  My blade also wasn't centered in the hole.  I'll try adjusting it this weekend.  I do notice, that the motor slows once it hits wood, even if it's only 1/4" BB ply.  Maybe this is normal, I just have to compensate my speed for the slow down.  My craftsman didn't do that, so I thought it was a bit strange.

I haven't had much time to play with it.  I did notice that the blade was really aggressive.  The rocking motion from front to back was quite a bit.  So I loosened the bolts on the motor and rotated it as far forward (I think) and tested it.  It was still too aggressive for my taste, so I moved the bolts to the next hole, then rotated the motor again.  Now I like where it's at.  Much easier to control.  Here's a link to explain it a bit better:  http://www.sheilalandrydesigns.com/articles/excalibur-tuning

 

So far, I think I'm happy with it.  It's going to take some getting used to, as it is different from my old saw.  I need to catch my rhythm on changing blades.  LOL.  I might buy the Pegas blade holders, though.

 

[TerryC]

On 9/14/2018 at 5:35 AM, JimErn said:

Terry, you see all those holes around the blade, those are dust collection holes and there is a plastic collector under the table for a vacuum attachment.

When doing fret work, small frets will drop in a hole and either stop the piece from moving or sometimes clog up the plastic collection piece, most of us have removed the dust collector plastic piece.  Keep it in mind if that happens.

I put an overlay on my table to cover those holes and only have the blade hole to deal with.

I agree with others though, you will love the EX, I wouldn't change mine out for another brand

JimErn where did you get your overlay from? I think I’d like to add that as well.

Thanks....Terry

[TerryC]

@Travis Thanks for the reply. Sorry I didn’t get back sooner but things but busy ( I could have sworn I retired last month ). 

Im glad you found all of your hardware in the box. I found most of mine but some made it out of the bottom of the box. I think they need to rethink how they package these especially at the price. I do love the stand it is very solid.

I still have some tweaking to do on mine then I should be good to go. I did have to center the blade in the clamps, then loosen the table and center the blade in the table opening. The blade wasn’t square to the table so I took care of that. Now what I need to do is move the motor and get the blade to rock a little less, that will be today’s project. I did move it a little a couple days ago but it didn’t do much so I guess I’ll remove the 3 screws and try moving it more. After that I should be good.

I’m also a bit slow at getting the blade in the clamps correctly but that will get easier with practice. I would like to try and find a magnetic overlay for the table.

Terry

[Scrappile]

@TerryC you could buy the magnetic overlay for the Seyco, I think it is around $20.  You might have to trim it a little because the Seyco table is a little bigger.  I gave mine to @heppnerguy and he might tell us if it worked on his Ex.  I really appreciate Ray even more now after reading yours and Travis' posts.  I bought my Ex from Ray and my Seyco also and they were tuned perfect right out of the box.  Packaged very well also.

[heppnerguy]

 I will add this...  I have purchased 2 new DeWalts and I loved them a lot. I was extremely relaxed and comfortable with the operation and the set up of my DeWalt.  When I got the EX from Scrappile and started using it, I immediately discovered how much better that saw was then the DeWalt. Shortly after I got the EX, I moved to Arizona and I knew I wanted to get my hands on another EX but they were no longer being made. I searched Craigslist and only found a couple of EX's listed and they both were quite old. Then one day, I happen to take a look at Craigslist in Phoenix and found one listed that a man bought for his grandson a couple of years earlier so the grandson would have something to do when he was there for a visit.  The grandson played on it for a couple of hours and quickly became bored with the whole I idea. So the guy listed it and I  saw it minutes after the listing and told him I wanted it. I was at their house within the hour and sure enough, the saw was in brand new shape. I got it for $200 and quickly became like a little boy at Christmas getting his first bicycle. I have not pulled my DeWalt out of it's storage place since I moved. Those saws are great and I can not imagine anyone not loving their EX if they are lucky enough to have one. 

Dick

heppnerguy

[OCtoolguy]

What Heppnerguy said. I tinkered with mine yesterday after reading all the last few postings and got mine to where it is so close to perfect....well you get the idea. I may be selling my Dewalt soon. Then, it will be on to learning the Hegner. I still haven't got that speed/start issue resolved. But, I will and then I may learn to love the Heg like the EX.

 

[JimErn]

21 hours ago, TerryC said:

JimErn where did you get your overlay from? I think I’d like to add that as well.

Thanks....Terry

I used 1/8 mdf cut it to size, drilled out the  blade hole and mounting holes and secured it.

Others have used the magnetic overlay from seyco, or glued a piece of laminate to the table.

[NC Scroller]

22 hours ago, Scrappile said:

@TerryC you could buy the magnetic overlay for the Seyco, I think it is around $20.  You might have to trim it a little because the Seyco table is a little bigger.  I gave mine to @heppnerguy and he might tell us if it worked on his Ex.  I really appreciate Ray even more now after reading yours and Travis' posts.  I bought my Ex from Ray and my Seyco also and they were tuned perfect right out of the box.  Packaged very well also.

Per Ray Seymore when asked if the Seyco magnetic overlay will fit an EX-21 "Yes but the blade hole is a little larger than yours. You would line up with the blade hole and trim around the front and sides to fit the shape of your table."

[TerryC]

Thanks for the reply @NC Scroller and @JimErn. I appreciate your help guys. This has turned out to be a very friendly place. I'm planning on hanging around.

[Scrappile]

As I stated in a earlier post, I gave my magnetic top for my Seyco away.  I wanted to let you know the reason.  I do detailed fret work and because of the detail I like to have as close to zero clearance for my blade as possible.  On all my saws I make a top to go over my table top as JimErn does.  In that top I drill about a 1 1/2" diameter hole where the blade goes through, and I make inserts that will fit in the hole.  The inserts have a small hole for the blade to go through and I can replace the inserts as they wear out.